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LECTURE 3: PSYCHOLOGICAL APPROACHES TO MYTH Jack Hunter (j.hunter@chester.ac.uk)
OUTLINE OF THE LECTURE Origins of the Unconscious mind. Myers and the Subliminal mind. Charcot and Hysteria. Freud and the Unconscious mind. Jung and the Unconscious mind. Myth and the Unconscious mind. Critiques of the Psychological Approach.
SHAMANISM & SPIRIT POSSESSION Shamans, spirit mediums and other magico-religious practitioners have a long history of exploring different states of consciousness. Bring back stories from the spirit world. No account of the history of the development of the unconscious would be complete without acknowledging this lineage.
MESMERISM Franz Anton Mesmer (1734-1815) Used animal magnetism to cure all sorts of ailments. Widely denounced by the medical establishment as a quack and charlatan. His cures nevertheless seemed to work. Clear that something was going on.
HYPNOSIS It wasn t until later in the 19th Century that Mesmer s approach was vindicated (to an extent). James Esdaile (1808-1859), surgeon for the East India Company. Used Mesmeric techniques as anaesthetics during operations. James Braid (1795-1860) pioneer of Hypnotism. Widely regarded as the first hypnotherapist. Coined the English term Hypnosis to distance his method from the negative connotations of Mesmerism.
PSYCHICAL RESEARCH The Society for Psychical Research was established in 1882. Stated aim to investigate:...that large body of debatable phenomena designated by such terms as mesmeric, psychical and "spiritualistic, and to do so in the same spirit of exact and unimpassioned enquiry which has enabled Science to solve so many problems.
FREDERIC MYERS (1843-1901) Classicist and pioneering psychologist. Fascinated by all aspects of psychical research, wrote on apparitions and especially on mediumship and the possibility of human survival after death. In 1903 Human Personality and its Survival of Bodily Death was posthumously published.
SUBLIMINAL & SUPRALIMINAL Myers developed a two tiered model of consciousness. Supraliminal - waking awareness. Subliminal - emerges in dreams, altered states of consciousness, and could account for paranormal experiences. Theory influenced William James and Carl Jung.
FROM INDIA TO THE PLANET MARS Theodore Flournoy (1854-1920). Genevan psychologist. Helene Smith (1861-1929) Automatic writing, glossolalia, memories of past lives, detailed dream-like descriptions of life on Mars. Myth like quality of the subconscious mind?
HYSTERIA Nineteenth Century saw the emergence of Hysteria as a disorder. Unusual symptoms. Multiple personalities, strange bodily contortions, paralyses, twitches, convulsions. No apparent organic cause. Psychosomatic. Similar to mediumship in many ways. Cross over of researchers interested in mediumship and hysteria.
HYSTERIA
JEAN-MARTIN CHARCOT (1825-1893)
JOSEF BREUER (1842-1925) Austrian psychologist. Worked with patients suffering from hysteria. Developed the Talking Cure. Freud worked with him. Together they published their Studies in Hysteria. Identified the process of conversion. Mental and physical symptoms often have psychological foundations.
SIGMUND FREUD (1856-1939) Viennese Psychologist. Developed the psychoanalytic method. Theory of the Unconscious Mind.
THE UNCONSCIOUS MIND Disorders can have roots in the unconscious mind. Psychological processes that are not available to our conscious minds. Repression of traumatic experiences. Associations. Universal symbolism. Sexual development.
PSYCHOANALYSIS Free Association and Dream Analysis are a means of accessing the unconscious mind and finding the root causes of illnesses. Once the underlying cause of the disorder is discovered it can be talked through. Releasing psychological blockages.
INTERPRETING MYTH Freud was fascinated by myth, especially the Sphinx. Approached the study of myth as the study of the unconscious mind. Myths are like the collective dreams of societies. Interpretation of symbols, like dream analysis. Especially in terms of sexual development. Myth analysis also has relevance to individual analysis.
OEDIPUS MYTH Complex story. Freud considers it a dream of murdering one s father and marrying one s mother. Expression of deep psychological processes, developmental stages. Myths are like dreams to be interepreted. Though Freud actually did very little of this.
THE GORGON Notes not published until after Freud s death. Fear of castration. Cutting off the head. Snakes replace the penis (compensation). Fright, turn to stone - rigid with fear.
CRITICISMS OF FREUDIAN APPROACH Universalised theory based on 19th Century Viennese society. Moreover, 19th Century people with disorders. Over emphasis on sexuality. Over emphasis on male sexuality - phallocentric. But, nevertheless important for the suggesting the role of underlying psychological processes (early cognitive approach?).
CARL JUNG (1875-1961) Swiss Psychologist. Doctoral thesis on the mediumistic abilities of his cousin. Worked with Freud. Disagreed with Freud s over emphasis on sexuality. Emphasised the importance of engaging with the unconscious for health and well-being. Individuation. Disagreed with Freud with regard to the nature of the paranormal. Synchronicity.
COLLECTIVE UNCONSCIOUS The Unconscious mind might extend beyond the individual. Shared by the species. Universal. Distinguished from Freud s notion of the personal unconscious. Mythic quality. Populated by Archetypes.
ARCHETYPES Archetypal characters, such as trickster, wise old man, the shadow, etc. Characters in myth correlate with the archetypes. Akin to Plato s Forms. Idealised concepts that actually exist. Universal, cross-cultural.
UFOs are a modern myth. JUNG ON UFO S Symbolic: The disc is a symbol of wholeness. They tell us something about the human psyche. Mandala. Synchronicity. External events mirroring internal psychological events. "At a time when the world is divided by an iron curtain...we might expect all sorts of funny things, since when such a thing happens in an individual it means a complete dissociation, which is instantly compensated by symbols of wholeness and unity."
CRITICISMS OF A JUNGIAN APPROACH Universal theory. The Archetypes? Worry about the autonomous nature of the collective unconscious. Difficulty of proving the existence of archetypes, the unconscious, etc. Appropriation of ideas by the New Age movement.
WHAT DO YOU THINK? Do you think psychological theories have any relevance to the study of myth? If so/not, why? Do you agree with Freud, or Jung? Or neither? What about Universal symbols? Do they exist?
NEXT WEEK The Experiential Source Hypothesis.
FURTHER READING Blum, D. (2007). Ghost Hunters: The Victorians and the Hunt for Proof of Life After Death. London: Arrow Books. Csapo, E. (2005). Theories of Mythology. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing (Chapter 2). Gauld, A. (1982). Mediumship and Survival: A Century of Investigations. London: Granada Publishing Ltd. Inglis, B. (1989). Trance: A Natural History of Altered States of Mind. London: Grafton Books. Klimo, J. (1987). Channeling: Investigations on Receiving Information from Paranormal Sources. Los Angeles: Jeremy P. Tarcher. Melechi, A. (2008). Servants of the Supernatural: The Night Side of the Victorian Mind. London, William Heinemann.