COPERNICUS AND THE HELIOCENTRIC SYSTEM

LIFE of COPERNICUS (1473-1543)

• Mikolaj Kopernik, or Nicolaus Koppernigk; born on the 19th Feb 1473 in Torun, Poland; commonly known with
his latinized name Nicolaus Copernicus
• He studied Latin, mathematics, astronomy, geography and philosophy, learning his astronomy from
the ”Tractatus de Sphaera”, by Johannes de Sacrobosco (written in 1220)
• Copernicus learnt the conventional Aristotelian and Ptolemaic theories of the universe, and also much about
what today we call astrology, ie., the calculation of horoscopes
• Around 1514 he distributed a little book, in several hand written copies, to a few friends. This work was
anonymous- no author is named on the title page. The book, entitled ”Commentariolus” (usually translated as
the ”Little Commentary”) already it set out Copernicus’s theory of a heliocentric universe, based on 7 ’axioms’.
These axioms place the sun near the centre of a universe in which the planets, including the earth revolve
around it, with the stars much further away. The movement of the sun and stars in the sky is correctly explained,
as is the retrograde motion in the sky of the planets
• Even when he wrote his Commentariolus, Copernicus was planning to write a major work, and it is likely that
he began writing his major work, the ”De Revolutionibus”, in the following year
• However even once this was finished (a demanding task, since it involved him in rather painstaking study of
the actual motion of the planets), Copernicus was very reluctant to publish. The reason for this is well known- in
spite of encouragement form his friends, some of whom were quite influential (eg., Tiedemann Giese, or
Cardinal Shoenberg of Capua), he feared the reaction of the young Catholic zealots of the district, to whom he
was already suspicious because of his lack of fervent opposition to the new Lutheran doctrines. Note that
Copernicus’s fears did not extend to the whole Catholic church - in fact he was throughout his life a committed
Catholic, and he had already published a brief popular account of his ideas in 1530, which had been circulated
widely, and eventually had even been the subject of a lecture given in Rome. Pope Clement II had at that time
approved of the ideas expressed, and even transmitted a request via the Polish Cardinal that the ideas be
published in full. Thus Copernicus’s reluctance to publish was clearly more connected with his own local
situation, far from Rome
• In May 1539 a young visitor arrived in Frauenberg to study with Copernicus. This was Georg Joachim
Rheaticus, a young professor of mathematics and astronomy at the University of Wittenberg. Rheaticus spent
about two years with Copernicus, taking some risk - for he himself was a Protestant visiting a Catholic canon, in
what was then (and now) a Catholic stronghold. However history can be grateful to Rheaticus for doing so, since
without his visit, it is possible that Copernicus’s work might never have been published
• In September 1539 Rheaticus visited the mayor of Danzig, and acquired from him funds to help publish the
”Narratio Prima” or ”First Communication” (this was an abbreviation of the full title ”First Communication to
Johann Schner on the Books of the Revolutions of the learned gentleman and distinguished mathematician, the
Reverend Doctor Nicolaus Copernicus of Torun, Canon of Warmia, by a certain youth devoted to mathematics”).
In this short work Rheaticus enthusiastically reviewed the theory of Copernicus, in a very readable way.
• The publication of the Narratio Prima encouraged Copernicus to publish the full mathematical details of his
theory, which he had promised 27 years earlier in his Commentariolus. On 9 June 1541 Rheaticus was able to
write that Copernicus had finally given his assent for the publication of ”De Revolutionibus, Libri VI”, and on 29
August 1541 the manuscript was ready for the printer. Rheticus took the manuscript with him on his return to
Wittenberg, and gave it to the printer Johann Petreius in Nremberg. Petreius was unable to supervise the
printing, and so he asked Andreas Osiander, a Lutheran theologian, to undertake the task. In a now famous
addition, Osiander inserted a ’letter to the reader’, in place of Copernicus’s original Preface, in which he claimed
that the results of the book were not intended as the truth, rather that they merely presented a simpler way to
calculate the positions of the heavenly bodies. This ’letter’ was unsigned, and the true identity of its author was
not revealed publicly until 50 years later, by Kepler. Osiander also changed the title, to ”De revolutionibus
orbium coelestium”, thereby insinuating that the work treated only the motions of the heavenly bodies, and not
that of the earth.
• Copernicus apparently first saw a copy of the 200 page printed book, on his deathbed. He died on 24 May
1543 of a cerebral hemorrhage.
THE HELIOCENTRIC THEORY OF COPERNICUS
The basic ideas of Copernicus already appear in the 7 ’axioms’ of his first published work, the Commentariolus.
These axioms were:
1. There is no single centre for all orbits in the universe.
2. The Earth’s centre is not the centre of the universe, but only of the lunar orbit.
3. The centre of the universe is near the sun.
4. The distance from the Earth to the sun is imperceptible compared with the distance to the stars.
5. The daily rotation of the Earth accounts for the apparent daily rotation of the stars, which themselves are
immobile.
6. The apparent annual cycle of solar motion is caused by the Earth revolving round it once every year.
7. The apparent retrograde motion of the planets is caused by the motion of the Earth around the sun, and
from which one observes the planets.
- Note that these are not really axioms but more statements of the main elements of the theory. We see that
Copernicus already had his basic ideas.

In his dedication of ”De Revolutionibus” to Pope Paul III, he described the origin of some of his reasons for
arriving at these conclusions—these reached back to his studies in Padua:
• was impelled to consider a different system of deducing the motions of the universe’s spheres because of the
realization that astronomers do not agree among themselves in their investigations of this subject.
• Astronomers are so uncertain about the motion of the sun and moon that they cannot establish and observe
a constant length even for the tropical year.
• determining the motions not only of these bodies but also of the other five planets, they do not use the same
principles, assumptions, and explanations of the apparent revolutions and motions.
• For this reason I undertook the task of rereading the works of all the philosophers (whether anyone had ever
proposed other motions of the universe’s spheres than those expounded by the teachers of astronomy in the
schools
• First I found in Cicero that Hicetas supposed the earth to move.
• also discovered in Plutarch that certain others were of this opinion, for he says that: ’Some think that the earth
remains at rest. But Philolaus the Pythagorean believes that, like the sun and moon, it revolves around the fire
in an oblique circle. Heraclides of Pontus, and Ecphantus the Pythagorean make the earth move, not in a
progressive motion, but like a wheel in a rotation from west to east about its own center.’
• having obtained the opportunity from these sources, I too began to consider the mobility of the earth. And
even though the idea seemed absurd, nevertheless I knew that others before me had been granted the freedom
to imagine any circles whatever for the purpose of explaining the heavenly phenomena. Hence I thought that I
too would be readily permitted to ascertain whether explanations sounder than those of my predecessors could
be found for the revolution of the celestial spheres on the assumption of some motion of the earth.
• I found that if the motions of the other planets are correlated with the orbiting of the earth, and are computed
for the revolution of each planet, not only do their phenomena follow from this but also the order and size of all
the planets and spheres, and heaven itself is so linked together that in no portion of it can anything be shifted
without disrupting the remaining parts and the universe as a whole.”

