Who Is Oprah Winfrey?
Oprah Winfrey
I chose to complete my case study on Oprah Winfrey. I will look at Oprah when she was a child growing up and living life in her adult life. The reason why I chose to write about Oprah is because; she’s such a kind hearted woman that has worked for everything that she has. Oprah is a strong black woman that I can relate to as our childhoods are similar in many ways. Her story is amazing and she sheds light on dreams that we all may have even if we have started off wrong or even fell off. Oprah’s life is proof that with hard work and dedication anything is possible. Oprah was born January 29, 1954 in the small town of Kosciusko Mississippi. She was named Oprah Gail Winfrey. She was raised by her young single teenage …show more content…
mother who raised her in the inner-city of Milwaukee. The young mother had to make the hard decision to journey towards the North with great hopes of finding work while leaving her child behind. Oprah was to stay behind with her grandmother on the farm in Mississippi. Not long after Oprah’s mother had settled in a job is when she wanted Oprah to join her in Milwaukee, WI. While on the farm living with her grandmother, at the age of three Oprah was able to read. She had starting reading the Bible and was even able to speak at her grandmothers’ church to others. She was performing verses that she had memorized with her grandmothers close friends. By the age of five Oprah was in kindergarten and by now knew how to write as well as read. Teachers were impressed with Oprah and her heading towards progress promptly through kindergarten on the way to the first grade. By the time Oprah reached the age of six her grandmother became very sick and at that time Oprah was taken back to reside in the company of her mother in Milwaukee, WI. Oprah stayed with her mother and stepsister in a small boarding house. Vernita Oprah’s mother was working as a maid cleaning houses. Having a job cleaning houses was a lot of work for Oprah’s mother. She found herself needing welfares help to support her family as well. Oprah felt left out, she knew that her mother wasn’t home often and when she was she would spend her time enjoying Oprah’s stepsister Patricia’s company. For the next year Oprah stayed with her step sister and her mother. After being passed along again she found herself living with her father his wife Zelma, in Nashville Tennessee. Living with them was a blessing; Oprah was the only child and was blessed to have her own individual bedroom to herself for the very first time in her life. Her father and his wife Zelma were unable to have children of their own they loved having Oprah around the house, at this time she was seven years old. Soon after her move she started going to Wharton Elementary School where she was then able to skip a grade level and placed into the third grade. Her parents were so proud of her accomplishments. She was then a regular at church, she attended church weekly alongside of her parents and she was once again able to speak publicly. After Oprah’s third grade year in school ended, Oprah 's father packed Oprah and her things up and they headed back to the city of Milwaukee for a visit with her mother. While Oprah resided in with her father in Nashville, Vernita Oprah’s mother had given birth to another child, a son, named Jeffrey. The family lived in a small 2 bedroom apartment, once again Oprah found herself sharing a bedroom with her siblings. Vernon Oprah’s father soon returned during the fall to bring Oprah back to Nashville. Oprah had a choice to leave with her father or to reside in Milwaukee with her siblings and mother where she then started the fourth grade. At the age of nine years old Oprah lived with her mother and siblings in the town of Milwaukee WI. Where they were often left with their nineteen year old male cousin to watch after them while there mother worked to support their family. Oprah had been sexually abused by her nineteen year old male cousin. After being raped Oprah was forced to keep that secret between them. Some years later Oprah was sexually abused again. This time she was abused by a close family friend and later her own uncle. The ongoing abuse was never told to others because she was afraid of what others would think. At the age of sixteen Oprah read her first autobiography of Maya Angelou. After reading the autobiography Oprah decided to look forward on life and was able to get on track. She began to concentrate on her education and public speaking. The year 1970 is when Oprah earned her 4 year college scholarship by winning at Elks Club speaking competition. In 1971, Oprah and a student were chosen to represent Tennessee while attending a youth conference in Colorado. This conference was large and was watched all over the country. When Oprah returned home to Nashville she was approached and interviewed by a radio station. That same station later they then asked her to attend the beauty pageant of Miss Fire Prevention. Oprah had won first place in the competition and became the very first African-American contest winner ever crowned. The radio station was impressed with her experience with public speaking and offered her the chance of taping herself. Before she turned 17 she had obtained a part time job as a newsreader. Senior year Oprah attended college with a 4 year scholarship. Three years later Oprah was offered her first career opportunity as a reporter at the local radio station in Nashville Tennessee.
