Lifespan Development

Controversy surrounds the nature nurture theory and the theories of psychological and personality development. Hereditary and environment both influence the development of personality; morals, values, and traits. Family issues, trauma, community, environment, and support systems can influence and change the development of personality. Early support systems, such as religious beliefs and positive interaction can give a person a strong foundation in which to build self-esteem and positive self-image. Interaction with various environments can influence and change specific traits of personality.

Developing Morals

Oprah Winfrey, a name from the bible (originally Orpah) was born January 29, 1954 to an unwed teenage mother in rural Kosciusko, Mississippi. Oprah’s mother migrated to the north in the late 1950s searching for work and a way to support her child. According to the American Academy of Achievement (2012, p. 1), “Oprah lived on her grandmother’s farm for the first five years” with few educated people around but who had a deep faith in God and belief in people. Her grandmother gave Oprah a solid foundation of morals to build upon and reach success. Learning to read when she was three, encouraged by the local church, Oprah began reading Bible verses, poems, and speeches in the church. Overhearing people at the church calling her gifted and a prodigy had set the foundation for Oprah’s success.

New Environment

This success would not come easily. At six, Oprah was removed from the positive environment as she was sent to live with her mother in Milwaukee. The environment was the opposite of living with her grandmother. Oprah stayed in the inner city Milwaukee apartment alone while her mother worked as a housemaid (American Academy of Achievement (2012). During the times her mother was working, Oprah was raped by one cousin, later by another, sexually molested by a family friend, and sexually abused by her uncle. The repeated molestations by relatives and a visitor occurred for four years. Because the abuse was recurring, Oprah started to believe this was the way her life was going to be. She was alone, scared, believing she was a bad person, and the abuse was all her fault.

In the fourth grade, Oprah was feeling empowered by believing in herself; she was inspired by helping others. Oprah collected money for the church from the school playground. She read as a way to escape her life, desiring to be like the girls in the books. While reading the book, The Color Purple, she cried as she began to heal, realizing she felt the same way and that she was not alone. According to American Academy of Achievement (2012), “She knew somehow that her life would be different and it would be better. It was from a place of knowing that things could be different for her somehow.” She could not imagine what she would accomplish, she could not envision how it would be; she simply felt it deep within herself. Needing to hear she is worthy, Oprah started searching for love, affection, and attention in all the wrong places.

Forming Identity

Challenging her thoughts, and wanting more from life, Oprah ran away from home and was denied admittance to a juvenile detention home; she was out on her own at 14. Feeling emotionally devastated, angry, and rebellious, she turned to sexual promiscuity as a teenager. Oprah became pregnant that year, only to giving “birth to a baby boy who died in infancy.” Oprah believed she was responsible for all the trouble she encountered in life; she held onto the shame and self-blame for many years. Oprah was sent to live with her father, Vernon Winfrey in Nashville, Tennessee (Buzzle). Vernon was a strict disciplinarian who worked as a coal miner.

Her father never accepted anything less than the best in Oprah; she thrived in the safe, secure, strict, and structured environment. This environment and the strong influence from her father allowed Oprah to succeed in her education. She won awards for “oratory and dramatic recitation” (Academy of Achievement, 2012, p. 2), became an honors student, and was chosen to attend the White House Conference on Youth in 1971. The following year, Oprah entered a pageant at the local radio station; competed against white, redhead girls. Oprah finally realized the path she could take when she answered the question ‘what do you want to be when you grow up and why.’ Oprah answered as honestly as she could, “Broadcast journalist because I believe in the truth” (Academy of Achievement, 2012, p. 3). Winning that pageant at 17, Oprah took the step to begin her career with a job at a local radio station. While listening to her voice on tape, she was asked if she wants a position working in broadcast.

Social and Cultural Influences

Two years later, when Oprah was in her sophomore year in college, she received multiple calls to work in television. Dealing with racism and sexism in school and the workplace, Oprah was insecure about her abilities to work in television and attend college as a Black woman. Thriving on attention, the desire to please others, and the inability to say no, Oprah accepted a job in television. She wanted acceptance from her classmates, she wanted to succeed in her career. Oprah’s social and work lives became intense as she struggled with defensiveness and jealousy. She internalized the abuse and began to abuse herself.

Oprah was living in Baltimore, attending college, and working as a television newswoman. At 22 she started revealing her shameful past of abuse. She was open emotionally to the world around her. Oprah became empathetic toward people because of her early trauma. She was uneasy about intruding in people’s lives and soon lost her job. Oprah was cut as a news reporter and transferred into a co-host position. Interviewing people was easy and rewarding when she learned to be herself. Oprah started with controversial shows and experienced her intuition for the first time. A flash of a feeling during a show that told her she should not be doing what she is doing; it was not helping others.

Intuition as Oprah describes it “starts as a whisper, then a pebble, then a stone, a brick, brick wall, soon the house falls down, and then you are in the eye of the storm (Academy of Achievement, 2012, p. 4). Her ability to listen to her instinct has allowed Oprah to achieve both material and spiritual success in life. She attributes this intuition as the “ability to understand the difference between what you heart is saying and what your head is saying” (Academy of Achievement, 2012, p. 4). Some call it intuition, a higher power, nature, or instinct; Oprah refers to hers as her inner voice. This inner voice comes from remembering what those experiences in life felt like when she was younger and compare it to what people are experiencing in that moment of the interview time.

Theories of Personality

According to Kowalski and Westen (2011, p. 473), “the culture pattern approach sees culture as an organized set of beliefs, rituals, and institutions that shape individuals to fit its patterns.” Oprah experienced cultural expectations that influenced her as a young child, giving her a solid foundation to build on. Attending church as a young child influenced her beliefs and shaped her personality. As Oprah’s environment changed, so did her interactions with other people. The interactionsit approach states a set of variables exist that interact with one another and are multidirectional.

“Personality accommodates to economic and cultural demands, but cultural and economic processes are created to fulfill psychological needs” (Kowalski & Westen, 2011, p. 473). As Oprah was entering the workforce, social acceptance was shifting to include Blacks and women in the media. She had the advantage because she was a young Black woman seeking the truth. Oprah became one of the most influential Black women in history because of the power in her-self to change her life. She created the life she envisioned by listening to her instinct and thinking positively. Oprah does not believe she is successful. The way to success is a process and she is continuing to learn, grow, and change with every situation.

References

American Academy of Achievement. (2012). America’s Beloved Best Friend. (Jan1991). Retrieved January 27, 2012 from achievement.org

Buzzle (2011). Life Story and Timeline of Oprah Winfrey. Retrieved January 28, 2012 from buzzle.com

Kowalski R., & Westen, D. (2011). Psychology (6th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley