What Is The Persona Archetype

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Although Jung recognized the existence of many archetypes, he wrote extensively on only a few. These were the persona, the anima, the animus and the shadow. Persona, as documented by Hergenhahn and Olson (2003), is the Latin word for mask. The persona archetype develops because of humans’ needs to play a role in society. It is representative of our personal ‘face’ that we present to the world. Archetypes must manifest themselves within the parameters of current social and cultural circumstances. Thus, the persona is the outward manifestation of the psyche that is allowed by a person’s unique circumstances. The anima is the female component of the male psyche that results from the experiences men have had with women through the years.

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