Peterson is highly influenced by the Swiss psychotherapist Carl Jung. A disciple of Sigmund Freud, Jung is widely considered the founder of psychotherapy. Jung emphasized the importance of art as a means of activating aspects of the mind which the daily activities of life often leave unrealized. This idea finds expression throughout Peterson’s book, and particularly in Rule XII, in which he argues that “Art is the bedrock of culture. It is the foundation of the process by which we unite ourselves psychologically, and come to establish productive peace with others” (203). The Jungian approach also calls for engaging with intense emotions as a means of coming to coming to grips with them, often through frequent therapeutic sessions. Peterson has both practiced the Jungian method as a professional psychologist and popularized it as a public intellectual.

This French term, most famously used by philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche in On the Genealogy of Morals, is closely related to the English word ‘resentment’ but bears a particular psychological meaning. In this case, it implies a sense of blame for a certain group that causes the feeling of resentment. Peterson affirms that because the feeling is directed against an external adversary, it fails to reckon with the true, internal sources of personal difficulties.