According to Carl Jung, personality consists of competing forces and structures within the individual (that must be balanced) rather than between the individual and the demands of society, or between the individual and reality. This theory of personality proposed by Jung is known as:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → Analytical psychology
Option (1) Psychoanalytic theory — Incorrect. This is Freud’s theory, built on the conflict between the id, the ego and the superego and on the unconscious sexual and aggressive urges. Jung worked with Freud early in his career but later broke away from him.
Option (2) Ego-identity theory — Incorrect. This points to Erik Erikson, who views development as a lifelong process and grants ego identity a central place in it. It is not Jung’s theory.
Option (3) Analytical psychology — Correct. Jung saw human beings as guided as much by aims and aspirations as by sex and aggression, and developed his own theory, called analytical psychology. Its basic assumption is the one quoted in the question: personality consists of competing forces and structures within the individual that must be balanced. Jung also proposed the collective unconscious, made of archetypes.
Option (4) Individual psychology — Incorrect. This is Alfred Adler’s theory. It holds that human behaviour is purposeful and goal-directed and that overcoming the feelings of inadequacy, the inferiority complex, is essential for personality development.
NCERT (2025-26): “Carl Jung : Aims and Aspirations Jung worked with Freud in his early stages of career, but later on he broke away from Freud. Jung saw human beings guided as much by aims and aspirations as by sex and aggression. He developed his own theory of personality, called analytical psychology. The basic assumption of his theory is that personality consists of competing forces and structures within the individual (that must be balanced) rather than between the individual and the demands of society, or between the individual and reality.…” “Alfred Adler : Lifestyle and Social Interest … Adler’s theory is known as individual psychology. His basic assumption is that human behaviour is purposeful and goal-directed.…” |