• Ptolemy came to his elaborate theory using the same combination of empirical observation and a resort to
certain principles, and the Ptolemaic methodology had been elaborated to great effect by Islamic astronomers,
and then taken up by the late mediaeval astronomers. Some of the principles evoked by Copernicus were hardly
different from those of Ptolemy - for example, the belief that motion had to be in circles, and that the universe
and the earth had to be perfect spheres. In assuming this Copernicus was appealing partly to historical
precedent, but also to a principle which he articulated in his missive to Pope Paul, viz., an appeal to the harmony
and symmetry of such a world system. As we shall see in the discussion of the modern field theories of
electromagnetism, particle physics, and general relativity, the appeal to principles of symmetry like these turns
out to have enormous power if employed side by side with empirical observation- in this sense the approach of
Copernicus not only harks back to ancient Greek ideas, but also has a very modern cast.
• The immense period of time over which the observations now extended, along with Copernicus’s own lengthy
calculations, allowed him to compile new tables describing the planetary motions, which were more accurate
than previous tables. The second set of facts involved simple observations of the brightness of the planets and
stars throughout the year- although well known, Copernicus argued that the only reasonable explanation of
these lay in a heliocentric hypothesis, with the variable luminosity of the planets coming from their varying
distance from the earth, and the almost fixed luminosity of the stars arising because they were so far away.
• Thus Copernicus was led to his picture in which the sun was stationary, the earth and planets orbit in circles
around in, and the moon orbits the earth; and that the earth itself turns on its axis once every day. Much
farther away, the stars lay stationary on the ’celestial sphere’. For Copernicus the alternative, that the earth was
stationary, not even rotating around its own axis, and that the sun, planets, and even the stars orbited round the
earth at fantastic velocities, was simply too bizarre to countenance seriously. That he was able to find precedent
in the arguments of some writers in antiquity was certainly of great help to him.
• Summary of Copernicus’s theoretical framework for the motion of the earth: The first motion, named
’nychthemeron’ by the Greeks, is the rotation which is the characteristic of a day plus a night. This turns
around the earth’s axis from west to east, just as the universe is deemed to be carried in the opposite direction.
It describes the equator, which some people call the ”circle of equal days”, in imitation of the designation used
by the Greeks, whose term for it is ’isemerinos’.
The second is the yearly motion of the center, which traces the ecliptic around the sun. Its direction is likewise
from west to east, that is, in the order of the zodiacal signs. It travels between Venus and Mars, as I mentioned,
together with its associates. Because of it, the sun seems to move through the zodiac in a similar motion. Thus,
for example, when the earth’s center is passing through the Goat, the sun appears to be traversing the Crab;
with the earth in the Water Bearer, the sun seems to be in the Lion, and so on, as I remarked. To this circle,
which goes through the middle of the signs, and to its plane, the equator and the earth’s axis must be
understood to have a variable inclination. For if they stayed at a constant angle, and were affected exclusively by
the motion of the center, no inequality of days and nights would be observed. On the contrary, it would always
be either the longest or shortest day or the day of equal daylight and darkness, or summer or winter, or
whatever the character of the season, it would remain identical and unchanged.
The third motion in inclination is consequently required. This also is a yearly revolution, but it occurs in the
reverse order of the signs, that is, in the direction opposite to that of the motion of the center. These two
motions are opposite in direction and nearly equal in period. The result is that the earth’s axis and equator, the
largest of the parallels of latitude on it, face almost the same portion of the heavens, just as if they remained
motionless. Meanwhile the sun seems to move through the obliquity of the ecliptic with the motion of the
earth’s center, as though this were the center of the universe. Only remember that, in relation to the sphere of
the fixed stars, the distance between the sun and the earth vanishes from our sight forthwith.
• In dealing with the other planets Copernicus gave the order of the orbits correctly, and did succeed in
obtaining a reasonable agreement with observation, although he did complicate his theory considerably by
insisting that the centre of the universe lay at the centre of the earth’s orbit - this made the orbits of the other
planets implicitly dependent on that of the earth. His theory of the moon’s orbit around the earth was far
simpler and more plausible than that of Ptolemy, who required the moon’s distance from the earth to vary by a
factor of two. Copernicus was in no doubt that the great advantage of his system was its simplicity and
elegance, and this for him was an overwhelming philosophical advantage.
• Since the sun remains stationary, whatever appears as a motion of the sun is really due rather to the motion of
the earth. In comparison with any other spheres of the planets, the distance from the earth to the sun has a
magnitude which is quite appreciable in proportion to those dimensions. But the size of the universe is so great
that the distance earth-sun is imperceptible in relation to the sphere of the fixed stars.
• We discover a marvelous symmetry of the universe, and an established harmonious linkage between the
motion of the spheres and their size, such as can be found in no other way. For this permits a not inattentive
student to perceive why the forward and backward arcs appear greater in Jupiter than in Saturn and smaller
than in Mars, and on the other hand greater in Venus than in Mercury. This reversal in direction appears more
frequently in Saturn than in Jupiter, and also more rarely in Mars and Venus than in Mercury. Moreover, when
Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars rise at sunset, they are nearer to the earth than when they set in the evening or
appear at a later hour. But Mars in particular, when it shines all night, seems to equal Jupiter in size, being
distinguished only by its reddish color. Yet in the other configurations it is found barely among the stars of the
second magnitude, being recognized by those who track it with assiduous observations. All these phenomena
proceed from the same cause, which is in the earth’s motion. Yet none of these phenomena appears in the fixed
stars. This proves their immense height, which makes even the sphere of the annual motion, or its reflection,
vanish from before our eyes.”

Implications of Heliocentric Model

• The Heliocentric Model offers additional explanations for some of the basic observations of the sky and the
Earth environment made for thousands of years.
• Seasons: Seasons are produced by the fact that the Earth's rotation axis is inclined by 23.5 with respect to
the line drawn perpendicular to the Earth's orbital plane. Seasons are NOT produced by the varying distance to
the Sun as the Earth makes its elliptical orbit about the Sun.
• The sunlight intensity (or amount of heating) depends on the angle that the Sun's light rays make with
respect to the ground. When the Sun is highest in the sky at noon during the summer in Las Cruces, the Sun's
rays are nearly perpendicular to the ground - this produces the greatest heating of the year. This is caused by
the fact that the northern hemisphere is pointing most directly at the Sun. The opposite occurs during the
winter.
• What other terrestrial planet has seasons?
• Eclipses occur when one astronomical body moves into the shadow cast by a second astronomical body.
• A Lunar Eclipse occurs at Full Moon when the Moon moves through the shadow of the Earth.
• A Solar Eclipse occurs at New Moon when the Moon's shadow falls upon the Earth.

