Key Takeaways
- Jungian archetypes are recurring symbols that represent different aspects of the psyche that influence behavior and identity.
- The four main archetypes are the Self, Shadow, Persona, and Anima/Animus.
- These archetypes come from the collective unconscious, the shared psychological patterns that connect people across cultures.
Jungian archetypes are universal symbols and themes that represent some of the most fundamental human behaviors, emotions, and motivations. The Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung first introduced them, and they appear in myths, stories, art, and dreams in cultures all over the world. Understanding these archetypes can offer insight into personality patterns and how people relate to others.
Verywell / Hugo Lin
Common Archetypical Figures
Jung acknowledged that the four main archetypes can intermingle and give rise to 12 archetypical figures (also known as archetypical images). These include:
- Ruler
- Creator/artist
- Sage
- Innocent
- Explorer
- Rebel
- Hero
- Wizard
- Jester
- Everyman
- Lover
- Caregiver
What are Jung’s personality types?
In addition to his theory of archetypes, Jung also introduced a theory of personality that became the basis for the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). Jung’s eight personality types are:
- Extraverted – Thinking
- Introverted – Thinking
- Extraverted – Feeling
- Introverted – Feeling
- Extraverted – Sensing
- Introverted – Sensing
- Extraverted – Intuitive
- Introverted – Intuitive
How Do Jungian Archetypes Work?
Jungian archetypes are universal, inborn models of distinct aspects of identity and personality that influence human behavior. Carl Jung’s theory suggested that these archetypes were archaic forms of innate human knowledge that were passed down from our ancestors.
In Jungian psychology, these archetypes represent universal patterns and images that are part of the collective unconscious. Jung believed that we inherit these archetypes much in the way we inherit instinctive patterns of behavior.
These archetypes show up in different forms. They are not actual distinct entities, but are instead recognized as patterns that influence how we act and perceive the world. They can appear as:
- Dreams: Jungian archetypes may show up as certain dream themes or motifs.
- Legends and myths: Certain archetypal characters often show up in myths and legends, which point to certain shared cultural narratives. The wise old man in stories and legends is one example.
- Cultural symbols: Certain symbols and images often appear in religious iconography, images, and literature.
Personal vs. Collective Unconscious
Jung was originally a follower of Sigmund Freud. The relationship eventually fractured over Jung’s criticism of Freud’s emphasis on sexuality during development, which led Jung to develop his own psychoanalytic approach known as analytical psychology.
While Jung agreed with Freud that the unconscious played an important role in personality and behavior, he expanded on Freud’s idea of the personal unconscious to include what Jung called the collective unconscious.
Jung believed that the human psyche was composed of three components:
According to Jung, the ego represents the conscious mind, and the personal unconscious contains memories, including those that have been suppressed.
The collective unconscious is a unique component in that Jung believed that this part of the psyche served as a form of psychological inheritance. It contained all of the knowledge and experiences that humans share as a species.
Where Do Jungian Archetypes Come From?
Jung believed that archetypes come from the collective unconscious. He suggested that these models are innate (unlearned), hereditary, and universal. Archetypes organize how we experience certain things throughout life.
“All the most powerful ideas in history go back to archetypes,” Jung explained in his book, “The Structure and Dynamics of the Psyche.” He also suggested that this was particularly true with regard to religious ideas as well as concepts in science, ethics, and philosophy.
In their present form, they are variants of archetypal ideas created by consciously applying and adapting these ideas to reality. For it is the function of consciousness, not only to recognize and assimilate the external world through the gateway of the senses but to translate into visible reality the world within us.
Jung rejected the concept of tabula rasa or the notion that the human mind is a blank slate at birth to be written solely by experience. He believed that the human mind retains fundamental, unconscious, biological aspects of our ancestors. These “primordial images,” as he initially dubbed them, serve as a basic foundation of how to be human.
Jung believed that the archaic and mythic characters that make up the archetypes reside within all people worldwide. Archetypes symbolize basic human motivations, values, and personalities.
Jung believed that each archetype played a role in personality, but felt that most people were dominated by one specific archetype. According to Jung, the actual way in which an archetype is expressed or realized depends upon a number of factors, including an individual’s cultural influences and unique personal experiences.
Modern View of the Jungian Archetypes
Jung’s ideas have not been as popular as Freud’s, and his archetypes have not been viewed favorably in modern psychology. This might be because Jung’s work is more complex, and his work tended to veer into the mystical and pseudoscientific. Therefore, Jung is often studied more as a historical artifact in realms of literary criticism and popular culture applications of mythology than as a major contribution to the science of the mind and behavior.
Other criticisms of Jung’s archetypes suggest that they are overly stereotyped, reductionistic, and culturally biased.
