The Psychobiography of Lindsay Lohan

Personality Psychology: The Psychobiography of Lindsay Lohan

Personality Psychology: The Psychobiography of Lindsay Lohan
University of Arizona

Personality Psychology 2
Abstract

Throughout the course of this paper, I will examine the life, personality, and evident character traits in one of my generation’s most iconically controversial celebrities, Lindsay Lohan. I will frame Lindsay’s life through a series of psychological impacts that have resulted in the young celebrity’s tumultuous breakdowns in the public limelight. More specifically, I will attempt to explain how notions of attachment-theory, along with behavioral patterns of extreme extroversion have all shaped Lindsay Lohan’s psychobiography.

Personality Psychology: The Psychobiography of Lindsay Lohan
Over the course of psychology-based historical research and advancement, psychologists have been able to establish a theoretical framework for labeling the vast majority of people’s personalities into five major categories. Through years of extensive, personal analysis, psychologists have been able to determine five distinct, yet crossable dimensions that personalities tend to originate from. These all-encompassing dimensions include extroversion, openness, neuroticism, agreeableness, and conscientiousness. These five major dimensions are not limitations of a person’s overall personality, but contribute the most significant factors to that person’s behavior, according to psychological research. In the particular case of famed good-girl-gone-bad, Lindsay Lohan, we can see exactly how factors of extreme extroversion, matched with tendencies of neuroticism, contributed to the young star’s early fall from grace. Furthermore, in compiling a psychobiography of Lindsay Lohan’s illustrious career, it is also worth noting how elements of attachment-theory have impacted the starlet’s ostentatious behavior. By delving into Lohan’s attachment-derived, highly publicized issues with her parents, we can identify a clear linkage between her convoluted childhood development and her emotional stability, or lack thereof. Contending that Lohan’s particular personality and behavioral tendencies align mostly with the umbrella characteristic of extroversion, we can begin to prove how her controversial life story is merely the young actress’ attempt to project her psychological output through socially public mediums. Furthermore, extroversion seems to be Lohan’s method of decompression, as evident pressures by family and fame have greatly contributed to her notorious social debauchery and cognitive unraveling. Although Lohan’s career has been significantly overshadowed by her infamous social tendencies, extroversion in this case, has also proven to be a positive impacting force on the actress, as extroversion is ultimately where her acting talent derives from too.
Primarily, it is necessary to understand that although Lindsay Lohan’s psychobiography is framed through notions of extroversion, that does not mean that she is wholly an extrovert at her very core. In examining one’s personality it is crucial to understand that these personality traits are actually networks of much smaller, more specific traits, all lumped into one major category. Moreover, according to our class textbook, Dan McAdams boldly conveys the idea that, “there are very few 100% pure extroverts out there, or 100% pure introverts. Instead, most of us somewhere in the middle of the continuum,” (McAdams, 157). However for the purpose of this psychobiography, Lohan will be viewed mostly through the characteristic of extroversion, highlighting major episodes of extreme outward behavior that have ultimately lead to what many people believe to be a waste of talent. In addition, it is certainly worth noting Lohan’s neurotic tendencies, as well as issues that have spawned from her irregular development with her parents. Every biography finds it’s start at the beginning of the subject’s life; however in the case of this psychobiography, we will begin at the beginning of Lohan’s career, before we delve into what ultimately lead to her multiple stints in rehab and legal hurdles. According to an abridged biographical work about Lohan’s career by The Biography Channel’s online publication, “Widely regarded as something of a ‘bad girl’ or ‘hell-raiser’, it is perhaps as a result of her troubled relationship with her father that she has been publicly seen to have ‘gone off the rails’” (Bio, 2011). This particular passage completely ecompasses the objective of this psychobiography, in that it explicitly identifies the root of Lohan’s issues as based on claims associated with attachment-theory, and then goes on to link that to the young star’s ostentatious extroversion. John Bowlby is widely regarded as the first to attempt to psychoanalyze the behavioral patterns of infants that have been separated from their parents, and note the subject’s emotional and physical responses. As applied to the case of Lohan, we can see how Lohan’s dark, sordid relationship with her absent-minded parents has greatly contributed