Archetype

An archetype is a universally understood symbol, term,[1] or pattern of behavior, a prototype upon which others are copied, patterned, or emulated. Archetypes are often used in myths and storytelling across different cultures. In psychology, an archetype is a model of a person, personality, or behavior. In philosophy, archetypes since Plato is referred to ideal forms of the perceived or sensible objects . In the analysis of personality, the term archetype is often broadly used to refer to: 1. A stereotype a personality type observed multiple times 2. An epitome a personality type exemplified 3. A literary term to express details. Archetype refers to a generic version of a personality. In this sense, "mother figure" may be considered an archetype. Archetypes are likewise supposed to have been present in folklore and literature for thousands of years, including prehistoric artwork. The use of archetypes to illuminate personality and literature was advanced by Carl Jung early in the 20th century, who suggested the existence of universal contentless forms that channel experiences and emotions, resulting in recognizable and typical patterns of behavior with certain probable outcomes. Archetypes are cited as important to both ancient mythology and modern narratives.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archetype)p

[edit] Origins
The origins of the archetypal hypothesis date back as far as Plato. Jung himself compared archetypes to Platonic ideas. Plato's ideas were pure mental forms that were imprinted in the soul before it was born into the world. They were collective in the sense that they embodied the fundamental characteristics of a thing rather than its specific peculiarities

Jungian archetypes
The concept of psychological archetypes was advanced by the Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung, c. 1919. In Jung's psychological framework, archetypes are innate, universal prototypes for ideas and may be used to interpret observations. A group of memories and interpretations associated with an archetype is a complex ( e.g. a mother complex associated with the mother archetype). Jung treated the archetypes as psychological organs, analogous to physical ones in that both are morphological constructs that arose through evolution.[8] Jung outlined five main archetypes:

The Self, the regulating center of the psyche and facilitator of individuation, The Shadow, the opposite of the ego image, often containing qualities with which the ego does not identify, but which it possesses nonetheless, The Anima, the feminine image in a man's psyche, or The Animus, the masculine image in a woman's psyche, The Persona, the image we present to the world, usually protecting the Ego from negative images (like a mask), and considered another of 'the subpersonalities, the complexes'.[9]

Although archetypes can take on innumerable forms, there are a few particularly notable, recurring archetypal images[citation needed]:

The Child The Hero The Martyr The Great Mother The Wise old man or Sage The Wise Old Woman/Man, archetypes of the collective unconscious

The Damsel in distress The Trickster or Fox The Devil or Satan The Scarecrow The Mentor The Warrior

Jung also outlined what he called archetypes of transformation, which are situations, places, ways, and means that symbolize the transformation in question. These archetypes exist primarily as energy and are useful in organizational development, personal and organizational change management, and extensively used in place branding.