This essay will briefly describe both Monica’s housekeeping
routine and her relationship with her friends and family in terms of cardinal
traits, central traits, and secondary traits. In addition, I will explain
Monica’s behavior and identify which autonomy represents and how does Monica does or does not fulfill the criteria
of normal, mature, and emotional healthy adult according to Allport’s specifications,
along with a possible cultural bias. Finally, I will identify and describe which
values are likely to be dominant in Monica based on Allport’s Study of Values
and how cultural background or gender might contribute to the dominance of these
values.
According to Allport’s theory, cardinal traits “are the traits
that some people have which practically define their life”. ( Boeree, 2006). Monica’s
housekeeping routine in terms of cardinal traits is most likely to be the love
for number precision and “this is a
characteristic that she has carried into her housekeeping chores”. ( Case
Study: Gordon Allport). Monica’s defined cardinal trait in terms of her
relationship with her friends is the fact that her social group is very
important for her and she is in constant touch with all of her friends.
Monica’s need for socialization define her personality, especially because she
gets along better with her friends than her own spouse. As far as her
relationship with her family in terms of cardinal traits, Monica can be defined
as a great mother, “she takes care of her children’s physical and emotional needs”.
( Case Study: Gordon Allport). On the other hand, her relationship with her
husband could be defined as distant and less important to her than the
relationship with her friends.
According to Schultz & Schultz ( 2009) , “central traits are
the handful of outstanding traits that describe a person’s behavior”. ( p.247).
Monica’s housekeeping can be described as perfectionist and almost neurotic,
obsessed for the cleaning of her household; she cannot stand clutter in her
home. Monica is described by her friends as loyal, warm, supportive, talkative,
and with a big heart and a god mom by her children.. The descriptions of
Monica’s friends and children about her personality support the idea that
“everyone has a few central traits” ( Schultz & Schultz, 2009, p.247).
Secondary traits are the less influential and less consistent,
characteristics that could only be recognized by an individual’s closest family
and friends. In this case Monica’s secondary traits could be her obsession with
a perfect, clean household given that “All her friends agree”. (Case Study:
Gordon Allport). Monica’s children now how a very dedicate and pragmatic mother
she can be, especially for her disabled child, Jenna, making sure her needs are
met. Monica also makes sure her children
have fun but they also know she can lose her temper from time to time with
them.
Monica is clearly obsessed with a spotless home which she cleans
every day without an apparent reward. She chooses to clean and vacuum all rooms
of the house every day and does a perfect job, almost as it was her job, but
she does not get paid, get gifts, or even compliments from her husband. According
to Boeree ( 2006), “perseverative
functional autonomy refers essentially to habits -- behaviors that no
longer serve their original purpose, but still continue”. (p. 1). This type of
behavior is almost an unconscious habit that does not necessarily describe an
individual’s personality. Monica’s obsession with cleaning may be due to the
education her parents gave her, teaching her to be clean and organized,
reinforced by treats as a reward.
At a first glance, we could say Monica is a healthy, mature adult
who is always concerned about others, offering her help to those who need it.
However, Monica feels her lack of self-realization compared to most of her
friends, make her feel insecure and less intelligence than those who attended
college. The Case Study describes Monica as “insecure about not having attended college”
(Case Study: Gordon Allport), and although she wants to pursue at least an
Associate’s degree in Legal Studies, she is still scare of the big challenge.
According to Schultz & Schultz (2009), “ the mature adult’s self-acceptance
helps him or her achieve emotional security”, a statement that does not
describe how Monica feels about herself. A cultural bias that I noticed in
Allport’s theory is the criteria that states a mature adult “makes a commitment
to some type of work” ( Schultz & Schultz, 2009). Although financial
stability is important in our society, is not the main characteristic of a mature
individual in every society in the world.
Monica’s most dominant values are the social influences because she
is very concerned about her social life and the relationship with her friends. Monica’s
friends “are a very important part of her social support network, especially
since she does not have co-workers with whom to interact and because her
husband travels a lot for his job”. (Case Study: Gordon Allport). Monica’s lack
of assertiveness and a great concern for
others might be due to her gender which is supported by research done on the
subject. For instance, “ women tend to score lower than do men on tests
measuring assertiveness” ( Schultz & Schultz, 2009), possibly because women
are trained not to assert themselves.
In conclusion, this essay briefly describe both Monica’s
housekeeping routine and her relationship with her friends and family in terms
of cardinal traits, central traits, and secondary traits. In addition, I
explained Monica’s behavior and identify which autonomy represents and how
does Monica does not fulfill the
criteria of normal, mature, and emotional healthy adult according to Allport’s
specifications, along with a possible cultural bias. Finally, I identified and described which values are
likely to be dominant in Monica based on Allport’s Study of Values and how
cultural background or gender contributed to the dominance of these values.
No comments:
Post a Comment