Soon Oprah entered Tennessee State University to take up her career in television broadcasting and radio. Oprah was well know, she had won pageants like “Miss Tennessee” as well as Miss Black Nashville. Things were going very well for Oprah at this time in her life. Oprah moved to Baltimore in 1976. There Oprah was a TV show host for People is talking. Oprah’s show ran for 8 Years straight. Next up for Oprah was hosting a morning show in Chicago IL. That show too was a huge hit, it was so big that it was up against the Phil Donahue Show. It didn’t take long for Oprah’s show to push forward and become number 1. Oprah was well known and in 1985 she was then up for nomination for an Academy Award for the film The Color Purple. 1986 is when the Oprah Winfrey Show began. Oprah had blossomed right in front of everyone’s eyes. She went from being poor to a national celebrity. All though Oprah didn’t take the win for The Academy Award for best supporting actor in the movie it was still a milestone in her life. The year of 1986 Oprah was nominated for several Emmy Awards. Harpo Productions took off this year as well, as Oprah was handed the National Organization for Women of Achievement …show more content…
Award. During the early nineties Oprah was well known all around the world. She was presented with the award of best talk show host on daytime television. In 1995 Oprah was named the first woman as well as the first black to be listed on Forbes list of 400 richest Americans. From these years on Oprah has co authored novels, has made large charitable donations as well as volunteered her work and time. The year 2002 Oprah started her own magazine that Fortune named “O”.
The magazine “O” was known as the most successful magazine to exist. Nearly ten years ago Oprah was named the world’s only black billionaire by Forbes’. “Business Week” listed Oprah as one of fifty most giving philanthropists. Oprah has invested about 40 Million dollars in her Leadership Academy for the Girls in South Africa. 2009 Oprah announced the closing of her show know as “The Oprah Winfrey Show” that has been on air for over 25 years. As she closes “The Oprah Winfrey Show” she will launch “The Oprah Winfrey Network” on cable television also known as “OWN”. Oprah has done it all from being a producer, reporter, activist, TV host, actress and the list goes on. Oprah’s motivation in life was her life lessons. While Oprah was growing up she was faced with many obstacles in her life both good and bad. As Oprah attended school she found that she was very smart, she enjoyed talking with others. She also enjoyed helping people in any way that she could. Reading and writing was a subject that interested Oprah the most. Oprah found herself reading, writing, and speaking with others to learn while growing
up. Oprah’s passion for helping others motivated her to keep going in life, she used her passion for learning as an energy. Oprah used her passion as a power in her life. She used her passion as energy and she never gave up on what she enjoyed doing. Being raped as a young woman Oprah knew that this was something that she could never change, and she didn’t let the past predict her future. Looking at Oprah’s life lessons I found that when she was a teenager she read an auto biography on Maya Angelou and at that time she decided that it was time to get serious about her life. Like Oprah I was reading a book called “A Purpose Driven” while reading I said to myself that I was going to stop making excuses for myself and make changes in my life. Getting serious with my life included me going to back to school and not giving up even though I’m faced with health complications. Oprah looked forward on life and never looked back. Oprah taught me to find my passion and live life fulfilling it, no matter how long it may take. Oprah began attracting the attention of many people at an early age. At the age of three she was taught to read by her grandmother. She used this ability to read scriptures at her church. At the age of 17, Oprah was able to win the Miss Black Tennessee pageant. Oprah’s personality has continued to intrigue millions of people for years. She has the ability to gain the attention of her viewers with her openness.
In recent times, the United States federal government has been asked to be more open and transparent. Openness allows everyone involved an opportunity to obtain a clear picture of the ins and outs of a person or entity. Openness is defined by the freedictionary.com as: a. Affording unobstructed entrance and exit; not shut or closed.
b. Affording unobstructed passage or view: open waters; the open countryside.
