Psychology

Archetypes: Tyranny Within Entropy

We can utilize the mathematics of thermodynamics to model a human’s movement towards identity. By doing so, we look at human behavior as energy and pulses of energy. Their very temperament can be simply seen as a ball of energy: docile or ecstatic, transmissive or receptive. We elevate terms like, sleepy, tired, withdrawn, annoying, exciting, pushy, invasive to kinds of energy.

Archetypes

Archetypes are abstract entities assembled and recognized to convey a truth—much like numbers.

They are identified by seeing a basic pattern appear through people’s behaviors in some medium of storytelling. We can see characters in songs, plays, books act out similar behaviors ending in similar consequences. We recognize the patterns in the characters and develop archetypes for them.

By identifying archetypes we can then manipulate them. We devise scenarios with multiple archetypes and social dynamics, and then we predict how they play out. This is the basics of storytelling.