What Is Your Life-Story? (Archetypes)
What is an Archetype?
According to the American Psychological Association:
"Archetypes are universal, inborn models of people, behaviours or personalities that play a role in influencing human behaviour"
Initially conceptualised by Plato, the Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung developed the concept during his research into the human psyche.
Jung believed that the human psyche is made up of three parts:
- The ego (which is our conscious mind)
- The personal unconsciousness (such as memories, beliefs, etc)
- The collective unconsciousness (the unconscious knowledge and experience that all humans share)
It is in this collective unconsciousness that the world of the Archetype exists. These are models of behaviour that are innate, universal and hereditary. These archetypes take on characters that symbolise basic human motivations, values and personalities. These "primordial images" serve as a fundamental guide on how to be a human being.
In Jung's work, he describes 4 major archetypes, but the number of archetypes could ultimately be limitless. These archetypes are not something that can scientifically measured and analysed, but instead can be drawn historic culture, religion, dreams, art and literature.
The Persona
You can find of this as the metaphorical masks we wear to fit in with the world around us. It protects the ego from negative images and interactions by influencing us to fit in with society's expectations and social norms. These masks develop to contain all of the primitive urges, impulses, emotions and behaviour that is not socially acceptable in any given setting.
The risk of relying on your masks too much is that you lose sight of who you truly are. Masks are draining to wear as you have to invest energy into playing a different character. The more masks you wear, the more fragmented your identity becomes. Jung believed that the more disharmony there was between your conscious and unconscious mind, the greater chance there was of developing psychological problems.
The Shadow
This archetypes consists of our most primal instincts. These could be seen as repressed ideas, shortcomings, desires, instincts and weaknesses. Effectively anything that we have to reject as we adapt to social norms and expectations. This is not just things that society find unacceptable, but also takes into account any personal morals or values. These could include common examples such as greed, gluttony, hate, racism, violence.
The shadow, this darker side of our psyche, is often represented as a character of evil or a monster. This represents an entity that can attack at any time, especially during our weakest and most vulnerable moments.
Jung believed that while we all the shadow is present in all of us, people can often deny this and instead project it on to other people. For example, someone who is secretly envious of their friends can create easily create a narrative that portrays their friends in a negative light and himself/herself as an outcast or a victim of this.
The Anima/Animus
The anima is the female image in the male psyche and the animus is the male image in the female psyche. You can think of these as the masculine and feminine sides to an individual that we can all possess.
As societies developed throughout history Jung believed that social influences and physiological changes lead to the development of sex roles and gender identities. These roles and identities now exist in the collective unconscious and provide ideas how both men and women should behave within those roles. In many cultures today these traditional gender roles still exist.
Jung pointed out that the discouragement of men exploring their feminine side and women exploring their masculine side undermines psychological development.
The Self
This is the archetype that represents the unified consciousness and unconsciousness. The Self is created by integrating and accepting all the various parts of our personality. Through conscious awareness and accommodation any internal conflicts can be resolved.
Jung believed that the ultimate aim was for an individual to achieve a cohesive sense of self, in which all aspects of a person's identity work together in unity.
The 12 Archetypes
Further work expanded the number of Archetypes into a popularised 12 Archetype model, that are categorised into 3 groups: Ego, Soul and Self.
- Ego types: Grounded individuals who are connected with their environment and community around them.
- Soul types: Individuals connected with a greater external force, a major mission or great values. This force can be seen as spiritual, a special journey or a deep expression. This force drives them and needs to be sought after and explored.
- Self types: Individual that have an inner force driving them. These people feel compelled to take on responsibility and are keen to share knowledge and to guide others.
The 12 archetypes are:
Ego types:
The Innocent: Driven by a desire for purity, goodness, simplicity, safety, security, to experience unconditional love and acceptance. The end goal is happiness. The Innocents fear being punished for doing something wrong.
The Everyperson: Driven by a desire to connect with others and to belong to a group. Likely to have solid virtues and morals that are grounded in reality. They fear loneliness and alienation.
The Hero/Heroine: Driven to prove oneself through courageous acts that make a difference in the world. The Hero/Heroine knows what they want and how to get it. They fear being seen as weak or vulnerable.
The Caregiver: Driven by the desire to protect and care for others. They are always the first to do things for others. Caregivers fear selfishness and a lack of gratitude.
Soul types:
The Explorer: Driven by the desire to find out who they are by exploring the world. They want to experience a better, more authentic and fulfilling life. Explorers fear conformity, boredom and being trapped in one place.
The Rebel: Driven by a desire for revenge or revolution by overturning what isn't working. They are rule-breakers and disrupters. Rebels fear being powerlessness and not being able to connect with others.
The Lover: Driven by a desire for intimacy and experience. Their goal is to be in a relationship with the people, work and surroundings they love. They fear being alone, being unwanted and unloved.
The Creator/Artist: Driven by a desire to create things of enduring value, to realise a vision. This can also be seen as a desire to express oneself. They fear not realising their vision, completing projects or executing poorly.
Self Types:
The Jester: Desire to live in the moment. To fully enjoy themselves and to lighten up the world. They strive for light-heartedness and carefree living. Jesters fear being bored or boring others.
The Sage: Desire to find and learn the truth through intelligence and by understanding the world. They achieve this by seeking out knowledge and information from a variety of sources. Sages fear being duped, misled or falling prey to ignorance.
The Magician: Desire to understand the fundamental laws of the universe. They are driven to make dreams come true by developing a vision and sticking to it. Magicians greatest fear is for the unintended negative consequences of their actions.
The Ruler: Desire to create a prosperous and successful family or community. They accomplish this by exercising power and control. Rulers greatest fear is chaos and being overthrown.
You can read more about the 12 archetypes here.
Exercise:
- Reflect on which Archetypes you relate to the most. You can always take an Archetype quiz as an indicator, but be mindful that they all vary in how they calculate the outcome. Don't take any result as the truth.
- Research the Archetypes, including their strengths and weaknesses. Does the insight reveal anything about yourself that you had supressed or are not aware of?
- Are there any Archetypes that you would like to incorporate more into your life?
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