Depth psychologist James Hillman is the founder of archetypal psychology, which is an understanding of human nature through the archetypes (arche means first, typos means mold or pattern)--or symbolic patterns. Carl Jung's theory of the collective unconscious is an amalgamation of archetypes that can be thought of as a gene pool of behavioral patterns in the psyche. Examples of archetypes are the martyr, the good mother or the bad father (or vice versa), the entrepreneur, and the criminal--just to name a few. Other better known Jungian archetypes are the anima (the feminine side of men), the animus (the masculine side of women), the shadow (the dark side of human nature), and the persona (the different ways we present ourselves in different environments). For a more detailed exploration of the archetypes click here!
