Jung's archetypes and astromythology. Introduction to the General Theory of Archetypes

There is such a thing as archetype, which is translated from Greek as prototype. The concept was developed by Carl Jung. Let's take it apart and try to understand what the great psychologist put into it. First of all, an archetype is a memory or an idea that is innate. All this necessarily predisposes people to act, speak and generally behave in a certain way.

The reaction to events in him, in the archetype, is also predetermined. And, in general, According to Jung, an archetype is the primary process of mental images that is contained in the collective unconscious.

In the great variety of archetypes - Jung believed that their number should not be limited - there are four main ones and eight main ones, described by himself- this is the mother, the deity of the Sun, death, the sage, the hero, the child, the rogue and God.

It should also be noted that archetypes are capable of creating mixtures in humanity that are delightful in their originality, and, therefore, they are perfectly compatible.

So, let's start describing the theory. And let's start, perhaps, with the self.

Self there is an archetype that represents the combined unconscious and conscious principles of the human personality. The self is formed under the influence of the process of individuation, in which all aspects of the human “I” are united. At the end of this process, harmony, integrity and unity are achieved. Jung believed that the development of self is the main goal of life.

But it is necessary to realize that the archetype of the self cannot be realized until the entire soul of a person is unified, and, consequently, all aspects of the soul, both conscious and unconscious, are not brought into a state of harmony. The self is most often depicted as a mandala, circle or square.

Next we have Shadow.

From the point of view of the collective unconscious Shadow- this is the instinct and hidden nature of man, which has hardly changed since the times when man first became aware of himself. The shadow cannot be completely suppressed by education and in many ways it bears the imprint of childhood, when our actions are too straightforward and impulsive.

The most famous symbol of the Shadow is the Devil, as the ruler of something hidden, hidden, and also underground, invisible world. It is, of course, perceived as the most bright image collective unconscious.

For the most significant reflection of the Shadow, Jung uses images of stuntmen. That they flaunt their worst qualities. Moreover, they often pretend to be someone they are not.

To begin with, we should consider the Shadow as something hidden, and therefore the most formidable and terrible in a person.

The shadow in most cases appears as subconscious desires that have nothing in common with public morality. This is the lowest level of consciousness in relation to modernity.

A person understands that this individual, alien to him, who lives within himself, exists and manifests itself when, having entered into a rage, he can no longer stop. However, then he often justifies himself that it was not him, he was like that only under the influence of the moment. And, in general, something came over him today.

The influential moment that hit him is none other than shadow - a poorly realized part of the personality, preserved since primitive times and including everything animal origin of man. He is a kind of dark side of the psyche, personifying chaos, savagery and the unknown.

Let's move on to the next archetype, and for us it is a person. It is he who has the greatest power over human consciousness. However, at the same time, it is similar to the mask that the ancient Greek theater actor put on his face. Society expects certain behavior from a person, which contributes to the formation of collective images.

But we will make an irreparable mistake if we begin to perceive someone through the prism of this image. Of course, people choose their roles according to their taste, and from this point of view, a person is a part of a person, but never the whole person.

A persona is definitely needed. And to those who do not see the point in working on its development, because their behavior is often defiant, or even simply . However, despite the convenience of this mask, it is quite capable of overshadowing the rest of the personality, locking the person into only one social role.

We are coming to the end of our story, and therefore we will consider Animu and Animus ... If we approach the matter from the assumption that all people are androgynous, then Anima represents the unconscious feminine inclinations in a man, and the masculine animus in a woman.

From a biological point of view, these archetypes are explained by the fact that human bodies produce both types of hormones, both male and female. The evolution of this archetype is based on the idea of the opposite sex and the experience of interacting with it.

In the process of living together, many men acquired feminine traits, and women acquired masculine ones. If the opposite principle is not developed in a person, one-sidedness and abnormal functioning may occur.

One of the basic ideas of the concept of the Swiss psychiatrist K.G. Jung’s concept of “personality archetypes” has revolutionized the idea of the structure of the human personality in the public consciousness.

