Lifespan Development of Personality - Essay Example

Lifespan Development and Personality Paper Introduction "I then resolved never again to cry when my father whipped me. A few days later I had the opportunity of putting my will to the test. My mother, frightened, took refuge in the front of the door. As for me, I counted silently the blows of the stick which lashed my rear end" (John Toland, Adolph Hitler, pp. 12-13). Psychopath, murderer, insane, and numerous other labels, have been employed to describe the behavior and actions of Adolph Hitler, as people from all walks of life try to make sense of one of the world's most infamous killer. What caused him to behave in the ways that he did Why was he filled with so much hatred What happened to this man throughout the course of his life And can these events have played a part in the formation of Hitler's psychological make up This essay will be considering several incidents that took place throughout the course of Hitler's childhood and youth, reflecting on the way that they may have been instrumental in shaping the future personality, philosophy, and beliefs of the dictator. Through this observation, thought will be given concerning the different influences that affected his psychological development, with a view to determining how his growth could have been optimized. Finally, two different personality theories will be discussed, with an emphasis placed on the theory that best accounts for Hitler's behavior, with reasons give for this choice. Background Adolph Hitler, like millions of other children, had a difficult childhood that was marked with diverse tragedies, violence, personal failure, and under achievement. Born 1889, in Braunau Am Inn, which is a small Austrian village just across the boarder from German Bavaria, Adolph lived with his family on a small farm. The family moved on several occasions when Adolph was a young boy, which caused several disruptions in his schooling, and his childhood was dominated by a father, who was a strict disciplinarian. The whippings and beatings were so bad that Alois Jn. left home at fourteen years of age, never to see his father again. Adolph was just seven years old at the time. Hitler's obsession with authority and power were present from a very young age, and were reflected through his love of playing war, role games, a fascination with any kind of authority figures, and his intense dislike of being corrected in any form. He had a terrible reputation at school, due to his refusal to either obey, or study. It is also evident from research material that Hitler, even when still a young child, believed himself to be different. He saw himself as 'one of the lads', a popular ring-leader, who enjoyed hanging around with the tougher boys, whereas others have described him as a violent child, with a harsh temper, and spoilt by his mother. It is evident that he needed to be the 'leader' during any game, portraying at an early age his need to control both events and people. The cold fingers of death first touched Hitler's life when his little brother Edmund died of measles, and was believed to have deeply affected him. He could see his brother's miniscule grave from his bedroom window and, in later years, neighbours spoke of remembering the young Adolph often sitting on the wall of the cemetery, just staring into space (Wikipedia, Online Article, 2007). The sudden, and early, death of Adolph's father in 1903 caused the thirteen-year-old boy to break down and cry. However, it also meant that no one was there to enforce discipline, or to guide the already headstrong young lad, and it was from this time onwards that Hitler began to really fail academically. Hitler had, before his father's death, already experienced difficulties at school, but after his father's departure, his behaviour deteriorated, and he was reputed as being a difficult student, with many teachers feeling that he ought to be expelled. He finally left school, definitively, at sixteen years old, without accomplishing his exams, claiming that he was too ill to continue. With his father dead, his mother incapable of controlling him and with no prospects due to academic failure, Adolph's life became a bohemian existence that was built on unrealism and fantasy. He like to sleep late, then dress in fancy, gentleman's clothing and spend the afternoons walking the streets of Linz, where he would visit museums, accompanied by his ivory walking cane. He would later claim these years as being the happiest of his life. However, friends from this period later described Hitler as being violent and highly strung. He would only accept total approval from friends and would not tolerate being corrected, which were character traits that had been with him since childhood, and his view of the world, which was based on fantasy, had already begun to take on the basic principles that would later form Hitler's ideology. At eighteen years of age Adolph decided to take his inheritance money and go to Vienna, where he attempted to gain entrance into the prestigious Vienna Academy of Fine Arts. He was absolutely sure that he's passed the two day entrance exam, and his failure to do so was probably one of the biggest personal defeats that Hitler experienced. The death of his mother, a traumatic and painful experience for the young man, also occurred at this time, and suddenly Hitler found himself alone, with no future prospects. He ended up sleeping in the streets, begging for money, and queuing up for free soup at one of the city's charity kitchens. Contradictions Adolph Hitler was a man full of deep contradictions. His philosophy, beliefs, and theories, were all based on a worldview that was built on fantasy, his own insecurities, and an ideology that portrayed a counter-image of his own failures and weaknesses. And the often tragic circumstances that he lived through, although having the potential to be psychologically crippling, are faced by thousands of individuals throughout the world on a daily basis, but without such dramatic consequences. This observation leads, therefore, to the question of why Adolph Hitler became the man he did, and what were the influencing factors that caused his demise. The fact of having an authoratorian father, and