The Heliocentric Model of the Solar System

• Hypothesis: Sun is the center of the solar system, only Moon orbits around Earth; Planets orbit around Sun.
• Aristarchus of Samos was the first to propose it in ancient Greece (~300 BC)-but Aristotle’s model was the
favorite one.
• He proposed that the Sun is the ‘center of life’.
• Also the Earth makes two motions, one around itself and one around the Sun.

• Nicolaus Copernicus (~1500 AD), a Polish clerk challenged Ptolemy’s model.

• Published his theory in book: ’ De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Celestial
Spheres)’
• He introduced (again) the Heliocentric Model • His motivation was simplicity
• The critical realization that Earth is not the center of the Universe we call ‘The Copernican Revolution’
• He explained retrograde motion naturally
The Birth of Modern Astronomy
• Telescope was invented around 1600
• Galileo built his own, he improved (did not invent) telescope (from 3x to 30x) • Was inspired by Kepler’s work
• Made detailed observations. • Published Dialogo in 1632
• Condemned by Inquisition, sentenced to house arrest until death. • 1992: John Paul II pardons

Galileo’s Observations
• Moon has mountains and valleys - terrain like that on earth
• Sun has sunspots, and rotates • Jupiter has moons - smaller object rotate around larger
• Venus has phases. The phases of Venus cannot be explained by a Geocentric model Galileo knew about and
had accepted Copernicus's heliocentric (Sun-centered) theory.
It was Galileo's observations of Venus that proved the theory. Using his telescope, Galileo found that Venus
went through phases, just like our Moon. But, the nature of these phases could only be explained by Venus
going around the Sun, not the Earth. Galileo concluded that Venus must travel around the Sun, passing at times
behind and beyond it, rather than revolving directly around the Earth. Galileo's observations of the phases of
Venus virtually proved that the Earth was not the center of the universe. It was this assertion which most
angered the Church leaders of the time.

The Laws of Planetary Motion

• Galileo demolished Ptolemy’s system and established the Copernican Heliocentric system
• Copernican approach is a classic example of the Scientific method
• Still, the LAWS of governing the motion of celestial objects were still unknown
• The Dynamics were missing—what forces were responsible for these motions?

Johannes Kepler (1571-1630)

• Kepler’s laws were derived using observations made by Tycho Brahe
• He formulated three Laws that explain everything!
• Tycho collected the data but Kepler had the genius to see through them!

Tycho Brahe
• Danish astronomer, who in 1588 proposed a different kind of geocentric system.
• This new “geoheliocentric” cosmology had two major advantages going for it: it squared with deep intuitions
about how the world appeared to behave, and it fit the available data better than Copernicus’s system did.
• Brahe was a towering figure. He ran a huge research program with a castle like observatory, a NASA-like
budget, and the finest instruments and best assistants money could buy.

Newton
• the Greatest ever? • 2 year country vacation (to escape bubonic plague)
• revolutionized all of science and mathematics
• His three laws of motion and the law of gravity are the cornerstones of Classical
Mechanics->sometimes called Newtonian Mechanics

Newton’s Laws
• Newton’s laws of motion explain how objects interact with the world and with each other.
- Kepler’s laws are a simple consequence of these laws
• Newton’s law of gravity identifies the responsible force behind celestial motion - plus provides the formula to
estimate it
Principia Mathematica (1686)
• the most important secular book in history? • explained all motion
• ideas: – three laws of motion. – plus the law of gravity

HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE HELIOCENTRIC MODEL

* Ptolemy develops a geocentric model that has the planets moving around the Earth. However, in order to
account for retrograde motion, he put the planets on circles that move in circles.
* Copernicus suggests a heliocentric model. His model has the planets moving around the Sun in circular orbits.
This can explain retrograde motion, but his model doesn't fit all the planetary position data that well. Really, it's
no better than Ptolemy's geocentric model.
* Kepler proposes that the planets do not orbit in circles. Instead, they have elliptical orbits. This agrees with the
observational data very well.
*Galileo gets a telescope and looks at the sky. He see stuff that suggests the Earth orbits the Sun. I'll discuss
these in a bit.
* Newton develops a model for gravity that also says planets would have elliptical orbits.

HOW CAN YOU TELL THE EARTH ORBITS THE SUN?

Phases of Venus.
The brighter object is Venus. Venus shows the same kind of phase that we see with the moon. It means two
things. First, We can see Venus because it reflects light from the Sun. Second, as the phases change, Venus is
sometimes closer to us that the Sun and sometimes farther away. You would see a "full phase" Venus when it is
on the other side of the Sun. How can both Venus and the Sun orbit the Earth but also have Venus move farther
away? Oh, this is something that Galileo saw with his telescope.
Moons of Jupiter.
You will probably just see Jupiter as a dot without any details. But you WILL be able to see the 4 big moons of
Jupiter. So what? The idea that all the planets (and the Sun) orbit the Earth isn't as strong once you show that
there are objects that orbit another planet. These moons of Jupiter clearly orbit Jupiter and not the Earth.
Size and Angular Size of the Sun.
The sun has an angular size of 0.5°. With this angular size, you can determine the size of the Sun for different
distances. If the sun were the same size as the Earth, it would have to be 1.46 x 109 meters away. If it were the
same distance that Venus is at it's closest approach, the Sun would be 26 times the width of Earth. Of course,
the Sun is actually much farther than that as well as much bigger.
The View From Mars.
The angular size of the Sun is smaller when viewed from Mars than when viewed from the Earth. This means
that the Mars-Sun distance is greater than the Earth-Sun distance. Also, if you looked at the Sun throughout the
orbit of Mars, it would mostly be the same angular size.

DARWIN
The theory of evolution by natural selection is a theory about the mechanism by which evolution occurred in
the past, and is still occurring now. The basic theory was developed by both Darwin and Wallace, however,
Darwin gave a much fuller argument. The theory states that biological change takes place with 2 basic
characteristics:
1) Variation: Random variations occur in the traits of individual organisms and are passed on to their offspring.
2) Struggle for existence: There is an existential competition that insures advantageous traits are preserved and
disadvantageous traits are weeded out.

