http://www.infj.com/BeebeOnINFJs.htm
Archetypes are thus the powerful symbolic images that inform our view of heroes, wise men, mothers, and villains, among others. We encounter them in many aspects of our daily lives -- in art, religion, movies, and even cartoons! The bad guy invariably dresses in black; the good guy in white (and he is always strong and kind).
Mothers are nurturing, gentle, and protective. The wise man is often portrayed as a white-haired old man with a frail body and peaceful demeanor. These images are recognizable by most of us, and there are strong similarities in these symbols even from one culture to the next.
They are so pervasive that archetypes are anchored in our brain structure and occupy the "middle ground" between mind and matter. Archetypes are what provide the deep structure for human motivation and meaning.
Whenever archetypes are encountered in art, literature, sacred texts, and advertising—or in individuals or groups—they evoke emotional resonance and become the unconscious frameworks that determine how and why people think and react. Pretty powerful stuff, huh?
but I like Anne Singer Harris flow and music to archetypes more.
Archetypes tend to shift shape and flow into each other... This is because archetypes are content-free, patterned tendencies of thought; their qualities overlap, they are not hierarchical, and their symbolic expression is complexly layered.
This is a messy and unpredictable realm in which to wander, and its shiftiness annoys people who like to call a spade a spade and never a shovel. ...To tolerate these conditions, a person must tolerate ambiguity.
Jungian archetypes
For a more analytical psychology approach to archetypes I think the founder of it comes from Carl Jung. Which explains archetypes as
The archetypes form a dynamic substratum common to all humanity, upon the foundation of which each individual builds his own experience of life, developing a unique array of psychological characteristics. Thus, while archetypes themselves may be conceived as a relative few innate nebulous forms, from these may arise innumerable images, symbols and patterns of behavior.
While the emerging images and forms are apprehended consciously, the archetypes which inform them are elementary structures which are unconscious and impossible to apprehend. Being unconscious, the existence of archetypes can only be deduced indirectly by examining behavior, images, art, myths, etc.
They are inherited potentials which are actualized when they enter consciousness as images or manifest in behavior on interaction with the outside world.