to her extroversion as an adult. According to a brief overview of attachment-theory in adults, compiled by the University of Illinois’ R. Chris Fraley, “The attachment behavioral system is an important concept in attachment theory because it provides the conceptual linkage between ethological models of human development and modern theories on emotion regulation and personality,” (Fraley, 2010). Fraley is identifying the fact that there is a clear correlation between how a child develops and how they are later able to regulate their emotional stability. Looking at Lohan’s early childhood life, her father struggled with serious legal woes in her early life. Her mother, a former actress, was mostly concerned with popularizing Lohan’s promising career. In an interview with Lindsay published by Radar Online in 2013, the actress explained, “‘I was being pulled in different directions all the time and never had time to just sit and relax,’ she said of her home life” (Radar, 2013). The lack of stability and guidance from her parents, in addition to growing up in the public spotlight, are all major contributing factors in what has resulted in adult extroversion at extreme levels for Lohan. Major complexities and irregularities that are associated with Lohan’s childhood as a budding screen star are ultimately what has lead to her highly energetic, emotionally unstable behavioral proceedings. Proceedings are elaborated in our class textbook. Esteemed Harvard professor and psychologist Henry Murray’s work is mentioned, in reference to Murray’s notions of human behavior. According to Murray, as described by Dan McAdams, “the smallest meaningful unit of time in human behavior is called [a] proceeding. A proceeding is a single episode of behavior abstracted from the temporal complexity of ongoing life,” (McAdams, 483). The proceedings of Lindsay Lohan’s early adult life, in her early 20’s, reflect significant complexity, as reflected through her bouts of embarrassing public intoxication and widely publicized drug abuse, which have led to futile stints in rehab and short-term jail sentences. In the same interview with Lohan, she tried to validate some of her extroverted, poor social behavior in her early adult life with sentiments such as, “I’ve never been a junkie, and never will be. I just like going out late to clubs with friends and listening to music. Everyone thinks I’m this crazy drug addict who shows up late to everything and behaves so badly. But I’m not,” (Radar 2013). This specific part of the interview points to the fact that Lohan accepts herself as an extrovert, but sees her behavior merely as outward social expression, not the product of these external pressures she has been forced to endure. Lohan also added that, “Constantly sending me to rehab is pointless,” unfortunately highlighting the fact that her poor expression of psychological energy, is partly embedded in her blatant drug problems. Through the biographical approach of Lindsay Lohan’s life, we can see the headlining dimensions of the former child star’s psychological traits that compose her overall personality. Neuroticism is showcased somewhat as her obviously negative behavior is a reflection of negativity in her upbringing, which is also closely related to notions associated with the complexities of attachment-theory. Most evidently however, it is clear that the best characterization of Lindsay Lohan, for the purpose of this psychobiography, is that of extroversion. Extroverts are highly social beings and McAdams writes, “[extroverts] exhibit considerable energy and enthusiasm in social situations” (McAdams, 159), which is absolutely affirmed by Lohan in her interview. Unfortunately, Lindsay’s potential and promising career has been nearly forgotten as her bright social tendencies shifted to darker, unhealthy social outbursts, largely due to her tumultuous development. Lindsay Lohan’s psychobiography is sadly marked by a sense of failure that is associated with the young adult’s perilous drinking and drug use, however, through examining her work as an actress at such a young age, it is evident that her extroverted tendencies and behavior did once serve to be her most redeeming quality.

Works Cited

McAdams, Dan P. The Person: An Introduction to Personality Psychology. Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace College, 1994. Print.

Fraley, Chris. "A Brief Overview of Adult Attachment Theory and Research | R. Chris Fraley." A Brief Overview of Adult Attachment Theory and Research | R. Chris Fraley. University of Illinois, 2010. Web. 22 Feb. 2014.

Perel, David. "Radar Online." Radar Online. N.p., 5 May 2013. Web. 25 Feb. 2014.

Rentfrow, Jason. "The Big 5 Model of Personality | World of Psychology." Psych Central.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Feb. 2014.

Srivastava, S. (2008). Measuring the Big Five Personality Factors. Retrieved 22, February 2014 from http://psdlab.uoregon.edu/bigfive.html.

"Lindsay Lohan Biography." Lindsay Lohan. The Biography Channel, 2011. Web. 23 Feb. 2014.

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