A collaborative blog exploring AI from Jungian perspective by Nicholas Toko, Jungian Analyst-in-training and Margot Estabrook Stienstra, Jungian Analyst.
Individuation. The meaning and purpose of the process is the realisation, in all aspects, of the personality originally hidden away in the embryonic germ-plasm; the production and unfolding of the original, potential wholeness.
(Carl Jung's Collected Works, Vol 7. para.186).
Source: Johnston, James. Jung's Indispensable Compass: Navigating the Dynamics of Psychological Types (p. 6). MSE Press. Kindle Edition.
Introduction
In our latest blog in the series, ‘The Unconscious vs Artificial Intelligence (AI)’, I look at psychological type or typology, a core concept in Analytical Psychology, as a starting point to explore the purpose and meaning of AI from a Jungian perspective.
This article aims to describe Jung’s model of human consciousness or psychological type, and to give insights into human consciousness and the concept of individuation.
Furthermore, the article aims to give readers an understanding of psychological type in preparation for Part Two of this article which will look at how human consciousness and the unconscious might impact on AI in general and the development of the AI algorithm.
The Ethics and Meaning of AI
As some of our readers will know, Margot and I are interested in exploring the ethics and meaning of AI from a Jungian perspective. This interest has led us to question which Jungian concepts could be helpful in furthering the public’s understanding of the purpose and meaning of AI particularly from the perspective of the unconscious. Carl Jung’s Analytical Psychology is credited with theorising the unconscious and using it for psychotherapeutic purposes, furthermore, the discovery of the unconscious has the same potential to further an understanding of human consciousness whether at an individual or collective level. AI will have a significant impact on individual lives and transform society for good or bad, time will tell.
So, why has the idea of AI arisen? What is the purpose of AI? Will AI transform the world we live in a positive or negative way? What does a negative outcome of AI mean in terms of ethics? Is there some kind of meaning in the development of AI?
These are the questions we aim to explore in the blog.
The Structure of the Psyche from a Jungian Perspective
By way of a reminder, analytical psychology is a psychological system by Carl Jung, who was a Swiss psychiatrist and depth psychologist. Jung himself preferred to use the term ‘analytical psychology’ to describe his theory of the psyche formed by his psychiatric work, and his study and personal experience of the conscious and unconscious mind.
Analytical Psychology
Analytical Psychology is one of the main dynamic psychiatric systems to have emerged during the early twentieth century, which includes Pierre Janet’s Psychological Analysis, Sigmund Freud’s Psychoanalysis and Alfred Adler’s Individual Psychology.
Jung embraced the psychological principles of these systems in the development of his Analytical Psychology and which has a distinct theory about personality or psychological Type. Each psychiatric system gained credibility because of the scientific approach in their development. It is also worth noting that each system was shaped considerably by the personality or psychological type of their originators, hence today’s explanation.
Jung’s personality played a significant role in the evolution of his thinking about psychological types. He emerged from a long period of depression between the years 1913 to 1919 to publish his seminal book, Collected Works 6: Psychological Types, in 1921. It is a substantial book of 700 pages containing his theory of psychological types comprising of the two attitudes-introversion and extraversion and four functions-sensation, intuition, feeling, thinking.
Jungian Analysis is a useful and practical application to study the mind, human behaviour and society in general. Although originally conceived of as a form of individual therapy, it can also be applied as an analytical lens to better understand the behaviour of individuals in the workplace and in society. Jung’s work on psychological type became the basis of the better known Myers-Briggs test, a prevalent model or instrument in institutional group dynamics.
The aim of a Jungian Analysis is to help an individual to reach an integration between their conscious mind and the unconscious so that a new wholeness or transformation may be constellated between the diametrically opposed systems of conscious and unconscious within the psyche. This has huge benefits for the individual; a growing awareness and understanding of who they are, how they can develop further as an individual, how to better understand others, improves relationships with other people and transform themselves and their careers. Jung referred to this lifelong process as Individuation. Organisations can benefit too; a greater understanding of people and culture in organisations and achieve business success through people.
