C. G. Jung’s Theory on Psychological Relating

By Pelin Hattatoglu

Annotated Bibliography on Anima -Animus Concept

Beebe, J. (2000). Response to Anita von Raffay’s paper, “Why it is difficult to see the anima as a helpful object”. Journal of Analytical Psychology, 45 , 565-568. In his response, the author states that Anita von Raffay’s claims toward the dangers in the notion of the anima addresses her animus (here author is explaining he used the word in its dual dictionary senses of intention and antagonism, rather than in the Jungian sense of unconscious, unintentional, and impersonal hostility). The author agrees the notion of anima can be, and has been used all the ways she describes, and this may be why Jung recommended against bringing the concept of anima to patients who are too immature to make use of the concept. He agrees that the anima should not be used to gloss over the realities of the mother complex and the specifics of sexuality, whether heterosexual, homosexual, or bisexual, that cannot so easily disposed of by appeals to archetypal “explanation”. However, the author does not agree with the interpretations pointing to the anima cannot support a heightened integrity in one’s relations to others and how certain situations will mislead the analyst if he/she regards the problem as a mother complex rather than the interpretation of anima and he gives examples to prove his claim. He concludes with why he thinks the notion of the anima does not necessarily undermine integrity in clinical work, even tough as a projected abstraction it can do more harm than good as Anita von Raffay points out.

Carlson, R., Judith, W. (1984). Studies of Jungian Typology: III Personality and Marriage , Journal of Personality Assessment, 48, 87-94. According to authors, Jung's theory of psychological types provided the conceptual framework for a study of personality characteristics implicated in marital relationships. Partners in 20 couples completed the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and a series of open-ended questions describing their marital relationships. As predicted, (a) type similarity was more characteristic than type dissimilarity, particularly on sensation-intuition and thinking-feeling preferences, (b) sensation-intuition preferences were reflected in perceptions of qualities valued in self and spouse, (c) thinking-feeling preferences were significantly related to reported satisfaction in marriage, and (d) intuitives were more open to changes in the relationship than were sensing types. At the end of their analysis, the authors concluded that the marital problems were highly diverse, and were not related in any clear way to type patterns in individuals or dyads.

Colman , W. (1996). Aspects Of Anima And Animus in Oedipal Development. Journal of Analytical Psychology , 41, 37-57. The author argues that although Jung used the terms anima and animus to classify oedipal complex, he did not explore the developmental origins of this phenomena. He argues that the contrasexual archetype is initially mediated by the oedipal loved parent and subsequent manifestations bear the imprint not only of the parents themselves but of the entire complex of object relationships in which oedipal love is embedded. According to Colman successful resolution of the Oedipus complex depends on freeing the anima/animus from its oedipal bonds so that it functions as a bridge to the unconscious. Colman viewed the Oedipus complex as the "obvious place" to pursue what he saw as a gap in the post-Jungians theorizing of the personal dimensions of anima/animus as mediated by the parents. He describes the anima as a paranoid schizoid fantasy of the mother in the boy's Oedipus complex. Colman further suggests that the energy of these figures in concert with the longings and passions of the Oedipus situation "..in a sense, creates the complex". The author also suggests anima and animus can be recognized and valued as imaginal rather than external realities.

Franz, M.-L. v. (1964). The Process of Individuation. In Jung, C. G. (Ed). Man and His Symbols ( pp. 159-256) . Garden City , N.Y. : Doubleday. The section written by Marie-Louise von Franz focuses on the components of unconscious and the process of conscious coming to terms with one’s inner center (psychic nucleus) or Self. Franz states that Jung has demonstrated the nucleus of psyche (the Self) expresses itself in some kind of fourfold structure. Same four fold structure holds true for anima and animus development. At the four levels of individuation, this might be the style of relating. The author describes four stages of anima development in a man as; ( a) In the earliest stage of projection, the anima is conceived as the purely biological woman, the mother, something to be fertilized. (b) In the second stage, sexual Eros still predominates but there is an aesthetic and romantic level "where woman has already acquired some value as an individual". (c) In the next stage Eros is raised to the heights of religious devotion and thus she spiritualizes him in a type of spiritual motherhood. (d) Here a man's anima functions as a guide to the inner life, mediating to consciousness the contents of the unconscious. (Sophia). The four stages of animus development in a woman are; (a) [The animus] first appears in dreams and fantasy as the embodiment of physical power, an athlete, muscle man or thug. (b) In the second stage, the animus provides a woman with initiative and the capacity for planned action. He is behind a woman's desire for independence and a career of her own. (c) In the next stage, the animus is the "word," often personified in dreams as a professor or clergyman. (d) In the fourth stage, the animus is the incarnation of spiritual meaning. On this highest level, like the anima as Sophia, the animus mediates between a woman's conscious mind and the unconscious. In mythology this aspect of the animus appears as Hermes, messenger of the gods; in dreams he is a helpful guide. To assimilate the effects of the anima, a man must discover his true feelings. To become familiar with the nature of the animus, a woman must constantly question her ideas and opinions.

