Week 3 Psychology in Fairytales

Psychology and fairytales are much more related than people think.  Fairytales and their contents are often thought of as a “collective unconscious”, where people all over the world have similar unconscious thoughts or feelings and mold them into similar stories.  There are many psychological aspects in fairytales and thus it is vital to use psychology to better understand them.
Sigmund Freud’s psychosexual stages of development are one example of psychology in fairytales.  As Dr. Mazeroff explained, Hansel and Gretel focus on the “oral” stage.  The children are left in the woods because of a famine in the town.  They then find a house made of bread and other foods and fulfill their hunger.  The food in the story fits into Freud’s stage undeniable well.  Other connections can be made between the stages and Hansel and Gretel.  The chicken bone that Hansel had and the witch being shoved in the oven (a symbol of pregnancy) can be related to the “phallic” and the “genital” stages, respectively.
Dr. Mazeroff also discussed Carl Jung and how he might interpret Hansel and Gretel.  For example, Dr. Mazeroff said that Jung would probably view the witch being pushed in the oven differently than Freud.  Jung would see the oven as more of a transitive symbol than one of pregnancy.  A piece of dough goes into the oven and comes out a loaf of bread.  The witch being killed in the oven symbolized a transition in Hansel and Gretel’s lives.  They went from children to active, problem solving, and independent young adults.
Dr. Mazeroff also touched on fairytales being used in psychotherapy.  Therapists use fairytales to evoke an answer or a clue out of children.  Depending on how they react to the fairytale, therapists can make a more accurate assessment of the child’s problems.