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Running head: PSYCHOLOGY 1

Psychology

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PSYCHOLOGY 2

President Donald Trump

President Donald Trump’s behavior may have been influenced by family issues,

particularly the long absence of his mother during his childhood. Trump is the fourth of five

children and this means that his older siblings already placed a demand on his mother's energy

and time. When Trump was just two years of age, his mother Mary Trump, was taken ill because

there arose complications with her last pregnancy. She had an emergency hysterectomy and the

subsequent infections saw her go through several surgeries. One of her eldest daughters once

revealed that Mary Trump had four surgeries in just two weeks (Lovenheim, 2018). Her illness

was prolonged and young Trump had to endure the trauma of the prolonged absence of his

mother. The illness therefore denied Donald Trump the opportunity to form a secure attachment

to his mother.

Infants who fail to form a secure attachment to their parents will either have attachment

anxiety or attachment avoidance in their adulthood. In attachment anxiety, the individual craves

intimacy but has difficulty trusting others and will thus constantly seek reassurance. In

attachment avoidance, the individual generally distrusts others and are convinced that they don't

need close relationships (Daly & Mallinckrodt, 2009). Moreover, the relationships they form are

often unstable. In addition, they have the tendency to be excessively self-reliant and desire high

levels of independence. Much of Donald Trump's behavior is consistent with someone exhibiting

attachment avoidance. First, Trump has a high sense of self-reliance and is almost unable to

acknowledge self-doubt. He has had unstable relationships as evidenced by his multiple

marriages and the fact that he almost completely lacks close friends. His relationship with the

staff at White House, members of his cabinet and leaders in Congress is equally unstable.

According to Daly and Mallinckrodt (2009), people with attachment avoidance have the

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tendency to idolize their parents without any evidence to support their claims. Over the years,

Trump has described his mother as being fantastic, tremendous, very warm and very loving.

However, his sentiments are not supported by any stories or anecdotes of his early childhood. In

summary, much of trumps behavior is explained by family issues, particularly the failure to have

a secure attachment to the mother in his childhood.

Cognitive Learning Theory explains behavior as the result of thinking and deferring

mental processes. Internal and external factors influence these mental processes to produce

learning in individuals. The theory recognizes the crucial role of the human brain in the

understanding of complex and new concepts. Cognitive processes such as perception, observing,

attention, classifying, reasoning and categorizing are essential in helping individuals learn.

According to the cognitive learning theory, human beings do not merely respond to stimuli or

information they receive but rather, they actively process it. The changes in behavior reflect what

is happening in the mind of the individual. This means that a person's ability to understand and

apply certain ideas has a direct relationship with their cognitive abilities.

In applying cognitive learning theory to Donald Trump, the president can be seen to be

very tactful. Trump knew what the people wanted and he made these interests the focus of his

presidential campaign. The focus of Trump's campaign was on domestic issues bedeviling

Americans such as Islamic terrorism, rising national debt, illegal immigration and the offshoring

of American jobs. Moreover, Trump's campaign slogan "Make America Great Again" won the

hearts of many American citizens. Trump exhibits cognitive information processing as he

actively seeks to understand the information he receives and relates it to what he already knows.

Before his campaigns, Trump knew the psychology of the electorate and told them of the issues

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they most identify with. However, since he became the president of the U.S, his decisions have

not resonated with many. This is because his decisions do not reflect someone with empathy.

Another learning theory that can be applied to understand the behaviors, ideas and

achievements of Trump is observational or vicarious learning. In vicarious learning, the

individual learns to perform a behavior after observing a behavior being rewarded. Observational

learning explains Trump's success as a businessman. Trump was influenced by his father to settle

on a career in real estate development. Trump's father, Frederick Trump was a real estate

developer and a builder. Trump's father constructed and operated middle-income apartments

(D'Antonio, M. (2015). As a young man, Donald Trump would spend much of his time during

the Summers working at the construction sites of his father's company. What this means doing

business is something that has been present in the life of Trump from his youth. His passion for

business was further enhanced by his Bachelor of Science in economics degree earned from the

University of Pennsylvania.

After his graduation, Trump joined the Trump Organization, their family business.

Having seen his father's efforts in business being rewarded, Trump developed goals that were

grander. Trump relocated to Manhattan in 1971 and established connections with a number of

people of influence in the city. Trump was convinced that Manhattan would offer excellent

economic opportunities to earn higher profits (D’Antonio, 2015). Trump began undertaking large

building projects not only in Manhattan but also in other cities across the United States. The

attractive architectural designs won him public recognition. Most notable properties of Trump

include the Grand Hyatt, Trump Parc, and Trump Plaza among others. Today, Trump still owns

several million square feet of real estate especially in prime Manhattan and is still a major figure

in the real estate businesses in the United States. Vicarious learning explains Trump's

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achievement as a business person because his early participation in his father's business groomed

him for success in the real estate business.

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References

Daly, K. D., & Mallinckrodt, B. (2009). Experienced therapists’ approach to psychotherapy for

adults with attachment avoidance or attachment anxiety. Journal of Counseling

Psychology, 56(4), 549.

D'Antonio, M. (2015). Never enough: Donald Trump and the pursuit of success. Macmillan.

Lovenheim, P. (2018, May 13). Donald Trump’s Mommy Issues. Politico Magazine, Retrieved

from https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/05/13/trump-mothers-day-218363.

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