+ One of the most controversial aspects of the theory of evolution is the implications that it has for human
beings. According to current thinking, there were a number of other species (or varieties) of the homo genus
that were closely related to humans, but which are now all extinct (Homo habilis, H. erectus, H. ergaster, H.
heidelbergensis, H. neanderthalensis, H. floresiensis, etc.). H. habilis lived some 2.3 million years ago, whereas
the Neanderthals died out about 24,000 years ago. The whole genus is thought to be about 2.5 million years old
and to have diverged from the pan genus of great apes about 5 million years ago.
+ Humans did not evolve from apes of the pan genus. Both pan apes and humans evolved from now extinct
common ancestors. Moreover, we are still part of the ape family (Hominidae).
+ The term homo sapiens was coined by Carl Linnaeus in 1758.
+ In the 1790s, Darwin’s own grandfather, Erasmus, had published poems putting forward the idea of evolution.
In the 1810s, Jean-Baptiste Lamarck outlined a comprehensive theory of evolution in which animals, individually,
become more complex and better adapted and then pass these changes onto their offspring. This kind of theory
is known as Lamarkism.
+ In 1844, Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation (Robert Chambers) presented a natural history in which all
forms were in transformation and everything develops from previous forms.
+ In the 18th and 19th centuries the empirical study of rocks and minerals was of increasing economic
importance. The earliest theories of rock formations were developed in the mining schools in the German states.
+ Abraham Werner (1749–1817), a professor at the mining school in Freiburg, set out a theory of stratification,
in which he claimed that different types of rocks were laid down in different periods of the earth’s history by the
gradual drying of a primordial ocean.
+ In the early 19th century, this was combined with a hypothesis of cataclysmic changes and developed as a
theory that helped geologists prospect for different types of rocks and minerals. Geologist like James Hutton
(1726–1797) and Charles Lyell (1797–1875) began to focus on the role of volcanoes and argued that the earth
had a molten core – which was called plutonism. They argued that geological formations are not the result of
cataclysmic changes in the past, but the long-term gradual result of processes we see around us now. This
became known as uniformitarianism.

§ While on the voyage of the Beagle, Darwin read Lyell’s Principles of Geology.
§ He collected thousands of specimens of plants and animals and carried out extensive studies of the
geography of South America and various Pacific islands.
- He came to believe that the Andes were formed over long periods of time, by the landmass slowly rising and
the seas receding. He became convinced that the atolls of Pacific islands were produced by the coral growing
as the mountains sank.
§ In Tierra Del Fuego, he observed native people living in the wild and became convinced that humans are not
so far removed from animals and show great diversity amongst themselves.
§ In the Galapagos Islands, he observed considerable diversity but he collected erratically and did not even tag
by island. When he returned to England, he sent out all of his specimens to be cataloged by experts.
§ John Gould realized that all of the different types of birds that Darwin had collected on the Galapagos were
various species of finches. Darwin began to keep a series of secret notebooks in which he wrote his ideas about
the “transmutation” of species. From the beginning, he was interested in the origin of life and the human
species. During this time, he read Malthus’ Essay. This gave Darwin the idea for a mechanism for evolution.
After returning from the voyage of the Beagle, Darwin began to publish his ideas about the geography of South
America, handbooks of the flora and fauna of the places he visited and an account of his travels.
He made a name for himself as a naturalist and became a friend and colleague of many of the most important
biologists in England. Occasionally, he would try to interest someone in his ideas about transmutation, but no
one was convinced. Because Darwin was himself a member of the social elite, he tried to distance himself from
other evolutionists, such as Lamarck and Chambers. Also, his wife was very religious. At this time, in Britain,
evolution was regarded as a dangerous idea, associated with France, the revolution, and social and political
unrest.

When Darwin realized that the established scientists were not interested in his ideas, he began to cultivate the
friendship of younger men who were on the rise such as Thomas Huxley (1825–1895) and Joseph Hooker
(1817–1911). Over a period of many years, through correspondence, he tried to convince them of his ideas. In
the 1850s, he also started a correspondence with Alfred Wallace (1823–1913). This lead to Wallace sending
Darwin a short paper in which he independently described a theory of evolution by natural selection. It was
decided by Lyell and Hooker, who both knew of Darwin’s work, that the two men should make a joint
presentation at the Linnean Society acknowledging their independent discovery. No one took any notice of this.
Darwin then spent over a year developing the argument which was published as On the Origin of Species, 1859.

Chap. 1: Darwin pointed out that animal breeders artificially select preferred characteristics from domestic
populations (pigeons, cows, dogs, etc.) in which there is a lot of random variation. Over many generation these
small differences produce very different types of animals (varieties of the same species).
Chap. 2: Darwin argued that a similar selection occurs in nature. He then began to discuss the nature of species.
He pointed out that it is often hard to demarcate between species. It is hard to decide what are different species
as opposed to different varieties. He argued that we could think of well-marked varieties as “incipient species” –
that is, newly forming, or emerging.
Chap. 3: Darwin argued that individual organisms and species are all in a struggle for existence.
§ This was contrary to the prevailing view – that nature was harmonious and showed evidence of a beneficent
creator – a doctrine known as natural theology. Instead, Darwin claimed that life is a complex struggle – not
always dramatically violent, as in predators and prey, but usually more subtle, as a plant struggling against
drought, or the introduction of new species into a habitat, etc. He argued that this struggle then resulted in what
he called “natural selection.” In the 6th edition of the book, he adopted the terminology of Herbert Spencer and
referred to the “survival of the fittest.”
Chap. 4: In this chapter, Darwin explains the core of his theory:
§ Nature varies, randomly. § Some of variations are more advantageous than others.
§ Because there is a struggle for existence, any advantage will be important, however slight.
§ In the long run, those organisms that have a slight innate advantage will survive more often than those who do
not, passing on their advantages to their offspring. Through this mechanism, Darwin argued that a population
will change by the accumulation of small, but favorable advantages, over vast periods of time. Again, he referred
to artificial selection, calling natural selection “unconscious artificial selection.” But notice that nature does not
chose preferred traits in the way that a breeder does.

Many people remained skeptical about the theory of natural selection. People raised the following objections:
§ It is random and open-ended. § Is not a goal directed process. § Where the goal was implicitly understood as
white, Victorian, upper-class males. § It does not imply directed progress. § This was a challenge to the
establishment and to the mercantile values of the rising middle class. § Is not an open system, as in Lamarck’s
theory. That is, individuals cannot improve themselves throughout the course of their lives and pass on these
improvements. Most naturalists of the 1870s and 80s became evolutionists, and even called themselves
Darwinists, but did not accept natural selection, which was the core of Darwin’s theory.
Even many people who supported Darwin, did not accept, or understand, natural selection.
For example, Herbert Spencer, used Darwin’s ideas to explain human progress towards fitter
individuals – a very progressivist view of evolution. Ernst Haeckel, an avid Darwinist, thought that
evolution unfolded according to a plan, like embryonic development (“ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny”).

