ABSTRACT
Psychological approaches explain myths in terms that concern the mental world of the human individual. It has been undertaken not only by psychologists, but also by many others who employ psychological methods. This chapter focuses on the work of Mircea Eliade is commonly perceived as belonging to the history of religions or to the phenomenology of religion but rarely as psychological. The psychology of religion is an established academic discipline, but the focus of research is rarely on myth. Mircea Eliade was born in Romania. She graduated in philosophy and then went to Calcutta, India to study the Yogic tradition. The chapter also focuses on Sir James George Frazer, a classicist turned anthropologist, was a genuine spokesman of the comparative and psychological approach. It deals with the Sigmund Freud, who occupies a very special position in the study of myth. The key feature in Freud's view of myth is his analysis of symbolism in dreams, with which myths are compared.
