Carl Jung
Swiss psychiatrist and founder of analytical psychology
Swiss psychiatrist who worked at the Burghölzli, collaborated with Freud until 1912 to 1913 and then developed analytical psychology, including psychological types, archetypes and the collective unconscious.
Why this person matters
Jung's typology of extraversion and introversion underlies instruments such as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, which researchers do not widely accept. His ideas influenced later therapy, and his conduct and statements in the 1930s remain contested.
Main contributions
Word association studies
He began work at the Burghölzli hospital in Zurich under Eugen Bleuler in December 1900. With Franz Riklin he published Diagnostic Association Studies, and his word association work led to a correspondence and collaboration with Freud of more than six years.
Psychological Types
His 1921 book set out extraversion and introversion and four functions: thinking, feeling, sensation and intuition. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator was developed from this model.
Analytical psychology
After the break with Freud he described individuation, archetypes, the collective unconscious and synchronicity. By one account his own experiments failed to confirm synchronicity, yet he kept the idea.
Context and limits
In 1933 Jung became president of the International General Medical Society for Psychotherapy; its German affiliate excluded Jews, and its journal published a statement endorsing Nazi positions. In 1934 he wrote that 'The Aryan unconscious has a greater potential than the Jewish unconscious.' Andrew Samuels argues that such remarks show antisemitism built into his thought. Jung denied being a Nazi sympathiser or antisemitic and said he was misquoted; he resigned the presidency in 1939. There is no consensus on how to judge his record.
In your introductory course
Personality.Appears in the personality chapter through extraversion and introversion, and in the history chapter as a well-known dissenter from Freud.
Related course reading: Psychology 2e, section 11.3. This is course context rather than a biographical source.
Years of active work
- 1900
Began work at the Burghölzli under Bleuler.
- 1910
Elected president of the International Psychoanalytical Association for a two-year term.
- 1921
Published Psychological Types.
- 1933
Became president of the International General Medical Society for Psychotherapy.
- 1939
Resigned that presidency.
Sources
- Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Was famous psychoanalyst Carl Jung an anti-Semite?Publisher. Text passages inspected.
- New World Encyclopedia, Carl JungReference work. Reference article inspected.
- Wikipedia, Carl JungReference work. Reference article inspected.