Jung, C. G., & Hull, R. F. C. (1991). Definitions. Psychological Types (revised ed. , pp. 797-811). London: Routlege. In this book, Carl Jung describes the soul-image as a specific image among those produced by the unconscious. Just as the persona, or outer attitude, it is represented in dreams of definite persons who process the corresponding qualities. Sometimes these images are unknown or mythological figures. With men the anima is usually personified by the unconscious as a woman, best fitted to be the real bearer of his soul-image because of the feminine quality of the soul; for a woman it will be a man. Wherever an impassioned, almost magical, relationship exist between the sexes we should question the projected soul-image. Dr. Jung states since these relationships are very common, the soul must be unconscious just as frequently that is, people must be unaware of the way they are related to their inner psychic processes or as many people are identified with their outer attitude (persona) and therefore have no conscious relation to their inner processes. If the soul image is not projected a totally morbid relationship to the unconscious gradually develops and the subject is increasingly overwhelmed by unconscious contents.

Jung, C. G. (1925). Marriage as a Psychological Relationship. Retrieved March 30th, 2008 , from http://www.haverford.edu/psych/ddavis/p109g/ internal/j_anima.html . According to Jung the marriage relationship offers the opportunity to explore the self through experiences and projections and he focuses to examine the container and the contained in the marriage relationship. If the container and contained relationship is unborn, the interaction lacks real contact, and no dynamic processes are served; this resembles a meeting where all the participants expect the action to be done for them. Without genuine dialogue and containment, unconscious projections will dominate the relationships, creating miscommunication, objectification, and potentially irreconcilable conflict. He states, the partners in a marriage can use each other, in an ever-shifting dynamic of the container and contained. They can offer themselves to each other, finding within and between them the means to individuate, to bring into consciousness their own inferior functions and aspects, which they see like mirror reflections in the other . True containment allows a woman to express her masculine, not demanding that a man carry it for her, and frees a man similarly. She can bridge to his world, and to his inner feminine partner. Likewise, he can bridge to her world, and to her inner masculine partner. This is the fundamental challenge and the transformational gift marriage can bring to the individual partners, if they are each willing to risk who they think they are in order to find wholeness.

Jung, C. G. (1951). The Syzygy: Anima & Animus, Aion: Researches into the Phenomenology of the Self (Collected Works Vol. 9, Part 2, pp. 24-40). Princeton, N.J.: Bollingen. In this book, Jung explains in combination, the anima and animus are known as syzygy (yoked or paired), representing wholeness and completion. A perfect partnership between man and woman can occur when the compatibility of our physical forms as well as our unconscious contrasexual parts (anima and animus) are achieved. According to Dr. Jung, there is an archetypal need for a conjunction of opposites in our lives as human beings. This is experienced through the natural biological opposition men and women, which generates the spring of all creativeness. Also, this opposition is experienced within the individual as every man has a feminine side to his being, and every woman has a masculine side. In every man-woman relationship anima and animus are the silent partners, for better or worse. Thus every man-woman relationship is really a partnership of four: man & woman, anima & animus. Jung has called this combination of relationships within single relationship the “marriage quaternion”.

Jung, C. G. (1966). The Relations Between the Ego and The Unconcious. Two Essays on Analytical Psychology (2nd ed. Collected Works Vol. 7, pp. 296-301,314-16). London : Routledge. In this book Jung states the anima is an unconscious personality of a man and ev erything that is unconscious is projected. According to Jung, the first bearer of this anima is always the mother; later it is borne by those women who arouse the man’s feelings, whether in a positive or a negative sense. Likewise first bearer of animus is the father for women. Jung describes, no man is entirely masculine that he has nothing feminine in him. The repression of feminine traits and inclinations naturally causes these contrasexual demands to accumulate in the unconscious. Naturally soul –image of this man becomes a receptacle for these demands, which is why a man in his love choice is strongly tempted to win the women who best corresponds to his unconscious femininity- a woman who can unhesitatingly receive a projection of his soul. Although such a choice is often regarded and felt as ideal, it may turn out that man has clearly married his own weakness. Same is true for the woman who has not actualized the masculine in her or considered the repression as unbecoming to be “mannish.”

