Marilyn+Monroe

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Marilyn Monroe was born Norma Jean Mortenson on June 1, 1926 in Los Angeles, California to mother Gladys Baker. Unfortunately Monroe endured somewhat of a sad and challenging childhood. Her mother suffered from psychological problems, and her fathers true identity was never to be known. Due to this, Monroe spent a tremendous amount of time in foster homes and orphanages. One can only imagine the true extent of her struggles, the quality of life, and the extent of psychological damage such living conditions might have caused. At the age of 16 Monroe married 21 year old Jimmy Dougherty. In 1944 Dougherty joined the Merchant Marines and was sent to the South Pacific. At this time Monroe took a job on the assembly line at the Radio Plane Munitions factory. This is exactly where Monroe was “discovered” by photographer David Conver. He was there taking pictures of women contributing to the war effort for //Yank //magazine. Conover used Monroe for the shoot and shortly thereafter she had multiple modeling jobs coming her way. She began taking drama classes and studied actresses such as Lana Turner in an effort to boost her stardom an eventually become more than just a model. In 1946 she divorced husband Dougherty and shortly thereafter signed a contract with Twentieth Century Fox.The first movie she starred in was //The Shocking Miss Pilgrim// 1947. It was a smaller role but still a stepping stone nonetheless. She continued to star in movies although her roles were somewhat small. She had a role in Claudia Caswell’s in //All About Eve// which gave her much needed praise. In 1954 Monroe married her second husband, Joe DiMaggio, which critics say was more of a conservative man. The two divorced only after about 9 short months later. Some say it was because of Monroe’s fame and sexual image. On June 29, 1956, Monroe wed playwright Arthur Miller. While they were married, Arthur wrote the part of Roslyn Taber in 1961's //The Misfits// especially for Marilyn. Sadly, the marriage between Marilyn and Arthur ended on January 20, 1961, and //The Misfits//    was to be Marilyn's last completed film. In August of 1962, 36-year-old Marilyn died at her Brentwood, California home. There is still speculation and unanswered questions as to the actual cause of her death, some say possible suicide, accidental death due to drug overdose, some sources even say she simply died in her sleep; the fact of the matter is that no “real” answer has been declared. Throughout her career Monroe was in about 30 films Her biggest hit was the 1959 film titled //Some Like It Hot.// She won a Golden Globe Award for her role in this comedy. She was also known for the filming of the famous skirt-blowing scene for her film, //The Seven Year Itch.// With numerous New Yorkers looking on Monroe stood over a subway grating while gusts of air blew her skirt over her head. It was dubbed "the shot seen round the world". To this day it is the most famous image of Monroe. In May of 1962, Monroe made another memorable performance when she sang "Happy Birthday" to President Kennedy at Madison Square Garden. (Spoto, 2003)
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Bandura gives rise to this idea of the self system- the set of cognitive processes by which a person perceives, evaluates, and regulates his or her own behavior so that it is appropriate to the environment and affective in achieving the individuals goals. The individual is affected by both external processes of reinforcements provided by the environment and internal processes such as expectations, anticipated reinforcements, thoughts, plans and goals. When evalutating Monroe’s self system we can deduce that she was affected by both external processes of reinforcements and internal processes of reinforcements. ( Schustack) How did Monroe become such a successful actress and one of the most recognized faces in the world? Let us dig into these external and internal processes that can help explain her behaviors that eventually lead to her success. Monroe’s environment expressed that sex appeal, talent, beauty and fame could provide her with the love, adoration, support and stability she lacked as a child. A beautiful face, attractive figure and some talent can get a female attention that can eventually lead to greater things. Monroe after modeling and seeing how successful she could potentially become was motivated to then, by external factors in her environment, to take acting classes and to study other actresses. These actions helped her in becoming the famous actress and model we know today. The attention from her fans, the interest from major production companies such as Twentieth Century Fox, the increase in pay were all positive reinforcements that helped shape the way she behaved. The more attractive she appeared and the more talented she became the more these reinforcements would occur. Her internal processes, for example her inner desire to be accepted and loved could also explain her desire to want to be a successful actress. The more attractive and talented she is the more job offerings would come her way. She evaluated and regulated her own behavior in a way that was appropriate to the environment. By doing this she was able to achieve these inner goals and desires. Bandura also explains this idea of observational learning- learning by an individual that occurs by watching others perform the behavior. An example of Monroe doing this can be seen when she decides to study other famous actresses. What acting skills did they have? What techniques set them aside from large pool of aspiring actresses? By observing an actress such as Lana Turner she could then improve her own acting skills through a process called modeling. Bandura would also suggest that early in her career Monroe had a positive self efficacy- expectancy or belief about how competently one will be able to enact a behavior in a particular situation. Monroe was clearly aware of her talents and this provided her with the incentive and motivation to become more successful. She believed that she could become a great actress and therefore behaved in ways that would achieve this belief. Self efficacy beliefs are the result of four types of information. (1) our experiences trying to perform the target behavior; (2) watching other perform that or similar behaviors; (3) verbal persuasion; (4) How we feel about the behavior. ( Schustack) Let us now evaluate the results of Monroe’s four types of information: (1) she has been signed to major production agencies and thus can conclude that being attractive and talented can land you the deal so she makes sure she has that sex appeal and continues to improve her acting skills. (2) through a process called observational learning she models other successful actresses in an attempt to improve her own skills. (3) she is motivated by the response of her fans, the love, adoration and support she receives from them. (4) She wants to be accepted and loved and sees this as a way to achieve that either by the fans or the men that are attracted to her. Monroe's self efficacy shiffted which can be seen by her increasing tardiness to studios later on in her career. To conclude, cognitive approaches focus on the way people think. Monroe is probably motivated to be a successful actress because she thinks that is the only way she will ever be loved and accepted. Her lonely, unstable childhood left her wanting the acceptace of others therefore her behaviors are shaped by these internal processes. She tries to fill the void in her life with her multiple husbands and her fan base.