At the end of the 19th – beginning of the 20th century, an outstanding Swiss psychologist, psychotherapist and psychiatrist lived and worked. Carl Gustav Jung(1875-1961). Being a student and follower of S. Freud, Jung later isolated himself and became the founder of his own, different from classical psychoanalysis, directions in psychology – analytical psychology.

Disagreements between C. Jung and S. Freud arose on the basis of understanding the content of libido. Freud defined it as sexual energy, the sexual instinct, which determines the desire for life, in contrast to mortido (the second main instinct), which determines the desire for destruction and death.

K. Jung defined libido not only as sexual energy, but also as creative life energy, manifested in various areas, including culture, religion, and government.

Z. Freud great importance assigned to the unconscious (It, Id), the instinctive part of the personality, in which suppressed drives and impulses are stored. Jung did not agree that the unconscious has boundaries, so he developed the doctrine of collective unconscious. At the same time, he did not exclude personal consciousness (Ego) and the personal unconscious from the structure of the personality.

Thus, in personality structure according to K. Jung there is:

Ego– the center of consciousness and self-awareness. These are sensations, feelings, thoughts, memories stored in memory that allow a person to perceive himself as a relatively permanent “I”, evaluate himself, make plans and perform conscious activities.
Personal unconscious. Repressed conflicts, memories, fears, and complexes are stored here. The contents of the personal unconscious can be conscious and, one way or another, influence the personality.
Collective unconscious- a universal and universal “spiritual repository”, it contains all the knowledge and experience of humanity and is inherited by every new person, regardless of what time and in what society he was born.

Universal human primary mental images, located in the collective unconscious and determining patterns and motives of behavior, are what Jung called archetypes.

Archetypes are innate and inherited mental structures that often manifest themselves in images, symbols, dreams, dreams, myths and fairy tales. Unconsciously, a person perceives the world through these images and acts based on them.

Archetypes are forms that take on different parts of the human soul, developed over centuries in the collective unconscious of people.

In total, today there are about thirty archetypes, but Jung himself designated only four of them as the main personality archetypes.

Self

The most important, central archetype that shapes personality. This is the core of the personality, which combines both consciousness and the unconscious. Self– this is a harmonious, mature “I” of a person.

The Archetype of the Self is not realized until a person integrates all aspects of his individuality, accepts himself completely, and becomes a harmoniously developed, balanced personality. Achieving this is extremely difficult and is only possible in adulthood.

Self requires wisdom, constancy, perseverance, determination, high level awareness, life experience in order to open up.

Jung himself depicted the Self in the form of a circle or mandala (a sacred schematic representation of the model of the universe).

A person

A person is a collection social roles, “masks” (“persona” – Latin “mask”), which a person puts on in front of other people, fulfilling the demands of society and at the same time trying to either impress or hide his true “I”.

This archetype is a necessary protective model of behavior in society, allowing one to adapt and adapt to it. An archetype can become dangerous if the “mask” does not simply protect the Ego, but begins to replace it with itself.

Shadow

Shadow– the opposite of Persona, this is the “dark side” of the personality, personifying savagery and chaos. Everything immoral, instinctive, animal, aggressive, passionate, sexual, repressed is the Shadow.

But the Shadow is not clearly a negative side of the personality, but also a source vital energy and creativity. The desires and impulses of the Shadow are aimed at satisfying the needs of the individual, with the goal of achieving personal benefit and happiness. But the actions that the Shadow provokes a person to do are not always moral and acceptable. The regulation of the instinctive energy of the Shadow and the satisfaction of needs in a socially acceptable manner is the responsibility of the Ego.

Anima or Animus

"Anima" and "Animus" translated from Latin - " soul"(in feminine and masculine). Anima– the archetype of a Woman in the unconscious of a man, Animus- archetype of the Man in the Woman.

Every man has an inner image of a Woman, his unconscious feminine side, his female soul; every woman has a Man who is part of her personality.

This feature of the human soul, which can be called psychological androgyny, suggests that for the harmonious development of personality, a man should not suppress those qualities that are generally considered feminine in society (sensitivity, caring, and so on), and a woman, those that are considered masculine (aggression, integrity, etc.).