Anyone who has seen “The Oprah Winfrey Show” has witnessed the power that Oprah has in keeping their attention of the viewers of the show. One of the characteristics that people find as being appealing is her openness. She has invited many people to her show and allowed them to describe their stories. In addition Oprah would share her own personal stories as she saw them as being relevant to the topic. Oprah opening up has allowed the ability of her audience to open up as well. On many of the shows that Oprah has recorded, it can be seen that the entire group opens up on a myriad of topics.
Opening up seems to be somewhat therapeutic for the people involved. Discussing their stories has seemed to allow cohesion between apparent strangers. Watching the show, it can be seen that people from all walks of life are able to add in the conversation. The viewers are also included in the emotional connection. Many people tuned into the show to watch various emotional topics. Shows that include topics such as rape, lost family members, and people living with different ailments have been broadcasted to viewers around the world. I have personally seen many viewers with Kleenex boxes on the ready while the show was on television.
The ability to openly communicate and bring others into the conversation is a skill that Oprah posses. She has used this skill time and time again to build a large fan base across the country and throughout the world. By being open and being a beacon of light Oprah has allowed others to follow suit.
Extroversion is another trait that Oprah Winfrey has the ability to display to her audience. The freedictionary.com defines extroversion as the following: 1. Interest in or behavior directed toward others or one 's environment rather than oneself. 2. A turning inside out, as of an organ or part. Oprah has used her confidence and exuberant candor to become successful as a TV personality, actress, owner of a network, and other business ventures. Several shows can be seen in which Oprah has been extroverted. Oprah uses this trait to connect with not only her guest on the show, the members of the audience, but also the viewers at home. In a show in which she was tackling a sensitive subject such as rape, she was able to draw from her past life with the pain and guilt she endured to connect on a psychological level with anyone within ear shot. From this ability, she was able to allow the members of the audience to also explain the atrocities performed on them as kids or young adults. Viewers of the show would also call into the show to discuss their views on the subject. Even when the subject isn’t as sensitive as rape, Oprah is still able to draw in the attention of the people that are attracted to the show. In another episode of the show in which Oprah gave away cars to members of the studio audience, Oprah was able to get everyone excited about the great act she was going to do. Even people that were not directly involved in the show were able to get thrilled. Her demeanor and her excitement was apparent to everyone, which made for a great show. Oprah is able to express herself through different forms of media than just through her talk show. Oprah is able to reach her audience through film and by co-authoring books. Oprah’s presence in movies such as “The Color Purple” shows that she is able to carry her extroversion behavior to the big screen. In Oprah’s magazine “O” she is able to reach through to millions of subscribes, even if it is only through the cover of the magazine. Her elaborate photographs are able to show her high energetic personality. Being an extrovert has allowed Oprah to be successful as not only a TV personality but also find much success as an actress, magazine owner, producer, philanthropist and many other business ventures. Oprah has turned a quality about her personality into a multi-billion dollar industry. Different psychologist has been able to diagnosis personality traits by analyzing their patients behaviors and other factors. For many years Oprah has been able to prove her success through the strength of her personality and behavior. Analyzing her behavior and its affect on the public has been an eye opening experience. Through this class, we are able to dissect the behavior traits of Oprah and determine how others view her. From this assignment I was able to look at Oprah from two intriguing behavior traits. Openness and extroversion were the two traits that I chose to analyze Oprah with. Through a person’s openness we are able to determine how much of themselves they are willing to share world. It shows if a person is comfortable with who they are and what type of confidence they can radiate. Through Oprah’s openness she is also able to make other open up and share their experiences as well. Therefore the behavior of being open coincides with people being intuitively social creatures. We as people look for people that are open with their feelings because it is easier to trust them. With the trust, we are able to rely or depend on that person with our feelings without the fear of being hurt in return.
Oprah being extroverted also gets people to listen. When we listen to motivational speakers, they all seem to have something in common. They are typically what people would refer to as “outgoing”. Extroverted people entertain us. Their usually loud and flamboyant word usage allows people to keep their attention focused on the topic. Oprah proves this idea with the number of people she has tuned into her show day in and day out, the many subscribes she has to her magazine, and people that watch her network. Strength in the psychodynamic approach is focused on the things that happen in a child’s life while developing their own personality. That being strength because Freud was one of the first psychologist to recognize the value of child’s life growing up. Also known to have lead many other psychologists one being Piaget who then developed theories on childhood. One example would be the Little Hans case study. In this case Hans was afraid of castration which would end up leading him have a fear of horses. Psychodynamic approach on weakness was known to be unfalsifiable. This weakness is caused because of assumptions that cannot be scientifically measured or proved incorrect. For instance think about a mind being split into three parts.
