This article covers all canonically confirmed information of Jungian psychology's relation to the Persona series. For a detailed information of Jungian psychology as a whole, see Jungian psychology, a subject in relation to Carl Jung.
Although the series takes direct inspiration from Jungian psychology, the relevant pieces of information are directly taught in Persona 4 Golden's "Mr. Edogawa's TV Classroom," hosted by the titular Mr. Edogawa of Persona 3.
The Self[]
Some of the most essential pieces of information relating to Jung's theory are as follows:
A chart of the conscious and the unconscious.
- The human mind can be divided into the conscious and several layers of the unconscious.
- The individual isn't in complete control of their mind, and the individual's action is defined by their "ego" residing in their consciousness.
- A majority of the person's mind is the unconscious, a vast pool of information and personalities not easily accessible to the person.
- The human unconscious is shared between mankind, especially the collective unconscious, a second, deeper layer of the person's unconscious.
- There are several ways to how these layers can interact with one-another:
- Jung theorized mental illnesses stem from the unconscious intervening in the conscious, but rather as protective measures for whenever the person's consciousness is too constrained, whether it's from suppressing their emotions or overworking themselves.
- Complexes stem from overwhelming obsessions such as from external or personal pressure on a conscious scale that later enter the individual's personal unconscious. Although normally hidden, certain situations may cause them to resurface to the person's consciousness and cause them to have abnormal emotional reactions.
- The person's unconscious may communicate with the person via dreams. Jung theorizes that dreams correct any errors or incomplete parts of the person's consciousness. Otherwise, dreams can be used to interpret messages from the unconscious.
- The person's conscious and unconscious actively compensate for one-another in thought processes. Through splitting the mind into psychological types, Jung wanted to display the mind's special properties. Although the conscious may have a highlighted function, the person still has other forms of thought that exist in their unconscious.
Personas and Shadows[]
Personas are masks that people wear to play different roles in society. They explain how and why people behave differently in different situations. Jung stressed that it is important to cater personas to one's ego so that they do not overwhelm it. Each person carries multiple personas within themselves. Within first entering society, due to the relationship of the ego and the persona, it is normal for the individual to question what it means to be their "true self."
The Shadow is a "creepy, unfamiliar" image of what the person is not and what they do not desire to be. Jung suggested that they should not be rejected, but rather accepted as a single aspect of one's populous self. Shadows may emerge when a person loses the ability to differentiate their personas from their selves. This process is known as "enantiodromia," the emergence of one's opposite, which is analogous to the tendency for shadow selves to overwhelm their counterparts and take forms not unlike those of their personas. Each person only carries a single shadow in comparison to personas.
Assimilating the shadow is a necessary component of individuation—the process of accepting and incorporating the unconscious aspects of one's personality with the conscious aspects so that one can grasp the unified whole. Those who achieve individuation are better able to understand themselves and their place in the world, much like the protagonists within the Persona series, particularly those who attain The World.
The Collective Unconscious[]
All members of a species share a collective unconscious, which is a collection of archetypal images and instincts that are often embodied or used by members of that species. For humans, these often manifest through the characters they create. People are able to access the collective unconscious and its images from birth, and it plays an important role in one's assimilation into society.
Within the Persona series, the collective unconscious is a physical location whose appearance and function varies greatly. Its various forms can be interpreted as different branches of a single tree. Personas and Shadows alike originate from this location, as their forms are dictated by the emotions and beliefs of humanity.
Mementos appears as an underworld, much like the titular location of Dante's Inferno.
There is little evidence that Jung used tarot cards during psychoanalysis, but he did consider them to be representative of the archetypes dwelling within the collective unconscious.
Locations within the collective unconscious from the Persona series include:
See also[]