Personality Theory Paper

Personality Theory
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Personality Theory
John Forbes Nash Jr. was an American mathematician who was indeed a genius to make enormous contributions to game theory, differential geometry and the study of partial differential equations. However, with great mind comes great responsibility and stress. Unfortunately, doctors in McLean Hospital in April 1959 diagnosed John Nash with paranoid schizophrenia. Over ten years he spent periodically in the hospitals. Fighting schizophrenia was unbelievably hard. His wife divorced him and raised their son on her own, and it seemed that the world had lost one of the greatest minds. However, John Nash turned out to be a healthy person, who later became a first person to win both the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences and Abel Prize.
Alfred Adler’s personality theory is based on self-actualization or, more straightforward, a striving on being ideal. With the dream to be perfect comes the desire to fulfill all dreams, making everything as close to perfect as possible. It is notable that from the psychological point of view a term “perfect” is considered a negative one. Obviously, nothing or no one is perfect, so trying to reach perfection can come full circle and break the person completely. The main character of the movie A Beautiful Mind shows signs of striving perfection multiple times. John seems to be a shy, introverted person, however aware and confident in his intellectual abilities. On one of the days, one of John’s classmates asks him to play hex with him, and John agrees because the young man is very confident that he wins.

During the game, Martin Hansen, the classmate, teases future genius and asks him about his actions if he fails to come up with the original idea or if he is not the one chosen to work at the Wheeler Defense Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Nash is smiling and does not seem to take Martin’s words seriously. The last question Hansen asks is “What if you lose?” and confidently wins the game. John’s reaction is beyond explanation. The young man does not believe he just lost the game, explains how he had calculated every move, so eventually, he blames the game for being flawed. Going to Wheeler requires being published and having some achievements in studying, and Nash yet has none of it. Professors warn him that he will not be accepted to anything if he keeps skipping classes and not taking any steps to be published, his classmates do not understand his strong will to come up with the unique idea. The stress of not being accepted in the social environment adds up to his wanting to be the best.
The first modern trait theorist, Gordon Allport centered his personality theory around traits and how they define one’s behavior. Gordon Allport organized different types of traits into a three-level hierarchy. He placed cardinal traits at the top of the hierarchy. Cardinal traits usually dominate in defining person’s behavior; they are the ruling traits of one’s personality. Mother Theresa’s altruism is an example of a cardinal trait. However, most of the times, a person’s personality is a combination of multiple traits. The second level of the hierarchy are the central traits, these traits are the ones we can find in every person, and they are the foundation of the personality. Secondary traits are the last ones in the hierarchy, and despite the name, play a significant role in creating a personality. Secondary traits define what person behavior is like at unusual times for them. For example, when an easy-going and not an anxious person feels nervous speaking publicly. In the behavior of John Nash, there were clear signs of introversion. His answer to the question about the absence of his friends was “I like to think it’s because I’m a lone wolf. But mainly it’s because people don’t like me.” (Grazer & Howard, 2001). Also, in his talk with his imaginary friend, he stated that he does not like people at all.
Similar to Alfred Adler’s personality theory Abraham Maslow’s humanistic theory of personality involves focusing on how people choose to measure their capability when it comes to being perfect. Maslow’s famous hierarchy of needs shows what people experience a need throughout their lifespan. At first they satisfy their basic physiological needs, and later they require self-actualization. In my opinion, the main character of A Beautiful Mind has come to self-actualization closer to the end of his life. Despite having a very hard young adolescent and fighting with schizophrenia, John Nash learned how to block his delusions and kept trying to live a full life, even managed to teach at the university. During his young life, however, genius did not show healthy habits – he forgets to eat, socialize, these needs are the ones, according to Maslow, one should meet before the highest needs of self-actualization. According to Maslow, self-actualizers tend to be problem-seekers and solvers, and John Nash was definitely one of those people. Nash had a long-term anti-schizophrenia treatment at the hospital, but this did not seem to help. After John stopped taking medication at home, his delusions came back and almost caused an unfortunate event, when he pushed his wife and a newborn baby. While talking to his doctor and wife about returning to a hospital for another treatment, he told that he would try to solve this problem himself, as this is what he does best.
There are different approaches in psychology: biological approach, psychodynamic approach, behavioral approach, cognitive approach and a humanistic approach. Each of them tries to find the reason people act the way that they do. The humanistic approach focuses on the fulfillment of one’s dreams. Looking at John Nash’s behavior from the humanistic point of view, it would be rational to find out the reason for such strong will to discover something. Throughout the movie, John Nash has shown the signs of very unhealthy thinking which led to self-doubting and self-destructive thoughts. The cognitive theoretical approach in psychology states that a person’s behavior is defined by how he or she thinks and what he or she expects. As previously noted, Nash was extremely afraid of failing. If a mathematician realized that no person achieves something without failing, he possibly would not have had paranoia, and later – paranoid schizophrenia.
The way famous mathematician’s life turned out was affected by many factors. Due to humanist theory, John Nash was comparing himself to other people and was afraid of failing, which influenced his behavior. His mind could have created his imaginary friend Charles due to the lack of communication and his secret mission for the government was a product of his imagination, because he always dreamt of being helpful to the country. He did not want to stay at the hospital, because of his family: he knew that he might not come back and his wife and son were dear to his heart. John Nash was a geek, and geeks were often teased by the society. According to the Alfred Adler’s theory, people are more likely to have problems with the self-esteem if they desire to be above other people.
References
Goode, E. (2015). John F. Nash Jr., Math Genius Defined by a “Beautiful Mind,” Dies at 86. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/25/science/john-nash-a-beautiful-mind-subject-and-nobel-winner-dies-at-86.html?_r=0 
Grazer, B. (Producer), & Howard, R. (Director). (2001). A Beautiful Mind [Motion picture]. United States: Universal Pictures.
McLeod, S. (2015). Cognitive Psychology. Simply Psychology. Retrieved from https://www.simplypsychology.org/cognitive.htmlMcLeod, S. (2017). Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Simply Psychology. Retrieved from https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html