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

The Superior Personality of Addams According to Psychologists Essay The superiority in Addams’ personality marks her leadership and fame. Famous psychologists such as Sigmund Freud, Carl Rogers, Gordon Allport, John Watson, and Otho Rank have explored theories to explain reasons for these superior characteristics. According to Freud, a person is motivated to do something based on two aspects of the superego. The first is the ego which is the person’s conception of what his/her parents will approve, and the other is the conscience which embodies one’s conception of what should be condemned. In our review of Addams life, we may point out how her father served as a great influence in her actions. Her father, who served as a senator, basically provided the orientation to help 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 achievements could have been dedicated 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 provoked 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 society 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 condemnation from other people in her society. The ego and the conscience worked together to bring out the leadership qualities that Addams possessed. Another famous psychological point of view to explain why a person excels highly above the rest is that of Carl Rogers’. According to Rogers, people are basically good and healthy. He argued that people’s motives are governed by the force of life or the â€Å"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 â€Å"actualizing tendency†. In her biography, we can note that although her father disapproved of her studying and eventually becoming a doctor, Addams still pursued her life goal of being 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 wealthy family, she knew what she had, which she could share with others. Going back to the time when she saw the outskirts of London, she was able to determine her purpose in life, and she was naturally led to her self-actualization. Likewise, Gordon Allport introduced a theory on psychological maturity. He called this state as a â€Å"well-developed proprium†. According to Allport, a person has achieved this when s/he has â€Å"specific, enduring extensions of self-involvement. † In the community works rendered by Addams, we see how she endured the sacrifices of helping and educating others. Specifically, one of the women who worked at Hull 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 Colored 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†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Davis, 1973, p. 82). Another characteristic of a person with well-developed proprium is having â€Å"dependable techniques for warm-relating to others†. This includes a person’s tolerance and sympathy of others. The third characteristic is having â€Å"emotional security† which is very evident in Addams. Fourth is having â€Å"habits of realistic perception†. When Jane saw the Toynbee Hall in London, she deciphered that the root cause of her own society’s dilemma was, â€Å"overaccumulation at one end of society, and destitution at the other† (Bush, 1993, p. 49). Fifth, Allport also identified â€Å"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 â€Å"self-objectification† which is the ability to reflect on one’s 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 â€Å"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 House’s projects. Another psychologist 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. Seeing 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 as â€Å"hero† and â€Å"artist† 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 type—who is also the genius and creative—to which Addams can be categorized. Remember 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 each 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. References Addams, Jane. (1960). A Centennial 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. html Bush, Malcolm. (1993). Jane Addams: No Easy Heroine. Free Inquiry, 13 (4), Fall 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

Welfare and Social Responsibility :: Argumentative Persuasive Topics

Welfare and Social Responsibility    Welfare. Read that word to yourself and ask what popular images surround it. The first thing is probably women and children. This one is correct, because 97% of AFDC (Aid to Families with Dependent Children, the federal "welfare" program) is made up of women and children. Young women? Not really-the average age of a mother receiving welfare is 29, and only 7.6% are under the age of 20. Is she black? Maybe, because the composition of the welfare roles is about the same percentage black and white. More kids than she can count? The average welfare family has 2.9 members. That means a single mom would have 1.9 children (fewer than the national average). Forever "dependent?"-the average length of a stay on welfare is 22 months. We certainly think that they don't work. Without bringing up the question of why raising children is not considered work, the average AFDC benefit plus food stamps still is only 69% of the poverty line. Women on welfare are constantly working to make up that differ ence. Do we think of welfare as expensive? AFDC represents just over 1% of the national budget. If welfare is not about young women having lots of babies and living their life off the generosity of the state, and if it's a minuscule part of the federal budget, why have Republicans chosen it as their pilot issue? Why, when our Federal Reserve is raising interest rates and attempting to maintain an unemployment rate of 6.2%, and when a job at minimum wage would still leave a mother with two children 23% below the poverty line, is entrance into the paid workforce being pushed as the panacea for poverty? If we are serious about getting people to work we need relevant training programs, child care provisions, and efforts at job creation. These at least were discussed in the Clinton plan, if the plan was in many other ways as punitive and insubstantial as the Republican plan. The Republican ideology is particularly insidious because it shifts the entire frame of debate from the structural to the moral. It implies, even states, that if those people would just clean up their morals and stop being so lazy that they could have a place in the American Dream. Today welfare moms are understood to be the symbol for all that is morally wrong with America.

English Narrative Essay

All is quiet on the African Sahara. The sun, winds, and animals have all said goodnight; but the crickets lay awake, chanting me on. I slowly control each nerve in my body to inch it forward to the thirsty gazelle. As soon as she points her nose down, the refreshing sensation of water after hours in the heat blessing her throat and Whoosh! I fling my body towards her. My jaw opens to greet her flesh. It is the first meal of the night; and many more await me. Being a cheetah is the animal I would most want to be.Cheetahs have stunning adaptations the world we live in, an interesting and challenging environment to live in, and consume many different animals as food. Firstly, the cheetah has been a successful predator for centuries. Being the fastest land animal in the world has some advantages. The cheetah’s unique build let’s it reach speeds of up one hundred kilometers per hour in three seconds. It’s unmistakable long streamline body and small head allows for les s air resistance. Powerful legs push the cheetah to breathe taking speeds in the blink of an eye. The cheetah achieves extra traction from its non-retracting claws.Its long tail is a key part of its structure because it helps it to maintain balance and change direction at extremely high speeds. The black tears that stream down the cheetahs face absorb blinding light from the bright African days. These incredible feat of evolution, allow the cheetah to adapt to its surrounding and survive as a superior mammal. Secondly, the habitat in which cheetahs live is very desirable. Most cheetahs today are found in eastern and southern Africa. They can also be found in certain places in the Middle East, Iran, Turkmenistan, and Afghanistan.Cheetahs prefer to live in open habitats like semi desert, prairies and thick brush. Depending on where the cheetahs are, their habitats can range from savannahs to dense vegetation to mountainous terrain. Due to the cheetahs short sprint time they need thick brush to be able to stalk their prey. This reduces their overall running time. Unfortunately cheetahs are being deprived of the open lands that they need to survive. They are being taken over by farms or have been fenced off making them inaccessible or too dangerous for cheetahs to hunt and peacefully live on.Finally, the cheetah’s position on the food chain allows it to have very few predators, and feed on a healthy variety of prey. Because of their high speed of running, they are able to chase their prey down very easily. They are provided coverage by the African grasslands and savanna while stalking their prey. They then sprints toward the prey and knock it down to the ground, using their teeth to directly bite the animals’ necks. However, they are almost the most vulnerable species as cubs. They need to avoid predators like lions, eagles, and hyenas.But preys always have some solutions to all dangers in the nature. Cheetah mothers usually hide their cubs during th e first few weeks of their lives. To conclude, the cheetah is a superior mammal. With its stealth innate behavior and incredible designs on its fur the cheetah is an enhanced predator. Its natural habitat can vary, so the cheetah is a highly adapted animal. A spotted, slender, sleep, graceful, and swift predator; an animal that hunts for its food on the run. The cheetah is truly the prince of the jungle.

Mythology and Religion