Rihanna

= RIHANNA = ===By: Amy Galarza === 

**Biography** Robyn Rihanna Fenty, now more famously known as “Rihanna” was born February 20, 1988 to her mother Monica, and father, Ronald Fenty, in Saint Michael Barbados. She later became the oldest of 3 to two brothers, Rorrey and Rajad Fenty. Childhood was rough for Rihanna as she was deeply affected by her fathers crack cocaine addiction, and her parent’s rocky marriage, which ended when she was fourteen years old. When she was as young as seven years old, Rihanna discovered her love of singing. While growing up, some Rihanna’s major musical influences consisted of Mariah Carey, Madonna, Janet Jackson, Bob Marley, and Beyonce. At age fifteen, she formed a musical group with two of her classmates. Having a mutual friend, Rihanna was introduced to Evan Rodgers, an established producer from New York, who was vacationing with his wife—a native—in Barbados. Rihanna and her group was given the opportunity to audition for Rodgers, and by no surprise, Rihanna stole the spotlight. Rodgers arranged for Rihanna to head to New York and meet with then-CEO of Def Jam Records and now-founder of Roc Nation, Jay-Z. He signed her onto the label that same night. The events quickly paved the way for Rihanna’s path to stardom. In 1995, Rihanna released her debut album, //Music in the Sun//, and since then, she has gone on to produce follow-up albums such as: //A Girl Like Me// (2006), //Good Girl Gone Bad// (2007), //Rated R// (2009), and //Loud// (2010). Rihanna has taken countless number-one spots on singles charts, and has received a number of awards dedicated to her hard work. Along her road to success, Rihanna has not only been faced with the hardships of growing up with an abusive addict for a father, but more recently, has publicly dealt with the unfortunate act of abusive by then-boyfriend, Chris Brown. On the night of February 8, 2009, Chris reportedly beat Rihanna following a verbal argument, as they were on their way home from Clive Davis’s annual pre-Grammy bash.