Psychology has taught me that Communication is so much more than just how you speak or write to get your point across. Research shows that the nonverbal signals do make up a large part of our interpersonal communications with others. When you communicate your message effectively to others, you tend to need to learn how to express yourself nonverbally first and then read the nonverbal cues of those who surround you. At times it may seem like there are millions of blogs,books and articles teaching different methods on how to get more done in a day, when you think about it how much of this information is actually found in our research? An example would be, thinking about a number of different times that you have heard that multitasking can assist you with becoming more productive from day to day. Research has shown that trying to perform multiple tasks at the same time can impair ones accuracy, productivity and speed.
Optimistic psychology in a work atmosphere is all about altering ones attention away from the negative portion at work such as job insecurity, stress, and violence. Positive psychology can improve and generate a better working environment goal by making a positive outcome for the employees. Having fun while at the workplace should not appear to be something that cannot be accomplished during work hours and still slightly known as an incentive factor by the entire team. With that being said it is important to observe the role of others showing job security and work support. Team building exercises with helpful behaviors. The promising field of Positive Psychology helps, also by creatively and managing organizational behaviors to increase productivity in the workplace by way of applying positive organizational forces. In the broad sense of traditional psychology it has not specifically focused on the implementation of positive psychology methods while in the workplace. Lastly the latest research has shown that on the job satisfaction as well as employee retention it has produced a superior necessitate concentrating on implementing positive psychology inside the workplace.
One reason that psychology is such a popular major is the subject matter. We all want to find out more about what makes us tick, and why people are the way they are (you 're reading Psychology Today blogs, aren 't you?). Another draw to psychology is the helping nature of the profession, but there are many ways to help others in careers other than clinical psychology (e.g., I/O psychologists ' common mission is to make workplaces better).
What I have learned in this course is essential to everyday life. The study of psychology is daily life for everyone that exists. Prior to taking this course, I did not have knowledge of certain human behaviors and the theories. I knew that we all have different behaviors from time to time but, I never gave much thought about how they are evaluated. Looking at the news on a nightly basis we see human behavior we don’t always understand. Recently, we see the tragedy of the shootings in Newtown, CT and can’t imagine how a person can even think of performing such a heinous crime. I feel kids should not be treated in such a manner and they should be shielded from the ills of society. Without having the same feeling as the shooter I am incapable of making any sense of his actions. As proof we can look at people with certain levels of autism. Some autistic people are not capable of feeling certain emotions. An autistic person who may see someone near them with pain or happiness may not be able to diagnosis the feelings of the other person. Their inability to posses certain emotions render them incapable of understanding the feelings of other people. As such some of the people with autism may not be able to “fit in” socially. Since the individuals without autism are not able to connect with the individuals with autism they are not able to connect on any significant level.
When we watch emotional shows or documentaries sometimes we get caught up in all the emotions that we see. People can be seen crying over a sad story even when they are not directly affected. The only connections we may have with stories we hear or see about are that we share the same emotions. We have all dealt with loss or we have been the victim of certain actions carried out by people with bad intentions.
Psychology involves looking at common traits between individuals and society. It involves analyzing people and being able to recognize certain behavior traits. Without the establishment of psychology many people would be left without a voice. Psychology is a method that is used by people to connect to people with differences that would normally prevent them from being able to communicate with each other.
