fei75766_ch04_107-148.indd 145  02/19/20 09:00 AM
Chapter 4    Jung: Analytical Psychology145
 Concept of Humanity
Jung saw humans as complex beings with many opposing poles. His view of 
humanity was neither pessimistic  nor optimistic,  neither deterministic  nor pur-
posive. To him, people are motivated partly by conscious  thoughts, partly by 
images from their personal unconscious,  and partly by latent memory traces 
inherited from their ancestral past. Their motivation comes from both causal 
and teleological  factors.
The complex makeup of humans invalidates any simple or one-sided 
description. According to Jung, each person is a composition of opposing 
forces. No one is completely introverted or totally extraverted; all male or all 
female; solely a thinking, feeling, sensing, or intuitive person; and no one pro -
ceeds invariably in the direction of either progression or regression.
The persona is but a fraction of an individual. What one wishes to show 
others is usually only the socially acceptable side of personality. Every per -
son has a dark side, a shadow, and most try to conceal it from both society 
and themselves. In addition, each man possesses an anima and every woman 
an animus.
The various complexes and archetypes cast their spell over people and 
are responsible for many of their words and actions and most of their dreams 
and fantasies. Although people are not masters in their own houses, neither 
are they completely dominated by forces beyond their control. People have 
some limited capacity to determine their lives. Through strong will and with 
great courage, they can explore the hidden recesses of their psyche. They 
can recognize their shadow as their own, become partially conscious of their 
feminine or masculine side, and cultivate more than a single function. This 
process, which Jung called individuation or self-realization, is not easy and 
demands more fortitude than most people can muster. Ordinarily, a person 
who has achieved self-realization has reached middle life and has lived suc -
cessfully through the stages of childhood and youth. During middle age, they 
must be willing to set aside the goals and behaviors of youth and adopt a new 
style appropriate to their stage of psychic development.
Even after people have achieved individuation, made an acquaintance 
with their inner world, and brought the various opposing forces into balance, 
they remain under the influence of an impersonal collective unconscious 
that controls many of their prejudices, interests, fears, dreams, and creative 
activities.
On the dimension of biological versus  social  aspects of personality, Jung’s 
theory leans strongly in the direction of biology. The collective unconscious, 
which is responsible for so many actions, is part of our biological  inheritance. 
Except for the therapeutic potential of the doctor–patient relationship, Jung 
had little to say about differential effects of specific social practices. In fact, in 
his studies of various cultures, he found the differences to be superficial, the 
similarities profound. Thus, analytical psychology can also be  rated high on 
similarities  among people and low on individual differences.Final PDF to printer