Editing Archetype (section)

{{short description|Concept in psychology, literature, philosophy}}
{{other uses}}
{{Use American English|date=June 2024}}
The concept of an '''archetype''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|ɑr|k|ɪ|t|aɪ|p}} {{respell|AR|ki|type}}) appears in areas relating to [[behavior]], [[History of psychology#Emergence of German experimental psychology|historical psychology]], [[philosophy]] and [[literary analysis]].

An archetype can be any of the following:
# a statement, pattern of behavior, [[prototype]], "first" form, or a main model that other statements, patterns of behavior, and objects copy, emulate, or "merge" into. Informal synonyms frequently used for this definition include "standard example", "basic example", and the longer-form "archetypal example"; mathematical archetypes often appear as "[[wikt:canonical|canonical]] examples".
# the [[Platonism|Platonic concept]] of ''pure [[Theory of forms|form]]'', believed to embody the fundamental characteristics of a thing.
# the [[Jungian psychology]] concept of an inherited unconscious predisposition, behavioral trait or tendency ("instinct") shared among the members of the species; as any behavioral trait the tendency comes to being by way of patterns of thought, images, affects or pulsions characterized by its qualitative likeness to distinct narrative constructs; unlike personality traits, many of the archetype's fundamental characteristics are shared in common with the collective & are not predominantly defined by the individual's representation of them; and the tendency to utilize archetypal representations is postulated to arise from the evolutionary drive to establish specific cues corresponding with the historical evolutionary environment to better adapt to it. Such evolutionary drives are: survival and thriving in the physical environment, the relating function, acquiring knowledge, etc. It is communicated graphically as archetypal "figures".
# a constantly-recurring symbol or motif [[Motif (narrative)|in literature]], [[Motif (visual arts)|painting]], or mythology. This definition refers to the recurrence of characters or ideas sharing similar traits throughout various, seemingly unrelated cases in classic storytelling, media, etc. This usage of the term draws from both [[Cultural anthropology|comparative anthropology]] and from [[Jungian archetypes|Jungian archetypal theory]].

Archetypes are also very close analogies to [[instinct]]s, in that, long before any consciousness develops, it is the impersonal and inherited traits of human beings that present and motivate human behavior.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|title=Human Factors in Computing and Informatics: First International Conference, SouthCHI 2013, Maribor, Slovenia, July 1-3, 2013, Proceedings|last1=Holzinger|first1=Andreas|last2=Ziefle|first2=Martina|last3=Hitz|first3=Martin|last4=Debevc|first4=Matjaz|date=2013-06-26|publisher=Springer|isbn=9783642390616|location=Heidelberg|pages=18}}</ref> They also continue to influence feelings and behavior even after some degree of consciousness developed later on.<ref name=":1" />