References
Psychology, 2012, About, What is Psychosocial Development, retrieved from http://psychology.about.com/od/psychosocialtheories/a/psychosocial.htm
Psychology, 2012, About, Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development, retrieved from http://psychology.about.com/od/developmentalpsychology/a/kohlberg.htm
Oprah Winfrey Biography.(2012), The Biography Channel website. Retrieved from
http://www.biography.com/people/oprah-winfrey-9534419
I chose to complete my case study on Oprah Winfrey. I will look at Oprah when she was a child growing up and living life in her adult life. The reason why I chose to write about Oprah is because; she’s such a kind hearted woman that has worked for everything that she has. Oprah is a strong black woman that I can relate to as our childhoods are similar in many ways. Her story is amazing and she sheds light on dreams that we all may have even if we have started off wrong or even fell off. Oprah’s life is proof that with hard work and dedication anything is possible. Oprah was born January 29, 1954 in the small town of Kosciusko Mississippi. She was named Oprah Gail Winfrey. She was raised by her young single teenage …show more content…
mother who raised her in the inner-city of Milwaukee. The young mother had to make the hard decision to journey towards the North with great hopes of finding work while leaving her child behind. Oprah was to stay behind with her grandmother on the farm in Mississippi. Not long after Oprah’s mother had settled in a job is when she wanted Oprah to join her in Milwaukee, WI. While on the farm living with her grandmother, at the age of three Oprah was able to read. She had starting reading the Bible and was even able to speak at her grandmothers’ church to others. She was performing verses that she had memorized with her grandmothers close friends. By the age of five Oprah was in kindergarten and by now knew how to write as well as read. Teachers were impressed with Oprah and her heading towards progress promptly through kindergarten on the way to the first grade. By the time Oprah reached the age of six her grandmother became very sick and at that time Oprah was taken back to reside in the company of her mother in Milwaukee, WI. Oprah stayed with her mother and stepsister in a small boarding house. Vernita Oprah’s mother was working as a maid cleaning houses. Having a job cleaning houses was a lot of work for Oprah’s mother. She found herself needing welfares help to support her family as well. Oprah felt left out, she knew that her mother wasn’t home often and when she was she would spend her time enjoying Oprah’s stepsister Patricia’s company. For the next year Oprah stayed with her step sister and her mother. After being passed along again she found herself living with her father his wife Zelma, in Nashville Tennessee. Living with them was a blessing; Oprah was the only child and was blessed to have her own individual bedroom to herself for the very first time in her life. Her father and his wife Zelma were unable to have children of their own they loved having Oprah around the house, at this time she was seven years old. Soon after her move she started going to Wharton Elementary School where she was then able to skip a grade level and placed into the third grade. Her parents were so proud of her accomplishments. She was then a regular at church, she attended church weekly alongside of her parents and she was once again able to speak publicly. After Oprah’s third grade year in school ended, Oprah 's father packed Oprah and her things up and they headed back to the city of Milwaukee for a visit with her mother. While Oprah resided in with her father in Nashville, Vernita Oprah’s mother had given birth to another child, a son, named Jeffrey. The family lived in a small 2 bedroom apartment, once again Oprah found herself sharing a bedroom with her siblings. Vernon Oprah’s father soon returned during the fall to bring Oprah back to Nashville. Oprah had a choice to leave with her father or to reside in Milwaukee with her siblings and mother where she then started the fourth grade. At the age of nine years old Oprah lived with her mother and siblings in the town of Milwaukee WI. Where they were often left with their nineteen year old male cousin to watch after them while there mother worked to support their family. Oprah had been sexually abused by her nineteen year old male cousin. After being raped Oprah was forced to keep that secret between them. Some years later Oprah was sexually abused again. This time she was abused by a close family friend and later her own uncle. The ongoing abuse was never told to others because she was afraid of what others would think. At the age of sixteen Oprah read her first autobiography of Maya Angelou. After reading the autobiography Oprah decided to look forward on life and was able to get on track. She began to concentrate on her education and public speaking. The year 1970 is when Oprah earned her 4 year college scholarship by winning at Elks Club speaking competition. In 1971, Oprah and a student were chosen to represent Tennessee while attending a youth conference in Colorado. This conference was large and was watched all over the country. When Oprah returned home to Nashville she was approached and interviewed by a radio station. That same station later they then asked her to attend the beauty pageant of Miss Fire Prevention. Oprah had won first place in the competition and became the very first African-American contest winner ever crowned. The radio station was impressed with her experience with public speaking and offered her the chance of taping herself. Before she turned 17 she had obtained a part time job as a newsreader. Senior year Oprah attended college with a 4 year scholarship. Three years later Oprah was offered her first career opportunity as a reporter at the local radio station in Nashville Tennessee.