Some of the most serious implications of the theory of natural selection are on our understanding of human
nature. If human beings evolved from a primate ancestor, it means that even our most “noble” traits – such as
our ability to love, our feeling of the divine, our creativity, our love of knowledge, our concern for others, etc. –
are not the gifts of a beneficent god, but are rather the chance results of natural processes. While it is easy to
see that our base traits – such as greed, lust, selfishness, etc. – would have helped our ancestors to survive, it
has been more difficult to see this with our noble traits.
Darwin went from being a devout Anglican, who had intended to become a minister and believed that the
natural world was evidence of God’s providence, to being an agnostic who believed that human beings were the
chance result of natural processes.

Heritable traits
The physical basis of the heritability of traits, however, was still missing. After the combination of theories by
Darwin and Mendel, it was profoundly clear that traits were transferred to progeny. The term gene was posed
to represent one heritable unit. In the 1940s, deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) was recognized to be the heritable
substance.
Deoxyribonucleic acid
DNA is a polymer built of only four different nucleotides: Adenine, Thymine, Cytosine and Guanine. Each
nucleotide consists of a sugar ring, a phosphate group and a base. The backbone of the polymer is formed by the
alternating sugar and phosphate group. Nucleotides only differ in the composition of the base, which is either a
purine (A and G) or a pyrimidine (T and C). DNA has two polymers—so-called strands—that form the famous
double-helical structure. The two strands are connected to each other by hydrogen bonds that cause base-to-
base interaction. These interactions are exclusively formed by with the complementary nucleotide: A only pairs
with T, whereas C only pairs with G.
An interesting feature of DNA is that the alternating structure of the backbone causes polarity of a strand. The
five carbon atoms of the sugar group are named 1’ to 5’. The phosphate group is at the 5’-end of the sugar,
whereas the OH-group is located at the 3’-position of the sugar ring. Hence, the DNA direction is either 5’-3’ or
3’-5’. The two strands are oriented in antiparallel fashion so that the 5’-end of one strand is aligned with 3’-end
of the complementary strand. The complementary base formation will prove essential for the copying of DNA. It
means that the sequence of only one strand of DNA is enough to know how the missing strand should look like.
As we will read shortly, Nature uses this feature to make a copy of DNA for the progeny.

Natural selection and evolution are not the same. Natural selection is the mechanism that enables evolution to
occur.

The first pattern

The glyptodont was an immense shelled animal with a morphology similar to the modern armadillo, but on a
massive scale. Darwin was delighted by the armadillos he saw scurrying about in Argentina. At his very first stop,
on St. Jago in the Canary Islands, he saw that the fossilized invertebrates exposed in the rocks on the beach were
the very same species whose shells littered the beach. These observations drew on his training in geology and
paleontology with Sedgwick, his reading of Lyell, and his focus on comparing fossil and modern specimens of the
same natural group.
In 1832, as the Beagle was exploring the Bahia Blanca along the coast of Argentina, Darwin discovered the bones
of fossil mammals at two localities. In a place where armadillos abounded, he was especially struck by what
looked liked the outer shell of an extinct form of armadillo. In another location he found the bones of extinct
giant ground sloths.
The second pattern
In 1837, bird expert John Gould named this rare South American ostrich Rhea darwinii in honor of its collector.
Gould's confirmation that this ostrich was indeed a distinct species fueled Darwin's curiosity. Darwin knew that a
larger rhea was common in an adjacent region. Were the two derived from a common ancestor? Darwin knew
that a larger rhea was common in an adjacent region.

This diverse evidence from the mammalian fossil record led Darwin to speculate about the causes of extinction
and to pay special attention to endemic species, or those that belong to groups that occur nowhere else on the
planet. By focusing on endemic species, he was eliminating the possibility that they had migrated from
elsewhere. Whatever had happened to put new, replacement species in place had occurred right there in South
America. Darwin was also struck by a second pattern. In different parts of South America, many species
appeared to have been replaced by species that were similar yet distinct. For example, the common rhea, an
ostrich-like bird that Darwin had been studying—and eating!—in northern Argentina, is replaced south of the
Rio Negro by a smaller, browner species. In this case, Darwin focused on "allied" species that replace each other
geographically—that is, across space rather than time.
Galápagos Islands.
Galapago is an old Spanish word for tortoise. So the meaning of Galapagos Islands is island of the tortoises. The
Galapagos Islands are home to unique and extraordinary animal species such as giant tortoises, iguanas, fur
seals, sea lions, sharks, and rays. In addition, there are 26 species of incredibly beautiful native birds, 14 of which
make up the group known as Darwin’s finches.
During Charles Darwin's nearly five-year circumnavigation of the globe aboard HMS Beagle, he spent only five
weeks on the Galapagos Islands. The year was 1835 and Darwin was 26 years old. His discoveries on the islands
were paramount to the development of his Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection.
On the islands, Charles Darwin discovered several species of finches. Thanks to his close observations, he
discovered that the different species of finches varied from island to island. Besides elaborating his thoughts on
natural selection, this also helped him in his investigation on the evolutionary changes of the finches.
He saw the slightly different forms of mockingbirds and tortoises on the different islands as beginning stages in
the development of new species from common ancestors.

The third pattern

Thus, it was three patterns—the replacement of extinct species by modern ones (as in the case of armadillos
and giant sloths); the geographic replacement of one species by another over large portions of the South
American continent (rheas); and the micro-version of the same geographic replacement patterns on different
islands in a chain (mockingbirds and tortoises)—that led Darwin to entertain, and then accept, the idea of
evolution. It was his focus on endemic species in "allied groups" that set him apart from those who could not—
or perhaps would not—accept transmutation.

When he arrived home in 1836, Darwin immediately began the search for a mechanism that could cause
evolutionary change. After several false starts, Darwin hit upon the idea of natural selection, which combined his
knowledge of variation and inheritance with a realization derived from reading the economist Thomas Malthus:
that more organisms are born each generation than can possibly survive and reproduce. The organisms with the
heritable variations that make them best suited for surviving are the most likely to produce offspring—and to
pass on their "recipe for success" to succeeding generations. When environments change, different variants will
be favored, and evolutionary change will occur.