Without the manifestation of all sides of the soul, there is no harmonious development of personality and its self-realization. But it’s bad when Anima takes over a man, making him too feminine, and the Animus controls a woman, making her overly masculine.

To refer to the Anima-Animus pair, Jung used the term “ syzygy" Syzygy is harmony, integrity, completeness, embodied in a man-woman pair. Therefore, a man and a woman, when choosing a sexual partner, unconsciously project the Anima and Animus onto the men and women they meet, respectively. A man is looking for his “soul mate”, and a woman is looking for hers.

K. Jung noted that archetypes can intersect, coincide or replace each other. The personality structure may contain many other archetypes, for example, Father, Hero, Mother, Child, Sage and others.

If you want to study analytical psychology in depth, read the classic works of C. G. Jung.

Last update: 06/15/2015

Jung proposed that the soul consists of three components: the ego, the personal unconscious and the collective unconscious...

According to Jung, the ego represents consciousness, and the personal unconscious contains memories, including those that have been repressed. The collective unconscious is a unique component; Jung believed that this part of the soul serves as a form of psychological inheritance. It contains all the knowledge and experience that is inherent to us all as a species.

What are archetypes?

By archetypes, Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung meant certain patterns of human behavior. Where did these archetypes come from then? From the same place as the collective unconscious, Jung believed. He proposed that these behavior patterns are innate, universal, and hereditary. Archetypes cannot be learned, they are inherent in us from birth; and their function is to determine the process of our perception of the world, events and phenomena around us.

“All the most vivid and powerful ideas can be traced back historically to archetypes,” Jung wrote in his book The Structure of the Soul ( The Structure of the Psyche). - “And this is especially true in relation to religious ideas, Although central concepts science, philosophy and ethics are also no exception to this rule. In their current form they are variants of archetypal ideas created through their conscious application and adaptation to reality. For the function of consciousness is not only to recognize and assimilate the external world through the gates of our senses, but also to translate the world, both within us and around us, into a visible and existing beautiful reality.”

Jung identified four main archetypes, noting that their number can be unlimited.

Self

The Self is an archetype that represents the union of a person’s unconscious and consciousness. The formation of the self occurs through a process of individuation in which various aspects of personality are integrated. Jung often conventionally depicted the self as a circle, square, or mandala.

Shadow

The shadow is an archetype that relies on the life instinct and sexual instinct. The shadow exists as part of the unconscious and consists of repressed ideas and weaknesses, their desires, instincts and shortcomings.

This archetype is often described as the dark side of the psyche, representing wildness, chaos and the unknown. Jung believed that these hidden dispositions are present in each of us, although people sometimes tend to deny this element of their own psyche.

Jung theorized that the shadow could appear in dreams and take on various shapes- appearing in the guise of a snake, monster, demon, dragon or some other dark, wild or exotic creature.

Anima and animus

The anima represents the unconscious feminine side of a man's personality, and the animus represents the unconscious masculine side of a woman's personality. The anima/animus represents the “true self”, rather than the image we present to others, and serves as the main source of communication with the collective unconscious.

The combination of anima and animus is called the syzygy, or divine couple. Syzygy embodies completeness and integrity.

A person

A persona is how we present ourselves to the world. The word "persona" comes from a Latin word that means "mask". This archetype itself represents a set of social masks that we use in various groups and situations. Its task is to protect the ego from the possible manifestation of its negative sides. According to Jung, a persona can also appear in a dream and take on various forms.

Translated from Greek, archetype is “prototype.” The theory of archetypes was developed by a student of the great Z. Freud, Carl Gustav Jung. He reworked psychoanalysis and as a result a whole complex of complex ideas emerged, based on philosophy, psychology, literature, mythology and other fields of knowledge. What is the concept of archetype - in this article.

Archetype - what is it?

It is understood as the universal basic innate personality structures that determine a person’s needs, feelings, thoughts and behavior. An archetype is a collective inherited from ancestors through folklore. Each person, in accordance with his archetype, chooses a partner, a business to his liking, raises children, etc. Having an understanding of this innate personality structure, a psychotherapist can help a person get rid of complexes and even change the scenario of his life.

