According to Freudian theory, Myra displays a certain personality type. Evidence is provided for this answer, along with an explanation of what caused it.
Myra likely felt neurotic anxiety when around her husband’s “authority”, similar to the unconscious feelings of wanting to destroy her parents due to fear of punishment. As a result, she exaggerates her cleaning tasks and often portrays herself as a martyr who selflessly helps others and asks for little in return. However, in reality, she typically oversees the cleaning process and instructs others on what to do, with assistance from her husband or children.
Myra’s neurotic anxiety causes her to become aggressive towards her neighbor. This happened when grass flew into her garden from her neighbor’s yard while they were mowing. In response, Myra threw a tantrum and stopped talking to the neighbor for two years. Myra consistently displays a disturbing behavior of establishing relationships and then abruptly ending them by being rude. She either criticizes people directly to their faces or simply stops contacting them. In addition, her neurotic anxiety leads to her worrying about spending money, causing her to refrain from spending even though she belongs to the middle class and is not actually poor. As a defense mechanism, Myra has developed an anal fixation, which is demonstrated through her obsession with cleanliness and orderliness.
Myra believes that she is responsible for cleaning the house. According to Jungian theory, this adoption of a traditional role can be explained.
According to Jung, the mind or psyche has two levels: conscious and unconscious. In contrast to Freud’s belief, Jung argues that collective unconscious pertains to humans’ inherent inclination to react in a specific manner when their experiences trigger a biologically inherited response tendency.
“This demonstrates why Myra responds unexpectedly with love and persistence to the cleanliness, tidiness, and orderliness of the house, despite having negative or neutral feelings towards the job. It is worth noting that Myra’s mother always looked after their house and believed that it was the duty of women to do so. Furthermore, Myra was taught how to clean ‘correctly’ by her mother, who would punish her for not cleaning something thoroughly enough.”
The belief in house cleanliness was passed down through generations, from her mother to her, and beyond. This belief became ingrained in her subconscious mind and formed collective unconscious forces known as archetypes. According to Jung, these archetypes can be conceptualized as persona, shadow, anima, animus, great mother, wise old man, hero, and self.
What is the explanation for Myra’s cleaning behavior according to radical behaviorism?
Influences on Myra’s cleaning behavior that reinforce punishment can be found. According to Freud, Myra’s ego, which is the only part of the mind in contact with reality and governed by the reality principle, determines the cleanliness and neatness of her house and yard, as well as the arrangement of things in order. The ego, being a combination of conscious, preconscious, and unconscious elements, can make decisions at each of these three levels.
Myra goes to great lengths to clean her house, tidy her yard and garden, and arrange her belongings meticulously. She does this because her ego drives her to seek extreme neatness and organization, which makes her feel content and proud of her possessions. Additionally, others admire Myra for her efforts, confirming her desire to maintain this level of cleanliness. However, Myra may only have a faint recollection of when her friends or neighbors initially praised her for her meticulous cleaning, tidying, and arranging.
The individual’s inclination to maintain excessive cleanliness, organization, and orderliness may stem from a subconscious drive. This drive is shaped by her upbringing and experiences related to toilet training and cleaning the house with her mother. The underlying motivation behind this behavior is to avoid parental punishment and gain their love and security. Furthermore, her superego has developed based on the rewards and punishments she received in childhood which have established moral guidelines for her actions. Consequently, she may feel overwhelmed by her superego, resulting in feelings of guilt or inferiority.
Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory could explain Myra’s traditionally feminine cleaning behavior.
According to Albert Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory, our reactions to expected events are often more influential than the events themselves. Myra’s adherence to traditional feminine cleaning behavior can be attributed to her observation of her mother engaging in cleaning tasks, managing household finances, and sharing the belief that housework is primarily a woman’s responsibility. Furthermore, Myra’s behavior is reinforced by the compliments she receives from her neighbors and friends who openly express their admiration for the cleanliness of her house, the tidiness of her yard, and the beauty of her garden. This aligns with Bandura’s concept that reinforcement can occur vicariously, whether it is through direct or indirect means.
According to Bandura’s triadic reciprocal model, which considers behavioral, environmental, and personal factors, Myra has the ability to regulate her life. Her behavioral cleanliness has become a consistent means of evaluating and regulating her social and cultural environment. This is evident in the cleanliness, tidiness, and overall beauty of her house, surpassing those in the neighborhood as well as her friends and relatives.
Myra is motivated by Horney’s needs and demonstrates her neurotic trends.
According to Horney’s Psychoanalytic Social Theory, Myra’s behaviors have been shaped by the cultural influences of her society. The modern culture she lives in places great emphasis on competition, which leads her to have an exaggerated focus on cleanliness, tidiness, and orderliness compared to others. This hyper-focus on these aspects triggers feelings of basic hostility towards her friends and neighbors. As a result, she ends up isolating herself and breaking up with her friends, as well as not participating in productive volunteer work. This isolation then leads to intensified needs for affection, as she feels like she has to do everything alone without anyone’s help, ultimately illustrating herself as a martyr or victim.
During her childhood, Myra experienced physical punishment from her parents, leading to a lack of genuine warmth and affection and the development of anxiety and hostility towards others. Childhood is often seen as the root of many issues caused by traumatic events.
Myra showcases a range of neurotic needs through her behaviors, including heightened cleanliness, hostility, frugality, and avoidance of productive volunteer work.
- Need to restrict her life within narrow borders: she does not participate in any productive activities such as volunteer work, and she prefers to spend all her time and energy working on her house and yard.
- Need for security and power: she economizes on everything and does not spend money, which represents a source of power to her.
- Need to exploit others: she breaks up with friends and relatives who do not return her invitations to meals.
- Need for social recognition or prestige: she tries to be the best at cleaning and orderliness and criticizes others as not equal to her.
- Need for personal admiration: she likes people admiring her house cleanliness, her yard and garden tidiness and beauty, and her orderliness.
- Need for perfection and unassailability: she always cleans, tidy and rearrange her house, garden, yard and things so as not to be criticized; on the contrary she always criticizes and blames others.
