Psychology of Personality and the Attachment Theory

Psychology of Personality Case Study
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Psychology of Personality Case Study
Claire Mann is a highly successful businesswoman and a mover in the fashion industry. Being in an industry that requires closely working with other talented individuals such as fashion stylists, photographers, and models, among others, her success has been mostly associated with her ability to form powerful networks. Yet, she lacks healthy personal connections and relationships with others, including members of her family. This paper aims at exploring her personality using the attachment theory and Karen Horney’s basic conflict theory. Understanding how people form attachments and solve conflict can help create a better picture of how Claire developed her personality, especially when it comes to relating with others.
Information about the Case
On the surface, Claire is a very friendly woman who appears to be close to many people. She can form connections with people instantly because she understands how helpful such connections are to her career. However, a closer look into these relationships reveals that they are superficial. She understands that the connections are meaningless in the absence of quid pro quo. For her, interactions and connections with others involve some form of exchange. She strongly believes that she can only receive something from someone by giving something. As such, her relationships with others are very transactional and impersonal. No one seems to know any intimate details about her. Her assistant, who considers her a role model and mentor, not only to her but also to other women in the industry, says that she hardly talks about her personal life. If anything, those close to her see her as an emotionally detached person; nothing seems to get to her. Claire never attends social functions, which is interesting because people from networks in such social functions, especially in her industry. When she does attend social functions, it is only because she is interested in meeting a certain person or people with whom she can do business in the future. Claire is highly driven, self-reliant, and an over-achiever. She has strong opinions that are rarely influenced by others, she hardly consults others, and she is very hands-on with her employees.
Claire was raised by a single parent, her mom, and is an only child. Her father left them when she was three years old and went on to start a new family. He never tried to reach out to Claire. Growing up, her mother was hardly home. She was always working and doing something else other than spending time with Claire. As a single parent, she had to make sure that the bills were paid and Claire had access to good schools. In fact, Claire went to boarding school at an early age because her mom could not juggle work and parenting responsibilities. At boarding school, Claire would be under the care of her teachers, which gave her mom time to focus on her work. Her mother rarely came to see her in school, even during special school events which required parents and their children to participate in various activities together. She learned early on how to rely on herself. Just like her mother, Claire has put a lot of focus on her work, which makes her unavailable when it comes to spending time with friends, family, and romantic partners. In her free time, she prefers to stay indoors alone and or do activities that do not require interaction with others, such as cycling or taking nature walks. She hardly talks to her mom and when she does, she avoids being emotionally vulnerable with her.
Information about the Theory
The attachment theory is an appropriate lens for analyzing and understanding Claire’s personality. First developed by John Bowlby, the attachment theory proposes that the attachment formed between a child and their primary caregiver influences the type of attachment the child develops with others, even in adulthood (Kelland, 2017). Mary Ainsworth further developed this theory and revealed that people can develop secure, avoidant, and anxious attachment styles. According to Shaver et al. (2019), secure attachments are seen in people who had supportive primary caregivers who were available and responded to the child’s need. In adulthood, these people have trusting relationships, lean on others for support, and are intimately open with others. However, avoidant and anxious attachments are seen in people who lacked supportive primary caregivers (Shaver et al., 2019). Because their needs were not sufficiently met, they tend to be self-reliant as adults and do not open up to others. Claire has an avoidant attachment. She does not open up to others about her personal life and avoids social interactions or spending time with friends and family.
As Bryant et al. (2017) indicate, when children are separated from their parents, they are more inclined to develop avoidant attachment. Claire was first separated from her dad when she was three years old. Also, she was separated from her mom at an early age when she joined boarding school. This separation from her parents, albeit at different stages of her life, can explain her avoidant tendencies when forming relationships with others. Her father abandoned her and her mom took her to boarding school when she was still very young. Also, based on her results on the adult attachment scale developed by Collins (1996), Claire’s attachment style is avoidant. The scale assesses the different styles of attachment in terms of closeness, dependency, anxiety, and avoidance. Claire’s had a score of 35 on avoidance, which was the highest amongst other measures. She scored 22 on both closeness and anxiety and 15 on dependency. Given that her lowest score was on dependency, it is safe to say that she has mastered the art of self-reliance quite well. As Fraley (2019) reveals, people with avoidant attachment styles are not only unable/ unwilling to open up to others but are also uncomfortable depending on others for support.
Further, Claire’s personality can be explained using Karen Horney’s attitudes of solving basic conflict. Horney posited that people can have a compliant, aggressive, or detached personality. A compliant personality also referred to as “moving toward people,” involves the need to maintain a relationship with others and to seek approval and affection (Kelland, 2017). An aggressive personality, also known as “moving against people, &...