Christina Maria Aguilera - Personality Assessment

Personality Assessment Final Project

The hugely popular singer Christina Aguilera is not a merely hit in the song charts, although she is undoubtedly one of the best performers. Christina Maria Aguilera was born in December 18, 1980 in Staten Island, New York. She began her career as a cast member on the Mickey Mouse Club, show presented in the Disney Channel. She rapidly rose to stardom following her hit single "Genie in a Bottle" which earned her a Grammy Award for best new artist. Other hits such as "What a Girl Wants", "Come on Over Baby", "Lady Marmalade", and Dirty" complete her stardom. Christina's home wasn't an all perfect home, her father an Ecuadorian immigrant that serve the United Stated Army as a sergeant was abusive and it wasn't until 1986 that her mother end up divorcing her father moving her and her sister to Pennsylvania. From early age Christina loves music inheriting the gift from her mother an experience violinist and pianist.

By the time she was in elementary school, her strong voice had swept through many talented shows causing harsh criticism from schoolmates and even some parents. It became so bad that her mother decide to home-school her and her sister. In 2010 Christina made her film debut in the musical "Burlesque" with Cher which it was ignored by many of her followers and public in general, this failure was a stumbling stone in her career which sprung some other problems in her career as an artist. Arrested in 2011 for public intoxication sparked a wave of stories concerning Aguilera's possible alcohol problems. Her strange relationship with her father has not been completely established nor repair because of her traumatic childhood. She has previously stated that she was emotionally and physically abuse by her father and that "growing up I did not feel safe, feeling powerless is the worst feeling in the world. That is why I turn to music; the pain at home is where my love for music came from" (2012).

Some components of her personality are without a doubt a mix of personality traits meaning that she is an introvert/extrovert characteristics she is ferociously ambitious but at the same time she had the conscientiousness, dedication and enormous work ethics to make hers into success. Her energy comes from within her after she has meet with people or at a social event she likes to withdraw in solitude so she can restore her energy. Although, she is a well spoken person introverts may feel awkward at times however, there are other qualities that make me come to the conclusion of her personality. She is flexible, independent, responsible, and creative and often she had a strong ability to concentrate, self reflective, diligent, and smart. Introversion is associated with intelligence and giftedness, and the archetypal artist, writer, sculptor, engineer, composer, and inventors are at the extreme side of introvert.

Discussion and Evaluation

For decades psychologist has struggle in defining the word of personality, they want a specific definition that is comprehensive, one that shows all of the qualities set by their psychological traits that define all of the characteristics in the person. The Taber's Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary 20th Edition define personality as "the unique organization of traits, characteristics, and modes of behavior of an individual, setting the individual apart from others and at the same time determining how others react to the individual", it pass to define also extrovert personality as "a personality type in which activities or libido is directed to others individuals or the environment", introvert personality as "a personality type in which activities or libido are directed to the individual, himself or herself".

According to the Psychoanalytic theory, the forces which we assume to exist behind the tensions caused by the needs of the id are called instincts. They represent the somatic demands upon the mind. Though they are the ultimate cause of all activity, they are of a conservative nature; the state, whatever it may be, which an organism has reached gives rise to a tendency to re-established that state so soon as it has been abandoned (Freud, 1989). Another important statement from Freud is "that analytic experience has convinced us of the complete truth of the assertion so often to be heard that the child is psychologically father to the adult and that the events of his or her years are of paramount importance for his/her whole later life". Looking at the events that cause the separation of Christina's mother we may notice that at what age Christina separate from her father was describe by Freud as the "phallic stage" which is between three and six years of age. This stage is where normally children identify whether they are with the father or they are with the mother, which in this case she identified with her mother due to the intensification of the fathers abuse to her mother and her.

Because children go through many conflicts in the early stages of life, their experiences according to Freud may develop a great deal of anxiety, excessive nervousness, and fear. As a consequence, the ego uses a multitude of defense mechanism to reduce anxiety or other symptoms. In an interview Christina reveals how she feels about her father when she said "I have talked about how rough things were for me and I'm sure he's heard it. He can be thrilled about it. So maybe one day we can do lunch...I'm 31 years old now. Maybe it is time", however, later she reply "I let him back into my life briefly but I soon realized that he is not necessary in my life" (2012).

In the Neo-analytic perspective there is two stages in which I considered most of her problems might has arise. First, the parenting styles were Adler did agree with Freud's theory on some of the issues relating to parenting of children and the long term effects of improper, or negligence on child rearing. In there, he describe two of the major issues pampering which is referring to a parent overprotecting a child by giving too much attention and sheltering from the realities of life. The second issue is neglect or abuse, a neglected child is the one that face life struggles alone and it is there were the child may develop his/her anxieties, fears, and worries, it may have a strong sense of mistrust for others and he or she might have difficult time in forming or keeping a relationship. The second parenting style Adler's refers is the birth order; Adler's believe that the order in which we are born to a family inherently affects our personality. Older children who have younger siblings may have the worst in the order. As the child grows is indulge with attention