The concept of psychological archetypes [ahr-ki-tahyps] was advanced by the Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung [yoong], c. 1919. Jung described archetypes as highly developed elements of the collective unconscious (structures of the unconscious mind which are shared among beings of the same species) that can be seen repeated in story, art, myths, religions, and dreams. They are common motifs in human cultures such as ‘the mother,’ ‘the child,’ ‘the trickster,’ and ‘the flood,’ among others.
Carl Jung understood archetypes as universal, archaic patterns and images that derive from the collective unconscious and are the psychic counterpart of instinct. They are inherited potentials which are actualized when they enter consciousness as images or manifest in behavior on interaction with the outside world. They are autonomous and hidden forms which are transformed once they enter consciousness and are given particular expression by individuals and their cultures.
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The Daily Omnivore 