@Stephen Pederson

No, do not be sorry for the length, I found your post illuminating. I know this about Jung but was recently looking at a childbirth technique called “the baby crawl” where when the infant is delivered it could smell the mother from the embryonic fluid. As I am working on my thesis I may have to choose another route, however, thank you for your very informative post!

HI Paula,

You say that you are studying Behavior Analysis and looking for ideas for an experiment and any concept that links B.F. Skinner to Carl Jung.

Before answering your question, let me start with a brief historical digression to set the context for my answer.

As you certainly know, B. F. Skinner was a behaviorist psychologist, an inventor, and social philosopher. Skinner founded his own type of experimental research psychology which is known as the experimental analysis of behavior. He coined the operant conditioning, concept, which, I think, is his main concept and lies at the heart  of the so called “Skinner box”, and is used, along with other tools and techniques, to study people’s behavior and how it is modified, for example, by positive and negative reinforcement.

Contrary to a widespread and wrong idea, he did not advocate the use of punishment to modify human behavior, but supported the idea of using positive and negative reinforcement as a more effective way to control and shape one’s behavior. Skinner is famous for his use of psychological behavior modification techniques and many of his theories and findings are present in modern day psychology, but they often are associated nowadays with cognitive techniques. So, cognitive behavioral techniques (e.g., self-instruction) are nowadays more used than simple behavioral techniques (e. g, positive or negative reinforcement).

In his famous paper, Why I am not a cognitive psychologist, he strongly argued that  the variables of which human behavior is a function lie in the external environment.

As such, it is difficult to find links between the Neo-Freudian, say, Carl Jung and Skinner  because, as shown above and below, the former is to what happens outside the individual (e.g., external consequences of his/her behavior on the external milieu), as the  latter is to what happens inside the individual. Needless to say, Skinner performed well controlled experiments, mainly on pigeons, whereas Jung used, say, armchair speculation.   

As you certainly know, Jung had actually friends with Sigmund Freud. Jung developed a fascination for the unconscious mind, much like Freud, but later began questioning and rejecting many of Freud’s theories. Jung formed the theory of analytical psychology and believed that the human psyche is made up of three components: the ego, the personal unconscious, and the collective unconscious. He believed the collective unconscious was a pooling of all of the experience and knowledge of the whole human ethnicity. Jung developed the concepts of introversion and extraversion that are alive and well to this day, and his advice to a struggling alcoholic helped lead to the program we know as AA or Alcoholics Anonymous

Skinner was inspired, for example, by mechanistic authors, such as I.Pavlov and  J. Watson. On the contrary, Jung had experience with the psychotics at the Burgholzli hospital under the guidance of Dr. Bleuler, mostly known because of his work on schizophrenia; had cooperation with Freud and his experience with the Freudian psychoanalysis, including the dream interpretation technique, Jung's work has also to do with his own experience with his association method and  his exploration of the unconscious after he left Freud and the Psychoanalytic Association during his own confrontation with the archetypes and the Self.

This brief digression shows us that Skinner and Jung are at complete variance with each, at least as I see them. Maybe you are capable of finding some communalities between them.

I would  say that Skinner was mainly  a scientist who performed controlled experiments. This was not the case  of Jung. 

Let me say that I am not  a Skinnerian nor have I any Freudian inclination whatever.

I hope I have got your questions and that this helps,

Best regards

It is a quite difficult task to unite Skinner and Jung in a coherent analytical framework. I can only see this in an antagonical comparative study, but I don't know if it is your aim.

Best regards!

As a Master’s student, I would like to give everyone who answered accolades for answering my questions. I fear because, as stated, Jung and Skinner are completely opposite in their view I will have to try a different avenue. However, I am astounded that so many with such valid credentials answered my questions. This is what drives my curiosity. I do think with technology like magnetic resonance imaging, someday Jung’s hypothesis about the subconscious will become partially true. Thank you for an interesting conversational thread.

Anthony Stevens

Jung was an evolutionary thinker for whom the archetype was a shared neurobiological heritage of our species. Hence, our behavioural mechanisms also, why not?