Motivation has been an interest for most of my life. Understanding and figuring out why we do what we do is enlightening . Machiavelli was credited for his insights about seven centuries ago. He believed that the” leaders “ or rulers were primarily motivated to gain power by egoism and that one major motive used in manipulating and controlling the populace was fear. That dynamic continues today. This disquisition applies fear, anxiety, dependence and aggression to the politics of Trump .
Roughly hundred years ago Sigmund Freud identified and cited civilizations three major components associated with fear and anxiety. First, a component was the power and ravages of nature as evidenced by humans being unable to control hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, fire, and so forth. The second component was related to the aging body diseases, infections and injuries. The third component was the result of people interacting with people.
For troubled individuals , we have a number of different Anxiety Disorders. For instance, we have agoraphobia, social phobia, panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder , obsessive-compulsive disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, and atypical anxiety disorder diagnostic categories. A few of the symptoms of the Generalized Anxiety Disorder include 1. Motor tension, shakiness ,jittering , jumpiness , tension, muscle aches , fatigue and inability to relax 2. Autonomic hyperactivity, sweating, heart pounding, cold clammy hands, dry mouth, dizziness,and lightheadedness 3. Apprehensive expectation, anxiety, worry, fear, rumination, anticipation of misfortune to self or others. 4 Vigilance: difficulty concentrating, insomnia, feeling on edge. Irritability and patience.
Sigmund Freud and Otto Rank theorized, identified and described the impact of fear and anxiety beginning with birth . And that this powerful psychological experience of fea, anxiety and separation becomes the prototype and remains with the individual throughout life The womb and birth canal was seen as a receptacle for protection. Birth was a disruption, ejection and separation resulting in a homeostasis imbalance with increasing stimuli, respiration and other physiological changes. These stressful physiological changes occurring - fear, anxiety became the initial basis for future ” terror experiences for humans “ Simply put , psychology ,the mother figure, the mothering nurturing , caring, loving, protection component assists and diminishes that fear and anxiety .That initial nurturing behavior results in seeking a union for safety, comfort and protection . As a result, the importance and significance of the ego need of dependency and affiliation has been established. Simply,separation ,fear , anxiety and dependency becomes a repeated theme throughout lifetime.Separation anxiety occurs in the feeding process - weaning , mother physically leaving, etc. In other words, separation, fear , anxiety and dependency are prevalent and play a significant part of the motivational psychology for mankind..
Motivation has been a major interest in psychology .Briefly,thanks to Freudian or psychoanalytic influence, there has been an inordinate amount of research in both the study of anxiety as it relates to dependency and aggression . In a non deprivation condition in children, researchers reported that anxious subjects were more suggestible and more easily conditioned than non-anxious children. Schachter found in his experiments the relationship of affiliative behavior to anxiety with female college subjects.: 1, anxiety leads to affiliative behavior 2. anxious subjects tended to an extent greater than low anxiety cases to rather be with others under either silence or irrelevant talk conditions . These findings suggest the motivational power and influence of fear, anxiety as it relates to dependency. Individuals have varying degrees of anxiety when being alone or separate from others. As a result, the motivation for attachment affiliation remains unparalleled in man's search for protection, safety and comfort irrespective of the mental health of the other.
Neo-Freudian Karen Horney brilliantly described the anxiety and hostility relationship . She suggested that any impulse or impulses - for power, prestige, status , affection, hate, lying - has the potential and tendency to provoke anxiety. However, especially hostile impulses are dangerously associated with causing anxiety . Horney added that neuroses are related to hostile impulses and that the repression of hostility means pretending , denying ,rationalizing that everything is alright when it’s not..It is unfortunately a refrain from fighting,and/or acknowledging the impulse . With repression the individual becomes defensive and reinforces an already given feeling of defenselessness and powerlessness which ,in fact, contributes to the development of neurosis. Horney also acknowledged that when feeling being threatened, it provokes a reactive hostility in defense.
Briefly , another theory of aggression is the frustration- aggression hypothesis. This hypothesis states that aggression always occurs because of frustration and that frustration can lead to aggression. Feeling frustration suggests discomfort ,tension or anxiety. In other words, simply put , anxiety is a factor with both dependency and aggression
Applying fear, anxiety, dependency and aggression brings us to the 2024 presidential election. It's clear that Trump and his political sycophants employ motivation of fear and anxiety by telling their loyalists how bad things are and who's to blame-immigrants, etc. He also tells them that he's going to protect them from all the evil .Moreover, he states that he's being attacked , the election was stolen from him and he's being unfairly treated legally- witch hunted . So now, the followers internalize that their savior was threatened, which means they are being threatened and vulnerable as well. They have a patriotic right and they are going to fix the wrong doing through aggression. Trump then boasts that only himself can wipe out evil and protect them from all the bad guys. - with their patriotism Some of the fiction :1. The "wall" keeps out all the thugs, rapists and drug dealers coming to our Republic 2. The tariffs protect American consumers. 3. Tax cuts for the 1% trickles down and helps American consumers. 4. Abortion is dangerous, and is contrary to Christianity. 5. Book banning and controlling what is taught protects the feelings of children 6. Attacking judges, prosecutors, poll workers LGBTQ and Democrats are the enemies of Trump and democracy 7. Christmas and believing in a certain God is righteous and anyone professing any other belief is evil and dangerous.8 Those attacking the capital on January 6 were loving and patriotic. 9. Violence, hate, anti-Semitism is warranted and permissible because society is being taken over by undesirables. 10 Kamala is not smart enough to be president, 11. Trump can protect them from the liberals, liberal cities and outsiders 12.. The military will go after all the unfaithful. 13. The Biden administration gives FEMA aid to immigrants, who are vermin and not to the hurricane victims .
In summation, fear and anxiety are associated with dependency and aggression . Dependency is a protection and safety against the terror of being alone and being unable to defend oneself. Dependency also leads to looking for that special identification figure who promises to protect. The protector also gives permission to scapegoat for the expression of aggression against all the enemies. This old playbook that has been used over the centuries and continues to be effective because of the nature of human beings. We are born fearful and anxious and deal with our stress primarily with dependency behaviors. Politically,this dynamic becomes a major threat to the well-being of many in our Republic . Henrik Ibsen's Enemy of the People fits . Trump's character is similar in that he is a pathological liar and suppresses the truth. He reinforces the collective ignorance of his followers with his desire for corruption and power. Beware , history repeats because man is man
References
Cofer,C. N. And Appley,H. M. . Motivation Theory and Research.
Horney, Karen . The Neurotic Personality of Our Time.
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