Jung's Archetypes

There is a direct connection between archetypes, which are elements of psychostructures, and mythological images, which are products of primitive consciousness. First, the author drew an analogy, then an identity, and then expressed the idea that one gives rise to the other. belong to the entire human race and are inherited. Prototypes are concentrated in the deep unconscious, going beyond the boundaries of the individual.

Their emotional intensity and clarity determine a person’s talents and creative potential. In his works, Jung resorts to analyzing the myths of the peoples of the world. Later, he uses the archetype to designate universal human fundamental (mythological) motives underlying any kind of structure. He gave a special place in his theoretical system to “mask,” “anime,” “shadow,” and “self.” Many identified the author with the heroes literary works. The “Shadow” is Goethe’s Mephistopheles in Faust, the “Wise Old Man” is Nietzsche’s Zarathushtra.

Archetype sage

He is also called a thinker for whom the spiritual has higher value than material. The sage is calm and collected, concentrated. Asceticism and simplicity are important to him. Personality archetypes also have a certain color scheme, so for the sage these are achromatic, colorless shades. Outwardly, philosophers may seem cold and uncommunicative people, but this is not so. They simply prefer the search for truth to useless conversations and entertainment. They always experiment, learn something new, create and help everyone with their wise advice.

Anima Archetype

This is one of the archetypes of gender - the female component of the male psyche. This Jung archetype expresses the feelings, mood and impulses of a man, his emotions. It concentrates all female psychological tendencies - rapidly changing moods, prophetic inspirations, the ability to love once and for a lifetime. Jung talked about anime as being ready to jump. A few years ago, men possessed by anima were called animatoses. These are irritable, impulsive and easily excitable representatives of the stronger sex, whose psyche reacts to a stimulus inappropriately to its strength.

Archetype Animus

The second gender archetype is the male component of a woman’s psyche. According to Jung, this archetype produces opinion, while anima produces mood. Often, a woman’s solid beliefs are not based on anything in particular, but if she has decided on something... The positive animus is responsible for a woman’s insight, her commitment to all kinds of beliefs. And a negative one can push her to a reckless act. This archetype is about masculinity, which lies at the core of women. And the more feminine a representative of the fairer sex looks, the stronger the animus in her.

The latter can also take on the functions of collective conscience. The opinions of the animus are always collective and stand above individual judgments. This kind of “judicial panel” of the archetype is the personification of the animus. He is also a reformer, under whose influence a woman weaves unfamiliar words into her speech, uses the expressions “it is common knowledge”, “everyone does this”, drawing knowledge from books, overheard conversations, etc. Her intellectual reasoning can easily turn into absurdity.

Self archetype

Jung considered it the main archetype - the archetype of personality integrity, centeredness. It unites the conscious and unconscious, normalizing the balance of opposing elements of the psyche. By discovering human archetypes and exploring other personality structures, Jung discovered this prototype of the self, considering it to be all-encompassing. It is a symbol of dynamic balance and harmony of opposites. The Self may appear in dreams as an insignificant image. Most people have not developed it and they know nothing about it.

Shadow archetype

Jung calls it the "anti-self." These are those that a person does not recognize in himself and does not want to see. The shadow archetype, according to Jung, is the dark, bad, animal side of the personality, which the bearer suppresses. This applies to passions and thoughts that are unacceptable by society, and aggressive actions. This archetype has the following example: if by dominant function a person is sensual, prone to strong emotions, then his shadow will be the thinking type, which at the most unexpected moment can manifest itself as a jack-in-the-box.

The shadow grows as one grows older and a person begins to become aware of it, to understand everything about himself at the end of his life. You can deal with the shadow through individual confession, and in this regard, Catholics are very lucky, in whose confession there is such a phenomenon. Every person must understand and understand that at any moment he is ready for bad behavior and aspirations.