Soon Oprah entered Tennessee State University to take up her career in television broadcasting and radio. Oprah was well know, she had won pageants like “Miss Tennessee” as well as Miss Black Nashville. Things were going very well for Oprah at this time in her life. Oprah moved to Baltimore in 1976. There Oprah was a TV show host for People is talking. Oprah’s show ran for 8 Years straight. Next up for Oprah was hosting a morning show in Chicago IL. That show too was a huge hit, it was so big that it was up against the Phil Donahue Show. It didn’t take long for Oprah’s show to push forward and become number 1. Oprah was well known and in 1985 she was then up for nomination for an Academy Award for the film The Color Purple. 1986 is when the Oprah Winfrey Show began. Oprah had blossomed right in front of everyone’s eyes. She went from being poor to a national celebrity. All though Oprah didn’t take the win for The Academy Award for best supporting actor in the movie it was still a milestone in her life. The year of 1986 Oprah was nominated for several Emmy Awards. Harpo Productions took off this year as well, as Oprah was handed the National Organization for Women of Achievement …show more content…
Award. During the early nineties Oprah was well known all around the world. She was presented with the award of best talk show host on daytime television. In 1995 Oprah was named the first woman as well as the first black to be listed on Forbes list of 400 richest Americans. From these years on Oprah has co authored novels, has made large charitable donations as well as volunteered her work and time. The year 2002 Oprah started her own magazine that Fortune named “O”.
The magazine “O” was known as the most successful magazine to exist. Nearly ten years ago Oprah was named the world’s only black billionaire by Forbes’. “Business Week” listed Oprah as one of fifty most giving philanthropists. Oprah has invested about 40 Million dollars in her Leadership Academy for the Girls in South Africa. 2009 Oprah announced the closing of her show know as “The Oprah Winfrey Show” that has been on air for over 25 years. As she closes “The Oprah Winfrey Show” she will launch “The Oprah Winfrey Network” on cable television also known as “OWN”. Oprah has done it all from being a producer, reporter, activist, TV host, actress and the list goes on. Oprah’s motivation in life was her life lessons. While Oprah was growing up she was faced with many obstacles in her life both good and bad. As Oprah attended school she found that she was very smart, she enjoyed talking with others. She also enjoyed helping people in any way that she could. Reading and writing was a subject that interested Oprah the most. Oprah found herself reading, writing, and speaking with others to learn while growing
up. Oprah’s passion for helping others motivated her to keep going in life, she used her passion for learning as an energy. Oprah used her passion as a power in her life. She used her passion as energy and she never gave up on what she enjoyed doing. Being raped as a young woman Oprah knew that this was something that she could never change, and she didn’t let the past predict her future. Looking at Oprah’s life lessons I found that when she was a teenager she read an auto biography on Maya Angelou and at that time she decided that it was time to get serious about her life. Like Oprah I was reading a book called “A Purpose Driven” while reading I said to myself that I was going to stop making excuses for myself and make changes in my life. Getting serious with my life included me going to back to school and not giving up even though I’m faced with health complications. Oprah looked forward on life and never looked back. Oprah taught me to find my passion and live life fulfilling it, no matter how long it may take. Oprah began attracting the attention of many people at an early age. At the age of three she was taught to read by her grandmother. She used this ability to read scriptures at her church. At the age of 17, Oprah was able to win the Miss Black Tennessee pageant. Oprah’s personality has continued to intrigue millions of people for years. She has the ability to gain the attention of her viewers with her openness.
In recent times, the United States federal government has been asked to be more open and transparent. Openness allows everyone involved an opportunity to obtain a clear picture of the ins and outs of a person or entity. Openness is defined by the freedictionary.com as: a. Affording unobstructed entrance and exit; not shut or closed.
b. Affording unobstructed passage or view: open waters; the open countryside.
