The Subsidiation Chain Involved If One Considers Brian's Alcoholism As An Attitude

Cattell: Case Study 34 (pages 119-121)
1. What is a subsidiation chain? Explain the subsidiation chain involved if one considers Brian’s serving in Iraq as an attitude (according to Cattell’s definition). What would be some of the sems or sentiments that motivated those behaviors? What are some ergs that motivated Brian’s choice of profession? Explain.
Cattell used subsidiation chains to explain how certain elemental traits within personalities are subordinate to others. This hierarchy among relationships is called a dynamic lattice. Brian’s decision to have the Army Reserves as a profession (sem) was due to the erg acquisitiveness, or greed. Another sem, family and home, was further motivated by the erg’s self-assertion and parental protectiveness. His primary
Explain the subsidiation chain involved if one considers Brian’s alcoholism as an attitude (according to Cattell’s definition). What would be some of the sems or sentiments and ergs that motivated this behavior? Explain.
Due to the trauma Brian experienced in war, four ergs were manifested, loneliness, fear, pity, and anger which motivated Brian to begin and continue drinking to the point of excess. The lack of self-sentiment for Brian, a poor self-concept caused his life to be unstable and incoherent. He lost the ability to effectively organize his source traits, ergs, and
Taking into account all that Brian witnessed as well as the injuries he sustained it is easy to concede that due to the volatile nature of a wartime environment his personality would reflect it as much. Cattell thought personality traits were stable across time to the point that they were somewhat constant within each of his six proposed developmental stages. Within each stage there was always the possibility of fluctuation and a tilt towards one side (adaptive) or the other