The trait approach to personality uses a basic, limited set of adjectives or adjective dimensions to describe and scale individuals. The Big Five is compromised of five dimensions that try to capture personality. The five dimensions are Extroversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Neuroticism, and Openness.( Schustack) Monroe scores extremely high in extroversion which is characterized by a tendency to be more enthusiastic, sociable and dominate. Her desire to be in the “spot light” and center of attention shows just how confident and comfortable she is in her own skin. She can effectively capture her audience which can explain why she is still remembered and talked about today. She has a sense of charisma both on film and in person that forces people to be attracted to her. I would have to say she does not score as high on agreeableness as she does extroversion. It would appear that after three marriages she may not be as cooperative and warm as one might think, caring more about her career and future endeavors more so then her marriages. She does however, have the appearance of someone that is friendly and trusting. Conscientiousness is characterized by people who are generally cautious, dependable, preserving, organized and responsible. Monroe scores somewhat lower on conscientiousness, as reported by many production agencies she did have a tendency to be tardy and at times not show up on set at all. The speculations around her death and the potential for an accidental drug overdose further provide evidence that perhaps she was not the most cautious or dependable person either. It is also quite possible that due to her childhood she may score a little higher on Neuroticism, characterized by the tendency to be nervous, high-strung and tense. The lack of stability as a child along with the lack of unconditional love and support usually provided by one if not both parents could have caused her to worry more about situations. It could have also made her more nervous, the constant worry of where she was going to live and who was going to take care of her could have played a role. Although this may be true she does appear to score high on openness, characterized by being artistic, witty, original and imaginative which are all characteristics she possessed. She was in a sense an artist, acting and modeling was her form of self expression. There was nothing boring, plain or simple about Monroe. By categorizing Monroe it makes it easier to assess what type of person she is without focusing on all the complexities associated with her personality. This however can be seen as a limitation as well.

The paper above approaches Marilyn Monroe’s personality from two different perspectives. Which one is the right one or more accurate perspective? This is an ongoing issue with regards to the assessment of personality and psychology as a whole. Who is right period? Unfortunately there is no concrete answer to these questions. I do feel however, that when evaluating an individual’s personality there is much more to gain by looking at it from several different perspectives. The cognitive approach explained above allows us to understand what exactly Monroe was thinking and then tries to explain how her thoughts affected her behaviors. The Big Five approach relies more on her actual behaviors that in return allow us to categorize. Both are extremely important because it allows us to explain what external and internal processes could have made her, for example, more extroverted or neurotic. Marilyn Monroe is known as a successful actress, an icon and somewhat of a legend. She was gorgeous, talented and motivated. She could captivate an audience with just a mere glance. Although this is true she remained a lonely, woman unable to truly find love, never knowing what it was to belong to a family.