From archetypes to reflective function

Abstract

This paper challenges the view that mental contents can be innate and offers instead a developmental model in which mental contents emerge from the interaction of genes, brain and environment. Some key steps on this developmental pathway are traced, such as the formation of image schemas. The processes by which mental contents are evaluated and organized are described, notably those of perceptual analysis, representational re-description and appraisal. Jung's concept of the transcendent function is seen to have certain crucial features in common with each of these processes. The emergence of the capacity to symbolize is explored in relation to these concepts and it is suggested that the pinnacle of this capacity is achieved in the emergence of reflective function, in which mind is represented to itself.

The mind beyond our immediate awareness: Freudian, Jungian, and cognitive models of the unconscious

“…The understanding of metaphors that Lakoff and Johnson offer us can be equally unsettling if we assume that there are innate expressions for the symbols that form in treatments. As Knox (2004) points out, such innateness must be ruled out simply on the basis of what can be stored genetically. Recent clinical accounts also seem to confirm that the ability to symbolize is acquired (Bovensiepen 2002).…”

Comics as a Cognitive Training Medium for Expert Decision Making

“…Rather than examining the lines and points on each image, or the actual ink on the page, readers use image schemas to interpret comics, and this broader perceptual element drives comics' ability to communicate and transfer information to diverse populations (Knox, 2004).…”

Symbol/Meaning Paired-Associate Recall: An “Archetypal Memory” Advantage?

“…Nevertheless, there are emerging efforts to integrate ideas from analytical psychology and those drawn from cognitive psychology, neuroscience and even physics, e.g., [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9], etc. To date, these efforts have largely aimed at a theoretical or conceptual integration.…”

“…Among one of the most well formulated approaches is a model which theorizes that what Jung might have meant with the archetype is similar to the contemporary cognitive semanticists’ notion of image schemas [3,4,5,16,17,18], that is, a structure of sensorimotor experience that captures a “dynamic, recurring pattern of organism-environment interactions” ([19], p. 136), that can be—“recruited for abstract conceptualization and reasoning” ([19], p. 141). Image schemas are thought to be “preverbal and mostly nonconscious” ([19], p. 144).…”

“…While there are still proponents of the idea that archetypes are transmitted genetically (see for further information the review by Roesler [1]), many consider discussions of nature versus nurture to be obsolete and stress the interactionist nature of human development [1,4,9,17,25,31] or point out psychological factors in evolution in the argumentation against a purely genetically transmitted innateness [32]. The innate aspect of the archetype can also be looked at as predisposition to a genetic condition which needs certain environmental cues to find expression in the sense of epigenetics as described by Roesler [1,9] and Rosen [31,33].…”