Myras Mechanism of Personality Jungian - Case Study Example

CASE STUDY: PERSONALITY THEORIES Myra’s personality according to Freudian theory Myra displays the id personality. The idis characterized by two components; the Eros and Thanatos. The two are biological components that influence behavior of humans. Eros are life dives that are required in order to ensure survival by fueling life-sustaining human operations such as eating and respiration. On the other hand, the Thanatos is characterized by destructive forces which very human being possess at birth. It is filled with a lot of energy but it is mostly in the subcountious, however, when it is directed towards other people outwardly, it is characterized by violence an aggression. This is the part that make people to self-distract. Myra’s case is a manifestation here Eros dominate the Thanatos. This is because she is not able to survive in a real world like the other people. Her aggressiveness, imposition of her own will on others, and controlling attitude is not suppressed in her subconscious mind but rather directed towards other people in her environment. While she thinks that she should be hailed for doing all the things she does for others, it is clear that she does not do those things but rather, she orders people to do it for her. She does not appreciate any cleanliness in her children’s house as she goes around cleaning everything for them. She is also not able to maintaining relationships due to her controlling attitude (Feist, 29). Myra’s responsibility of cleaning the house according to Jungian theory Myra through it was her role to clean the house as a woman of the house, a wife and a mother. This is because she views cleaning as inherently a woman’s task. Myra grew up seeing her own mother take charge of cleaning the house and took great pride in it. The same way, Myra takes great pride in clean the house and taking care of it. Although she receives help from the rest of the family, she is the leader who directs what cleaning tasks to be done and what at time. Myra’s behavior can be supported by Jungian theory using the “archetype concept”. This concept holds that human beings have inherited disposition which aligns them to specific behavior as directed by collective unconscious and instinctual energies. As such, people behave, dream or fantasize in way that cannot be traced to their past experiences or their present. This implies that people are born with predispositions that are inherent in them at birth which are then manifested in their conscious and ultimately in their actions. This can be applied to Myra to justify the fact that her attitude towards being is attributed to her being a female who has to play the role of a woman, wife and mother. She carries on just like the society expects her to (Feist, 107). Myra’s behavior according to radical behaviorism Radical behaviorism argue that human behavior is shaped by an association between a stimulus and a response. Human beings produce a response based on the type of stimulus they are exposed to. As such, behavior learning by radical behaviorism can occur when the desired response is directed by using the most effective stimulus. In Myra’s case, it is clear that her parents were very strict and corrected her using physical punishment whenever she failed to clean the house as required. The behavior to clean must have sprouted from her desire to escape punishment. Myra started cleaning when she was young in order to please her parents and avoid being slapped, but later, it became part of her to clean like that (Feist, 34). An illustration of Myra’s traditionally feminine cleaning behavior based on Bandura’s social cognitive theory Bandura’s social cognitive theory argues that the reaction of human’s to different events is conventionally more overt compared to the experience itself. This theory considers such events as very influential in shaping behavior and the path one opts to take in life. This is because humans are very flexible and prone to human plasticity as they learn different sets of behavior from different situations and events that they encounter directly and through direct observation of others. Myra’s feminine cleaning behavior can be traced to observation of her mother doing the cleaning. She shares the same beliefs her mother had for being a mother and a wife. She gets reinforcement from her friends and neighbors who compliment her on the cleanliness, orderly and tidiness of her home. She has made it a habit to make her home tidier and cleaner than all her friend’s and neighbors’ homes as a way of evaluating her success in leaning (Feist, 478). Motivation of Myra based on Homey’s theory According to needs as presented in Horney’s Psychoanalytic Social Theory, Myra has the need for affection and genuine warmth. This need is mostly inherent in children who has gone through traumatic experience in life and lacked the warmth, affection and comfort of their parents. Myra was not given much attention by her parents as she was growing up, she was physically punished for simple mistakes such as inability to clean well. Being slapped regularly by her parents led her to perceive herself as a victim of actions of others and this has led to intensification of her isolation. She is not able to retain friendship for long with her friends as she is used to being alone. She uses the exaggerated cleaning to escape from the loneliness and unsatisfied attention. She refrains from using money even if she belongs to a middle class and can afford it, since she has associated using much money with negative consequences in her childhood years. Her past life restricts her from even participating in volunteer work with her friends and prefers to spend all her time alone cleaning (Feist, 168). Major neurotic needs that she demonstrates include; Need to exploit others; she does not do anything for her friend and neighbors without expecting something in return. She also wants to be considered the victim due to exaggerated cleaning yet she sometimes asks people to do it for her, Need to limit herself within narrow border by refusing to participate in any social activities outside her house, Need for power and security; this is portrayed by her refusal to spend money. She retains her money as a source of accumulated power and security, Need for admiration; she desires the compliments of her friends and neighbors due to the cleanliness of her home and the tediousness of her garden and yard, Need for perfection; she spends most of her time cleaning and making her house to look perfect, tidy and orderly, Need for recognition and social appreciation; she compares her cleaning with that of others in order to them to appreciate her cleaning efforts and attract their appreciation. Application of Homey’s theory to describe the discrepancy between Myra’s idealized versus real image of herself There is a huge discrepancy between Myra’s idealized versus real image of herself based on Homey’s theory. Myra’s idealized image is that of a perfect woman based on the responsibilities for housework as dictated by the society and culture. She also perceives herself as a modern woman who is completed by culture as she can perfectly clean, tidy and order her home compared to all of her friends. She also perceives herself as an ideal woman as she is able to control the expenditure of her household. She limits the use of money so much despite the fact that she can afford the lifestyle she denies her household. However, on the real life, her idealized image is perceived as being unwelcoming and isolative. Her cleanliness is extremely exaggerated as it serves as a point of her isolation, hostility and rudeness towards other people. She criticizes others rudely while being hostile to them and refuses to talk to them just because she is not invited (Feist, 197). Myra’s mechanism of interpersonal relatedness according to Fromm’s theory Fromm’s theory of personality argues that there is an increased personal freedom and leisure time but the effect it has on human beings is increased powerlessness, isolation and feelings of anxiety. Although Myra has a lot of economic freedom, she feels more anxious, lonely and isolated. This is why she undertakes exaggerated cleaning as a way of escaping from her reality. Her loneliness has led her to portray herself as a victim for cleaning for her household. She vents out her frustrations on her friends by being rude to them and over criticizing them. She appears to be an authoritative person, a perfectionist and cold towards her neighbors and friends. She can best be described as a hoarding character due to her tendency to save everything she has such as money, carpet and furniture (Feist, 186-196). Myra’s score on McCrae and Costa’s big five dimensions. Generally, Myra’s score on McCrae and Costa’s big five dimensions will be low. On the first four dimensions her score can be low but will score high in the last one. Her score will be based on the different dimensions of personality. She is loner, reserved and passive based on extraversion dimension; she is unemotional, comfortable and self-satisfied based on the neuroticism dimension, she is uncurious, innovative, conservative and traditional based on the openness dimension; she is irritable, critical, antagonistic, stingy, suspicious and rude based on agreeableness dimension; and finally, she scores high in the conscientiousness dimension as she is persevering, well-organized, clean and hardworking. Work Cited Feist, J., & Feist, G. J. Theories of Personality (7th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill. 2009. Print. Read More