McKenzie, S. (2006). Queering gender: anima/animus and the paradigm of emergence. Journal of Analytical Psychology, 51, 401-412. The author states, although Carl Jung tended to celebrate the spirit of the bi -sexual symbolism, his writings on gender is reflecting his era’s influence and limited. She states it is the responsibility of contemporary Jungians to engage in a revision of Jungian gender theory. A new gender theory that would unburden us of the confining anima and animus thinking and allow us to offer a Jungian contribution in the spirit of the other Jung: the Jung of the symbolic, the mythic, and the subtle body. This Jung brings us the medial realm of the soul, the bridge between the realm of the physical body and the realm of spirit. She points out those who carry the transgendered experience have existed in all cultures and times and asking if the image of the transgendered body, as a symbolic and mythic body, be a living artifact [archetype] that holds open a culture’s potential for the development of hermaphroditic consciousness, a consciousness that reaches far beyond gender and pierces the veil of opposition in all realms.

Oscar, W. (1962). The Picture of Dorian Gray. Complete Works of Oscar Wilde. London : Collins. The below section describes the disappointment and feelings of being deceived or cheated after the projection is pulled out. The lines portray a person who fails to realize that it is his own projection which has deluded him.

“You have killed my love. You used to stir my imagination. Now you don't even stir my curiosity. You simply produce no effect. I loved you because you were marvelous, because you had genius and intellect, because you realized the dreams of great poets and gave shape and substance to the shadows of art. You have thrown it all away. You are shallow and stupid."

Pascal, E. (1992). Jung To Live By (pp. 169-170). New York , NY : Warner. The author states in a committed, long term relationships it is inevitable to pull back projections and to own up to the opposite sex within ourselves. In an “open” or non-monogamous relationships, anima or animus keeps getting projected onto mistresses and lovers in a never-ending, vicious cycle with little chance for self-integration because the drive is always toward the outer world. He mentions extraverted Americans have great difficulty seeing the simple truth, though the divorce rates are showing these facts regarding interpersonal relationships and family life. When we’re whole within ourselves, there would be something to offer our love partners. We can give unreservedly of our individuated selves without there being any fear about losing our individuality.

Raffay, A. v. (2000). Why it is difficult to see the anima as a helpful object: critique and clinical relevance of the theory of archetypes. Journal of Analytical Psychology, 45 , 541-560. The author is showing how the theory of archetype s can be used to support attitudes toward human relations that are impersonal, general, and grandiose, to the point of being contemptuous toward the particularities of human relationships. She claims such an attitude can well look down the humility, loyalty, and devotion that are required to achieve mutual understanding in any marriage or psychotherapy. The author argues that the anima cannot be understood as supporting relationship because as a archetype the relationships it represents must be, categorically, impersonal. She claims that some Jungian analysts interpret symbolism that to them suggests the anima in such a way as to lead their analysands away from the personal issues that have developed in the transference/countertransference, and she makes clear that she does not find this very helpful. The author particularly troubled by the fact that the anima concept can be used to skip issues that continue to trouble patients in their early relationships to their mother. The author complains that the anima so idealizes sexuality that the concept has rendered Jungian analyst incapable of devoting an adequate theory of sexuality or even making significant contributions to a theory of love and passion. Finally she suggests that the notion of the anima undercuts Jungian ethical theory since it suggests that at the most critical turns in our personal relations the individual ego us not responsible for what is actually done to harm another. If a man treats a woman badly, the seduction, the abandonment, the projective identification, and even the violence in his behavior are attributed to the influence of an archetype over which the actor has little or no control.

Rilke, M. R. (1902). The Rainer Maria Rilke Archive. Retrieved April 4 th, 2008 from http://www.geocities.com/Paris/LeftBank/4027/ . In his below poem, the poet expresses his anima through a creative activity and literally in below verses:

“Work of sight is achieved

now for some heart work

on all those images poisoned within you; for you

overcame them, but do not know them as yet.

Behold, O man within, the maiden within you!-

Creature wrung from a thousand natures, creature only out wrung, but never,

As yet, belov’d.”

Sanford, J. A. (1980). The Invisible Partners. New York , NY : Paulist. The author states that the unconscious psychic factors within us are usually projected, once the projection is recognized we can use them as mirrors in which we see the reflections of our own psychic contents. If we discover the anima or animus image has been projected onto a man or woman, that makes it possible for us to see in reflection contents of our own psyche that otherwise might escape us. All of this has important implications for the relationship between sexes. These projected psychic images are the invisible partners in every man-woman relationship and greatly influence the relationship as when they’re projected they are either greatly overvalued or greatly undervalued therefore, those who carry these projections will tend to greatly attract or repel us. The magnetic sexual attraction we may feel when the anima or animus is projected leads to powerful psychological ties with the person who is carrying that projection, which often results in destructive consequences in a long term relationships, such as marriage. The author mentions that projections of the anima and animus seldom remain on a person, whose ordinary humanity becomes evident under the stress and strain of daily life, and for this reason the projections of the anima or animus will usually fall on persons outside of the marriage relationship, which may prove to be a disturbing factor. However, he claims, if we learn to value a long term relationship because of the opportunities it offers for salvation-that is, individuation-as well as for other blessings, our relationship is on a more solid footing.