Jung’s personality theory describes which of the following constructs?

The correct answer is Option (2) → Archetypes

Option (1) Psychosexual stages — Incorrect. The five psychosexual stages, oral, anal, phallic, latency and genital, are Freud’s theory of personality development. Jung broke away from Freud and saw people guided as much by aims and aspirations as by sex and aggression.

Option (2) Archetypes — Correct. In his analytical psychology, Jung claimed that there is a collective unconscious consisting of archetypes or primordial images. These are not acquired by the individual but inherited; the God or the Mother Earth is a good example, and they are found in the myths, dreams and arts of all mankind.

Option (3) Personal goals — Incorrect. Personal goals are central to Adler’s individual psychology: human behaviour is purposeful and goal-directed, and our personal goals are the sources of our motivation.

Option (4) Social desirability — Incorrect. Social desirability is a problem in self-report measures: the tendency of a respondent to endorse items in a socially desirable manner. It is a bias in testing, not a construct of a personality theory.