archetype

Model pattern from which other objects, ideas or concepts are derived

Instance of: metaclass
Subclass of: type

Overview

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia · Read full article · Text CC BY-SA 4.0

An archetype – a concept used in areas relating to behavior, historical psychology, philosophy and literary analysis – 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 "canonical examples". 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 and 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 in literature, 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 comparative anthropology and from Jungian archetypal theory.

Overview

All data

39 statements · 13% with external sources · numbers in brackets are citations

Members / parts: literary archetype
Jungian archetype
prototype theory
theory of forms
archetype
Different from: pattern
stock character

On other databases

29 identifiers linking archetype across the web's reference databases

Data quality

statements

13%

externally sourced

Source last edited October 3, 2026. AIDB refreshes this page daily.

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AIDB. (2026). archetype (Q131714). Retrieved from https://aidb.si/e/archetype-Q131714