menu_open Columnists
We use cookies to provide some features and experiences in QOSHE

More information  .  Close

The Hidden Code Behind Everything You Do

36 1
31.03.2025

For centuries, science has sought elegant formulas to explain complex phenomena. Newton gave us F = ma. Einstein gave us E = mc². These insights unified scattered observations into simple, powerful laws that redefined how we understand force, energy, and matter.

But what about human behavior? Can a unifying principle explain why people work, love, fight, dream, eat, create, or kill? What theory can explain parenting and protest, compassion and crime—without splitting body from mind? There probably won't ever be a perfect-looking equation like we see in physics. But I think we are getting closer.

Today, I propose a new formula. It’s called the ARCH theory. It is a hypothesis of human psychology that offers a long-sought solution to the mind-body problem, which my colleagues and many scientists worldwide are trying to unravel.

The ARCH hypothesis is simple: Behavior = Archetype × Drive × Culture.

ARCH theory states that all human behavior arises from the interaction of three forces: archetypes (our ancestral neural scripts), drives (our biological motivational systems), and culture (our symbolic and social encoding). Each action, emotion, or thought we have is the result of these three components converging—triggered by environmental cues, shaped by memory, and enacted through the body.

Let’s begin with the archetypes—the A in ARCH. These are evolutionarily conserved mental structures: instinctive scripts for identity and behavior. They are not metaphors, myths, or fantasy figures. They are neural templates, inherited from our hominid ancestors, encoded in brain networks, and shared across cultures. They are the deep architecture of the human mind.

This idea, first proposed by physician and psychiatrist Carl Jung as innate, has empirical grounding through ethology and neuroscience. Konrad Lorenz and Niko........

© Psychology Today