having to psychologically cope with all that this entails, has always led to debate on how much this particular experience influences the life of a child. However, it must also lead to the question of what would have happened if Hitler's father hadn't died What would have occurred if this strong disciplinarian had lived Would any changing factors have made any difference to Adolph's life To world events In his future role as war-monger, mass murderer, and military leader, many claimed that he was a strict disciplinarian who did not accept even the sign of slight obedience - and yet, he had lived with the crushing hand of discipline in the form of his father, which had resulted (perhaps), in him trying to become what he was not. His view of the 'perfect human being' was someone who was Corsican, with a good physical stature, the looks of a god, an intelligence that outshone all other races, and high moral values that were fabricated from a mixture of world religions. And yet, Adolph was small in stature, had health problems, was dark in appearance, had non-existent academic qualifications, and went on to murder millions of innocent people. His attitude towards those who were 'different' was also full of contradictions. When watching his mother die of cancer, he told the doctor who cared for her that he would be "grateful to [him] forever" (OSS Psychological Profile of Hitler, Online Article, 2007), and yet the doctor was Jewish. He emphasised the importance of strong family roots - a belief that would instigate the murder of millions of Jews, gypsies, poles, and other groups that did not fall into his recognized categories - and yet he was, himself, possibly part Jewish. It is clear, through observations on Hitler's life, that the man that Adolph became was influenced by both his environment and the events that crashed into his life. His ideas concerning power, authority, and control, were fundamental throughout his maturing years, and bore a direct weight on the way he perceived life, and his ideology. His father's authoritative attitude, his mother's weaknesses, his own recognition of personal inadequacies, inabilities, and perceived personal failures, were all aspects that bore weight on the way that he viewed people, himself, and the world around him. His apparent obsession with these forces was obvious even when he was a young child, and was clearly displayed through such behavior as the fascination he had for all types of war. And, although playing war-games could be perceived as being a perfectly natural boyhood enjoyment of masculine elements, the fact that he took childhood novels with him to the battlefields of WW2, when he was a fully mature adult, speaks clearly of someone suffering from a psychological disorder. The deaths of those closest to him were also a part of his descent into compete evilness; his brother, his father, and his mother, all died when Hitler was a relatively young person, and the consequences were forth reaching and disastrous. The unloving nature of his upbringing, his mother's inability to discipline him, his own perceived evaluations of his manhood, and the violent history of a world at war, were all factors that furthered his paranoiac, and self-obsessed views of mankind. Possible Personality Disorders There has been a whole range of labels attached to possible theories that may attribute to the personality disorder that Hitler suffered with, and all have factors within them that bear weight concerning such diagnoses. However, within this essay we will be considering two options that do reflect similar traits to those that Hitler possessed. "The Authoritarian Personality" was first published by the American Jewish Committee in 1950, and then reprinted by Norton in 1969, and discusses the affects of an affinity to some type of authoritarianism, or a form of fascism. Denoting various qualities, which apparently predict the potential for antidemocratic behaviors and learning's, this form of personality disorder arises out of early childhood experiences, and the pattern of internal processing. "The Perfectionist", another personality disorder, is also one that could be applied to Hitler, especially in view of his self-obsession with controlling events. Again believing that the decision of choices, or actions, bear on childhood experiences, there is a need to see every action in life performed in such a way as to leads to the perfect harmony of strengths, with little regard to normal weaknesses. Conclusion Hitler was a man that denied his own weaknesses, and yet he murdered others for being apparently weak. A man that was acutely aware of his own failures, inadequacies, and faults, yet he destroyed those who portrayed any similar failings. Having experienced personal disappointment, still he could not abide that others disappoint him; as was mentioned at the beginning of this essay, Hitler was a man that was full of contradictions. When regarding the evidence of who Hitler was, and what he taught, there is no really personality profile that exactly matches that of this egomaniac that brought about such world wide destruction and pain, but the closest, in my opinion, is that of the authoritative personality. It is clear that Hitler had the view that others had to live up to what he was not incapable of producing - despite the fact that he sincerely believed in his ideologies, beliefs and philosophies. However, belief was one thing, doing it another - and Adolph wanted, above all, to prove his personal beliefs by forcing others to follow what he was teaching - even if he wasn't capable of producing it himself, and despite all evidence that proved the contrary of his personal experience. References John Toland, Adolph Hitler: The Definitive Biography, pp. 12-13, Anchor; Reissue edition (December 1, 1991). ISBN-10: 0385420536 OSS Psychological Profile of Hitler, Online Article, 2007. Information retrieved 04/03/2007. < www.nizkor.org/hweb/people/h/hitler-adolf/oss-papers/text/oss-profile-05-01.html - 17k -> Remember.org. Online Article, Adolph Hitler, 2007. Information retrieved 04/05/2007. < http://www.remember.org/guide/Facts.root.hitler.html> Wikipedia, Online Article, Adolph Hitler, 2007. Information retrieved 04/005/2007. Read More