Neo-Freudians are a group of psychologists who agreed with the basic concepts of Freud’s theory, but modified it in some way to include their own ideas.
For example, Carl Jung maintained Freud’s notion of the unconscious mind as a repository of thoughts, urges, or feelings that are inaccessible from conscious thought but continue to influence our behavior. However, he added another dimension called the collective unconscious, which is a reservoir of unconscious memories that we inherited from our ancestors. The collective unconscious is where we get concepts of things like a nurturing mother figure, a wise old man, or an innocent child.
Another notable Neo-Freudian is Erik Erikson, who maintained the importance of childhood as the foundation of one’s development, but veered away from the sexual aspect and instead focused on certain psychosocial crises that help to define an individual’s personality.