Three Strategies Jewel Moves Toward People example essay topic

For my paper I decided to use Karen Horney's Social Psychological Viewpoint on the "Search for Social Security" and compared it with the singer Jewel. I found that Jewel and Horney's viewpoint went together well. Jewel is someone that has social security and I will give examples of how she got it and how she deals with society. I got my information from an article I read about Jewel talking about the new book she just wrote on herself.

The book is called Chasing down the dawn; Jewel describes it as", the upward spiral in my life". Horney emphasized the individuals search for a sense of security in the world as the primary motivational force in personality. In attempting to establish a sense of security, each person develops a particular personality style for coping with the world. Jewels personality style for coping with the world is one of the rules she lives by: "To live a true to yourself life, to be honest and courageous and know that good things will follow out of that.

Horney assumed that the early relationship between parent and child was extremely important in determining personality in adulthood. Jewel had very good relationships with her parents, even when they divorced when she was only eight years old. She lived with her father for a while, who was a folk singer, in Alaska. They would perform together. Then she went and lived with her mother in California, where they moved into vans parked side by side to save money so Jewel could make music a priority.

I think it helped her singing career a lot by the way her parents were so supportive. There are three strategies for achieving social security. They are: Moving toward, against, and away from people. Moving toward people involves believing that if you go along with people and give them what they want, they will give you love and a sense of affection. Out of the three strategies Jewel moves toward people more.

When fans and critics say they want to know the "real Jewel", she considers it a good thing, because "That's what they " re gonna get! I can't be about trying to hide what's not perfect about me". It takes a lot of courage to remain true and authentic to who and what you are everyday. Jewel knows that, from the outside, celebrity makes life look easy.

"One of the traps is they see me out of the awkward duckling phase. I wrote this book to let kids see how I developed my mind and my heart. Moving against people involves a style of interaction characterized by aggressiveness, hostility, and exploitation. This strategy is founded on the belief that the world is full of people who are only looking out for themselves. This strategy is not one used by Jewel. She does use the strategy of moving away from people though.

Moving away from people is characterized by withdrawing or detaching yourself from others. By retreating into your own world, you achieve a sense of self-sufficiency. Jewel thinks that, "because your famous, people automatically feel like 'why is she so great. Why aren't I?' Which is a really valid question. I'm all for questioning that. But when people get in my face it makes me want to just get away from people".

Jewel says "I'm in a job where people only see me on TV or in magazines, it doesn't always resemble who I know myself to be. Horney believed that everyone would need to use interpersonal coping strategies at some time or another. It also depends on how they are used. A healthy person uses all three coping strategies to some extent, depending on the nature of the relationship, type of situation, and type of interaction.

As you have read this paper I sure you have seen how well Jewel deals with society. While she doesn't use all three coping strategies she does use the other two well. I think be writing the book about her life lets her be vulnerable to society and she doesn't mind. She wants everyone to see her true self. Like Jewel said in the article, "acting perfect is overrated. Pretending I was perfect was dishonest and made me feel I had an unreal image of myself to uphold.".