• Sim-seong Yeon-gu
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.122-168
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• 2017

I tried to understand a folk tale "The half-boy" in terms of analytical psychology. In the story, a lady without children prayed to the Buddha. The white old man came and gave three fishes, but the cat ate half of it. So, she ate two and a half. She gave birth to two perfect sons. The third son had one arm, one leg, and one eye. They grew well. Brothers went to take the civil service examinations, and the half-boy followed. But two brothers did not like the half-boy coming along. So, brothers tied the half-boy to the rocks and trees, and he picked them up with force and gave them down to the yard of the house. And the half-boy followed his brothers again, and brothers tied him with kudzu and put him in front of the tiger. The half-boy won the tiger by betting with cutting kudzu. The half-boy stripped off the tiger's skin. The host coveted the tiger skin and they played with janggi. The half-boy won the game and was permitted to take host's daughter. The half-boy went with a string, a drum, a flea, and a bedbug. He teased host's people with these. The half-boy brought a virgin and lived well. "The Half-Boy" folktale is an old story spread throughout the country. There are similar stories in India and Africa. Unilateral figures are universally distributed archetypal images. In numerous cultures gods and spirits are being portrayed as unilateral figures. In the creation mythology, half-figure beings have immortality. In Indonesian and African folk tales, the half-born boy goes to heaven and merges with its half and becomes perfect. Some of one-sided spirits are harmful to humans but some of one-sided birds, chickens, and spirits are helpful to people. Sometimes half being is a cultural hero who steals grain from heaven or gets some advice how to use bamboo. There are stories that half body becomes a whole body afterwards. But in this folktale and most of the similar folktales, half-figure does not change and maintains half-figure to the end. And as a half-figure he does various great things and marries a virgin. The half-boy symbolizes a psychic experience born in the unconscious. The unconscious contents may seem strange and weird at first and the collective consciousness does not want to accept them. But the unconscious exerts greater power and brings vitality and creativity to consciousness. This folk tale seems to have compensated for the stubborn collective consciousness of our society, which was a Confucian class society. It also allows people to change their attitude toward disabled people and recognize strengths and creativity of the handicapped.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.174-179
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• 1998

Objective：Present study investigated the relationship between mothers' self-perception and perception of children's problems. Method：Subjects were 63 children, mothers, who visited child & adolescent psychiatric clinic. Their mothers completed Minnesota Mulpiphasic Personality Inventory(MMPI) & Korean Personality Inventory for Children(KPI-C). Correlation between validity scales of mothers' MMPI and validity scales of KPI-C was analysed, and then we divided subjects into two group(High & Low Group) according to the MMPI validity scales, and compared KPI-C's validity scales by student t-test. Result：There were significant positive correlation(r=.30) between K scale of MMPI and L scale of KPI-C, significant negative correlation(r=-.32) F scale of MMPI and L scale of KPI-C. The Means of T scores did show significant difference according to MMPI F, K scales in KPI-C L scale, to MMPI L scale in KPI-C F scale. Conclusion：These results indicated that defensive mothers tend to perceive her child's problems more defensively. However mothers who exaggerate their problem more severely, do not exaggerate their children's problem. Therefore, these result suggested that we should be careful not to underestimate children's problem whose mother elevated in K scale of MMPI.