The Collective Unconscious and its Archetypes
This is the point up to which the world-famous psychologist Sigmund Freud and his student and friend Carl Jung agreed. Freud called the unconscious mind as the unconscious mind, but Jung called it the 'personal unconscious.' He believed that there was another side to it called the collective unconscious. It means the unconscious that we share with our ancestors, and with the human race in general. It is the same as you inheriting your mother's nose or father's hair color. Jung calls it "a reservoir of the experiences of our species".
Jung says that the collective unconscious is made up of psychological archetypes. Archetypes are the initial or real shape or form of a thing that is eventually reused in another form. The concept of archetypes is a universal one. The American Heritage Dictionary defines archetype as "an inherited pattern of thought or symbolic imagery derived from the past collective experience and present in the individual unconscious." The following are some of the archetypes that formed a part of the concept of collective unconscious.
✦ The Self
✦ The Persona
✦ The Anima/Animus
✦ The Shadow
✦ The Wise Old Man
The Self
The self is a combination of both the conscious and unconscious mind. It depicts the complete personality of a human being. It is the result of all the experiences that have come our way thus far, and the effect that they have had on us, consciously and subconsciously. It is the person that we are, the person that we have become.
The Persona
In olden times, actors would wear masks in plays to depict their characters. The persona means just that. It is the Latin word for mask. We all wear masks in society, depicting ourselves differently to different people; it's what we want them to believe we are. This persona can manifest itself in dreams, according to Jung, and can take on different styles to show itself.
The Anima/Animus
The anima is the feminine personality that is present in the unconscious mind of every man, and the animus is the masculine personality that is present in the unconscious mind of every woman. This archetype also presents itself in dreams, and can affect the way in which either gender interacts with the other. For example, a man is told not to cry or be too sensitive, thus repressing his anima. This can affect the way he interacts with women. He may become totally detached, or a womanizer.
The Shadow
Read more at Buzzle: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/understanding-the-concept-of-collective-unconscious.html