Carl Jung and His Theories - Research Proposal Example

? Carl Jung and his theories number Publish Carl Jung and his theories Topic This paper investigates Carl Jungand his significant theoretical contributions to the field of psychology. Researching into Jung’s theories and contributions will allow for an appreciation of how Jung’s work has influenced modern psychology. It must be noted that Jung, unlike other men of science of his time, used untested ideas and mystical concepts to delineate how the human mind worked. There is no proven scientific basis behind Jung’s work, much like that of Sigmund Freud, but still Jung’s work has been used widely such as for the development of the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). Jung’s contributions are many and widely varied ranging from an exploration of human personality to learning practices. Unlike other psychological developments, Jung’s work finds its basis in the metaphysical and the spiritual which stood in contrast to Freud’s psychoanalytic approach and Adler’s individuality approach (Aldridge, Kilgo, Werner, & Christensen, 2011). Moreover, Jung’s work does not confine per se to psychology alone but instead explores other areas such as literature, arts, philosophy, sociology and astrology. The branch of psychology developed using Jung’s ideas is better known as analytical or Jungian psychology and relies on delineating the whole human self as a combination of unconscious desires and underlying motivations for behaviour. Jung’s theories and concepts present new perspectives on psychology such as through his concepts of introversion and extraversion. Although these concepts were available before Jung, however, he has successfully integrated them as differing parts of a continuum. Jung sees everyone as both an introvert and an extrovert with one part dominating the other in personality construction or individuation (Moore, 2006). In addition, Jung like Freud sees the human personality as a complex where various elements come together in order to create a human persona centred on a particular theme (Selig, 2009). Another important concept provided by Jung is that of the collective unconscious. Jung argued that humans had psychological impulses comparable to biological instincts that had been learned over time by mankind. These psychological impulses were labelled as archetypes and the collection of archetypes was seen as being commonly accessible to all of mankind through the collective conscious (Dobson, 2011). Last but not least is Jung’s concept of synchronicity which delineates that events are not random but have causal relationships that are constructed in certain manners to produce meaning (Lorenz, 2006). Thesis The contention behind this paper is to look into the major theories and concepts provided by Carl Jung with special emphasis on his ideas on psychology. The exploration of Jung’s ideas and contributions to psychology will allow for the realisation of how Jungian psychology has altered the course of modern psychology. In addition, it will allow the reader an insight into how the human mind operates using an explanation that contains both scientific perspectives and mystical conceptions. It must be kept in mind that Jung did not practice scientific studies but considered himself a scientist still. Annotated Bibliography Aldridge, J., Kilgo, J. L., Werner, M., & Christensen, L. M. (2011). Parallels in the Beliefs and Works of Margaret Fuller and Carl Jung: Dreams, Literature, Spirituality, and Gender. SAGE Open . This article contrasts the works and ideas of Margaret Fuller and Carl Gustav Jung to bring forth similarities and differences in both scholars. The works of Jung have been explored in greater detail and have been used as a baseline for comparisons with Margaret Fuller. The article does not utilise any scientific methods but instead relies on descriptions of both scholars and their various works in order to present the differences. The similarities have been explored separate from the differences between both scholars. Dobson, D. (2011). Interacting Narratives: Acknowledging the Self in the Construction of Professional Knowledge. Journal of Jungian Scholarly Studies 7(1) , 1-18. Dobson explores the creation of the learning experience as a confluence of various social influences through a conscious effort. The article develops the theoretical ideas of Interacting Narratives through the Life Narrative and the Chosen Narratives to construct the personal identities and the professional identities of teachers. The methods used by Dobson rely in large part on analytical or Jungian psychology with special emphasis on depth psychology. This articles tends to explore the depth psychology perspective considering the collective unconscious and its influences on the development of identities. Fawkes, J. (2010). Cultural Complexes in Professional Ethics. Journal of Jungian Scholarly Studies 6(8) , 1-13. This article looks into how professional ethics are a result of various cultural complexes and the archetypes that create such complexes. The author looks into how Jungian influences can help explain the creation of differing cultural complexes and hence professional ethics. The article also looks briefly into Asian discourse on the issue and provides for an appreciation of how Jung’s work incorporates Western and Eastern ideals to create a holistic picture. Lorenz, H. S. (2006). Synchronicity in the 21st Century. Journal of Jungian Scholarly Studies 2(2) , 1-13. This article looks into the basic premise of the synchronicity concepts and theories as developed by Jung and Pauli as well as other influences. Lorenz suggests that Jung's ideas on synchronicity were essentially the most powerful outcome of his work but were ignored in large part by the practising psychological community due to the influence of Freudian ideas. The concept of synchronicity and its implications for the twenty first century as well as the resurgent use of the concept for psychological work has been explored in detail. Moore, R. L. (2006). Theory Matters: Analytical Psychology and the Human Experience of Despair. Journal of Jungian Scholarly Studies 2(1) , 1-16. The author looks into the development of the human personality especially with the context of despair. The article looks primarily into various situations that tend to limit humans to the levels of desperation and the ensuing behaviour. Moreover, the author looks into despair through the application of depth psychology. The word despair and its various definitions have been discussed in order to see how despair is actually configured under depth psychology. Selig, J. L. (2009). The Content and their Complexes: The Wounded Leadership of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Barack Obama. Journal of Jungian Scholarly Studies 5(3) , 1-24. Selig explores the content and the creation of complexes with special emphasis on leadership based complexes. The basic premise of this article is to compare the leadership of Martin Luther King, Jr. and that of Barack Obama by differentiating in the creation of the complexes dictating their personalities. In addition, Selig looks into Jung’s belief that the collective unconscious of the modern age has been split up into different components and how this has implications for modern leaders and leadership. Read More