Archetype person

Speaking in simple language, is a mask that a person puts on to perform a certain role. Types of archetypes distinguish a person as a certain part of the psyche, facing outward and serving the tasks of adaptation. The mask is characterized by collectivity, therefore it is an element of the collective psyche. A person acts as a kind of compromise between the individual and society. By putting on a mask, it is easier for a person to interact with others. Those who do not have a developed persona are called reckless sociopaths. But the opposite situation is also undesirable, since it destroys a person’s individuality.

Archetype god

A follower of Jungian teachings is Jean Shinoda Bohlen, who studied women's and male archetypes in mythology. She attributed the following Gods to male archetypal images:

Zeus– strong-willed and domineering, .
Hades– quiet and mysterious, aloof.
Apollo– mature and rational, with common sense.
Hephaestus- hardworking and strong.
Dionysus– enthusiastic and non-conflict.

The types of archetypes according to Jung among female Gods are as follows:

Artemis– strong and risky. She does not tolerate restrictions.
Athena– wise and strong-willed, able to put aside emotions and analyze only facts.
Aphrodite– sensual and tender.
Tufe– contradictory, striving to embrace the immensity, but at the same time unable to foresee the consequences of its actions.
Hecate- a great mystifier. Those predisposed to this type often engage in occult practices.

Each person combines two or three or more archetypes. They compete with each other, prevail one over the other, controlling their carrier, determining the area of his interests, direction of activity, commitment to certain ideals. These Gods possible models behavior, but much will depend on upbringing, a person’s ability to adapt, conform and meet the expectations of others.

Jung - the mother archetype

It is the evil of all things and the beginning of all things. Psychology especially highlights this archetype, because in any psychotherapeutic process this figure always pops up. At the same time, it can manifest itself as matter, and then its carrier will have problems with handling things. If the archetype affects the family and social connections, then any violations of this aspect will manifest themselves in difficulties in adaptation and communication. Well, the last third phenomenon, the uterus, determines the carrier’s ability to conceive, bear and give birth, or the ability to finish the job started.

Child archetype

This archetype in psychology is called the Divine. And all because it contains all the power of the spirit, all the power of nature and the collective unconscious. On the one hand, a defenseless child can be destroyed by anyone, but on the other hand, it is characterized by amazing vitality. The host's consciousness may be torn apart by various opposing tendencies, but the emerging child archetype unites them.

Jung's Witch Archetype

This is the most instinctive prototype, symbolizing the need for knowledge and knowledge. Such a woman may be interested in the mysteries of existence, religion and esotericism. She surrounds herself with amulets, wears amulets and often tattoos. Carriers of this archetype are characterized by highly developed intuition. Examples of archetypes according to Jung include Mary Poppins. This prototype was also demonstrated in the film “Muse”. This is what they call the bright side of a witch. Dark side manifests itself in the ability to intrigue and seduce, to deceive, to lead, to arouse desire.

Jung's archetype of the jester

This is a creatively thinking archetype, professing an unconventional view of things. The theory of archetypes includes many prototypes, but only this one teaches you to take life lightly, without thinking about what others will think. The jester is like a ray of light in absurdity modern world and the faceless daily bureaucratic routine. He brings chaos into the orderly world and makes the dream come true. He is characterized by impulsiveness and spontaneity, a playfulness that a person could only afford in childhood.

The archetype of the jester helps people get away with it, get out of the worst situations. difficult situations. They are open and friendly, and are able to turn even the most routine and boring work into creative process, add a touch of enthusiasm and fun. A striking example- Semyon Semenovich in the film “The Diamond Arm”. Charlie Chaplin and the funny girl Tosya from the movie "Girls" are also prominent representatives jester.

I propose to talk about what personality archetypes are and why it is important to have an idea about them. I'll start with two stories. At first glance, they are similar: their heroines managed to cope with conflicts that lasted several years. But the fact is that in these situations, exactly the opposite strategies led to success!

Case one: the Lover archetype

A woman works as an accountant. She is not the only specialist in her organization - there is a whole accounting department there. And this accounting department has, so to speak, an “existential enemy” in the person of one of the state funds. For some unknown reason, every contact between accountants and the fund ends with the proverbial exit from the comfort zone. Necessarily nerves, conflict, negative emotions, overcoming.

