72 Chapter 2 Theories of Personality
Psychodynamic theorists would emphasize Jobs’s
early years and unconscious motives, focusing on
his abandonment by his birth parents and the anger
he apparently felt toward them throughout his life;
he refused ever to meet his biological father. They
would also suspect that Jobs was, at least at first, “in
denial” about the gravity of his cancer diagnosis, and
that this defense mechanism led him to delay serious
treatment.
Psychologists who take a learning perspective
would examine environmental influences on Jobs’s
personality: notably, his early travels in India and
his experiences with psychedelics and the counter-
cultural revolution of the 1970s. They would find no
inconsistency in the fact that Jobs was both inspir-
ing and infuriating, flexible and stubborn. All of us,
they would note, display different parts of ourselves
depending on the circumstances and whom we are
with. They would also emphasize the role of peers in
Jobs’s life: In high school, Jobs became friends with
a young man who shared his interests, and who in
turn introduced Jobs to an older computer whiz kid,
Steve Wozniak, who before long invented the Apple
I computer. Jobs suggested that they sell it, and the
rest is history.
Social-cognitive learning theorists would argue
that Jobs’s entire life can be seen through the lens of
reciprocal determinism: the interaction of his traits
with his circumstances and opportunities. When,
at age 30, Jobs was fired from Apple, the company
he had co-founded, he could have retired for life,
perhaps filled with resentment. But in a speech he
gave many years later, he said that being fired was
the best thing that could have happened to him:
“The heaviness of being successful was replaced by
the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure
about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most
creative periods of my life.” His interpretation of theexperience of being fired, not the actual event itself,
was what motivated him to change.
Cultural psychologists might observe that
American culture values the individual who makes a
brilliant comeback after being fired, the creative ge-
nius who defeats the odds. Such individuals may even
get away with having Jobs’s difficult “management
style,” including his direct expressions of hostility
and rudeness. (This management style would not have
gone over well in, say, Japan.) A cultural psychologist
would also point out that Jobs lived at the perfect
time and place to become successful in the computer
industry. If he had been born 15 years sooner, or in
a collectivist rather than an individualist culture, it
might not have happened.
Finally, humanists would observe that Jobs clearly
thrived on the “unconditional positive regard” that his
adoptive parents gave him; they were enormously sup-
portive of him and his decisions, even when he did
poorly in school and dropped out of college. His life
shows, humanists might say, how all of us are free to
seek self-actualization and to choose the beliefs and
values that guide our lives. But this perspective also
reminds us that we do not know anything for sure
about Jobs’s inner, private self. The private man could
have been quite different from his public persona.
Although we can only speculate about who the
“real” Steve Jobs was, all of us can use the insights
of the theorists in this chapter to better understand
ourselves and those we care about. Each of us is a
mix of genetic factors, learned habits, the influence
of peers, new experiences, cultural norms, uncon-
scious fears and conflicts, and our own private visions
of possibility. This mix gives each of us the stamp
of our personality, the qualities that make us feel
uniquely... us.
Watch the Video The Basics: Personality
Theories at mypsychlabTaking Psychology With You
How to Avoid the
“Barnum Effect”
How well does the following paragraph de-
scribe you?
Some of your aspirations tend to
be pretty unrealistic. At times you
are extroverted, affable, and so-
ciable, while at other times you
are introverted, wary, and reserved.
You pride yourself on being anindependent thinker and do not ac-
cept others’ opinions without satisfac-
tory proof. You prefer a certain amount
of change and variety, and you be-
come dissatisfied when hemmed in by
restrictions and limitations. At times
you have serious doubts as to whether
you have made the right decision or
done the right thing.When people believe that this descrip-
tion was written just for them, as the resultof a personalized horoscope or handwriting
analysis, they all say the same thing: “It
describes me exactly!” Everyone thinks this
description is accurate because it is vague
enough to apply to almost everyone and it is
flattering. Don’t we all consider ourselves to
be “independent thinkers”?
This is why many psychologists worry
about the “Barnum effect” (Snyder &
Shenkel, 1975). P. T. Barnum was the great
circus showman who said, “There’s a sucker
born every minute.” He knew that the