The 12 Common Archetypes

By Carl Golden

The term "archetype" has its origins in ancient Greek. The root words are archein, which means "original or old"; and typos, which means "pattern, model or type". The combined meaning is an "original pattern" of which all other similar persons, objects, or concepts are derived, copied, modeled, or emulated.

The psychologist, Carl Gustav Jung, used the concept of archetype in his theory of the human psyche. He believed that universal, mythic characters—archetypes—reside within the collective unconscious of people the world over. Archetypes represent fundamental human motifs of our experience as we evolved; consequentially, they evoke deep emotions.

Although there are many different archetypes, Jung defined twelve primary types that symbolize basic human motivations. Each type has its own set of values, meanings and personality traits. Also, the twelve types are divided into three sets of four, namely Ego, Soul and Self. The types in each set share a common driving source, for example types within the Ego set are driven to fulfill ego-defined agendas.

Most, if not all, people have several archetypes at play in their personality construct; however, one archetype tends to dominate the personality in general. It can be helpful to know which archetypes are at play in oneself and others, especially loved ones, friends and co-workers, in order to gain personal insight into behaviors and motivations.

The Ego Types

1. The Innocent
Motto: Free to be you and me
Core desire: to get to paradise
Goal: to be happy
Greatest fear: to be punished for doing something bad or wrong
Strategy: to do things right
Weakness: boring for all their naive innocence
Talent: faith and optimism
The Innocent is also known as: Utopian, traditionalist, naive, mystic, saint, romantic, dreamer.

2. The Orphan/Regular Guy or Gal
Motto: All men and women are created equal
Core Desire: connecting with others
Goal: to belong
Greatest fear: to be left out or to stand out from the crowd
Strategy: develop ordinary solid virtues, be down to earth, the common touch
Weakness: losing one's own self in an effort to blend in or for the sake of superficial relationships
Talent: realism, empathy, lack of pretense
The Regular Person is also known as: The good old boy, everyman, the person next door, the realist, the working stiff, the solid citizen, the good neighbor, the silent majority.

3. The Hero
Motto: Where there's a will, there's a way
Core desire: to prove one's worth through courageous acts
Goal: expert mastery in a way that improves the world
Greatest fear: weakness, vulnerability, being a "chicken"
Strategy: to be as strong and competent as possible
Weakness: arrogance, always needing another battle to fight
Talent: competence and courage
The Hero is also known as: The warrior, crusader, rescuer, superhero, the soldier, dragon slayer, the winner and the team player.

4. The Caregiver
Motto: Love your neighbour as yourself
Core desire: to protect and care for others
Goal: to help others
Greatest fear: selfishness and ingratitude
Strategy: doing things for others
Weakness: martyrdom and being exploited
Talent: compassion, generosity
The Caregiver is also known as: The saint, altruist, parent, helper, supporter.

The Soul Types

5. The Explorer
Motto: Don't fence me in
Core desire: the freedom to find out who you are through exploring the world
Goal: to experience a better, more authentic, more fulfilling life
Biggest fear: getting trapped, conformity, and inner emptiness
Strategy: journey, seeking out and experiencing new things, escape from boredom
Weakness: aimless wandering, becoming a misfit
Talent: autonomy, ambition, being true to one's soul
The explorer is also known as: The seeker, iconoclast, wanderer, individualist, pilgrim.

6. The Rebel
Motto: Rules are made to be broken
Core desire: revenge or revolution
Goal: to overturn what isn't working
Greatest fear: to be powerless or ineffectual
Strategy: disrupt, destroy, or shock
Weakness: crossing over to the dark side, crime
Talent: outrageousness, radical freedom
The Outlaw is also known as: The rebel, revolutionary, wild man, the misfit, or iconoclast.

7. The Lover
Motto: You're the only one
Core desire: intimacy and experience
Goal: being in a relationship with the people, work and surroundings they love
Greatest fear: being alone, a wallflower, unwanted, unloved
Strategy: to become more and more physically and emotionally attractive
Weakness: outward-directed desire to please others at risk of losing own identity
Talent: passion, gratitude, appreciation, and commitment
The Lover is also known as: The partner, friend, intimate, enthusiast, sensualist, spouse, team-builder.

8. The Creator
Motto: If you can imagine it, it can be done
Core desire: to create things of enduring value
Goal: to realize a vision
Greatest fear: mediocre vision or execution
Strategy: develop artistic control and skill
Task: to create culture, express own vision
Weakness: perfectionism, bad solutions
Talent: creativity and imagination
The Creator is also known as: The artist, inventor, innovator, musician, writer or dreamer.

The Self Types

9. The Jester
Motto: You only live once
Core desire: to live in the moment with full enjoyment
Goal: to have a great time and lighten up the world
Greatest fear: being bored or boring others
Strategy: play, make jokes, be funny
Weakness: frivolity, wasting time
Talent: joy
The Jester is also known as: The fool, trickster, joker, practical joker or comedian.