During the diagnosis, I discovered that the woman had an unmanifested Lover archetype. Here it is necessary to clarify: I deal with issues of career guidance for adults, for which I use the concept of archetypes by the American Carol Pearson. In her interpretation, the presence of the Lover archetype means that a person, among other things, has the potential of a diplomat and a peacemaker. Or, to put it in fashionable terms, a mediator, facilitator, etc.

What does it mean if the archetype is in unmanifested form? This means that the client is not aware of some features of his behavior. This means that they are entirely determined by the area of the unconscious. If you demonstrate to a person certain patterns in a number of his actions, the first reaction will be surprise: “Wow, how I didn’t notice this before!”

Patterns of behavior can fit into patterns. The Lover archetype is one of them. Having realized his patterns, the client then begins to think about how to apply them to his benefit. This was exactly the homework that the client received from me. In the next two weeks after the diagnosis, as an experiment, she had to consciously apply the identified pattern in some situations. And the woman chose the situation with a state fund for the experiment.

How it was? Subsequently, the client said that she had determined that her next trip to the fund would be quiet and peaceful. And so it happened. For the first time in long years everything went without a hitch. She was able to submit her reports on the spot, and there was even a nice girl among the fund’s employees who helped her correct some mistake on the fly. The woman was shocked. I told my colleagues, they replied that it was just a happy accident.

I am sure that there will be people who will explain the ending of the story not by the client’s diplomatic abilities, but simply by the expectation effect (Rosenthal effect). They say that since the woman set her mind to a positive result, she got it.

In fact, the creator of archetype theory, Carl Gustav Jung, studied the overlap between the mental and physical long before Robert Rosenthal. He even had an interesting concept of synchronicity about this. But, delving into it, we will go far to the side. To show that not everything can be attributed to the expectation effect, it is more appropriate to tell the second case.

Case two: the Rebel archetype

In the second case, there was a conflict with the father. He left the family when the client was still a teenager. More than 15 years later, relations with him remained extremely difficult.

The woman's diagnosis revealed the Rebel archetype. His recipe for success is the opposite of Lover's. If the Lover’s template is close to the philosophy of Leopold the cat (“Guys, let’s live together!”), then the Rebel prefers to go ahead and does not care about other people’s feelings. It is interesting that seven manifestations of the Rebel immediately appeared the next day after the diagnosis. What happened next was not an experiment; everything happened spontaneously.

So, after a month or two, the client has a happy event: she gets married. Why not use this as a reason to reconcile with your father? He was invited to the wedding. As you understand, there were more than positive expectations. Contrary to Rosenthal, they did not help at all: the father promised to come, but deceived him. The parent’s prank turned into a full-scale Ivanovo scandal, which the client threw at her father on Skype. Our heroine didn’t want to create a scandal, but she couldn’t help herself. It was the kind of quarrel after which people break off relationships forever.

Surprisingly, the relationship with my father after the scandal... improved. The parent suddenly began to respect his daughter and even began to consult with her on professional issues - something that was simply impossible to imagine before.

The question again: how to explain what happened? The answer seems to be that the ending was dictated by the situation. Like, you need to approach one person with a stick, and another with a carrot. However, such reasoning in attempts to explain something through external factors paradoxically grates precisely for the mill of the theory of archetypes.

Individuality and patterns

Judge for yourself. Here are two statements:

“A person achieved success because he applied (consciously or not) strengths its archetype-template."
"A man achieved success because external factors that he does not control (the effect of expectations, randomness, features of the situation).”

Both of these statements are actually about the same thing. The fact that a person’s life is influenced by a certain force external to him, which should be taken into account and adjusted to it. Which thereby limits human subjectivity. Ancient people called this force gods. And Jung called them... archetypes.

How did he explain this? Through the concept of synchronicity, which I already mentioned. This concept goes far beyond psychology, so this is not the place or time to discuss it. Let's fix the main thing for now.

According to Jung, people are different. The reason that people are different is because of the existence of archetypes. Being different, people can achieve equally successful results using different methods. There are many examples of this, including classic ones.

