The Psychology of Personality: Maya Angelou’s Case

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Human beings are born without culture and behavior. Consequently, the environment in which a child is brought up highly determines how one behaves. However, people have argued that heredity has a very crucial role to play as regards the behavior of a person. It should be noted that family also plays a vital role in the process socialization of a person as well as personality development. Therefore, developmental psychology has insisted on understanding of various influencing factors when studying development of a person. In this regard, the study of the life of Maya Angelou brings into sight different factors that contributed to her character and personality. On the same note, different theories of personality that has been forwarded by developmental psychologists can be used to explain her behavior.

At a very young age, Maya’s parents separated and she was forced to relocate and stay with the grandmother changing her environmental setting. However, Maya was able to get a decent life despite the financial difficulties at the time, thanks to her grandmother who was wise and honest. Unfortunately, Maya had to be taken back to her mother where she was raped and sexually abused (Angelou, 2010). This experience affected her development greatly especially after the death of the person who raped her. Maya kept quiet for five years blaming herself for the misfortunes that befell the man who raped her. There are people who have claimed that this led to Maya’s enhanced ability to listen and observe the environment around her, as well as her astonishing memory (Carducci, 2009).

Later on in life, Maya found herself being a parent at a very tender age. This condition compelled her to get involved in various immoral activities including prostitution in order to provide for her baby. On top of that, she was into several relationships in a bid that many will argue was to look for a partner who would assist in bringing up the baby. It should be noted that the push to give her baby a decent life pushed Maya into several careers and helped in making her hardworking besides strengthening her will (Angelou, 2010). Additionally, the love she had for her first husband compelled her to venture into dancing and singing. She was later to dance in different clubs and provide for her child after separating with him.

Nevertheless, Maya met professional dancers who influenced her career in dancing. On the same note, she met with good writers both white and black who were very influential in her life as a writer and a producer. Similarly, her encounters with civil rights activities Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, and her involvement in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) were very crucial. These led to her anti-apartheid and Pro-Castro spirit and also her involvement in the fight for the rights of black women.

As was earlier stated, some people have argued that there is a possibility of a person inheriting some characters from their genetic lineage. The parents of Maya were hard working given the fact that each of them had more than one occupation. This character is also depicted in Maya whom, from a very tender age, was able to carry out various jobs (Shaffer, 2009). She is also depicted as a go getter who stops at nothing, a characteristic that her paternal grandmother had. This helped to shape Maya’s psychological view of things as well as her approach to life.

On the other hand, environmental factors highly impacted the development of Maya. To begin with, her parents separated when she was very young and she had to be raised by her mother. This could be the reason as to why Maya has been unable to maintain any marriage. On the same note, the pressure of providing for her baby highly contributed in the moral decay of Maya to the extent of joining prostitution. Similarly, the rape experience that Maya went through emotionally tormented her as she was unable to even talk for five years. She even talks about it as the most traumatizing part of her life (Bloom, 2001).

It is important to note that at various stages of development, a person is compelled to make various adjustments depending on, among other factors, the family issues and social support systems. In Maya’s life, adjustments are evident at various stages. Firstly, Maya had to adjust to being a provider and not a dependant after giving birth. It is important to not that Maya had to raise her child single handedly for a larger part. Consequently, she was forced to take up another face in her development and take care of issues that were going wrong. On the same note, Maya has been in and out of various relationships and this required adjustment in the way one carries out issues in life (Carducci, 2009). Similarly, the separation of her parents and the movement to her grandmother and back to her mother required adjustments in her life.

After keeping quiet for five years, Maya met a teacher at school who encouraged her to get back to her normal life and she started talking again. In addition, the teacher introduced her to renowned writers and thus helped to boost her emotions. On the same note, during her journeys to various parts of the world, Maya was able to meet several people ranging from dancers to writers to civil right activists. These people encouraged her to venture into various careers sometimes when she was not up to the task.

Maya’s life may be well explained using the Cognitive-Affective theory of personality. According to this theory, situation has influence on the personality of a person. Therefore, the sociological, psychological and even emotional circumstances that people, including Maya, find themselves in are crucial in shaping their personalities. On the other hand, the theory of Psychological behaviorism also explains Maya’s behavior to a certain extent (Shaffer, 2009). Theory of psychological behaviorism states that personality is as a result of complex internalization of many aspects.

The two theories differ in their explanation of personality because while Cognitive-Affective theory ties personality to conditions prevailing at the time, Psychological behaviorism argues that personality is rather static. In this regard, psychological behaviorism is against the idea that situations can actually influence personality of anybody (Carducci, 2009). However, Maya’s story is one of a person who changed her personality in different occasions depending on the factors prevailing (Bloom, 2001). For this reason, the Cognitive-Affective theory is best applicable for Maya’s life.

Different people grow in different conditions and thus get socialized in different ways. Therefore, development takes different shapes in every person. It is important to note that environmental factors are as influential as are genetics in the psychological development of a person. On the same note, personality is built over time and shaped depending on the factors people encounter throughout their life.

References

Angelou, M. (2010). I Know why the Caged Bird Sings. London: Little, Brown Book Group.

Bloom, H. (2001). Maya Angelou. New York: InfoBase Publishing.

Carducci, B. J. (2009). The Psychological of Personality: Viewpoints, Research, and Applications. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons.

Shaffer, D. (2009). Social and Personality Development. Stanford: Cengage Learning.

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The Psychology of Personality: Maya Angelou’s Case

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