Sigmund Freud
Born: May 6, 1856 Died: September 23, 1939
Sigmund Freud was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of Psychoanalysis who created an entirely new
approach to the understanding of the human personality. He is regarded as one of the most influential and
controversial- midst of the 20th century.
•In 1873, Freud began to study Medicine at the University of Vienna. After graduating, he worked at the Vienna
General Hospital where he collaborated with Joseph Breuer in treating hysteria by the recall of painful
experiences under hypnosis.
•He developed the theory that humans have an unconscious in which sexual and aggressive impulses are in
perpetual conflict for supremacy with the defenses against them.
•In 1887, he began an intensive analysis of himself.
•In 1900, his major work- The interpretation of Dreams was published in which Freud analyzed dreams in terms
of unconscious desires and experiences.
•In 1902, Freud was appointed Professor of Neuropathology at the University of Vienna, a post he held until
1938. Although the medical establishment disagreed with many of his theories, a group of pupils and followers
began to gather around Freud.
•In 1910, the International Psychoanalytic Association was founded with Carl Jung, a close associate of Freud’s.
Jung later parted ways with Freud and developed his own.
•In 1923, he published The Ego and the Id which suggested a new structural model of the mind, divided into the
id, the ego, and the superego.
•In 1928, shortly after the Nazis annexed Austria, Freud left Vienna for London with his wife and daughter.
Freud had been diagnosed with cancer at the jaw in 1923 and underwent more than 30 operations. He died on
September 23, 1939.

Psychoanalysis
Freud believed that people could be cured by making conscious their unconscious thoughts and motivations,
thus gaining insight. The aim of psychoanalysis therapy is to release repressed emotions and experiences, i.e.,
make the unconscious conscious. It is only having a cathartic (i.e., healing) experience can the person be helped
and "cured."
Psychoanalysis designates concomitantly three things:
1. A method of investigating the mind and especially the unconscious mind;
2. A therapy of neurosis inspired by the above method;
3. A new self-standing discipline based on the knowledge gained from the application of the investigation
method and clinical experiments.
Therefore, there is nothing confusing in the definition of psychoanalysis. Psychoanalysis is a specific technique
of investigation of the mind and a therapy inspired by this technique. We would put the therapy on the
forefront to make it even clearer that psychoanalysis is nothing speculative, that it binds more to psychotherapy
and less to philosophy, art or culture in general.

Hysteria
For example, Ely, a 35 year-old woman is given in Gordon Turnbull'S Trauma (a book on the history and
treatment of PTSD). After X-rays for a bleed in Ely’s spinal cord came back negative, Turnbull tried a lumber
puncture to extract fluid. Ely did not even wincedd as the needle went in. The nurses thought she was just
putting it on.
Perplexed, Turnbull’s mind “suddenly jumped to Freud”, who he recalls said that mental conflict could become
physical disability.
On interviewing Ely, he eventually discovered that she had been raped by someone she knew. This caused the
unbearable mental conflict that was “converted” into her physical symptoms. She evidently knew this, but had
pushed its significance out of her conscious awareness to protect herself. She found that talking her experiences
through repeatedly was cathartic – her pent up feelings were released. Two days later, she was able to leave the
hospital, unaided.

Hypnosis
hypnosis is a relaxation technique, in which practitioners follow steps to reach a state of heightened
concentration and relaxation. This is called the “hypnotic state,” and it’s similar to daydreaming, or that feeling
of losing track of time you get after driving for long periods of time (which is called “highway hypnosis”).
Under hypnosis, you remain conscious and in control. But you’re relaxed and highly focused. This allows you to
tune out stimuli around you and reach a heightened state of awareness. In this state, the mind is highly
responsive to suggestions in the hypnotic state. And that’s why hypnosis is so powerful.

ANNA O AS PATIENT OF JOSEF BREUER

Anna O was Breuer and Freud’s pseudonym for Bertha Pappenheim born on 27th February, 1859 in Vienna,
Austria. Anna O’s illness began when she was 21 years old. She experienced a range of symptoms while caring
for her sick father that included nervous cough, visual disturbances, headaches, and hallucinations. Anna came
to Josef Breuer for treatment for what was then known as hysteria. The treatment lasted from 1880 to 1882.
Breuer described Anna O as a ‘markedly intelligent [woman with] an astonishing quick grasp of things and
penetrating intuition… a powerful intellect [and] great poetic and imaginative gifts’.

Stages of Anna O’s Illness According To Breuer

“Latent Incubation”
Beginning in July, 1880 and lasting until around December 10th of the same year. Freud stated that in other
patients, the signs of the illness would not be noticeable but the exceptional symptoms seen in Anna resulted in
it being clearly observable by others.
“Manifest Illness"
Symptoms are at their most severe. Anna began to make a recovery but was interrupted in April, 1881 when her
ill father passed away. On 7th June, 1881, concern at her suicidal tendencies led to her being moved from the
third floor residence to a house in Vienna.
Intermittent Somnambulism
Between April and December, 1881, Anna switched between experiencing periodic somnambulism (sleep
walking) and apparently normal behavior.
Recovery
Breuer claims that, following his treatment, Anna undertook a slow recovery from her illness which lasted until
around June, 1882.

The symptoms exhibited by Anna herself were wide:

Paralysis: Paralysis in Anna’s right arm and leg.
Anna relayed a dream in which a black snake approached the person in the bed. Anna felt paralyzed in the
dream, and was unable to protect the bed-bound patient from the creature. Freud concluded that the paralysis
that she experienced in reality was linked to that which she had experienced in an anxious state during the
dream.
Involuntary eye movements: Including vision problems and, in December, 1881, a squint.
Hydrophobia: An aversion to food and to water (hydrophobia), which left Anna unable to drink for days at a
time.
Anna recalled an occasion when she was younger, she saw her nanny’s dog, whom she did not like, approach the
glass and take a drink from it, causing her to be repulsed at the thought of sharing her glass with the dog. Breuer
attributed this traumatic experience to her inability to drink water—Anna had formed an association between
the water and the negative event earlier in her life.
Lethargy: By the afternoon, sleeping in the evenings but an opposite, excitable state afterwards. Between
December 11th, 1881 and April 1st the following year, Anna was bed-bound.
Language Difficulties: Halfway through a sentence, Anna would repeat the last word and pause before
completing it. A polyglot, she began to speak in a variety of languages, including English to her carers, much to
their confusion. However, Anna herself was apparently unaware of what she was doing, and was eventually
unable to speak for two weeks.