**Neo-analytic and Ego Perspective** Neo-analytical approach is based on the individual’s sense of self, or ego, as the core personality. Some of the most influential theorist includes Carl G. Jung, Alfred Adler, and Karen Horney. Jung believed that personality was founded in one’s goals and future orientation, however, they can only be recognized using these three components: the conscious ego, the personal unconscious, and the collective unconscious. The conscious ego, which is conscious and embodies the sense of self, develops around the age of four. Rihanna, coming into her personality, discovered her love of performing shortly after this time, at age seven. The personal unconscious, which contains thoughts and feelings that are not currently a part of the conscious awareness, are also actively repressed when faced with ego-threatening nature. Rihanna dealt with a lot when it came to her father’s aggression and drug abuse. Much of this was repressed as she focused on pursuing a career in singing. The collective unconscious is a deeper level of unconsciousness, where it is made up of series of archetypes found to be true to most people. This is because archetypes are thought link the emotional reaction we have to continually repeated events (also referred to as ‘déjà vu’). Applying this to Rihanna’s case, when her father hit her mother, Rihanna had a lot of emotional reactions connected to the abuse, so once she was struck by Chris, those feelings, once again, resurfaced. While dealing with her very public break-up with Chris, Rihanna was also falling into some of Jung’s most common archetypes. The Persona and Shadow Archetype represents the socially acceptable behavior that is present to others, and the dark and unacceptable side of personality. Rihanna immediately escaped from the public eye following the media’s release of the her altercation with Chris. With this time, she was given the opportunity to be in shock, be depressed, be angry, cry, but, most important, she could recover from bother her internal and external injuries without judgment. Jung’s Mother Archetype embodies generativity and fertility. Rihanna succumbed to these, as she reached out to Chris, following the incident. Her intentions were to keep him from “hurting himself or doing something stupid because he has so much to lose”. The Hero and Demon Archetype is based on the concept of a “hero”, who is a strong and good force that does battle with the enemy in order to rescue another from harm. Rihanna embodies this role as she speaks openly about the night of her attack, in hopes of setting a proper example for her fans, and girls in similar situations. This placed Chris in the role of the “demon” which embodies cruelty and evil. On another note, Adolf Adler emphasized the concept of “complexes”. He defined Inferiority Complex as on which made individuals feel as if it is impossible to achieve goals. However, the inferiority complex was one that “could be overcome by the fabrication of superiority complex in order to maintain a sense of self-worth.”(Friedman, 2009). This would explain Rihanna’s fake it till you make it attitude. “I put my guard up so hard," she says. "I didn't want people to see me cry. I didn't want people to feel bad for me. It was a very vulnerable time in my life, and I refused to let that be the image. I wanted them to see me as, ‘I'm fine, I’m tough.' I put that up until it felt real."(Rolling Stone, 2011). Adler’s concept of aggression drive states that an individuals is more implied to “lash out” when feeling helpless. This gives meaning to Rihanna’s //Good Girl Gone Bad// album, as she rebelled against her management and began to do things the way she wanted them to be done. Rihanna underwent some major changes following her break-up. Her image became much more edgy, she cut her hair, she colored her hair, she was much more provocative, she wore “all-black-everything”, she cursed, her lyrics were either very vulnerable or overly-tough, and she continued to add on to her collection of tattoos. Adler’s emphasized his theory of the three fundamental social issues that he believed everyone must address. These were: occupational task, societal tasks, and love tasks. In relation to Rihanna, she chose to pursue a career in singing and entertainment, which made her feel “worthwhile” as such an occupation was a farfetched idea for an islander from Barbados. In terms of societal tasks and creating friendships, Rihanna has spoken highly of her close friends and family. Her most public friendship is that of hers and close friend Katy Perry, whom she not only vacationed with following the Chris Brown assault, but also mention in her song, //Stupid in Love//, saying “I left the engine running, I just came to see what you would do if I gave you a chance to make things right, so I made it, even though Katy told me it’d be nothing but a waste of time…and she was right”. Lastly, Alder’s love task places importance on finding a suitable life-partner, whom at the time, Rihanna believed Chris Brown to be. Karen Horney’s Culture and Feminism argued that women face basic anxiety, the fear of being alone, helplessness, and insecure. This would go as far as to explain why Rihanna experienced such anxiety after her separation with Chris. As a mode of adaptation, Rihanna became very withdrawn. Horney goes on to describes different aspects of the self: real self vs. despised self which portray the inner core of personality and how we see ourselves vs. our self-perception based on other’s negative evaluations of us. When questioned about how something so horrific could happen to someone that seemed so strong, Rihanna responded, “I am strong. This happened to me. I didn’t cause this. I didn’t do it. This happened to me, and this could happen to anybody.”(Sawyer, 2009). However, the goal of Horney’s psychoanalysis was not to help someone achieve his or her ideal self, but rather to enable the person to accept his or her real self, which falls fitting to Rihanna’s sense of self-composure. Rihanna used some forms of neurotic coping strategies after the incident. One of them being “moving toward people”, which consisted of making other people happy in order to override the despised self. This was when Rihanna jumped back into work, and continued to make music, in order to please her fans. “Moving against people” is a strategy where one strives power, recognition, and the admiration of others. This took place once Rihanna finally decided to open up about her situation, and gave a formal interview to ABC’s 20/20, Diane Sawyer. She answered questions regarding Chris Brown and set an example to young girls. She acknowledged the fact that she did make a mistake in going back to him, but encouraged others to act more reasonably. “I’m a human being, and people put my on a very unrealistic pedestal… come out of the situation and look at it third person, and for what it really is, and then make your decision because love is so blind.” (Sawyer, 2009)