In Kazan, two leading weavers, Shakirova and Lavrentieva, worked at the flax mill. Shakirova had a proactive approach to the work process: she believed that any unfavorable situations should be warned in advance. And Lavrentyeva professed a reactive method: she did not engage in any prevention, but if something went wrong, she quickly responded to the problem. At the same time, both were equally successful, photos of both hung on the honor board. Forcing both to change their approaches to organizing work was completely useless.

Observing weavers, the future luminary of Soviet psychology Evgeniy Klimov created the concept of “individual style of activity,” on which he defended his dissertation in 1959. The essence of the concept is that people are different. This discovery was made independently of Jung.

It would seem that now I am trying to prove the obvious. Well, it’s obvious that people are different? Absolutely not. Klimov's idea about individual styles has taken root in elite sports, where high stakes are at stake. But it still hasn’t reached the mass market.

Mass vocational training in the world is still built on the premise that people are the same. That there are universal ones for everyone effective methods performing this or that work. What can you write a book with? universal recipes how to become a millionaire, and everyone can get rich according to this pattern (the notorious Napoleon Hill was fond of this illusion).

In the 1920–1930s in the Soviet Union, everyone was forced to move a saw and swing a sledgehammer in the same rhythm - this is the work of Alexei Gastev from the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions. Now they say that Gastev’s legacy needs to be updated. That is, there has been no significant progress in understanding that people are different.

In fact, it is important to remember: if you want to be successful, you need to look for those patterns that fit your psychological characteristics. Of course, it is impossible to create 7 billion templates based on the number of people living on Earth. But creating 5–15 templates that more or less take into account individuality is an absolutely realistic task.

Psychotypes vs archetypes

The quick-witted reader will say: “Wait! Now you are talking about psychological types! What do archetypes have to do with it then?”

I answer: psychological types correlate with archetypes, like form and content. Jung was a fan of the philosophy of Immanuel Kant. The latter believed that there are unknowable “things in themselves” (noumena), which manifest themselves through so-called phenomena. Here the archetype is a “thing in itself”, and the psychological type is a phenomenon.

If you trace how Jung came up with the famous pair of psychological types “extroverts/introverts”, it is striking that it is based on the opposition archetypes Persona and Shadow. 16 psychological types of the famous MBTI questionnaire are combinations components archetype, which Jung called the Quaternity.

Over time, when James Hillman called for the abandonment of the opposition between archetypes and archetypal images, a number of Jungians began to confuse archetypes with psychological types. But initially it was conceived precisely as content (noumenon) and form (phenomenon).

The next question logically follows from this: why bother with archetypes if there are psychotypes? I confirm: if your life is stable, there are no changes in your psychotype, then filling your head with archetypes is completely unnecessary!

However, there is one unpleasant news: over time, your psychotype changes. This news brings a lot of negative feelings. After all, you have probably already studied yourself well, got used to your character, and adapted to your behavior pattern. And suddenly it all stops working. Tried and tested remedies that have been tried and tested over the years turn out to be useless. What's happening? You do not understand. You start to panic.

To understand what is happening and why, you need to understand not the form, but the content. Not in the classification of psychotypes, but in general in the essence of the phenomenon. Therefore, in this case, it is no longer possible to do without the doctrine of archetypes.

What is the role of the archetype in this process? How does this affect your life? How often does this happen? I will answer these questions another time ().

From the editor

To understand the teachings of Carl Jung, you need to read him! One of his most famous works is "Essays on the Psychology of the Unconscious". We read it for you and highlighted the key ideas: .

Socionics as an independent system of personality typology grew out of the teachings of Jung. A typist talks about the basics of socionics Nadezhda Dubonosova: .

Over the several decades of its existence, socionics has managed to evolve noticeably. ABOUT the latest trends this direction can be read in the book of Timur Protsky "Modern Socionics": .

Understanding that we are different is one thing. Understanding how these differences affect our communication is another thing entirely. Rhetoric teacher and consultant in the field of communication psychology and public speaking Irina Mukhitdinova explains how psychological characteristics manifest themselves in communication: .