10. The Sage
Motto: The truth will set you free
Core desire: to find the truth.
Goal: to use intelligence and analysis to understand the world.
Biggest fear: being duped, misled—or ignorance.
Strategy: seeking out information and knowledge; self-reflection and understanding thought processes.
Weakness: can study details forever and never act.
Talent: wisdom, intelligence.
The Sage is also known as: The expert, scholar, detective, advisor, thinker, philosopher, academic, researcher, thinker, planner, professional, mentor, teacher, contemplative.

11. The Magician
Motto: I make things happen.
Core desire: understanding the fundamental laws of the universe
Goal: to make dreams come true
Greatest fear: unintended negative consequences
Strategy: develop a vision and live by it
Weakness: becoming manipulative
Talent: finding win-win solutions
The Magician is also known as:The visionary, catalyst, inventor, charismatic leader, shaman, healer, medicine man.

12. The Ruler
Motto: Power isn't everything, it's the only thing.
Core desire: control
Goal: create a prosperous, successful family or community
Strategy: exercise power

http://www.treeoflifecounseling.life/essays/the_12_common_archetypes.html

PSYCHOLOGY DEFINITION 🤔

PSYCHOLOGY (noun)

• the scientific study of the human mind and its functions, especially those affecting behavior in a given context.
  Similar: study of the mind, science of the mind, science of the personality, study of the mental processes

• the mental characteristics or attitude of a person or group.
  plural noun: psychologies "the psychology of Americans in the 1920s"
  Similar: mindset, mind, mental processes, thought processes, way of thinking, cast of mind, frame of mind, turn of mind, mentality, persona, psyche, (mental) attitude(s), makeup, character, disposition, temperament, temper, behavior, what makes someone tick

• the mental and emotional factors governing a situation or activity.

  "the psychology of interpersonal relationships"

What is the best definition of psychology?

Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior, according to the American Psychological Association. It is the study of the mind, how it works, and how it affects behavior. ... Psychologists and psychiatrists work together to help people with mental health conditions, but they are not quite the same.Feb 1, 2018 (www.medicalnewstoday.com › articles)

What are the 4 goals of psychology?

The four main goals of psychology are to describe, explain, predict and control the behavior and mental processes of others. (www.udemy.com › blog › goals-of-psychology)

The 10 types of psychology, and what they entail

Broadly defined, psychology is the study of mind and behaviour. However, in an effort to right the misguided assumptions, here are 10 of the most widely-known fields of psychology:

1. Clinical Psychology

This treatment-oriented branch of psychology deals with scientific ways of handling psychological problems. Also called counselling psychology or psychotherapy, it focuses on the prevention, understanding and cure of psychological issues by way of psycho-therapeutic treatment.

2. Biopsychology

This branch of psychology looks at the role the brain and neurotransmitters play in influencing our thoughts, feelings and behaviours. It combines neuroscience and the study of psychology.

3. Educational Psychology

Educational psychology is the scientific study of human behaviour in an educational setting and, as such, it deals with issues such as learning disorders, adolescence behaviours, and so on. These studies focus primarily on the different developmental stages of children and teenagers.

4. Cognitive Psychology

The branch of psychology that deals with mental processes, such as thoughts, memory and problem solving, is called cognitive psychology. In essence, it is concerned with the perception and problem-solving capability of the brain.

5. Forensic Psychology

The application of psychology to law making, law enforcement, the examination of witnesses, and the treatment of the criminal is the job of the forensic psychologist. Also known as legal psychology, this branch of psychology is not dissimilar to cognitive and clinical psychology, but involves a thorough understanding of the law.

6. Social Psychology

Focussed on the psychological aspects of individuals within a community environment, community psychology explores characteristics such as interdependence, adaptation, diplomacy, empowerment, social justice, and so on. It is also referred to as critical psychology.

7. Industrial Psychology

This branch of psychology addresses practical problems in the workplace through the application of psychological principles. Industrial psychologists, also called organisational psychologists, are employed by companies to administer tests which measure employee aptitudes or skills in hiring and placement programmes.

8. Health Psychology

This branch of psychology observes how behaviour, biology and social context influence illness and health. Health psychologists generally work alongside other medical professionals in clinical settings.

9. Experimental Psychology

Experimental psychologists work to understand the underlying causes of behaviour by studying humans and animals. They work mainly in a laboratory environment, exploring how different species interrelate and investigating the evolutionary significance of certain behaviours.

10. Developmental Psychology

Developmental psychology is a branch of psychology that attempts to explain the development of humans over time, both in the micro sense, as they develop from babies to mature adults, and in the macro sense, as the culture itself evolves through the years and decades.

(https://www.sacap.edu.za/blog/applied-psychology/types-of-psychology/)

HUMAN STRUGGLE

“You have to struggle. The bigger the struggle, the bigger the peace.”

“Biography is very valuable because you can see the mindset of the person who got it done and how they came over the same insecurities and pitfalls. Just the human story about struggle.”