It is for these reasons that Margot and I felt compelled to explore AI from a Jungian perspective. I’m particularly interested in the relationship between the AI engineer or AI end user and the algorithm, a relationship that develops from the dynamics between the conscious and unconscious mind of the AI engineer or AI end user and the neural network of the AI algorithm (Figure 1). A relationship that I am suggesting is not dissimilar to the relationship and dynamics between the Analyst or Therapist and the Analysand or Patient/Client in therapy except the motive or purpose is different.
Figure 1: The Conscious and Unconscious Dynamics between the AI Engineer or AI End User and the AI Algorithm and Neural Network
Psyche
So let’s look at the structure and dynamics of the psyche from a Jungian perspective.
Imagine yourself as an AI engineer or AI end user as you read the Jungian description of the psyche and try to identify which part of the psyche might be complimentary or problematic for the development of the AI algorithm.
Our description of the psyche is taken from a book on our motivational reading list by James G. Johnston’s entitled Jung’s Indispensable Compass: Navigating the Dynamics of Psychological Types. Johnston’s description of the psyche fires up the imagination to visualise the psyche which helps make the concept accessible to just about anyone regardless of their prior knowledge of analytical psychology.
Jung’s model of the psyche helps us to see how consciousness and the unconscious are conjoined in what Johnston (2016) describes as a psychic theatre. Psychoanalytic concepts are notoriously difficult for the average person to understand and are often considered inaccessible due to the increasingly symbolic language needed as one ‘approaches’ the unconscious realm. The psychic theatres goes some way to describe the psyche in a visual way (Figure 2).
Figure 2: The Totality of the Pysche
The psyche, in Jung’s model, is the totality of all psychic processes and contents, conscious and unconscious. We could imagine the psyche to be an interactive theatre in which many psychic actors play their roles. This imagined theatre has two stages: a conscious one and an unconscious one (Johnston, James. Jung's Indispensable Compass: Navigating the Dynamics of Psychological Types (p. 10). MSE Press. Kindle Edition).
Unconscious
The unconscious can be thought of as an untapped source of personal transformation, engaging with it has the potential to help you to improve your resilience, better understand yourself and others, develop more effective personal and work-based relationships, find creative solutions to long-standing problems and a source of inspiration, knowledge and wisdom. The unseen and unknown unconscious dynamics can also have unintended and less constructive, even damaging, consequences for you, the people around you and the workplace. Getting to know your unconscious self can help to address emotional issues and improve your relationships with others.
Psyche (Totality of the Conscious and Unconscious Realms)
The psyche in Jung’s model is the sum of, or totality, of all psychic processes and contents, conscious and unconscious as illustrated in Figure 1. A way to understand the psyche is to describe it using metaphor. Imagine the psyche as an interactive theatre with a conscious and unconscious stage in which many actors play a role. The conscious and unconscious stages are separated by a stage curtain.
Persona (Conscious Realm)
At the apron of the conscious stage, we meet the first actor, the persona turned towards the audience who represent social interaction in the world. Jung borrowed the term persona from Greek which means ‘theatre mask’, like an actor’s mask, it is the personal façade that we put on to create a desired impression to others. Jung described the persona as a complicated system of relations between an individual's consciousness and society, designed on the one hand to make a definite impression upon others, and, on the other, to conceal or safeguard the true nature of the individual. It is a social attitude that an individual adopts, for example, because he or she belongs to a certain group, profession, occupation, social class, political party, tribe, clan or nation etc.
Ego (Conscious Realm)
The actor behind the mask is the ego, the lead actor on the conscious stage. The ego exerts its influence as the lead identity of consciousness, influencing the behaviour of the individual, however, it does not constitute the unique person. The ego expresses the individual's consciousness using the attitudes (introversion and extraversion) and functions; sensation, intuition, thinking, feeling.
