Random Research: Jungian Psychology in Person 5
I recently started playing Persona 5 (a few years late, sure, but better than never). It’s a dungeon crawler JRPG. Even with the shallowest understanding of what is going in this game, it is hard to ignore how often psychological terms are thrown about. I quickly learned that it wasn’t just psychology in general being referenced, but more specifically the works of Carl Jung. I was curious how deep it all goes and needed to find at least a baseline understanding of what the game was referencing.
I happened upon the Youtube video Persona 5 and Jungian Psychology by Extra Credits, so I had that colouring my perception of the game. It’s a great video, and I’d encourage people to check out Extra Credits in general.
After that video gave me a starting point, I took my research further and compiled it here. In each section I briefly describe what a concept means, and then how they are represented within the game itself. In some sections I chose to combine multiple concepts, primarily with the reasoning that the way they are represented in the game are incredibly linked or even overlapping.
In terms of *SPOILERS*, there’ll be some going on. I’ll be limiting this to mainly things that happen relatively early in the game, up until the end of the second palace. This is in part because I’ve actually only reached the third Palace so far in my own playthrough. But, fair warning, in my research I came upon some spoilers for late in the game, and because they seemed pertinent, they do pop up in the section on Anima & Animus.
And finally, before fully getting into this, it is meant to be simply a lens through which to look at Persona 5, but not necessarily a way to view actual psychology. Jungian Theory as a whole doesn’t generally seem to be thought of as applicable in modern psychology. But with that said, it’s still interesting, and makes kind of companion to the work of Joseph Campbell (who will crop up again later). Basically, I’m not an expert and I’m looking at all these concepts for how they apply to the game and not necessarily real life.
Cognition
Cognition on its own is the least Jungian element in this list. It isn’t that Carl Jung didn’t have thoughts on the matter, but it’s a fundamental concept to psychology rather than really being exclusive to his work.
Cognition is defined as “those processes by which the sensory input is transformed, reduced, elaborated, stored, recovered, and used.” Basically, this amounts to being everything a brain does with information, be it taking it in, thinking, imagining, remembering, problem solving, etc.
Jung took this idea and identified four primary mental functions. These functions are Sensing, Intuiting, Thinking, and Feeling, where the former two are considered aspects of perceiving (taking in the information) and the latter two are aspects of judging (what that information means to us).
(As a side note, this becomes the basis that eventually led to the Myers Briggs Personality Test.)
Cognition plays an important role in the dungeons of Persona 5, to the degree that it may be one of the most used terms when Morgana is explaining anything that is happening. The dungeons in the game are internal worlds, so everything inside bypasses perceiving aspects of cognition and is built from the judging aspects of cognition.
Guns are possibly the clearest example of what cognition means in this world. Morgana explains that because a toy gun appears real, within the dungeons they are real. In these worlds, things are exactly what they appear to be, removing the concept of illusion to a degree.
For another specific example, there is the impenetrable door in Madarame’s Museum. It is tied directly to the door in the real world that he perceives as impossible for anyone to get into, and so, inside his mind that is literal. It isn’t until he is shown in the real world that someone can enter, changing his perception, that the way it is judged is forced to change and the door within the museum becomes accessible.
The Collective Unconscious and Archetypes
The collective unconscious is sort of like Jung’s answer to the nature Vs nurture debate. Which, if we look at it as such, his answer is basically, both, but with a little nudge closer to nurture.
His belief was that we are all born with a collective unconscious which is a stockpiling of knowledge and imagery deep within ourselves. We possess no way to consciously access any of this information, but in times of crisis it is possible for it to be tapped into.
Among everything else that may exist in there, is the essence of who a person could be. Depending on the environment that a person is brought up in, different elements could be brought out as the person develops. So, possibilities of who we can be exist at birth (nature), but life narrows it down (nurture).
Archetypes become a way to categorize the symbols and forms that exist within the collective unconscious. Archetypes in this sense become broad enough to encompass much more than personalities types (which is the most common use of the term, especially after Joseph Campbell’s Hero with a Thousand Faces). It also refers to all other types of symbolism, including elements the consciousness is built from.
Though archetypes form within the collective unconscious, they are also a basis from which a lot more comes about.
In Persona 5 we have Mementos, the largest dungeon within the game and the manifestation of the collective unconscious. This is a dungeon that we’re told is where everyone who isn’t so far gone as to have developed a Palace has their unconscious held (more on Palace’s later).
With the collective unconscious being something passed down genetically, it is fitting that Mementos takes its name from “memento”, which means a souvenir or reminder. But it is this fitting name that highlights where Mementos diverges from the psychological origins. Where Jung described it as something more akin to being genetically passed on, here it is shown to be something that creates a constant link between all people.
Within the context of the game, archetypes are represented by the major arcana of a tarot deck. Every character and persona is categorized by one of the major arcana, such as how Arsene is linked to the Fool. Arsene is like a unique instance of the greater category of the Fool, where others fall into the same category but aren’t the exact same as it. More on these in the persona section.
Personal Unconscious, Complexes, and the Shadow
The personal unconscious is developed from personal development interacting with the collective unconscious. It’s like taking the whole of everything a person could be within the collective unconscious and shaping it into the individual through their experiences.
Jung himself defined the personal unconscious as all the information in one’s mind that they are not actively conscious of, so, things information from senses taken in but not actively thought about; or things that a person knew but forgot; and all of those wants that aren’t actively realized; as well as anything that has been repressed. So, anything in your head that you don’t know is there.
Complexes are themed patterns in the personal unconscious that come from a trauma. The trauma that creates a complex can often be repressed within the personal unconscious, making it harder to discover the cause. A larger issue that can come from complexes is their tendency to reveal themselves through actions that appear automatic or unconscious within the individual.
