Ever since Donald Trump had won the elections, he has made this habit of staying in the headlines. Not many presidents in the history of the United States have enjoyed the same level of media scrutiny like Trump. His behavior and what he has said has been analyzed and discussion has been carried out regarding what are the some of the reasons due to which he acts in a certain manner (Capuzzi, & Stauffer, 2016). All of these things made for an interesting personality assessment and this is exactly what that would be done during the course of this paper. The personality of Donald Trump would be discussed along with different psychological perspectives and effort would be made to ensure that some sort of definitive opinion is formed around his personality.
Freudian Perspective
One of the defining aspects of the theory put forth by Freud is that how human behavior is the result of the interactions that happen among the three components of mind. These three parts are>
- – ID
- – Ego
- – Superego
There is always conflict among these three structures and all this time, human beings made a conscious effort to make sure that they get to find the right balance in terms of the way how desires are determined, and how the approaches and behavior towards the world is needed to be changed (Capuzzi, & Stauffer, 2016). The belief came from Freud is that the Id, ego and the superego are always in constant flux (Yeager et al. 2014). The adult personality and the behavior are somewhat mirror of these internal struggles that person goes through at a given time period (Lozano et al. 2015). In some ways, personality analysis of Donald Trump would be carried out (Capuzzi, & Stauffer, 2016).
If one extents the personality formulation that is talked about by Freud into the embodiment of the working culture, then it can be seen that how the personality of Donald Trump represents a part of the wider dynamic (Capuzzi, & Stauffer, 2016). Ever since Trump has won the elections, he has been talked about as somewhat a living embodiment of the way America’s ID is supposed to work. He brings with himself somewhat a fleshy energy, and at times, he is not really bothered about the way conventions of the civility work (Capuzzi, & Stauffer, 2016). The major theme that can be seen behind the ascension of the Trump as Freud would have described is would be the return of the people who are regressed (Friedman & Schustack, 2016). It is an eruption of the urges that are bottled up for the very long period of time (Friedman & Schustack, 2016). Also, the railings that he has raised against the political correctness and how one does not have to hold their words back before they speak. Furthermore, the energy that Trump seems to exhibit is infectious to say the least and rather appetitive in the long run (Friedman & Schustack, 2016). Other underlying message that one gets from Trump is of the id Freedom. It is liberation from the constraints that are placed from the civilized conversations. That includes commerce and consciousness as well. It is a very impact message the way civilization is shaped up these days; there is quite a hard work behind it (Capuzzi, & Stauffer, 2016). In some ways, it can be said that the success that is gained by Trump is not due to something that he possess in his personality (Capuzzi, & Stauffer, 2016). Neither has it talked about the way new malaise that is affecting the politics the people these days. His success as a matter of fact can be attributed to the unique psychic architecture that has developed among the humans these days (Capuzzi, & Stauffer, 2016). The other interesting aspect is about the way tolerance is going to work out in the way this whole thing works. When there is delay in gratification is attributed as hard work (Capuzzi, & Stauffer, 2016).
Alfred Adler Psychology Perspective
Adler was one of the few psychologists who believe that there are negative tendencies in the human being. The idea behind his insight was the fact that how the personality of any person most of the times is revolving around the notion that they are striving for superiority (Capuzzi, & Stauffer, 2016). He attributed this concept that how most of the times, human beings try to make sure that they gain an upper hand over the others (Capuzzi, & Stauffer, 2016). There is also an inherent desire in human beings to make sure that they overcome to challenges (Capuzzi, & Stauffer, 2016). When they overcome these challenges, they tend to make sure that they move bit closer towards the idea of self realization (Friedman & Schustack, 2016). The desire to achieve superiority stems from the fact how people all the times tend to make sure that they move towards this notion of self realization (Capuzzi, & Stauffer, 2016). There is a desire among people to make sure that they achieve superiority in terms from the feelings of the inferiority and Adler was one of the few people who had this belief that this feeling and drive towards becoming someone superior to the other is rather universal (Capuzzi, & Stauffer, 2016).