Breuer found that when Anna recalled a series of memories back to a traumatic memory, one of her many
symptoms would disappear, a process that Breuer called cathartic. By treating Anna with hypnosis twice a day,
eventually all of her symptoms were gone. This treatment would eventually be described as “talking therapy”
(referred to Anna as “chimney sweeping”). Over time, her problems ceased and she made a gradual recovery,
was given a pet dog to look after and engaged in charity work helping other ill people. Anna became a
prominent figure in the feminist movement in Austria and Germany later in her life, which she believed
passionately in following her restrictive upbringing. She founded the League for Jewish Women in 1904 and was
an active supporter of the cause until she died in 1936.
Breuer's treatment of Anna O. is the first example of "deep psychotherapy"
Anna's treatment led both to emphasize the impact of previous traumas and subconscious ideas on the
conscious mind, and gave rise to the use of “talking therapy”, along with hypnosis and regression, to identify the
possible causes of mental illnesses.
Breuer did not publish the results of Anna's treatment. However, he taught his methods to Sigmund Freud and
they began to develop this new form of psychotherapy together.
Breuer and Freud discussed Freud's patients and the techniques and results of their treatments. They published
the book Studien über Hysterie book which marked the beginning of psychoanalytic theory.
Their collaboration, and their friendship, came to an end because of Breuer's ambivalence concerning the value
of their work. Their final break came about over the question of childhood memories of seduction. Freud
believed that most of his patients had actually been seduced as children. Only later did he realize that Breuer
was correct in believing these to be memories of childhood fantasies.

The Psychological Defense Mechanism

1. Denial - refusal to recognize or acknowledge a threatening situation.
Ex. Ben is an alcoholic but denies being alcoholic.
2. Repression - "pushing" threatening or conflicting events or situation out of conscious memory.
Ex. Gina, who was sexually abused as a child, cannot remember the abused at all.
3. Rationalization - making up acceptable excuses for an unacceptable behavior.
Ex. " If I don't have breakfast, I can eat that piece of cake later on without hurting my diet".
4. Projection- placing one's own acceptable thoughts onto others. As if the thoughts belonged to them and not
to oneself.
Ex. Sheila is attracted to her sister's husband but denies this and believes the husband is attracted to her.
5. Reaction formation - Forming an emotional reaction or attitude that is the opposite of one's threatening or
unacceptable actual thoughts.
Ex. Gary Is unconsciously attracted to Ben but outwardly voices an extreme hatred of homosexuals.

6. Displacement - Expressing feelings that would be threatening if directed at the real target onto a less
substitute target.
Ex.Sandra gets reprimanded by her boss and goes home angrily pick a fight with her husband.
7. Regression - Falling back to a childlike patterns as a way of coping on stressful situations.
Ex. A four years old Jeff starts wetting his bed after his parents bring home a new baby.
8. Identification - Trying to become like someone else to deal with one's anxiety.
Ex. Mary really admire Daisy, The most popular girl in school, and tries to copy her behavior and dress.
9. Compensation - Trying to make up for areas in which is lack is perceive by becoming a superior in some other
areas.
Ex. Daffy is not good at athletics, so he put all his energies into becoming an academic scholar.
10. Sublimation -Turning socially unacceptable urges into socially acceptable behavior.
Ex. Mila, who is very aggressive,become a professional hockey player.
11. Introjection - not allowing anyone else to beat you.
Ex. Suzzy is a known as a good dancer but Lena want to beat her so she find a way to be better.

Examples of each Psychosexual Stages of Development can be seen:

Oral Stage- oral fixation with smoking, nail biting, finger-chewing, and thumb sucking.
Anal Stage - anal expulsive personality can be developed. A person has a messy, wasteful, destructive
personality. - anal retentive personality can be developed to a person in which they might be stringent, orderly,
rigid, and obsessive
Phallic Stage - castration anxiety and penis envy
Latent Stage - immaturity, inability to form fulfilling relationships as an adult
Genital Stage - balancing basic urges against the need to conform to the demands of reality and social norm
Anal Stage - obsession with perfection - extreme cleanliness - obsession with control
Phallic Stage - weak sexual identity - sexual deviancy

Id: Meeting Basic Needs

The id is the most basic part of the personality. It also represents our most animalistic urges, like the desire for
food and sex. The id seeks instant gratification for our wants and needs. If these needs or wants are not met, a
person can become tense, anxious, or angry.
Sally was thirsty. Rather than waiting for the server to refill her glass of water, she reached across the table and
drank from Mr. Smith's water glass, much to his surprise.
A hungry baby cried until he was fed.
A toddler who wanted another helping of dessert whined incessantly until she was given another serving.
In line at the salad bar, Amy was so hungry that she shoved a handful of croutons in her mouth as she waited for
the line to move.
Bart was stuck in traffic. He just wanted his vehicle to move! Enraged at the situation, Bart pulled his car onto
the shoulder and sped forward, not caring that he was clipping people's side mirrors as he tried to get ahead of
the cars in front of him.

Ego: Dealing With Reality

The ego deals with reality, trying to meet the desires of the id in a way that is socially acceptable in the world.
This may mean delaying gratification and helping to get rid of the tension the id feels if a desire is not met right
away. The ego recognizes that other people have needs and wants too, and being selfish isn't good in the long
run.
Sally was thirsty. However, she knew that her server would be back soon to refill her water glass, so she waited
until then to get a drink, even though she really just wanted to drink from Mr. Smith's glass.
In line at the salad bar, Amy really wanted to shove a handful of croutons into her mouth. However, since her
boss was there, she decided to wait another minute or two until she sat down to eat.
Mary really wanted to borrow her mom's necklace, but knew her mom would be angry if she took it without
asking, so she asked her mom if she could wear it.
Hillary was so sweaty after her workout that she wanted to change her clothes right there by the car. However,
she knew the other people around her would not approve, so she waited until she was in the restroom to
change.
Tim really wanted to slug Mark for what he had just said. However, Tim knew if he hit Mark, he would be kicked
off the baseball team, and since he loved baseball, he unclenched his fists and walked away.

Superego: Adding Morals

The superego develops last, and is based on morals and judgments about right and wrong. Even though the
superego and the ego may reach the same decision about something, the superego's reason for that decision is
based more on moral values, while the ego's decision is based more on what others will think or what the
consequences of an action could be on the individual.
Sarah knew she could steal the supplies from work and no one would know about it. However, she knew that
stealing was wrong, so she decided not to take anything even though she would probably never get caught.
Maggie couldn't remember the answer to test question #12, even though she had studied. Nate was the
smartest kid in the class, and from where Maggie sat, she could see his answers if she turned her head slightly.
When Mrs. Archer turned her back, Maggie almost cheated, but her conscience stopped her because she knew
it was wrong. Instead, Maggie took a guess at the answer and then turned in her paper.
The cashier only charged the couple for one meal even though they had eaten two. They could have gotten
away with only paying for one, but they pointed out the cashier's mistake and offered to pay for both meals.
They wanted to be honest and they knew that the restaurant owner and employees needed to make a living.
On the playground, two kids were making fun of Joseph because he wore glasses. John was tempted to join in so
that he could make himself look good, but when he thought about how bad Joseph must already feel, he knew
that he couldn't.
Will had worked hard all season to break the school record in cross-country. During his last race, he had the
opportunity to cut a corner and therefore lower his time, because no officials were watching that part of the
course. As much as he wanted to break the school record, Will knew he wouldn't feel good about himself if he
cheated, so he stuck to the course and ran as fast as he could.