And then there is the Shadow. This is a part within the personal unconscious that is made up of the negatives traits that the individual doesn’t like. It is heavily influenced by the collective unconscious and is a form of a complex itself, but one that is most visible to the conscious mind.
Though the shadow sounds horrible, Jung felt it was an important. It holds a function in that seeing our flaws is how we can improve, and without it we could become shallow. It is also said that many people project parts of their shadow onto other people, making us not like them because they are showing us something that we don’t want to see within ourselves.
So, how does all of this show up in Persona 5? All of these are essentially the Palaces, the smaller dungeons that make up most the game. A Palace is the representation of a personal unconscious that has been completely overrun by a complex and is ruled over by the shadow. The latter point of which is made explicit in the game.
A Palace is a twisted version of the individual’s cognition of the world around them, viewed through the lens of their shadow. Let’s look deeper into Kamoshida’s Castle for an example.
Kamoshida is a gym teacher and coach at a high school, who is treated like royalty because of his past in the Olympics. This shifts his cognition of the school to being that of a castle where he is the king. Shadow Kamoshida takes on a similar appearance, wearing a crown and regal looking cape (though, not much else…).
Then there the students within his castle. The boys are seen as slaves and prisoners, there to be tortured. The girls are seen to be slaves as well, but for sexual purpose, and he regards Ann specifically as a kind of trophy by his side.
When Joker and his friends remove the treasure, it removes his complex from his personal unconscious. Without it there to augment his cognition, the real Kamoshida can see how bad he’s been acting and feels the need to confess to his crimes.
And another side note here, a “complex” can also be a collection of buildings, connecting the term itself to “palace” in a nice way.
Anima & Animus
The anima and animus are archetypes of gender that exists within every individual, counter to the gender of that individual. Which is a complicated way of saying that the anima is the feminine side within a male, and the animus is the masculine side within a female. They exist as a half within the person, acting to balance them.
The archetypical image of anima or animus are created within the individual based off a combination of the collective and personal unconscious. The collective unconscious is created from what society deems is ideal for the gender, while the personal unconscious shifts those ideas based on personal experience with members of that gender.
Jung believed that it is important to explore these aspects within ourselves, rather than adhering too strictly to gender roles and that it could create problems in psychological development to not do so. He also thought that finding a person who seems to perfectly align with your anima or animus is what accounts for feelings of love.
(All of this seems to completely break down when we start talking about gender identity and sexuality to a degree that it could be very problematic, but, that could be a whole other kind of post.)
This is an element that isn’t as explicitly revealed within Persona 5. Though it does appear that Justine and Caroline play this role within Joker. The Velvet Room as a whole seems be a place where Joker is able to connect with his Personal Unconscious, so it would make sense that they are then his Anima.
What makes this reading a little weird, is the fact that there are two of them. But, late in the game they are revealed to have been split from a single entity and are put back together to form Lavenza. As Lavenza it makes it easier to see this reading. It could possibly even go so far as a sort of take on the two of them making up both the anima and animus, combining to create the syzygy (a union of opposites). But… This could also be a stretch.
The Self, Individuation, and The Persona
The Self is the whole of the individual, combining both the unconscious and the conscious. It’s everything that makes up a person, and the drive to reach one’s potential.
Individuation is successful self-actualization by integrating the conscious and unconscious. Or in other words, the act of becoming fully conscious one’s self.
Conflict, from the outside world as well as within a person’s unconscious, is an important aspect of growth. It is dealing with these challenges that one can become more aware of their self and reach a point of Individuation.
A Persona acts primarily to protect the self. “Persona” comes from the Latin word that literally means “mask”. So, it isn’t surprising that a Persona is a type of social mask worn to shield our self from negative attention. It’s like a turtle shell, protecting a turtle, it’s this layer we put over our self, helping us to fit in.
Personas can come in all kinds of archetypes, and when multiple people share similar Personas it can create the feeling of a bond between them.
Even though the Persona is a construct used to protect the self, identifying too closely with the Persona can cause the individual to lose all sense of their self.
In Persona 5, it’s fairly self-evident how Personas fit in. Personas are the creatures that are called upon to do battle within the dungeons. In this case, they are very literally protecting the self, coming out to do battle and help the characters.
As mentioned above, each Persona is categorized by an archetype, named for a card in the major arcana. Outside of battle, these archetypes help build stronger bonds. If Joker is in possession of a Persona matching the archetype of a companion, hanging out allows their bond to become closer faster than it would otherwise.
What is even more interesting here, is the way each character separates from their Persona. The character reaches a point in conflict where they must strip themselves of their Persona, the version of themselves that they show the world, and become a cognition of their self. In these moments the characters literally rip off a mask that is attached to their faces as though it is part of them. Their Persona becomes a separate entity, there to protect them, and their clothes change to more accurately represent their self. These events act as the moments of individuation for these characters.
Morgana makes a point of telling the others that they can’t have palaces because they are able to summon their Personas. This holds up through the lens of Jungian Psychology, because anyone who has had individuation would not have a complex grow so large that it takes over their self.
Conclusion
Persona 5 is a game that is built around the concepts of Jungian Psychology. And, it doesn’t seem to diverge or take many creative liberties with how it chooses to explore these concepts.
There are a lot of other interesting topics to look at within this game, such as each character and palace and how they are represented, as well as what each of the major arcana mean. But this is at least a baseline that can make those easier to talk about.
Finally, though Persona 5 explicitly calls out these concepts, they can make for an interesting lens when looking at other works as well. During this research, it was impossible not to think about how well superhero movies tend to fit into this mold. Secret Identity = Self; Hero Identity = Persona; hell, all the movies that have a villain with the same powers as the hero are basically the Shadow archetype.