collective unconscious

noun

1. (in Jungian psychology) inborn unconscious psychic material common to humankind, accumulated by the experience of all preceding generations.

collective unconscious

noun

1. psychol (in Jungian psychological theory) a part of the unconscious mind incorporating patterns of memories, instincts, and experiences common to all mankind. These patterns are inherited, may be arranged into archetypes, and are observable through their effects on dreams, behaviour, etc

collective unconscious

1. Memories of mental patterns that are shared by members of a single culture or, more broadly, by all human beings; originally proposed by the psychologist Carl Jung to explain psychological traits shared by all people. He theorized that the collective unconscious appears as archetypes : patterns and symbols (see also symbol ) that occur in dreams, mythology , and fairy tales.

Word History and Origins

Origin of collective unconscious¹

First recorded in 1915–20

Example Sentences

It also boasts the hook of reviving proven IP, and though it’s not exactly “Star Trek,” the original ran for nine years and is rerunning still; it has a seat in the collective unconscious.

From Los Angeles Times

At a time when conversations around self-discovery are surging, the analyst’s theories on the collective unconscious, archetypes and shadow are increasingly influencing the work of social media-savvy healers, therapists and life coaches.

From Los Angeles Times

Shadow is one of them but also synchronicity, introversion and extroversion, the collective unconscious.

From Los Angeles Times

Even if we had never seen or heard Jackson before, she seemed to reside in the dusty bric-a-brac of our country’s collective unconscious: one of rock ’n’ roll’s forgotten pioneers, Cordell Jackson had been making music for more than half a century.

From New York Times

In an essay articulating some of the motivations behind “The Real Unreal,” Meow Wolf co-founder Emily Montoya writes that the exhibition is “a revisitation of the themes, ideas and images that inhabit Meow Wolf’s collective imagination and overflow from the realm of the imagination into the realm of the material. It’s not a remake or a sequel. It’s a deepening of the roots that reach into the realm of the collective unconscious.”

From Los Angeles Times