Essay 3 Carl Jung Essay Example for Free

Essay 3 Carl Jung Essay This essay will investigate and outline Carl Jung’s theory of personality types, by detailing each types and how they can shape a person. It will look at the origins and characteristics of the attitudes and functions and show how this can be linked to psychological disturbance. This essay will look at theorists that are for and against the approach in order to come to a conclusion of how either successful or unsuccessful they are to help a client reach there own personal goals. It is important to note that Carl Jung worked very closely with Sigmund Freud in  the early stage of his research, and was highly influenced by his companions work, however, both theorists were very different in their thoughts of therapist theory. Freud was concerned with the clients past, whereas Jung’s work was aimed at looking into the clients future. Freud also believed that human motivation was focused on human sexuality, whereas Jung was believed that motivation is caused by psychic energy. Even though Freud did extensive work on the subconscious, Jung believed that there was a deeper level to the  unconscious then Freud, he called this the ‘collective unconscious’. ‘Jung agreed with Freud that a person’s past and childhood experiences determined future behavior; he also believed that we are shaped by our future (aspirations) too’. (http://www. simplypsychology. org/carl- jung. html; 06. 10. 2014) Jung’s idea of the ‘collective unconscious’ can be seen as a collection of unconscious thoughts amongst individuals that ultimately will not be conscious, as the thoughts have not yet been experienced by the individual. Jung believed that peoples experiences and behaviors are shaped by this. Jung called the units of the collective unconscious ‘archetypes’ which he described as peoples untaught tendencies to experience things differently. Jung speculated that as we go through life we do so by going through a sequence of stages caused by a set of ‘archetypal imperatives’ that are shaped by behavior and personality. For example, each individual’s personality is made up of the ‘persona’. The persona is the mask that people wear in order to face the worlds social standards that make us act in a certain way. Jung identified that the  persona is developed in childhood when a child is learning to conform to parental approval. Jung said that individuals that believe their mask to be real might not really know whom or what there true self is, and can cause mental illnesses if not identified. Jung described the ‘shadow’ archetype as the element that helps an individual from forgetting their true self and even though a shadow can be seen as representing a dark side to the personality that maybe unwanted or disapproved by the individual it is this that controls the ‘ego’ and the ‘persona’. ‘The archetype is a symbolic formula which always begins to function when there are no conscious ideas present, or when conscious ideas are inhibited for external or internal reasons’ (C. G. Jung; 1960;Volume Six, Psychological Types; Routledge; Page 377) Jung saw the ‘self’ as an archetype of an individuals whole personality and described this as an individual living to their full potential. He believed that wholeness is the most important aim in life and is only achieved by a person’s individualism and the realisation that they are unique. This discovery of ones  self-realisation is a process that is when an individual looks inside themselves and finally see the world through a better vision. Jung’s research gave him reason to believe that an individual’s personality changes and develops throughout their life, with an influx of social influences. Jung’s theory of ‘personality types’ is based on the concept that people are motivated by their future goals, with an aim to develop themselves in their future life. Jung based his personality types on many other theorists who also researched this area. He specifically based his research on the way that individuals approach reality, and that persons type is the basis on how each individual has learned to communicate. He based each ‘personality type’ into four letters, each of which represented two conflicting behaviour choices. The combination of these letters amounts to sixteen personality types. The first letter represents people’s attitude in regards to how they see themselves and the external environment around them. The first letter can either begin with and ‘E’ for ‘Extrovert’, or ‘I’ for ‘Introvert’. Jung believed that ‘Extroverts’ aim their attention and interests outwards into society in a belief that the people around them recognise and respond to the individual’s life. They need interaction with other in order to fulfil their external expectations. Jung discovered that if the individual’s personality is too extroverted then the individual might fail to play up to what society requires from them and fail to identify their own needs if their ‘extroverted’ behaviour is not recognised by others. If you take an extravert you will find his unconscious has an introverted  quality, because all the extraverted qualities are played out in his consciousness and the introverted are left in the unconscious. (Jung in McGuire Hull, 1977, p. 342) Jung’s research on ‘Introverts’ show a totally different view on a person’s personality and how they view and relate to social expectations. An ‘introvert’ holds social standards and expectations inwards, and believe their own points of view and general thoughts describe what societies expectations mean to them. In other words, ‘Introverts’ give value to there own viewpoint. When an ‘introvert’ individual is in a social situation they do so by interacting on their own terms and therefore can sometimes become unable to communicate their own opinions and views with others. ‘Inferior introverted feeling typically manifests in a conscious attitude that is more or less impersonal. That is why this type may come across as cold and unfriendly; they