**Cognitive Perspective** Gestalt Psychology theory is composed of 3 parts: (1) human seeking meaning in their environment (2) the formation of meaningful perceptions based on how we interpret our environment (3) complex stimuli are not reducible to the sum of their parts. Although Gestalt psychology theory is primarily applied to the areas of perception and problem solving, it can also be used when developing discipline or personality as well. From here, Kurt Lewin expands on the theory of field dependent vs. field independent, which portrays two polar ideas in terms of a frame of reference. Field dependence problem solving is very influenced by aspects regarding the related context of the problem, where as field independence is more analytical. This is because field independence is more influenced by the behavior internalized while problem solving. In Rihanna’s case, she goes from being selfishly in love with Chris to the extent that she went back to him after he beat her, to her reassessing her train to thought in order to incorporate the influence she carries on her fans and the women around the world who are suffering from domestic violence. (Cognitive Complexity). Jean Piaget’s Schema theory proposes a cognitive-structure explanation of how children develop concepts about the world around them. She explains that the knowledge we obtain as children, set foundation for the development of schemas, or one’s expectations about their environment. Once schemas become familiar, the are then referred to as scripts. Therefore, being young girl witnessing her father abuse her mother, Rihanna formed that into a script as opposed to merely a schema. It was familiar. In regards to one’s control of attention, people hold the ability to pick up on select key features of their current environment, while filtering though them in relation to one’s current goal. For example, Rihanna was “blinded” by love. She neglected to pay attention to the warning signs of Chris’s aggression and possession over her. Instead, she remained focused on the fact that he was her best friend, and they loved each other, so she continued with the relationship in an effort to make it work. George Kelly’s Personal Construct Theory emphasized the idea that people actively construct their own theories about human behavior. “I actually feel really bad for my father," she says. He was abused too – he got beat up by his step-dad when he was young. He has resentment toward women, because he felt like his mom never protected him, and unfortunately, my mother was the victim of that. I'm not giving him excuses. Right is right and wrong is wrong. I still blame him. But I understand the source." (Rolling Stone, 2011)

** Discussion ** Using both neo-analytical and cognitive perspectives, we are able to explain and rationalize the personality of Robyn Rihanna Fenty. Based on her parent’s form of childrearing, the influence of her environment, and the knowledge she has acquired through her life so far, it makes sense that Rihanna has developed into the woman she has become. Applying what she knew growing up, to her present-life, as well as her future, Rihanna is able to live her life in a more optimistic manner; having fun, and enjoying her success.

** References ** Def Pan Radio, Fenty, R. (2009). Rihanna Says People Think I’m A B*itch- HipHopNew24-7. Retrieved from YouTube Website: [] Diane Sawyer, Fenty, R (2009). Rihanna-Full Interview On Good Morning America Part 1 and 2. Retrieved from YouTube Website: [|http://www.youtube.com/watchv=iUMogL1zLN0] Friedman, H.S & Schustack, M.W. (2009). Chapter 4: Neo-Analytic and Ego Aspects of Personality: Identity. In Limoqes, M. (4.), //Personality: Classic Theories and Modern Research// (109-148). Boston: Pearson. Friedman, H.S & Schustack, M.W. (2009). Chapter 7: Cognitive and Social-Cognitive Aspects of Personality. In Limoqes, M. (7.), //Personality: Classic Theories and Modern Research// (219-255). Boston: Pearson. <span style="color: #d71452; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 12px; margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.5in;">Gaskins, J. (2011, February 8). //Chapter 4: Neo-Analytic and Ego Aspects of Personality:// //Identity// [PDF Document]. Retrieved from Lecture Notes Online Website: [|http://www.huskyct.uconn.edu]. <span style="color: #d71452; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 12px; margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.5in;">Gaskins, J. (2011, March 17). //Chapter 7: Cognitive and Social-Cognitive// //Aspects of Personality// [PDF Document]. Retrieved from Lecture Notes Online Website: [|http://www.huskyct.uconn.edu]. <span style="color: #d71452; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 12px; margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.5in;">Martinez, A. & Fenty, R. (2009). Rihanna and Angie Martinez Part 1. Retrieved from YouTube Web site: [] <span style="color: #d71452; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 12px; margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.5in;">Martinez, A. & Fenty, R. (2009). Rihanna and Angie Martinez Part 2. Retrieved from YouTube Web site: [] <span style="color: #d71452; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 12px;">Mock, J & Wang, J. (2011). People. Retrieved April 12, 2011 <span style="color: #d71452; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 12px; margin-left: 27pt;">from People Website: [] <span style="color: #d71452; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 12px; margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.5in;">Roberts, R. & Fenty, R. (20011). Rihanna Talks "Loud" on Good Morning America (11/17/2010). Retrieved from YouTube Web site: [] <span style="color: #d71452; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 27pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -27pt;">Rolling Stone. (2011, April 1). Rihanna Opens Up Like Never Before in Rolling Stone Cover Story: Singer discusses Chris Brown, her relationships and her upcoming role in 'Battleship'. //Rolling Stone.// Retrieved April 12, 2011, from []