112 Part II Psychodynamic Theories
but such innate potential requires an individual experience before it will become
activated. Humans, like other animals, come into the world with inherited predis-
positions to act or react in certain ways if their present experiences touch on these
biologically based predispositions. For example, a man who falls in love at first
sight may be greatly surprised and perplexed by his own reactions. His beloved
may not resemble his conscious ideal of a woman, yet something within him moves
him to be attracted to her. Jung would suggest that the man’s collective uncon-
scious contained biologically based impressions of woman and that these impres-
sions were activated when the man first saw his beloved.
How many biologically based predispositions do humans have? Jung said
that people have as many of these inherited tendencies as they have typical situa-
tions in life. Countless repetitions of these typical situations have made them part
of the human biological constitution. At first, they are “forms without content,
representing merely the possibility of a certain type of perception and action”
(Jung, 1937/1959, p. 48). With more repetition these forms begin to develop some
content and to emerge as relatively autonomous archetypes.Archetypes
Archetypes are ancient or archaic images that derive from the collective uncon-
scious. They are similar to complexes in that they are emotionally toned collections
of associated images. But whereas complexes are individualized components of the
personal unconscious, archetypes are generalized and derive from the contents of
the collective unconscious.
Archetypes should also be distinguished from instincts. Jung (1948/1960a)
defined an instinct as an unconscious physical impulse toward action and saw the
archetype as the psychic counterpart to an instinct. In comparing archetypes to
instincts, Jung (1975) wrote:
As animals of the same kind show the same instinctual phenomena all over the
world, man also shows the same archetypal forms no matter where he lives. As
animals have no need to be taught their instinctive activities, so man also
possesses his primordial psychic patterns and repeats them spontaneously,
independently of any kind of teaching. Inasmuch as man is conscious and
capable of introspection, it is quite possible that he can perceive his instinctual
patterns in the form of archetypal representations. (p. 152)
In summary, both archetypes and instincts are unconsciously determined, and both
can help shape personality.
Archetypes have a biological basis but originate through the repeated experi-
ences of humans’ early ancestors. The potential for countless numbers of arche-
types exists within each person, and when a personal experience corresponds to
the latent primordial image, the archetype becomes activated.
The archetype itself cannot be directly represented, but when activated, it
expresses itself through several modes, primarily dreams, fantasies, and delusions.
During his midlife encounter with his unconscious, Jung had many archetypal
dreams and fantasies. He frequently initiated fantasies by imagining that he was
descending into a deep cosmic abyss. He could make little sense of his visions and
dreams at that time, but later, when he began to understand that dream images and