Anyone who has seen “The Oprah Winfrey Show” has witnessed the power that Oprah has in keeping their attention of the viewers of the show. One of the characteristics that people find as being appealing is her openness. She has invited many people to her show and allowed them to describe their stories. In addition Oprah would share her own personal stories as she saw them as being relevant to the topic. Oprah opening up has allowed the ability of her audience to open up as well. On many of the shows that Oprah has recorded, it can be seen that the entire group opens up on a myriad of topics.
Opening up seems to be somewhat therapeutic for the people involved. Discussing their stories has seemed to allow cohesion between apparent strangers. Watching the show, it can be seen that people from all walks of life are able to add in the conversation. The viewers are also included in the emotional connection. Many people tuned into the show to watch various emotional topics. Shows that include topics such as rape, lost family members, and people living with different ailments have been broadcasted to viewers around the world. I have personally seen many viewers with Kleenex boxes on the ready while the show was on television.
The ability to openly communicate and bring others into the conversation is a skill that Oprah posses. She has used this skill time and time again to build a large fan base across the country and throughout the world. By being open and being a beacon of light Oprah has allowed others to follow suit.
Extroversion is another trait that Oprah Winfrey has the ability to display to her audience. The freedictionary.com defines extroversion as the following: 1. Interest in or behavior directed toward others or one 's environment rather than oneself. 2. A turning inside out, as of an organ or part. Oprah has used her confidence and exuberant candor to become successful as a TV personality, actress, owner of a network, and other business ventures. Several shows can be seen in which Oprah has been extroverted. Oprah uses this trait to connect with not only her guest on the show, the members of the audience, but also the viewers at home. In a show in which she was tackling a sensitive subject such as rape, she was able to draw from her past life with the pain and guilt she endured to connect on a psychological level with anyone within ear shot. From this ability, she was able to allow the members of the audience to also explain the atrocities performed on them as kids or young adults. Viewers of the show would also call into the show to discuss their views on the subject. Even when the subject isn’t as sensitive as rape, Oprah is still able to draw in the attention of the people that are attracted to the show. In another episode of the show in which Oprah gave away cars to members of the studio audience, Oprah was able to get everyone excited about the great act she was going to do. Even people that were not directly involved in the show were able to get thrilled. Her demeanor and her excitement was apparent to everyone, which made for a great show. Oprah is able to express herself through different forms of media than just through her talk show. Oprah is able to reach her audience through film and by co-authoring books. Oprah’s presence in movies such as “The Color Purple” shows that she is able to carry her extroversion behavior to the big screen. In Oprah’s magazine “O” she is able to reach through to millions of subscribes, even if it is only through the cover of the magazine. Her elaborate photographs are able to show her high energetic personality. Being an extrovert has allowed Oprah to be successful as not only a TV personality but also find much success as an actress, magazine owner, producer, philanthropist and many other business ventures. Oprah has turned a quality about her personality into a multi-billion dollar industry. Different psychologist has been able to diagnosis personality traits by analyzing their patients behaviors and other factors. For many years Oprah has been able to prove her success through the strength of her personality and behavior. Analyzing her behavior and its affect on the public has been an eye opening experience. Through this class, we are able to dissect the behavior traits of Oprah and determine how others view her. From this assignment I was able to look at Oprah from two intriguing behavior traits. Openness and extroversion were the two traits that I chose to analyze Oprah with. Through a person’s openness we are able to determine how much of themselves they are willing to share world. It shows if a person is comfortable with who they are and what type of confidence they can radiate. Through Oprah’s openness she is also able to make other open up and share their experiences as well. Therefore the behavior of being open coincides with people being intuitively social creatures. We as people look for people that are open with their feelings because it is easier to trust them. With the trust, we are able to rely or depend on that person with our feelings without the fear of being hurt in return.
Oprah being extroverted also gets people to listen. When we listen to motivational speakers, they all seem to have something in common. They are typically what people would refer to as “outgoing”. Extroverted people entertain us. Their usually loud and flamboyant word usage allows people to keep their attention focused on the topic. Oprah proves this idea with the number of people she has tuned into her show day in and day out, the many subscribes she has to her magazine, and people that watch her network. Strength in the psychodynamic approach is focused on the things that happen in a child’s life while developing their own personality. That being strength because Freud was one of the first psychologist to recognize the value of child’s life growing up. Also known to have lead many other psychologists one being Piaget who then developed theories on childhood. One example would be the Little Hans case study. In this case Hans was afraid of castration which would end up leading him have a fear of horses. Psychodynamic approach on weakness was known to be unfalsifiable. This weakness is caused because of assumptions that cannot be scientifically measured or proved incorrect. For instance think about a mind being split into three parts.