Outer Objects (Conscious Realm)
The conscious audience, the world at large or outer objects interact with the ego, like a theatre audience, sometimes applauding, sometimes booing, taunting, conversing, ignoring or supporting the persona and ego. Artificial intelligence and the AI algorithm can be seen as representation of the outer objects. Here we can begin to see relevance to AI.
Personal Unconscious (Unconscious Realm)
Behind the ego is a vague psychic scrim, the stage curtain and the threshold of the unconscious realm, the personal unconscious or shadow. In a theatre, a scrim is a lightweight transparent curtain that conceals actors or objects behind it when they are not illuminated but reveals them if light is cast upon them. The personal unconscious contains an individual’s memories of the past, personal experiences which are forgotten and are therefore concealed from the conscious stage unless they are illuminated.
These are memories from our childhood or adult life, which with some effort, we can bring back into our conscious mind. However, some memories appear spontaneously and with no effort by the ego, these memories disrupt the ego which is often powerless to suppress them. These memories which cause disruption to the ego are known as complexes, they are autonomous, arriving uninvited and incognito in the conscious mind, growing in number and intensity as the ego engages with the outer world.
Complexes consist of emotionally charged clusters of often long-forgotten content and may trigger compulsive urges or reactions, taking over or possessing the ego, forcing themselves onto the conscious stage. An individual possessed by an autonomous complex can appear to have irrational fears, disproportionate reactions, intense attractions or aversions to certain people. These behaviours often create interpersonal conflict in the relationships.
Shadow (Unconscious Realm)
There is another actor in the unconscious, hidden within its depths, the shadow. The shadow contains all the attributes the ego has not adopted. Whatever attributes the ego has adopted, the shadow adopts the opposite attributes. If the ego is emboldened with pride, the shadow is timid and incompetent. If the ego is productive, the shadow is reflective. If the ego is loving, the shadow is hostile. If the ego is oriented to the outer world, the shadow will be oriented to the inner life.
The shadow is autonomous and can wreak havoc if ignored or repressed, interrupting the ego’s role on the conscious stage. The ego typically projects the shadow onto others in the world at large, often such shadow projections have been the cause of discrimination, violent personal hatred, mass persecutions, and even genocide. The most severe aspects of the shadow are manifested in racial, social and national prejudice. The shadow contains the personal characteristics that the individual wishes to hide from others and from him or herself.
However, if the shadow is acknowledged progressive personal growth develops towards the emergence of the whole person.
Soul (Unconscious Realm)
The persona also has its counterpart in the unconscious, the soul, a term that Jung refers to as an inner personality. The soul plays a compensatory role to the persona on the conscious stage, which means that as the persona presents a sort of personality at the threshold of the outer world, the soul presents a personality of the threshold of the inner world (Johnston, James. Jung's Indispensable Compass: Navigating the Dynamics of Psychological Types (p. 10). MSE Press. Kindle Edition). Like the shadow the soul can also be projected onto the conscious audience. This is inevitable as long as the soul remains unconscious to the individual.
Collective Unconscious (Unconscious Realm)
As we delve deep inside the unconscious, we now encounter the collective unconscious or inner objects. The collective unconscious constitutes the evolutionary experience of humankind. It operates independently of the ego on account of its origin in the inherited structure of the brain. Jung described the inner objects as archetypes, a priori ways of being that are universal to all cultures around the world. The unconscious is the centre of psychological activity and considered objective and instinctual.
The archetypes underpin an individual’s life from built up layers of ancestral experience. Starting with the ‘central fire’ (H) at the bottom, the layers progressively move up from animal ancestors (G) to primate ancestors (F), to large groups [e.g. European, African, Middle Eastern] (E), to nations (D), clans (c), families (B), and finally to individuals depicted as round objects on the small mounds of family lineage [Figure 3 courtesy of Jung’s Indispensable Compass, Johnston J G]. The contents of the collective unconscious have never been in consciousness and cannot be truly known. However, the unconscious has a language which includes metaphor, images, symbols and fantasies. The best way to understand the unconscious is to consider in metaphorical terms, as an image, symbol or even fantasy.
