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Complex (psychology)
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Complex (psychology)
In psychology a complex is generally an important group of unconscious
associations, or a strong unconscious impulse lying behind an individual's
otherwise mysterious condition: the detail varies widely from theory to
theory. However their existence is quite widely agreed upon in the area of
depth psychology at least, being instrumental in the systems of both Freud
and Jung. They are generally a way of mapping the psyche, and are crucial
theoretical items of common reference to be found in therapy.
The term "complex," or "feeling-toned complex of ideas," was adopted by Carl
Jung when he was still a close associate of Sigmund Freud. (Theodor Ziehen
is credited with coining the term in 1898.) Jung described a "complex" as a
'node' in the unconscious; it may be imagined as a knot of unconscious
feelings and beliefs, detectable indirectly, through behavior that is
puzzling or hard to account for.
Jung found evidence for complexes very early in his career, in the word
association tests conducted at the Burghölzli, the psychiatric clinic of
Zurich University, where Jung worked from 1900-1908. In the word association
tests, a researcher read a list of words to each subject, who was asked to
say, as quickly as possible, the first thing that came to mind in response
to each word. Researchers timed subjects' responses, and noted any unusual
reactions--hesitations, slips of the tongue, signs of emotion. Jung was
interested in patterns he detected in subjects' responses, hinting at
unconscious feelings and beliefs.
In Jung's theory, complexes may be related to traumatic experience, or not.
There are many kinds of complex, but at the core of any complex is a
universal pattern of experience, or archetype. Some of the key complexes
Jung wrote about were the anima (a node of unconscious beliefs and feelings
in a man's psyche relating to the opposite gender) and animus (the
corresponding complex in a woman's psyche); and the shadow (Jung's term
embracing any aspect of psyche which has been excluded from conscious
awareness). Many Jungian complexes appear in complementary pairs: for
example, the puer, or eternal youth, often appears in relationship to the
senex, or archetypal old man. A puer complex might manifest as an
individual's unconscious dread of growing up, of losing one's romantic
ideals or freedom; a senex complex, by contrast, might be seen in a person
who, without seeming to understand why, is driven to act out an "old man"
role, in creative or destructive ways. Only when a complex results in
destructive behavior would it be seen as pathological; otherwise, a Jungian
view of psyche accepts the presence of diverse complexes in ordinary health.
Jung defined the ego as one complex among many. "By ego I understand a
complex of ideas . . . Hence I also speak of an ego-complex. . . . the ego .
. . merely being one complex among many" (Jung, 1971: par. 706).
Jung understood complexes as splinter psyches. "Today we can take it as
moderately certain that complexes are in fact 'splinter psyches' " (Jung,
1969: par. 204).
One of the key differences between Jungian and Freudian theory is that
Jung's thought posits several different kinds of complex, and emphasizes
duality or plurality rather than unity as a basic condition of the human
psyche. Freud held that the Oedipus complex was universal--reflecting
developmental challenges that face every child--and was the central complex
in most or all psychopathology.
Once Jung broke from Freud and the two men went their own ways, forming
their own disciplines behind them, there was briefly a movement in some of
Freud's circle to remove all of Jung's work and terminology from their
school of psychoanalysis. Freud himself however refused, and so the name
"complex" stayed.
List of proposed psychological complexes
Freudian
* Oedipus complex
* Castration complex (see also Gender narcissism)
* Electra complex (see also penis envy)
Jungian
* anima
* animus
* puer
* senex
* father
* shadow
Other
* God complex
* Inferiority complex
* Messianic complex
* Napoleon complex
* Persecution complex
* Superiority complex
Used in Cultural Terms
"Rubik's Complex" (see Rubik's cube)
"Ostrich Complex"
"Stand Alone Complex" (see Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex)
References
* Jung, C.G. (1969). The Structure and Dynamics of the Psyche, Collected
Works, Volume 8, Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press. ISBN
0-691-09774-7.
* Jung, C.G. (1971). Psychological Types, Collected Works, Volume 6,
Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-01813-8.
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