︎︎︎BACK
COLLECTIVE UNCONSCIOUS
The collective unconscious ︎ refers to the idea that a segment of the deepest unconscious mind is genetically inherited and not shaped by personal experience. This notion was originally defined by psychoanalyst Carl Jung.
According to Jung's teachings, the collective unconscious ︎ is common to all human beings.1 Jung also believed that the collective unconscious ︎ is responsible for a number of deep-seated beliefs and instincts, such as spirituality, sexual behavior, and life and death instincts.
The collective unconscious ︎ is made up of a collection of knowledge and imagery that every person is born with and is shared by all human beings due to ancestral experience.3 Though humans may not know what thoughts and images are in their collective unconscious, it is thought that in moments of crisis, the psyche can tap into it.