Figure 3: The Collective Unconscious
The unconscious can be seen as a source of untapped creativity for the individual. The individual is at the centre of the psyche, a centre point which unites both the conscious and the unconscious. The individual should not be confused with the ego in the conscious realm. The individual is the very subject of personality development midway between the conscious and unconscious audiences with access to both, a balanced midpoint with access to all the functional attitudes of extraversion, introversion, sensation, intuition, thinking and feeling. The goal of personality transformation is to become whole i.e. to reach this midpoint or centre through a process called individuation.
Individuation
Individuation is described as a person more of him or herself: whole, fortified, indivisible and distinct from other people or collective psychology (though also in relation to these). Samuels et al, A Critical Dictionary of Jungian Analysis, p. 76 (2013). This is a core concept in the theory of Jungian personality development which is an amalgamation of persona, ego, shadow and self as well as the synthesis of consciousness and the unconscious. Samuels et al (2013) states that a simplified way of expressing the relationship of the most important concepts involved would be: ego is to integration (socially seen as adaptation) and the self is for individuation (self-experience and realisation).
While consciousness grows in its awareness and understanding of defences such as projection of the shadow, the process of individuation is a circumambulation of the self as the centre of the personality which thereby becomes unified. The person becomes aware of their own unique personality and at the same time, that they are also part of the collective.
The uniqueness of one’s personality emerges from a growing awareness and understanding of the various parts of the psyche e.g. persona, ego, shadow and then to differentiate between these different parts. The differentiation leads to an awareness of the self, central personality greater than the sum of the various elements, or the ‘individual’ in Figure 1. The individual realises there is more to them than ‘ego’, the part of the psyche most of us identify with.
I asked ChatGPT to tell me what does the Jungian concept of individuation mean? It was a fairly good ‘Jungian’ response.
The Jungian concept of individuation is a central tenet in the psychology of Carl Gustav Jung. It refers to the process through which a person becomes an integrated whole, realising their unique potential by harmonising various aspects of their personality. This process involves the conscious integration of unconscious elements into the conscious mind, leading to a more complete and balanced self.
Key Aspects of Individuation
Self-Realisation: Individuation is essentially the realisation of the self, which Jung described as the central archetype and the totality of the personality. This involves recognising and integrating various components of one's psyche, including the persona, the shadow, the anima/animus, and the collective unconscious.
Persona: This is the social mask or identity one presents to the world. Individuation involves recognising that the persona is not the true self but a role or facade.
Shadow: The shadow represents the unconscious and often repressed aspects of the personality. Confronting and integrating the shadow is a crucial step in individuation, allowing one to accept and understand their darker traits and impulses.
Anima/Animus: These are the gender-opposite aspects of the psyche-the anima in men and the animus in women. Individuation requires integrating these aspects to achieve psychological wholeness and balance.
Collective Unconscious: This is the part of the unconscious mind shared by all humans, containing universal archetypes. Individuation involves tapping into these deeper layers of the psyche and integrating the insights they offer.
Integration and Balance: The ultimate goal of individuation is to integrate all these disparate elements into a harmonious whole, achieving psychological maturity and self-awareness. This process leads to a sense of fulfilment, purpose, and inner peace.
The Process of Individuation
Individuation is typically a lifelong process that involves several stages:
Initial Awareness: Recognizing the existence of the unconscious and its influence on behaviour.
Confrontation with the Shadow: Identifying and integrating the shadow aspects of the personality.
Encounter with the Anima/Animus: Integrating these gender-opposite aspects to achieve psychological balance.
Union of Opposites: Reconciling various dualities within the self, such as conscious and unconscious, masculine and feminine, rational and irrational.
