Joseph Melanson
Theories of Personality
Prof. Cloninger
16 October 2011
Comparison and Contrast of Gen. George S. Patton and Mohandas K. Gandhi.
General George S. Patton and Mohandas K. Gandhi were important leaders in the twentieth century, playing crucial parts in their respective roles. Using the concepts found within Perspectives on Personality (2008) text one can examine both of these men’s personality traits, needs, and motives by the lives they led and the choices they made.
Extraversion is the first trait that Carver and Scheier mention. This trait is sometimes “based in assertiveness, sometimes in spontaneity and energy” (Carver & Scheier, 2008, p. 51). Other times it is “based in dominance and confidence, sometimes in a tendency toward happiness. Extraversion is often thought of as implying a sense of sociability…” (Carver & Scheier, 2008, p. 51).
Extraversion, in the sense of dominance and confidence, applied to George S. Patton. He decided at a young age to become a “hero” and pursued entering the military as a means to achieving this goal. Patton was a “talented sportsman, finished fifth in the modern pentathlon in the 1912 Olympics. As well as being a great horseman and sailor, Patton also qualified as a pilot” (Spartacus, n.d.).
Carver & Scheier (2008) state that “neuroticism, or emotional stability”, is regarded by most people as being; essentially the person’s subjective experience of anxiety and general distress (p. 54). “Gandhi was a shy and fearful child. Short and spindly, he shied away from athletics, and his lack of physical prowess was matched by his difficulties in school” (Sparknotes, n.d.). Gandhi’s experienced the anxiety and distress of his fellow Hindus in India and in South Africa due to the oppression of the British Empire. One account of the racism and oppression he suffered was in Africa when he was once physically thrown from a train by British officers despite being in possession of a first class ticket that he should by right have been allowed to use (Manas, n.d.). Despite the public role seemed to take in life, he tried to live as privately as possible, uncomfortable by “the religious adulation lavished upon him” (Sparknotes, n.d).
The third psychological trait that Carver and Scheier (2008) describe is agreeableness which is “is often characterized as being concerned with the maintaining of relationships” (p. 55). This trait can extend from “docile compliance, nurturance, emotional supportiveness”, to the opposite end of the spectrum of “an oppositional or antagonistic quality verging toward hostility”, preferring “displays of power” (Carver and Scheier, 2008, p. 55). Patton and Gandhi reflect opposite ends of this personality trait.
As a General in World War II, Patton made himself known for his “strict discipline, toughness, and self-sacrifice”, becoming known by his troops as “Old Blood and Guts” (Brittanica.com, n.d.). Even within the culture of the military General Patton may have taken his behavior too far.
“Psychoticism is a tendency toward certain kinds of problem behaviors, such as antisocial actions and alcohol and drug abuses” (Carver & Scheier, 2008, p. 67). Despite facing the prospect of death on a daily basis, Patton insisted his men “shaved every day and wore a tie in battle” (Spartacus, n.d.). In a famous incident, Patton visited a field hospital and found an unwounded soldier suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. When the soldier told Patton that he “can’t take” fighting, Patton slapped the officer, lifted the man, and “pushed him out of the tent with a kick in the rear” (Spartacus, n.d.). In another similar incident Patton waved a gun in front of a soldiers face, and the two had to be separated by the soldier’s doctor. These incidents at the time were kept out of the media by higher authorities in the military in order to maintain Patton in his needed position as general in a desperate time in war.
Gandhi, on the other end of the agreeableness spectrum, devoting his life to bringing both “oppressor and the oppressed alike” in order that they may “recognize their common bonding and humanity: as he recognized, freedom is only freedom when it is indivisible” (Manas, n.d.).
The fourth personality trait of conscientiousness, according to Carver & Scheier (2008), not only “reflects its qualities of planning persistence, and purposeful striving towards goals”, but also “relates to educational achievement, will to achieve, or simply will. Other suggested names include constraint and responsibility” (p. 55). “Patton decided during childhood that his goal in life was to become a hero” (generalpatton.com. n.d.). As a descendant of a family with a long military tradition, he graduated from West Point, avidly studying the methods of cavalry warfare of the civil war (generalpatton. com, n.d.). Gandhi pursued an agenda persistently in another direction, even to the point of becoming incarcerated, to become one of the most strident pursuers of peace that history has known in his philosophy of civil disobedience (Manas, n.d.).
The fifth psychological trait is referred to as the intellect and contains the elements of “intelligence”, “culture”, yet could also be known as “openness to experience” (Carver & Scheier, 2008, p. 55). Both men were highly intelligent within their respective cultures.
Patton devoted himself to the art of warfare at an early age, accomplishing many goals in his life from placing fifth in the pentathlon in the 1908 Olympics, to becoming one of the highest American generals in World War II (generalpatton.com, n.d.). Gandhi, on the other hand, was high in intelligence as well, helping bring the end of oppression, and winning independence for India with the message of peace that he embodied throughout his life.
“Motives are clusters of cognitions with affective overtones, organized around preferred experiences and goals. Motives appear in your thoughts and preoccupations. The thoughts pertain to goals that are either desired or undesired. Thus they are affectively toned. Motives eventually produce actions” (Carver & Scheier, 2008, p. 74). Gandhi raised in a strict Hindu family, was motivated by religious beliefs to act for the benefit of mankind everywhere, seeing British global oppression in his native India, as well as in South Africa where he was to live for more than twenty years (Manas, n.d.).
“Some needs are based in our biological nature (needs for food, water, air, sex, and pain avoidance). Murray called these primary needs. Others, such as the need for power and the need for achievement, either derive from biological or are inherent in our psychological makeup. Murray called these secondary needs (Carver & Scheier, 2008, p. 73). Gandhi had no personal power other than as a symbol for freedom that he embodied to others, in fact he even renounced many of his biological needs like food and sex due to his strict adherence to the Hindu faith (Manas. n.d.). Patton would have had to renounce the comforts of life as well, to become a general in the army, and achieve what Carver & Scheier (2008) would call the need for power and prestige, “to feel strong compared to others” (80). Both men would have had to give up their primary needs to pursue the secondary needs of their particular psychologies. Patton strived for power, while Gandhi strived for the end of oppression by cultivating his “theory and practice of non-violent resistance” (Manas, n.d.).
General George S. Patton and Mohandas K. Gandhi played crucial and important roles in the twentieth century. Each man fought in their own way to fight oppression and tyranny through their own strict discipline and perseverance through difficult times. Both of these men were leaders of men, and inspirations to many more. Of these two men I would choose Mohandas K. Gandhi to study his personality in more depth, to learn more about his philosophy of peace and how he was able to embody it in his life.
References
Anon. n.d. “George Patton : Biography.” Retrieved October 14, 2011 (http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/2WWpatton.htm).
Anon. n.d. “Manas: History and Politics, Mahatma Gandhi.” Retrieved October 14, 2011 (http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/southasia/History/Gandhi/gandhi.html).
Anon. n.d. “SparkNotes: Mohandas Gandhi: Gandhi’s Youth.” Retrieved October 18, 2011 (http://www.sparknotes.com/biography/gandhi/section1.rhtml).
Carver, Charles S. & Scheier, Michael, F. (2008). Perspectives on Personality, 6th ed. Boston, MA: Pearson
George Smith Patton. (2011). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/446863/George-Smith-Patton
No comments:
Post a Comment