Id, Ego, and Superego

The id, ego and superego work together to create human behavior. The id creates the demands, the ego adds
the needs of reality, and the superego adds morality to the action which is taken.

FREUD’S PSYCHOANALYSIS
•Freud thought that the conscious mind is what you are aware at the moment, the preconscious as the available
memory, and the unconscious as all things that are not available to our memory.
•At birth we have an id, the id transmits the needs into motivational forces known as instincts. After the first
year, some of the id becomes the ego. The ego relates the organism to reality and searches what could satisfy
the id. As the ego struggles to keep the id in control, it meets obstacles and objects that assist it. The record of
these things to avoid and strategies to take become the superego.
•When the ego and the id make conflicting demands to the ego, it creates anxiety. There are three types of
anxiety. The realistic, moral, and neurotic.
ERIKSON’S PSYCHOSOCIAL STAGES
•Erikson believed that personality develops in a series of stages. He describes the impact of social experience
across the whole lifespan.
•One of the components of Erikson’s psychosocial stage theory is the development of the ego identity. Ego
Identity is the conscious sense of self that we develop through social interaction.
•Our ego identity is constantly changing due to new experiences and information we acquire. Each of the stages
in Erikson’s theory is concerned with becoming competent in areas of life. If the stage is handled well, the
person will feel a sense of mastery, which he, referred to as ego strength or ego quality. If the stage is managed
poorly, the person will feel a sense of inadequacy.
•In each stage, people experience a conflict that serves as a turning point in development. These conflicts are
centered on either developing a quality or failing to develop that quality.

Neo Freudians
Neo-Freudians: Adler, Erikson, Jung, and Horney
Freud attracted many followers who modified his ideas to create new theories about personality. These
theorists, referred to as neo-Freudians, generally agreed with Freud that childhood experiences matter, but
deemphasized sex, focusing more on the social environment and effects of culture on personality. Four notable
neo-Freudians include Alfred Adler, Erik Erikson, Carl Jung (pronounced “Yoong”), and Karen Horney
(pronounced “HORN-eye”).

Alfred Adler
- proposed the concept of the inferiority complex.
Alfred Adler, a colleague of Freud’s and the first president of the Vienna Psychoanalytical Society (Freud’s inner
circle of colleagues), was the first major theorist to break away from Freud. He subsequently founded a school of
psychology called individual psychology, which focuses on our drive to compensate for feelings of inferiority.
Adler's (1937, 1956) concept of the inferiority complex refers to a person’s feelings that they lack worth and
don’t measure up to the standards of others or of society. Adler (1930, 1961) believed that feelings of inferiority
in childhood are what drive people to attempt to gain superiority and that this striving is the force behind all of
our thoughts, emotions, and behaviors.

Erik Erikson
Erik Erikson met Freud’s daughter, Anna Freud, while he was tutoring the children of an American couple
undergoing psychoanalysis in Vienna. It was Anna Freud who encouraged Erikson to study psychoanalysis.
Erikson received his diploma from the Vienna Psychoanalytic Institute in 1933, and as Nazism spread across
Europe, he fled the country and immigrated to the United States that same year. Erikson proposed a
psychosocial theory of development, suggesting that an individual’s personality develops throughout the
lifespan—a departure from Freud’s view that personality is fixed in early life.
In his theory, Erikson emphasized the social relationships that are important at each stage of personality
development, in contrast to Freud’s emphasis on sex. Erikson identified eight stages, each of which represents a
conflict or developmental task. The development of a healthy personality and a sense of competence depend on
the successful completion of each task.

Carl Jung
Carl Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist and protégé of Freud, who later split off from Freud and developed his own
Photo of Carl Jung standing in front of a building. Carl Jung was interested in exploring the collective
unconscious theory, which he called analytical psychology. The focus of analytical psychology is on working to
balance opposing forces of conscious and unconscious thought. According to Jung, this work is a continuous
learning process—of becoming aware of unconscious elements and integrating them into consciousness.
Jung’s split from Freud was based on two major disagreements. First, Jung, like Adler and Erikson, did not accept
that sexual drive was the primary motivator in a person’s mental life. Second, although he agreed with Freud’s
concept of a personal unconscious, Jung focused on the collective unconscious.

The collective unconscious is a universal version of the personal unconscious, holding mental patterns, or
memory traces, which are common to all of us (Jung, 1928). These ancestral memories, which Jung called
archetypes, are represented by universal themes that reflect common experiences of people the world over,
such as facing death, becoming independent, and striving for mastery. Jung (1964) believed that each person is
handed down themes and symbols—such as the hero, the maiden, the sage, and the trickster—that are present
in the folklore and fairy tales of every culture. Jung parted ways with Freud’s belief that personality is
determined solely by past events and anticipated the humanistic movement with its emphasis on self-
actualization and orientation toward the future.
Jung also proposed two attitudes or approaches toward life: extroversion and introversion (Jung, 1923). If you
are an extrovert, then you are a person who is energized by being outgoing and socially oriented: You derive
your energy from being around others. If you are an introvert, then you are a person who may be quiet and
reserved, or you may be social, but your energy is derived from your inner psychic activity. Jung believed a
balance between extroversion and introversion best served the goal of self-realization.
Another concept proposed by Jung was the persona, which he referred to as a mask that we adopt. Jung
believed the persona is a compromise between who we really are (our true self) and what society expects us to
be. We hide those parts of ourselves that are not aligned with society’s expectations.

Karen Horney
Karen Horney was one of the first women trained as a Freudian psychoanalyst. Like Jung, Horney believed that
each individual has the potential for self-realization and that the goal of psychoanalysis should be moving
toward a healthy self rather than exploring early childhood patterns of dysfunction. Horney also disagreed with
the Freudian idea that girls have penis envy and are jealous of male biological features. According to Horney,
any jealousy is most likely culturally based, due to the greater privileges that males often have, meaning that the
differences between men’s and women’s personalities are culturally based, not biologically based. She further
suggested that men have womb envy, because they cannot give birth.