Miranda Priestly's personality in The Devil Wears Prada - Essay Example

Miranda Priestly’s personality Hans Eysenck believed that personality differences arise out of individual genetic inheritance and he attributed two main dimensions to human temperament: (a) neuroticism and (b) extraversion-introversion.(Boeree, 2006). Neuroticism refers to the degree to which a person tends to be generally calm or excitable and nervous; therefore highly nervous people have a tendency to suffer from neurotic problems which may lead to obsessive forms of behavior. Applying this to the character of Miranda Priestly in the film “The Devil wears Prada”, the editor has a neurotic obsession with perfection, which makes her demanding and intolerant of mistakes and faults in her assistants.

Similarly, Eysenck also attributed another personality dimension – extraversion, or alternatively introversion, to the question of balance in the brain between excitation and inhibition.(Boeree, 2006). As a result, the introverted person has poor levels of inhibition and may therefore be able to remember in acute and embarrassing detail, every detail of a traumatic or humiliating event. They will have a tendency to adopt particular behavioral patterns to hold off the panic associated with such memories, which will ensure that such behavior is not repeated ever again.

This may even develop to the extent of becoming obsessive-compulsive behavior. Priestley’s character demonstrates several obsessive-compulsive behavioral traits that appear to suggest that she is an introverted kind of personality with low levels of inhibition which she tries to compensate for through compulsive behavioral patterns. One of these is her habit of discarding her overcoat prominently on the desk of her assistant and making unreasonable demands which must be instantly satisfied.

Priestley’s quest is to attain perfection and success in her job, and she is in a position of constant pressure to maintain those impossibly high standards of perfection. In order to mask her fear of failure, she has developed certain patterns of behavior that manifest as harassment of her assistants, in order to hold off the inner panic and allow herself to feel powerful and omnipotent in her organization. The knowledge that the life of her assistants hinges on her whims and temperamental demands serves to allow Priestley to enjoy the sense of power that holds off her inner panic.

While extraverts are able to easily forget and overcome things that overwhelm them, introverts have a highly developed memory and recall everything in acute and painful detail. This serves to explain Priestley’s sharp memory in recalling little details about the business; she is always in tune with everything that happens. By dumping her overcoat on her assistant’s desk, it’s as if she is reminding the person in question that she is only a menial assistant, while simultaneously reminding herself that she is in power, as she copes with the daily crises of the business.

Priestley’s compulsive behavior even verges on psychoticism, as outlined by Eysenck. According to Eysenck, such people demonstrate a disregard for social conventions and common sense and may engage in inappropriate emotional expression (Boeree, 2006). Priestley demonstrates a similar disregard for social conventions and niceties and has no problem in being downright rude and abrupt on occasion when dealing with her employees. References:* Boeree, Dr. George C, 2006. “Personality Theories.

” Retrieved July 9, 2007 from http://www.social-psychology.de/do/pt_eysenck.pdf.