“Look at your body, look at your temple. Look at your meat vehicle.”

“And then you realize there are no shortcuts. And you learn to embrace that no-shortcut mentality and enjoy the suffering and the grind of it. And there’s no finish line.”

“You gotta hang out with the people you want to be like the most.”

“People will definitely drag you down. Especially if you’re around someone who makes a lot of excuses and is always failing, they’re the opposite of inspiration. The people you’re around can suck the life out of you. Sometimes you just gotta be alone to get your shit in.”

6 HUMAN NEEDS

Tony Robbins concept

Certainty Uncertainty

This is the final lesson of the Tamed Course. In this video we're going to learn about 6 fundamental human needs. Without all of these 6 you will find it nea...

#tonyrobbins #improvementpill #psychology

IDEAS: 6 Human Needs

DESTINATION GOAL

Morning routine to review the destination goal and course-correct the daily drift. Refocus the aim, retarget the direction, renew the vision. (By Alex Heyne, Modern Health Monk)

PERSONALITY TESTS

KNOW THYSELF. Through personality tests!

<<Titles link to BlogPosts that have the Quiz Links and summary of my results>>

DRIVING FORCE:(Driving force quiz of 6 human needs by Tony Robbins) Connection, conversation, humor, exploring, supporting.

LOVE LANGUAGE:Words, Acts of Service

ENNEAGRAM:+ https://www.eclecticenergies.com/enneagram/test
+ Type 5. w6 The Investigator
+ https://www.eclecticenergies.com/enneagram/type5
+ https://www.enneagraminstitute.com/type-descriptions

16 PERSONALITIES:INFP Mediator
https://www.16personalities.com/infp-personality

MEYER’S/BRIGGS:INFP

FOUR TENDENCIES:The questioner

SELF-ACTUALIZATION, MASLOV'S

Self-actualization is a term first coined by Kurt Goldstein that most often refers to the top level of Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. In his seminal paper about human motivationwhere he first introduced his hierarchy of needs, Maslow defined self-actualization by claiming that “[w]hat a man can be, he must be. This need we may call self-actualization” (Maslow, 1943).

Self-actualization has also been described as:

“the psychological process aimed at maximizing the use of a person’s abilities and resources. This process may vary from one person to another” (Couture et al., 2007). 

In other words, for our purposes, self-actualization can be thought of as the full realization of one’s creative, intellectual, or social potential.

Since self-actualization is based on leveraging one’s abilities to reach their potential, it is a very individual process and can greatly differ from person to person. As we will see, this recognition of individual motivations is a key part of Maslow’s work, and what he felt differentiated it from the contemporary motivational psychology of his early career.

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is made up of “physiological [needs], safety [needs], love [needs], esteem [needs], and self-actualization” in a pyramid from bottom to top. Each level of needs must be taken care of before the next one can be addressed—so ensuring one’s physiological needs (like food and water) is a prerequisite to ensuring their safety needs (like shelter), ensuring one’s safety needs is a prerequisite to ensuring one’s love needs, and so on.

Because self-actualization is the highest level, it is only when one’s physiological, safety, love, and esteem needs are taken care of that one can hope to achieve self-actualization.

Examples of Self-Actualization

This raises the question of what self-actualization actually looks like. When first describing self-actualization, Maslow described the top of his hierarchy of needs by remarking that:

“[a] musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if he is to be ultimately happy” (Maslow, 1943).

…
The authors found that “lay perceptions of realizing one’s full potential are linked to the fundamental motive of achieving status and esteem.”

In other words, participants most associated realizing their potential (and the drive to do so) with reaching some level of internally-recognized success (esteem, which is notably on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs itself) and some level of externally-recognized success (status).

This conflicts with Maslow’s (1943) initial separation of status/esteem and self-actualization. The authors, however, point out that “a functional reading” of Maslow’s work, such as the one discussed by Kenrick et al. (2010), indicates that “many of the behaviors involved in pursuing one’s full potential are linked to status, both directly and indirectly” (Krems et al., 2017). This relation between status-seeking and self-actualization also fits in with the fact that the most obvious examples of self-actualization are of public figures who have achieved high levels of status.

…

Self-actualization is actually related to positive psychology in two distinct ways: as a component of well-being and as a way to measure the nurturing of genius.

…

So what relevance does self-actualization hold for the average person? At the end of the day, realizing one’s potential is a personal endeavor that depends on where one’s creative, intellectual, or social potential lies.

In other words, self-actualization is not about making the most money or becoming the most famous person in the world. Instead, self-actualization is about reaching one’s personal potential, whether that means becoming a painter, a politician, a philosopher, a teacher, or anything else.

Self-actualization is truly about achieving your dreams!

What does self-actualization mean to you? When do you feel like you are self-actualizing, and what does it feel like?

- excerpts from Joaquín Selva, Bc.S., Psychologist

Positive Psychology, Self-Actualization