Now, if one looks at this whole perspective and compare it with the life of Trump, he had always tended to make sure that he stands out from the crowd (Friedman & Schustack, 2016). Despite the fact that he was not even one of the top 100 richest people in United States, he was able to make sure that they made lot of sound regarding his money making prowess (Capuzzi, & Stauffer, 2016). Also, to make sure that he goes to show people that he has an upper hand over them, he had his own reality show, “The Apprentice”. In that show, he showed quite a lot of time that how he is better than other people in terms of the discipline and other traits that has allowed him to stand out as compared to the other people in the given time period (Capuzzi, & Stauffer, 2016). At the same time, even before he went into the politics, about two decades ago, he had provided a brief outline regarding what sort of president he is going to turn out to be (Capuzzi, & Stauffer, 2016). He was so confident about his success and at times, when people are so confident about themselves, it goes a long way towards making sure that people stand up and take notice of what is being said by them (Friedman & Schustack, 2016). This yearning of superiority goes a long way in ensuring the standing of Donald Trump (Capuzzi, & Stauffer, 2016).
Social Cognitive Perspective
In the final perspective about the personality of the person, the social cognitive perspective is going to be looked at (Capuzzi, & Stauffer, 2016). What it does is that it talks about the way personality development and the observational learning is supposed to be carried out. Another thing that it does is that it emphasizes the way self efficacy and situational influence tends to work around the humans (Capuzzi, & Stauffer, 2016). There is also mention of the fact that how the cognitive processes is supposed to work around human beings (Capuzzi, & Stauffer, 2016). The major theorists if one talks about social cognitive perspective are not many (Capuzzi, & Stauffer, 2016). In fact Albert Bandura is the only person who has talked about it. In his work, he has emphasized about the fact that how the importance of the social learning is supposed to be carried out (Friedman & Schustack, 2016). Furthermore, it tends to look at the way learning is supposed to happen through observation (Friedman & Schustack, 2016). The theory that is put forth by him explains the importance of the development of conscious thought process among people. It also tends to look at the way self efficacy work around in people as well as how people own belief on their abilities is going to work out (Capuzzi, & Stauffer, 2016).
If one looks at this whole self of ideals in terms of the way personality of Donald Trump is shaped up, there are many interesting observations that can be seen. The key thing that can be noted here is that how someone can learn with the help of observation. The theory that was put forth by him emphasized the fact that how the conscious thoughts process of the person is going to work out in the long run (Capuzzi, & Stauffer, 2016). Donald Trump has spent lot of time making sure that he learns about the electoral process and American politics (Capuzzi, & Stauffer, 2016). He is well aware of the fact that what are some of the things that can be used to measure the attention of people (Corr & Cooper, 2016). For instance, not many leaders have attempted to go to the point regarding the way taxation and policy making is supposed to be carried out (Capuzzi, & Stauffer, 2016). He ensured the business community of United States that how he is going to ease things for them, thus presenting himself as a viable candidate for American people (Capuzzi, & Stauffer, 2016). Other thing that he used to his advantage was the sense of nationalism of American people. He had a fair idea that that despite all the antics that are carried out by the United States across the rest of the world, the people in United States do not give much importance to the fact that how they are perceived in the global community (Corr & Cooper, 2016). Instead, these people are more fixated with the fact that how their leader is going to make sure that the wider interest of the people of the United States are going to be taken care off. These were some of the factors that played a huge part in his success (Corr & Cooper, 2016).
Conclusion
In the hindsight, it can be seen that the sense of self belief and the conscious effort to portray a powerful persona are some of the key defining traits of Donald Trump (Friedman & Schustack, 2016). He has consciously made sure that the Id of the people of the United States must be focused upon (Friedman & Schustack, 2016). He has also made sure that he portrays a sense of self confidence and superiority over the people (Friedman & Schustack, 2016). Now it is up for debate that it was all a conscious effort on his part or his personality make up is like that that he tends to believe that he is better than the other people who are surrounding him. Regardless of that, he is one of the few personalities that have based the mantra of his success on the fact that people should notice about his power and prowess (Friedman & Schustack, 2016).
References
Capuzzi, D., & Stauffer, M. D. (2016). Counseling and psychotherapy: Theories and interventions. John Wiley & Sons.
Corr, P. J., & Cooper, A. J. (2016). The Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory of Personality Questionnaire (RST-PQ): Development and validation. Psychological assessment, 28(11), 1427.
Friedman, H. S., & Schustack, M. W. (2016). Personality: Classic theories and modern research. Pearson.
Lozano, R., Carpenter, A., & Huisingh, D. (2015). A review of ‘theories of the firm’and their contributions to Corporate Sustainability. Journal of Cleaner Production, 106, 430-442.
Yeager, D. S., Johnson, R., Spitzer, B. J., Trzesniewski, K. H., Powers, J., & Dweck, C. S. (2014). The far-reaching effects of believing people can change: Implicit theories of personality shape stress, health, and achievement during adolescence. Journal of personality and social psychology, 106(6), 867.
