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| The Jungian Ego |
Jungian View of Ego
By: John P. Rettger, M.A.
In Jungian theory, the ego is situated within a tripartite structure of personality: the ego, personal unconscious, and collective unconscious (Allan, 1997). The ego is designated as the area of personality of which one is consciously aware. Conscious awareness includes all that one is aware of concerning self and the environment. Allan lists thoughts, feelings, fantasies, sensations, and emotions as being (assuming that one is aware of them) elements of conscious awareness. The central element of the personality structure is the ego. The ego’s centrality is the result of its functioning as mediator between the “inner” (Allan, p. 100) personal and collective unconscious urges and the external environmental demands from authority figures (e.g. parents) and societal norms. An oversimplified definition of the personal unconscious is that it is the storehouse of repressed material and latent personality potentials that may or may not manifest in one’s lifetime.
Residing beneath the ego and the personal unconscious is the collective unconscious. The collective unconscious stores archetypes and the archetype of the self, which Allen describes as the “central organizing archetype” and is also defined as the “unconscious mind”. Archetypes may be compared to human instinctual drives, coupled with images that move and encourage feelings and behaviors. Jung (in Allan, 1997) suggests that archetypes extend across cultural boundaries and are universals uniting humans by revealing similarities in their experience. Allen writes that archetypes have both positive and negative attributes and are represented by powerful figures from the world’s prevalent religions such as God and the Devil. Archetypes also manifest in myth, dreams, folk tales, and contemporary media disciplines such as marketing.
The previous paragraphs defined the essential constructs related to the ego in Jungian theory. The following paragraphs illuminate the development of the ego.
An essential aspect of Jung’s analytical psychology is the concept of the ego-self axis. The ego-self axis defines the relationship between the conscious and unconscious mind. Allen suggests that in individuals considered “healthy” (I put healthy in quotes to express my thought that health is a culturally created construct and varies across cultures, and thus is a subjective construct with arguable parameters) there is a “fluid” (p. 101) and controlled relationship between the conscious and unconscious structures of personality. This notion is operationalized through the ego expressing thoughts and desires through socially acceptable means.
Jungian theory suggests that the ego arises from the archetype of the self. More specifically, Neumann (in Allan, 1997) suggests that at birth the ego is “embedded” (p. 101) in the self-archetype. Ego development occurs throughout development via a process of “dis-integraton and re-integraton” (Fordham in Allan, p. 101). This process perpetuates as a result of normal human needs such as hunger, and pain. Specifically, pain brings disintegration and alleviation from pain brings re-integration. While this process cycles throughout infancy, its importance cannot be underestimated. It is the caregivers response to the distressed infant during this critical time period that dictates the creation of positive or negative “parental introjects” (Allen, p. 101).
In addition, this is the time period when the infant begins to formulate feelings about self and attachment, and coping skills and ego defense mechanisms. These constructs are pivotal in the infant’s development in that they serve as buffers between the developing child and life stressors. Additionally, these safeguards function to allow the child to integrate both positive and negative (of which both are normal to have) life experiences and feelings. When caregivers are not appropriately present to the developing child, the protective coping and defense mechanisms will not be present. The result will likely be the child exhibiting pathological behaviors and psychological symptoms.
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Swiss Psychiatrist Dr. Carl Jung Relaxing in an Easy Chair in His Library at Home
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Created on 10/13/2007 09:46 PM by John
Updated on 02/07/2009 12:55 PM by John
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