The Superior Personality of Addams According to Psychologists Essay Example for Free

The Superior Personality of Addams According to Psychologists EssayThe superiority in Addams mortalality label her leadership and fame. Famous psychologists such as Sigmund Freud, Carl Rogers, Gordon Allport, John Watson, and Otho Rank have explored theories to formulate reasons for these superior characteristics. According to Freud, a person is do to do something ground on two aspects of the superego. The first is the ego which is the persons conception of what his/her p bents will approve, and the other(a) is the conscience which embodies superstars conception of what should be condemned. In our review of Addams life, we may point by how her father served as a great influence in her actions. Her father, who served as a senator, basic each(prenominal)y provided the orientation to jockstrap other people, or to be of service to others. For Freud, the Electra complex could be at work here. Thus, Freudians would reasonably point out that Addams social behavior and getments could have been consecrated in half towards pleasing father. Also, Addams had difficulty finding the same energy she had about medical school when her father passed away.Thus bereavement also arouse her to find the real meaning of life and her mission in the world. The other half could be dictated by her conscience to do as what the company told her. Raised in values by her father who admired Lincoln, Addams formed a conviction against racism and labor injustice, making her act against them, though it meant disapproval from other people in her society. The ego and the conscience worked together to bring out the leadership qualities that Addams possessed. Another famous mental point of view to explain why a person outstrips highly above the rest is that of Carl Rogers.According to Rogers, people are basically good and healthy. He argued that peoples motives are governed by the force of life or the actualizing tendency. Applying this to the personality of Addams, we may say that even at a young age, Addams always had an inclination to excel and achieve her best. Like a plant which grows up, buds flowers, and bears fruit, Addams was subject to her own natural actualizing tendency. In her biography, we basin note that although her father disapproved of her studying and eventually fitting a doctor, Addams still pursued her life goal of beingness of service to others.Moreover, Rogers would also affirm that it was Addams nature to do what she felt best for the society and the world, which motivated her to do what she did. Furthermore, Rogers concept of positive self-regard tells us that Addams was provoked to act on the injustices in her society because she believed she could make a difference. Coming from a smashed family, she knew what she had, which she could share with others. Going back to the time when she proverb the outskirts of London, she was able to determine her purpose in life, and she was naturally led to her self-actualization.Likewise, Gord on Allport introduced a theory on psychological maturity. He called this state as a well-developed proprium. According to Allport, a person has achieved this when s/he has specific, enduring extensions of self-involvement. In the community works rendered by Addams, we throw how she endured the sacrifices of helping and educating others. Specifically, one of the women who worked at remove House commented, She is very tired . . . of course she did not let that deter her from tearing about.She preached for the Methodists last Sunday, entertained the sorry Women of the National Council (Mrs. Booker T. Washington et al) yesterday and later went to Winnetka . . . she runs over to Mrs. Jones-around to Mrs. Fiellras . . . up to Mrs. Kenyon-off with Mrs. Halderman, down to inquiring strangers (Davis, 1973, p. 82). Another characteristic of a person with well-developed proprium is having dependable techniques for warm-relating to others. This includes a persons tolerance and sympathy of o thers. The third characteristic is having emotional security which is very evident in Addams.Fourth is having habits of realistic perception. When Jane saw the Toynbee Hall in London, she deciphered that the root cause of her own societys dilemma was, overaccumulation at one end of society, and destitution at the other (Bush, 1993, p. 49). Fifth, Allport also identified problem-centeredness as another characteristic. Evidently, Addams possessed this as she responded to the labor problems of the factory workers in her hometown. Sixth is self-objectification which is the ability to reflect on ones behavior.Although Addams was criticized and identified by the FBI as the most dangerous woman in America during her time, she still fought for peace against all odds. The last characteristic was to have a unifying philosophy of life. By putting up the Hull House, Addams reached out not only to the poor but also to the rich by making them contribute to the Houses projects. Another psychologis t who can offer explanation to Addams leadership qualities is John Watson, the father of behaviorism. Exploring his theory, we may note that Addams personal qualities of being a leader were only her response to the stimuli given to her.Coming from a well-to-do family, Addams was affected by the sufferings she witnessed in her town, and this motivated her to act on the situation. visual perception the problems of the workers and the migrants, she responded to help alleviate their sufferings. Likewise, when America joined the World War I, she mainly reacted on the events happening, and voiced out her opposition with her idealistic regard for peace. While all these theories explain the superior leader in Addams, we may also expound on the theory of Otto Rank to explain another aspect of her personality.Breaking out from Freud, who was his mentor, Otto Rank extended the psychoanalytic theory by delving on myths, legend, and art. In particular, his belief that people can be categorized a s hero and operative can be applied to the personality of Addams. In his theory, Rank stated that some people can be categorized as artists. As an artist, this person sees reality as his own image, thus reconstructs it as he would himself. In addition, Rank argued that a true artist needs immortality which he can achieve by identifying with the collective will of his environment.Furthermore, he also emphasized that among artists, there is the productive graphemewho is also the genius and creativeto which Addams can be categorized. opine that Addams used the arts to relieve the sufferings of the workers in their town. Being able to teach arts and using it as a medium to attract people of their projects, we can say that the artist prototype was fully evident in Addams. Unlike other artists who worked for division or fame, Addams chose to work for the best of her people. As such, her qualities exemplified the productive type that Rank theorized.The inspiration that Addams offers eac h of us, especially women, should always be remembered. Her life constituted by breaking free from stereotyping, making both ends meet for the Hull House, opposing views of the majority regarding war, and serving people through her projects and writings, is what all of us should follow if we want to effect changes in our society. Although the explanations offered by theorists regarding her personality may vary, one thing remains constant life would not be the same without the contributions of Jane Addams.It is through her aspirations and idealism that America learned to recognize more the rights and sufferings of its people.ReferencesAddams, Jane. (1960). A centenary Reader, ed. by E. C. Johnson. New York Macmillan Addams, Jane. (1910). Twenty Years at Hull-House. New York Macmillan Boeree, George. (2006). Personality Theories. Retrieved December 21 2007, from http//webspace. ship. edu/cgboer/perscontents. hypertext markup language Bush, Malcolm. (1993). Jane Addams No Easy Heroine. Free Inquiry, 13 (4), origin 48-49. Davis, Allen F. (1973). American Heroine The Life and Legend of Jane Addams. Oxford Press New York.DeMar Gary. (1988). Behaviorism. In Surviving College Successfully A Complete Manual for the Rigors of Academic Combat. Wolgemuth Hyatt Publishers, Inc. Retrieved December 22, 2007, from http//forerunner. com/forerunner/X0497_DeMar_-_Behaviorism. html Haberman, Frederick. (1972). In Nobel Lectures, Peace 1926-1950. Amsterdam Elsevier Publishing Company. Retrieved December 22, 2007, from http//nobelprize. org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1931/addams-bio. html Lundblad, Karen Shafer. (1995). Jane Addams and Social Reform A Role Model for the 1990s. Social Work, 40 (5), September, 661-669