The System

In all times and places, people have shared certain universally told stories. The tales we all know feature characters that take action to fulfill genuine, shared human needs and to accomplish tasks that we all have in common.

People everywhere can relate to a Hero who overcomes great obstacles, a Magician who helps make dreams come true, and a Jester who brings out the fun in a situation.

We tell and re-tell stories featuring these kinds of characters because they assure us that our own needs can be met. In a sense, the stories provide the key to understanding human meaning and motivation.

Renowned Swiss psychologist Carl S. Jung's work on archetypes led Dr. Carol S. Pearson to conclude that these narratives formed the structure of the human psyche. Jung coined the term “archetype” to define the underlying psychological patterns that recur in these stories and are frequently found in the symbols, images, and themes of art, mythology, sacred texts, and popular entertainment.

Building on Jung’s work, Dr. Pearson has created a system for working with these archetypes that enables us to understand individual and group development and motivation. Her 12-archetype system includes the archetypes or storylines that her research found to be most correlated with success and fulfillment in contemporary society. (Links to the profiles of each of these 12 archetypal storylines, including how they are reflected in both individuals and groups, can be found at the left side of this page.)

ARCHETYPAL GROUPINGS

Over nearly 30 years of researching and applying her findings, Dr. Pearson grouped the 12 fundamental archetypes in two ways, based on their usefulness for certain applications. Her first system emphasized the journey of development for individuals, groups, and organizations (and includes the archetypal characters most relevant for the stages of preparation, journey, and return). Next, she grouped them to reflect the archetypal storylines most needed to accomplish universal life/organizational tasks and the related human motivational needs those tasks fulfill (stability/structure, belonging/community, achievement/self-esteem, and learning/self actualization).

Both systems use the same fundamental archetypes, although the names that describe them vary somewhat, depending on their relevance to the system at hand. This website primarily employs the names of the archetypes from Dr. Pearson’s motivational system, except in the personal-development application pages, where the earlier formulation is more appropriate. However, the order in which the archetypes are presented in the listing charts conforms to the journey pattern for individuals and organizations, rather than the pattern used to assess organizational balance, which is utilized more often in organizational development and branding work.