John Nash was a very interesting man. Many may just know of him because of the movie, “A Beautiful Mind”. Taking a look at John Nash and his personality and how psychologists, such as Jung and Freud would see John Nash through their diagnoses. Also taking a look at how different theories would go up against John Nash and his everyday life. The different theories that will be looked at are the Five-factor model and Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. John Forbes Nash
John Nash “is by now arguably the best-known living scholar to have done serious academic work on economic problems. ” (Brander, 2003, February page 254) While some people may have thought of John Nash as a mathematician, he was no doubt an economist first and foremost. And even though people may still consider him to be a mathematician, he won a Noble Prize for Economics not for math. The majority of the reasons why people have come to known Nash are probably behind the book and movie that has brought Nash some success; unless you studied in the Economic world.
Nash won his Noble Prize in 1994 at the age of 66 and shared the Noble Prize amongst two other people; his prize was for his contributions to game theory. John Nash is most known for his analysis and conceptualization of what is known as the Nash equilibrium. John Nash did also make some contributions to the mathematical world. If you know who John Nash is, then you know that he has mental problems and is a diagnosed schizophrenic. Evaluation of John’s Personality With personality, a paranoid schizophrenia really cannot tell the difference between what is real and what is not real.
So their personality would be going back and forth between itself. When it comes to personality disorders there are diagnoses, Obsessive-compulsive PD, Antisocial PD, Borderline PD, Avoidant PD, Dependent PD and Depressive PD. John Nash was not such a nice man and hard to get along with, after he was diagnosed with schizophrenia his personality just became that much worse to be around. Nash became extremely paranoid in his life and he seemed to think that people were after him to hurt him. His behavior was considered be erratic and unstable.
Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud vs. John Nash Freud took a look at how “the relationship between changes in thought pattern and schizophrenia stems from Freud’s work, chiefly in The Interpretation of Dreams, where Freud (1976) distinguishes between primary and secondary process thinking. ” (Dixxon, 2005 page 6) It was figured out that if the disorder was much more severe, then the faster the deterioration would come. Freud thought that for the secondary thought process was the thought process that leads to the onset of schizophrenia.
From Freud’s point of view a schizophrenic person can have be renting out in the ego’s defenses while having a psychotic break. Freud stated that “Thus we see that both in neurosis and psychosis there comes into consideration the question only of a loss of reality but also of a substitute for reality. ” (Dixxon, 2005 page 14) Carl Jung had developed concepts of the person being extraverted and introverted. Within regards to John Nash with Carl Jung, he would have seen John Nash as a very troubled man.
With John Nash he was not seen as an introverted man but as an extraverted person. John Nash was a man who always voiced him opinions and never kept anything inside. Jung argued the same thing that Freud had stated, In the same way (as in neurosis affect produces clouding of judgment, weakness of will and, and various verbal reactions) the effect (in schizophrenia) proves to be a creator of neologisms. All these phenomena reappear, heaped together and intensified, in schizophrenia, a clear indication of the exceptional violence of the affect. Dixxon, 2005 page 5) Jung wanted to see how the relationship was like between the psychosis and the dreamlike thought process. So that Jung and Freud both had the same feelings on the person who is dealing with schizophrenia. Five-factor model and Maslow’s hierarchy of needs vs. John Nash Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs are self-actualization, esteem, belongingness, safety and physiological. With taking a look at Maslow’s Hierarchy and John Nash, he would not fall under any of these categories. John Nash was so paranoid all the time, that belongingness and safety would never occur.
With things like self-actualization, John Nash could acquire this very easily; he was always solving problems and being creative. When it comes to esteem, even though John Nash won all sorts of awards and a Nobel Prize, it is not known whether he had high self-esteem. Everyone should fall into physiological part of Maslow’s hierarchy, when John Nash is still able to breath, acquire food, and acquire water and sleep. Taking a look into the Five-Factor Model we have neuroticism, extraversion, openness, agreeableness and conscientiousness; the five are looked at on a scale of a high scorer and a low scorer.
With John Nash with being on the high side of things, he would fall under neuroticism and openness. Then when it comes to looking at the low side of the scale, he would fall under extraversion, agreeableness and conscientiousness. With John Nash nothing is simple, and his life is one big paranoid adventure. In conclusion to John Nash and his personality and life, he is a great contributor to both math and economics. John Nash is still alive and is at the age of 84. He has a Noble Prize and many other awards.
At a very young age of 31, John Nash was diagnosed a paranoid schizophrenic. Taking a look at his personality and lining it up along with how Freud and Jung looked schizophrenia, and how John Nash was to fall under theories such as Maslow’s Hierarchy and the Five-Factor model. He has continued to live on with his life as being a paranoid schizophrenic; he has three honorary degrees from three different Universities. He continues to gives speeches at Universities and he continues to make advanced research on his game theory.
References
Brander, J. (2003, February). A Beautiful Mind (Book/Movie). Canadian Journal of Economics, 36(1), 254. Capps, D. (2005, December). John Nash: Three Phases in the Career of a Beautiful Mind. Journal of Religion & Health, 44(4), 363-376. Capps, D. (2011, March). John Nash, Game Theory, and the Schizophrenic Brain. Journal of Religion & Health, 50(1), 145-162. Dixxon, P. (2005). An Extension of Freud and Jung’s Theory of the Relation of Dream States to Schizophrenia. Current Psychology, 24(1), 4-23. Gale, D. (2002). A Beautiful Mind: A Biography (Book)/ A Beautiful Mind (Motion Picture)/ The Essential John Nash (Book). Mathematical Intelligencer, 24(3), 75. Schroeder, K., Hoppe, A., Andersen, B., Naber, D., Lammers, C., &
Huber, C. (2012). Considering DSM-5: Personality Diagnostics in Patients with Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders. Psychiatry: Interpersonal & Biological Processes, 75(2), 120-134.
