Jungian theory

Jungian theory

A body of psychoanalytic theory offered as an alternative to Freud's with its central emphasis on sex. Carl Gustav Jung (1875–1961) defined ‘libido’, more widely, as a general creative life force that could find a variety of outlets. He identified EXTRAVERSION and INTROVERSION and suggested that people could be divided into four categories by their primary interests-the intellect, the emotions, intuition and the sensations. Like Freud, Jung was deeply concerned with symbols which he considered central to the understanding of human nature. He postulated the existence of a layered unconscious psyche, both personal and collective, the latter being common to all humankind. He proposed the concept of ‘archetypes’-inherent tendencies to experience and symbolize universal human situations in distinctively human ways. Never very scientific, Jung later in life moved even further into the airy realms of metaphysical speculation about which no scientific comment is possible. Compare FREUDIAN THEORY.