are simply more interested in the facts than in what effect their attitude may have on others’ (Sharpe, Daryl; 19987; Personality Types – Jungs model of Typology; Inner City Books; Page 48). The next two letters in Jung’s personality types represent two functions that individuals use in their everyday life. One is the ‘perceiving’ function and the other is the ‘judging’ function. The ‘perceiving’ function in the letters is shown as the letter ‘S’ for sensation, and the other is the letter ‘N’ for Intuition. The ‘perceiving’ element is when we encounter new experiences that are unforeseeable, in other words, new situations. The ‘S’ or ‘N’ indicate how a person chooses to take in and respond to this information. The ‘Sensation’ type will accumulate information by centering their interests on what if directly in front of them. This ‘direct’ focus means this type can respond by awareness of facts and appearances. They draw their attention to the environment that is directly around them draw sensations from these. Jung said that the ‘S’ type could relate their immediate experiences to events that have occurred in the past; they tend to be very observant individuals who are influenced by information from their senses in their environment. Jung thought  that these individuals can sometimes reply too deeply on life’s immediate and materiality. ‘Sensation is an irregular function, because it is orientated not by a logical process of judgment but simply by what is and what happens, whereas the extraverted sensation type is guided by the intensity of objective influences’. (Sharpe, Daryl; 19987; Personality Types – Jungs model of Typology; Inner City Books; Page 79) The ‘N’ type uses new information my evaluating all their thoughts possible. They have a huge imagination that chooses to ignore the materialistic surface of  aspects of live, but focus on the ‘bigger picture’. The ‘Intuitive’ will try and find the meaning and future possibilities and not focus on details and factual information as the ‘S’ type would. The can sometimes be so engaged in the meaning that they can oversee the present situation. This type takes new information by looking into the future and what the outcomes may represent to themselves and their lives. They don’t necessarily see what it is, but rather what it may be. This type is very imaginative and is always dreaming about the future  and how to push for change. This type can easily jump to conclusions and make rash decision, and can even be said to confuse fact with reason. ‘Sensation and intuition are the information-gathering (perceiving) functions. They describe how new information is understood and interpreted. Individuals who prefer the sensation function are more likely to trust information that is in the present, tangible and concrete: that is, information that can be understood by the five senses. They tend to distrust hunches, which seem to come â€Å"out of nowhere. ’ (Myers, Isabel Briggs with  Peter B. Myers (1980, 1995). Gifts Differing: Understanding Personality Type. Mountain View, CA: Davies-Black Publishing. Page 45) Jungs’s next set of letter represent how we judge. The letter ‘T’ for ‘Thinking’ and the letter ‘F’ for ‘Feeling’. The judging use is how individuals observe and organize their lives behavior. These letter look at how individuals relate to their social surroundings before they act upon them. The ‘Thinker’ is a type that will use new information in a logical manner, and may tend to be a rule follower that follows social standards. These are the types that have to follow a set order and will categorise information. These types relate with their world with a clear picture as to what ‘will’ happen. They can over analyse that can sometimes distort the truth of the situation. Jung described ‘Feelers’ as individuals that organise information that is new to them on a personal level. They do this by organising their behaviour to a personal way that shares their morals that can be identified with other individuals. ‘Feelers’ have a tendency to make their judgements based on their feelings that is important to the individual; they make their judgements known to others around them and give rise to others responses that form part of their ‘external environment’. It is this personality type that prefers to create their reality with a general consensus with the interaction of others around them. This can sometimes make them reply too much on their feelings and make them dependant on the way they display themselves socially, causing the main aim to be socially accepted and not actually giving themselves any personal satisfaction. ‘Thinking and feeling are the decision-making (judging) functions. The thinking and feeling functions are both used to make rational decisions, based on the data received from their information-gathering functions (sensing or intuition). Those who prefer the thinking function tend to decide things from a more detached standpoint, measuring the decision by what seems reasonable, logical, causal, consistent and matching a given set of rules. Those who prefer the feeling function tend to come to decisions byassociating or empathizing with the situation, looking at it â€Å"from the inside† and weighing the situation to achieve, on balance, the greatest harmony, consensus and fit, considering the needs of the people involved. ’ (http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Personality_type#cite_note-Myers-15; 10. 10. 