Emergence of the Self: Achieving a state where the self is realized, leading to a sense of wholeness and individuality.
Benefits of Individuation
Psychological Growth: It fosters personal growth, self-understanding, and emotional maturity.
Authenticity: Helps individuals live more authentically, true to their inner nature.
Balance and Harmony: Promotes a balanced and harmonious personality by integrating all aspects of the psyche.
Spiritual Fulfilment: Often leads to a deeper sense of spiritual fulfilment and connection to the greater whole.
Individuation is a dynamic and often challenging process, but it is essential for achieving a sense of completeness and inner harmony in Jungian psychology.
In a future article, we’ll look at the concept of individuation and the psyche of an AI engineer in the development of the algorithm. What is the impact of the AI engineer’s psyche on the development of the algorithm? Does it account for the major pitfalls of AI i.e. bias, privacy and replication?
Dynamics of the Psyche
This brings us to look at the two attitudes of the psyche: introversion and extraversion. Let’s take a brief look at the dynamics of the psyche.
Jung’s own personality played a significant role in the evolution of his thinking about psychological types. His own psychological transformation led him to become a successful and world renowned psychologist in his own right. His emergence from a long period of self-imposed introversion between the years 1913 to 1919, led to the publication of his seminal book Psychological Types in 1921 which contains his theory of psychological types; the two Attitudes of Introversion and Extraversion and the four fundamental Functions of Sensation, Intuition, Thinking and Feeling.
Psychological Types introduced Jung’s new psychological system to the world. The book begins with a lengthy study of the notion that there is an introverted and extraverted view of the world which may help us to better understand how conflict or differences in opinion arises between individuals.
In Psychological Types, Jung formulated a theory of the psychological types to discern the components of consciousness. You may be more excited or energised by the outer world, you place greater trust in facts, traditions, concrete experience and practical issues. These are extraverts:
Are energised by interacting with the outside world
Trust and are most comfortable in the outside world
Learn best by talking and interacting
Work things out by talking
Tend to have broad interests in many areas
Learn best by talking things through
Are comfortable taking the initiative at work and in social situations
If you are more excited or energised by the inner world, you place greater trust in dreams, possibilities, imagination and inspiration. These are introverts:
Observe before deciding whether or not to interact
Trust and are most comfortable in their inner world
Learn best by reading, writing, reflecting
Work things out internally
Tend to focus in depth on a few interests
Learn best by observing and reflecting
Take the initiative when required by the situation or when the issue is important
Everyone can orient to the outer or inner world, yet each individual's psyche is typically drawn to one orientation more than the other.
People who prefer sensation
Focus on what can be experienced and verified
Observe and remember specific facts and details
Trust experience
Build carefully and thoroughly toward conclusions
Understand ideas and theories through practical applications
People who prefer intuition
Focus on patterns, meanings, and interconnections
Observe and remember relationships among ideas and events
Trust inspiration
Move quickly to conclusions, follow hunches
Want to clarify ideas and theories before putting them into practice
People who prefer thinking
Step back from the situation to get an objective
Consider universal principles when deciding
Use cause-and-effect reasoning
Find that empathizing interferes with satisfactory decision-making
Strive for a clear, objective standard of truth
See logic and reason as the best criteria for decision-making
Like their decisions to be implemented once the decision is made
Have difficulty accepting the validity of a Feeling approach
People who prefer feeling
Step into the situation to connect with those involved
Use empathy to understand everyone’s point of view
Are guided by personal and social values
Find that using impersonal principles ignores individual differences
Strive for understanding, harmony, and positive outcomes for all
See every person and situation as unique and use empathy to make decisions
May delay implementing a decision by looking for a win-win solution
See the Thinking approach as cold and unfeeling
The concept of introversion and extraversion combined with the four functions enabled Jung to establish a system of eight psychological types, of which four are extraverted and four are introverted:
Extraverted Sensation
Introverted Sensation
Extraverted Thinking
Introverted Thinking
Extraverted Feeling
Introverted Feeling
Extraverted Intuition
Introverted Intuition
01/
Introverted Thinking
The orientation of thinking, as modified by introversion, is to logic and images, an orientation to intensive insights. The key words that convey how this function is expressed are naming, defining, understanding.
