Understanding Jung, Understanding Yourself, Essay Example

While all of the classical psychologists provided a significant contribution to modern psychology, the ones that seem to have the biggest influence are Carl Jung and Abraham Maslow. Even though Jung was born 33 years prior to Maslow, they both provided the scientific world with unique ideas that help us continue to understand the human experience today. Jung is well known for developing many ideas about the unconscious mind, which is the basis for psychotherapy, a popular counseling tool (Jung et al., 1964). Maslow is best known for his hierarchy of needs, which determines the elements that humans need to achieve self-actualization. A combination of both of these ideas can be used in therapy. In order for counselors to appropriately diagnose their patients, they must become aware of the basic needs that these individuals are lacking. Often, the patient is unaware of what these are, and it is the responsibility of the counselor to help them fill in these gaps. Therefore, if the counselor is able to delve into the unconscious mind of the patient, he or she will be able to more effectively bridge these misunderstandings.

Although Jung is well-known for many important psychological theories, he is best known for work relating to the human unconsciousness. He was highly influenced by Sigmund Freud, which helped him develop his own understanding of these theories, adding to different aspects of them. A major contribution of Jung’s to the psychological world is the different techniques that counselors could use in order to allow patients to unknowingly expose their conscious minds (O’Conner, 1985). One of the most interesting concepts was art therapy, which allowed patients to express their feelings, which could then be later diagnosed. This method was particularly interesting because it acted as an intervention as well as therapy. In telling the therapist their innermost feelings, the patient would often feel relieved for letting it all out.

As stated above, Maslow is best known for the development of his hierarchy of needs, which includes basic physiological needs on the base of his pyramid, including the requirement for food, clothing, and water (Wilson, 1972). On the top of the pyramid he includes human ideals that include acceptance, problem solving, spontaneity, and creativity. In order to be able to achieve the elements on the top of the hierarchy, and individual must achieve the ones that stand below it. Many therapists work with their patients in a manner that will allow them to achieve the needs at the top of the pyramid by eliminating hindrances that exist below it. Maslow is also well known for calling his understand of psychology “positive psychology” because he prefers to focus on the positive aspect of human nature.

Jung and Maslow are similar in many ways, even though their psychological theories appear to be different at first. In Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, he claims that the basic needs of humans need to be met before they can achieve more specialized needs, such as creativity. Jung emphasizes creativity as particularly important as well. In his art therapy concept, Jung uses the creativity of his patients to effectively diagnose their unconscious mind. In this manner, he diagnoses patients by attempting to tap into their higher need, thereby bypassing the lower needs that they may be missing. He also provides them treatment through this same method.

It is likely that Maslow would disagree with Jung’s use of creativity in his treatment method, even though the two study concepts that are closely related. The main reason for this disagreement is that Maslow believes that each layer of his hierarchy needs to be achieved before the other needs can be met. Jung violates this rule by skipping from the middle of the pyramid direct to the top (Wahbah et al., 1976). However, it is important to consider that Jung and Maslow were conducting their work simultaneously, so it is difficult to be certain that Jung was aware of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. However, Jung and Maslow’s disagreement is an interesting commentary on how the field of psychology works as a whole. Even though certain aspects of these theories disagree, these disagreements indicate that certain aspects of psychological theories are relevant in psychology depending upon different factors and situations.

In conclusion, psychological theories often have many similarities and differences, which are intrinsic to the nature of the field. Jung and Maslow are an excellent example of this because they agree and disagree on many things, and these agreements and disagreements are both essential to the particulars of their work. Ultimately, Jung has contributed a lot of knowledge to understanding of the unconscious mind and Maslow has contributed to our understanding of both basic and greater human needs. These theories are similar because they both provide us with information that counselors can use to diagnose and treat their patients. These theories are different because Jung believes that it is possible to skip to a higher stage of the hierarchy without addressing the lower needs, while Maslow believes that nothing on the pyramid can be skipped.

References

Jung, Carl Gustav; Marie-Luise von Franz (1964). Man and His Symbols. Doubleday.

O’Connor, Peter A. (1985). Understanding Jung, understanding yourself. New York, NY: Paulist Press.

Wahba, M.A. & Bridwell, L. G. (1976). Maslow Reconsidered: A Review of Research on the Need Hierarchy Theory. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 15: 212-240.

Wilson, Colin. (1972) New Pathways in Psychology: Maslow and the post-Freudian revolution. London: Victor Gollancz.