2014) The forth letter of Jung’s personality type is what indicates the external factors of everyday life function. The letter ‘P’ represents ‘Perceiving’ and the letter ‘J’ represents ‘Judging’. Jung believed perceivers to be individuals that are more likely to rely on their  intuition and their experiences as they happen. This is the kind of type that tends to ‘live in the now’ and are totally aware of situations that need a response in an immediate fashion. They are the type that is against a situation where they need to follow set plans and organizations for events. Sensory P types are the sort of personality that are likely to interact physically with the environment around them, which is the opposite of ‘P’ types who see what in front of them and try and make sense of what is means, or in other wise examine situations to  understand what the big picture may be. ‘Perceiving simply what is sensation see’s what is sensation sees what is in the external world, intuition sees (or what we might say â€Å"pick ups†) what is in the inner world’. (Sharpe, Daryl; 19987; Personality Types – Jungs model of Typology; Inner City Books; Page 16) Jung thought ‘Judgers’ to be individuals that rely on rational thinking. This personality type is more than likely to organise for plans and activities and believe that they can predict what is likely to happen in such events. However, if  this type is found to be in a situation that is totally unpredictable than it more than like to cause them discomfort and even become quite irritable as they are not prepared for the event and do not have a set structure to follow. Thinking ‘J’ types relate to the standards that society has created by logically thinking and analysing in regard sot cause and effect. Feeling ‘J’ types are aware of values that they share with others and therefore look at information in a personal way in regards to social relationships. ‘Judging and Perceiving preferences, within the context of personality  types, refers to our attitude towards the external world, and how we live our lives on a day-to-day basis. People with the Judging preference want things to be neat, orderly and established. The Perceiving preference wants things to be flexible and spontaneous. Judgers want things settled, Perceivers want thing open-ended. Judging and Perceiving preferences, within the context of personality types, refers to our attitude towards the external world, and how we live our lives on a day-to-day basis. People with the Judging preference want things to be neat, orderly and established. The  Perceiving preference wants things to be flexible and spontaneous. Judgers want things settled, Perceivers want thing open-ended. (https://www. personalitypage. com/four-prefs. html#JP; 09. 10. 2104) The forth letter of Jung’s personality type theory represents an individuals higher function that relates to how they interact with the world. It conveys an extrovert function that helps set goals and what helps this type to blend in with society. This forth letter shows how our ‘inferior’ function is formed to use our inner reflection on how we interpret life experiences relative to our own self needs. Jung believed that the ‘P’ type extrovert uses there judging function for their inner thoughts. The thinking ‘P’ type inwardly looks at an image of all relationships in a logical way, like a systematic approach. The feeling ‘P’ type sense their own thoughts and values on their choices or intuition, however this can be somewhat difficult for type and they may find it difficult to convey or express directly. ‘J’ type personalities who are extrovert in regard sot their judging function implement their perceiving function for their inner (introvert)  reflections. ‘Sensation’ ‘J’ types hold their information of the physical external environment, mostly if this information is appealing to them on a personal level. The intuitive ‘J’ type will relate to the meaning of this new information. From the investigation of Jungs ‘Personality type’ theory I can see that by knowing a clients personality type can prove a useful tool in relation to helping the client map out their future goals. When a clients comes in the therapy it is usually for a reason, and they will tell you what is happening in their ‘present’ situation. The Jungarian styles it would appear that the clients would tell their life story, once the therapist understands the client’s point of view they can then help the client understand what issues they are impending. Once this has been established then the client and the counselor can then start to move forward to their journey to make goals and implement them. Goals act as a good basis for the therapist and client to see how the counseling is progressing. By understanding what personality type the client is the therapist can then relate to the clients issues and offer solutions. It is also very useful to  ensure that at the beginning of therapy that the therapist determines what the clients expectations are of therapy, and find out what their beliefs and values are and what there views are on their present situation. Once this is determined then the therapist can then see what the client wants to achieve and then help them move on to the level that they can. Carl Jungs research into personality types can offer an understanding for the therapist to see a clients sense of self. With that information the therapist can then set out goals that are achievable for the client to do as they wish in the  future. An aspect that is not looked at is the ‘emotional’ aspect towards situations. A theorist called Hans Eysenck also looked into the theory of ‘extroverts’ and ‘introverts. He concluded that an extrovert is someone who has a strong inhibition that and they can react to situations calmly. ‘Introverts’ can be self-conscious and because of this trait become more alert and maybe edgy in some situations. Eysenck discovered it was important to look at the interaction of emotions with ‘extroverts’ and ‘introverts’ when helping individuals. ‘British psychologist Hans Eysenck developed a model of personality based upon just three universal trails: Introversion/Extraversion, Neuroticism/Emotional Stability and Psychoticism’ (http://psychology. about. com/od/theoriesofpersonality/a/trait- theory. htm; 10. 10. 2014) I can see that understanding personality types is just one aspect or guideline for a therapist to use in helping their client set and achieve goals. It is down to the therapist they decide that this is useful with the client they are presented with or not.