Psychology has taught me that Communication is so much more than just how you speak or write to get your point across. Research shows that the nonverbal signals do make up a large part of our interpersonal communications with others. When you communicate your message effectively to others, you tend to need to learn how to express yourself nonverbally first and then read the nonverbal cues of those who surround you. At times it may seem like there are millions of blogs,books and articles teaching different methods on how to get more done in a day, when you think about it how much of this information is actually found in our research? An example would be, thinking about a number of different times that you have heard that multitasking can assist you with becoming more productive from day to day. Research has shown that trying to perform multiple tasks at the same time can impair ones accuracy, productivity and speed.
Optimistic psychology in a work atmosphere is all about altering ones attention away from the negative portion at work such as job insecurity, stress, and violence. Positive psychology can improve and generate a better working environment goal by making a positive outcome for the employees. Having fun while at the workplace should not appear to be something that cannot be accomplished during work hours and still slightly known as an incentive factor by the entire team. With that being said it is important to observe the role of others showing job security and work support. Team building exercises with helpful behaviors. The promising field of Positive Psychology helps, also by creatively and managing organizational behaviors to increase productivity in the workplace by way of applying positive organizational forces. In the broad sense of traditional psychology it has not specifically focused on the implementation of positive psychology methods while in the workplace. Lastly the latest research has shown that on the job satisfaction as well as employee retention it has produced a superior necessitate concentrating on implementing positive psychology inside the workplace.
One reason that psychology is such a popular major is the subject matter. We all want to find out more about what makes us tick, and why people are the way they are (you 're reading Psychology Today blogs, aren 't you?). Another draw to psychology is the helping nature of the profession, but there are many ways to help others in careers other than clinical psychology (e.g., I/O psychologists ' common mission is to make workplaces better).
What I have learned in this course is essential to everyday life. The study of psychology is daily life for everyone that exists. Prior to taking this course, I did not have knowledge of certain human behaviors and the theories. I knew that we all have different behaviors from time to time but, I never gave much thought about how they are evaluated. Looking at the news on a nightly basis we see human behavior we don’t always understand. Recently, we see the tragedy of the shootings in Newtown, CT and can’t imagine how a person can even think of performing such a heinous crime. I feel kids should not be treated in such a manner and they should be shielded from the ills of society. Without having the same feeling as the shooter I am incapable of making any sense of his actions. As proof we can look at people with certain levels of autism. Some autistic people are not capable of feeling certain emotions. An autistic person who may see someone near them with pain or happiness may not be able to diagnosis the feelings of the other person. Their inability to posses certain emotions render them incapable of understanding the feelings of other people. As such some of the people with autism may not be able to “fit in” socially. Since the individuals without autism are not able to connect with the individuals with autism they are not able to connect on any significant level.
When we watch emotional shows or documentaries sometimes we get caught up in all the emotions that we see. People can be seen crying over a sad story even when they are not directly affected. The only connections we may have with stories we hear or see about are that we share the same emotions. We have all dealt with loss or we have been the victim of certain actions carried out by people with bad intentions.
Psychology involves looking at common traits between individuals and society. It involves analyzing people and being able to recognize certain behavior traits. Without the establishment of psychology many people would be left without a voice. Psychology is a method that is used by people to connect to people with differences that would normally prevent them from being able to communicate with each other.
References
Psychology, 2012, About, What is Psychosocial Development, retrieved from http://psychology.about.com/od/psychosocialtheories/a/psychosocial.htm
Psychology, 2012, About, Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development, retrieved from http://psychology.about.com/od/developmentalpsychology/a/kohlberg.htm
Oprah Winfrey Biography.(2012), The Biography Channel website. Retrieved from
http://www.biography.com/people/oprah-winfrey-9534419