Case
Whenever Ross call her mother, Myra, the conversation is always usual. Myra always describes that she is in the midst of cleaning her house. Ross is used to this routine. Myra takes great pride cleaning her yard and house. As a child, Ross remembers her mother continuously cleaning on weekends and when she was not working outside her house. She would clean the entire house, arrange and dust the furniture, wash the curtains, polish the furniture and even make sure the yard remained clean. Whenever the family received a company, it was assumed that the house will be scrubbed two times, once during normal cleaning and once during the day of visit.
Myra always perceived herself as an idealist who did a lot for others and demanded little in return. Despite being retired, Myra continues to clean her home. Myra always thinks that it is her job to clean the house and always oversaw house cleaning, although her husband and child could help. Myra’s mother was accountable for house cleanliness and made her believe that it was the responsibility of women to do so. In fact, her mother passed these skills to Myra. Myra’s parents believed in punishment, and they would hit Myra if something was wrong. Most of the time, she was punished if she did not thoroughly clean the house.
Myra made sure her family saved money by using plastic and sheets to cover the furniture and making sure the family ate the leftovers even if they were unappetizing. Sometimes, Myra could be disappointed if someone borrowed cash for soda and could not return it. This behavior made Myra end relationships with her friend as soon as it had begun developing. She would have a person over for a meal and then complain about some aspects of that person to Ross. Most of these argument were on the assumption that Myra was better at her friends. For example, she better at cooking, or Myra’s house was cleaner. Myra is very health, and she could take part in other activities like volunteering. However, she prefers spending time in her yard and house. Most of the time she complains how her children are dirty, whenever she visits them, and that her neighbors do not care for their household as she does.
Developmental Factors
Erik Erikson would consider Myra’s ego to have developed throughout her life and controlled by genetically defined principles which have resulted to the ego characteristic to develop in a predetermined sequence (Ashcraft, 2012). Myra’s expectation from the society, beginning with her mother, has played a determining role in the way her ego has developed (Ranson & Urichuk, 2008). The environmental and social dimension exposed to Myra’s life can be defined using Erik Erikson’s phases of growth (Ashcraft, 2012). According to Erik Erikson’s eight phases of growth, Myra is at the intimacy and isolation stage.
Myra has accomplished many economic autonomies that makes her feel more isolated, and alone at home. She stays at home, has saved money, and she has no friends. She tries to pass this stage by adopting the sadism phase of authoritarianism which has manifested by letting the household depend on her and tries to gain power over them by criticizing and being rude to them. Because of her lineless, she has resolved to destruction by seeking to destroy her friendship with her friends and relatives. The negative outcome of this phase has been absorbed in Myra’s personality and has influenced her personal growth and development.
According to Alder, every individual demands a sense of belonging to a community (Ashcraft, 2012). Issues erupt when life experiences interfere with an individual’s integration into the community. Alder hints that this complication develops in the early life of a person and family environment plays a significant role. Basing on their early life experiences, humans try to define their interpretation of the world and seek their place in the world (Stack, Serbin, Enns, Ruttle, & Barrieau, 2010).
They develop strategies to live their life to overcome adversities impacted on their childhood experiences. Consequently, the person strives for superiority or power so as to overcome this adversity (Ponzetti, 2003). Myra’s adaptive measures to her childhood experience include being authorities, being clean and being economical. Myra’s childhood experience has developed her into believing that it is the responsibility of women to clean the house, and this has made her behave like a robot without expressing her perception and she has adopted to her mother’s expected standards of cleanness, orderliness and neatness.
During her childhood development, Myra is exposed to the punishment that makes her lack affection towards others besides being hostile. Her childhood development has made her economic, hostile and clean. She always cleans and tidies the house so as not to be criticized by people. Her childhood disturbances have refrained her from taking part in any productive activities, and she prefers spending all her time working in her house and yard.
The behavior and personality of Myra have significantly contributed to her house cleanliness, her interaction with family, friends, and neighbor, and her economic traits. Relating her personality to Freudian concept, her childhood experience has made her a cathartic personality whose superego is controlling her ego with an elements of anal phase. She is insecure, isolated, and loner person who as resolved to avoid reality by being authoritative.
References
Ashcraft, D. M. (2012). Personality theories workbook (5th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Ponzetti, J. J.. (Ed.). (2003). International encyclopedia of marriage and family (2nd ed.). New York, NY: MacMillan/Gale.
Ranson, K. E., & Urichuk, L. J. (2008). The effect of parent–child attachment relationships on child biopsychosocial outcomes: A review. Early Child Development and Care, 178(2), 129-152.
Stack, D. M., Serbin, L. A., Enns, L. N., Ruttle, P. L., & Barrieau, L. (2010). Parental effects on children’s emotional development over time and across generations. Infants and Young Children, 23(1), 52-69.