130 Part II Psychodynamic Theories
the ego and to produce a one-sided person who lacks the soul spark of personality.
The self-realized person is dominated neither by unconscious processes nor by the
conscious ego but achieves a balance between all aspects of personality.
Self-realized people are able to contend with both their external and their inter-
nal worlds. Unlike psychologically disturbed individuals, they live in the real world
and make necessary concessions to it. However, unlike average people, they are aware
of the regressive process that leads to self-discovery. Seeing unconscious images as
potential material for new psychic life, self-realized people welcome these images as
they appear in dreams and introspective reflections (Jung, 1939/1959, 1945/1953).Jung’s Methods of Investigation
Jung looked beyond psychology in his search for data to build his conception of
humanity. He made no apologies for his ventures into the fields of sociology, his-
tory, anthropology, biology, physics, philology, religion, mythology, and philoso-
phy. He strongly believed that the study of personality was not the prerogative of
any single discipline and that the whole person could be understood only by pursu-
ing knowledge wherever it existed. Like Freud, Jung persistently defended himself
as a scientific investigator, eschewing the labels of mystic and philosopher. In a
letter to Calvin Hall, dated October 6, 1954, Jung argued: “If you call me an occult-
ist because I am seriously investigating religious, mythological, folkloristic and
philosophical fantasies in modern individuals and ancient texts, then you are bound
to diagnose Freud as a sexual pervert since he is doing likewise with sexual fan-
tasies” (Jung, 1975, p. 186). Nevertheless, Jung asserted that the psyche could not
be understood by the intellect alone but must be grasped by the total person. Along
the same line, he once said, “Not everything I bring forth is written out of my head,
but much of it comes from the heart also” (Jung, 1943/1953, p. 116).
Jung gathered data for his theories from extensive reading in many disci-
plines, but he also gathered data from his use of the word association test, dream
analysis, active imagination, and psychotherapy. This information was then com-
bined with readings on medieval alchemy, occult phenomena, or any other subject
in an effort to confirm the hypotheses of analytical psychology.Word Association Test
Jung was not the first to use the word association test, but he can be credited with
helping develop and refine it. He originally used the technique as early as 1903
when he was a young psychiatric assistant at Burghöltzli, and he lectured on the
word association test during his trip with Freud to the United States in 1909.
However, he seldom employed it in his later career. In spite of this inattention, the
test continues to be closely linked with Jung’s name.
His original purpose in using the word association test was to demonstrate
the validity of Freud’s hypothesis that the unconscious operates as an autonomous
process. However, the basic purpose of the test in Jungian psychology today is to
uncover feeling-toned complexes. As noted in the section of levels of the psyche,
a complex is an individualized, emotionally toned conglomeration of images
grouped around a central core. The word association test is based on the principle
that complexes create measurable emotional responses.