02/
Introverted Feeling
The orientation of feeling, as modified by introversion, is to value and ideals, an orientation to intensive ideals. The key words that convey how this function is expressed are judging, appraising, establishing the value.
03/
Introverted Sensation
The orientation of sensation, as modified by introversion, is to outer objective experience yet simultaneously oriented to the inner world, an orientation to intensive innervations. The key words that convey how this function is expressed are implementing, verifying, accounting.
04/
Introverted Intuition
The orientation of intuition, as modified by introversion, is to the images of the collective unconscious, an orientation to intensive images. The key words that convey how this function is expressed are imagining, knowing, divining.
05/
Extraverted Thinking
The orientation of thinking, as modified by extraversion, is to logic, reasoning and analysis to assess experience, an orientation to extensive insights. The key words that convey how this function is expressed are regulating, planning, enforcing.
06/
Extraverted Feeling
The orientation of feeling, as modified by extraversion, is to social conditions, people, groups, organisations, adjusts to their norms and values, emphasizes with the feeling-values of others, an orientation to extensive norms. The key words that convey how this function is expressed are validating, affirming, relating.
07/
Extraverted Sensation
The orientation of sensation, as modified by extraversion, is to factual, concrete, tangible, measurable representations of the outer object, taste, smell, sight, sound, and touch, the senses are forever at work, an orientation to extensive facts. The key words that convey how this function is expressed are engaging, experiencing, enjoying.
08/
Extraverted Intuition
The orientation of intuition, as modified by extraversion, is to external possibilities yet simultaneously oriented to inner imagination, create outwardly, an orientation to extensive possibilities. The key words that convey how this function is expressed are entertaining, envisioning, enabling.
The two attitudes and four functions help us to understand the dynamics of psychological type within an individual and with their external environment, and its relationship to a central concept of analytical psychology: individuation. Individuation embraces the process of integrating diverse and often opposing psychological types for the realisation of unique personality.
The two attitudes (introversion and extraversion) and the four functions (sensation, intuition, thinking, feeling) develop in a unique way for each individual. The analysis of the development or assessment of the personality can be done using a personality assessment tool such as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) or the Gifts Compass Inventory (GCI).
In Part Two of this article, we will take a deeper look at the dynamics of the psyche and the individuation process from the perspective of the MBTI and GCI, two different yet similar personality assessment instruments, and explore the impact of individuation in the development of the AI algorithm.
Conclusion
At the start of this article, I asked you to imagine yourself as an AI Engineer or AI End User as you read the Jungian description of the psyche and to identify which part of the psyche might be complimentary or problematic for the development of the AI algorithm.
Which parts of the psyche do you think might complimentary or problematic for the development of the AI algorithm?
a. Outer Objects
b. Persona
c. Ego
d. Personal Unconscious
e. Shadow
f. Soul
g. Inner Objects
h. Individual
In Part Two we will look at how each parts of the psyche interact with each other and explore which parts are potentially complimentary or problematic for the development of the AI algorithm.
The answer to the quiz is 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 is potentially complimentary to the development of an AI algorithm. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 are potentially problematic in the development of an AI algorithm. Look out for Part Two of this blog to find out more about how the psyche of an AI engineer is potentially complimentary or problematic during the development stage of an AI algorithm.
References
The Collected Works of C.G. Jung, Psychological Types, Vol 6.
Samuels, A. Shorter, B. Plant, F. A Critical Dictionary of Jungian Analysis (2013).
Johnston G, J. Jung’s Indispensable Compass: Navigating the Dynamics of Psychological Types (2016).
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