Michael+J.+Jordan

** Michael J. Jordan **

 * By: Kristina Malits **

"If you accept the expectations of others, especially negative ones, then you never will change the outcome" ** --Michael Jordan  **   In 1963, Michael Jeffery Jordan was born in Brooklyn, New York to his father James and his mother Deloris as the fourth of their five children. His family moved to North Carolina when he was a toddler. He started his athletic career at Emsley High School where he played basketball, baseball and football. He tried out for the varsity basketball team, but did not make it. In order to prove to himself and others around him he used this to fuel his motivation, and became the star of the junior-varsity team. Through hard work and perseverance, he finally earned a spot on the varsity roster and there he made his mark. His senior year he earned one of the highest honors a high school basketball player can earn, a McDonald’s All American team membership. This status brought his name into national conversation as a force in the game of basketball. Michael Jordan earned a basketball scholarship at the University of North Carolina where he not only pursued a degree in cultural geography but also a career in basketball at one of the nation’s top athletic programs. At the University of North Carolina, he earned ACC Freshmen of the year, and that year he hit the winning shot in a national championship game against Georgetown to bring a championship honor to Chapel Hill, NC. Beyond that the accolades that he earned while at the University of North Carolina include; NCAA All-American First Team his sophomore and junior year, Naismith Award and Wooden National Player of the Year awards in 1984, which are the two most sought-out awards in the world of college basketball, and of course a national championship.  With all that Michael Jordan had accomplished in his first three years in college, he decided to forgo his senior year and his college degree and enter the National Basketball Association draft in 1984. He was picked third overall in the draft to the Chicago Bulls. It should be noted that he ended up returning to his beloved alma-mater and earning his bachelor’s degree in cultural geography in 1986, while still playing in the NBA. It is his career with the Chicago Bulls that makes him one of the most iconic and influential athletes of all time. He led Chicago to an unprecedented six championship titles, as well as earning the NBA Most Valuable Player award five times. In 1992, Michael lost his father in a senseless act of violence, which made him decide to retire from the game he loved. After his retirement, he played baseball for a minor league team, Birmingham Barons, but soon realized that his heart was still in basketball and came back to the NBA where he played for the Chicago Bulls again and led them to another championship. Michael Jordan also played on two Olympic gold-metal teams for the USA. Michael Jordan was also inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2009.
 * Biography **

**Alfred Adler **  Alfred Adler’s theory looked at the concept of superiority and inferiority. He stated that this balance between superiority and inferiority was the central tenet of personality, and that as humans we are constantly striving to overcome inferiority in order to hopefully be superior. An inferiority complex is defined as the exaggerated feelings of incompetence that causes the individual to feel they cannot achieve something. On the contrary, a superiority complex is one that is an exaggerated feeling of competence and arrogance, often times formed as a reaction to a former inferiority complex.  It is of no secret that many people think of Michael Jordan as over-confident athlete, and often times even arrogant. It is easy for an individual to become this way given the fact that the amount of accomplishments he has is something most people can only dream of. Given this theory, it should be looked at that in high school when Michael did not make his high school team he probably felt incompetent and maybe even for a minor amount of time formed an inferiority complex. Having someone of power, his coach, tell him that he wasn’t good enough probably left him feeling powerless in the situation. This feeling of inferiority didn’t last very long, because instead of allowing this let-down to be the reason he never saw a basketball court again, Michael used it to fuel his motivation and put his heart into trying to make the team the next year around. Luckily for him the work paid off and he did make the team and since then Michael Jordan has never looked back. He has now formed a superiority complex, in response to feeling inadequate in high school but has allowed this complex to lead him in success on and off the basketball court. Adler also talked about birth order being a factor in one’s personality. The fact that Michael was the fourth out of five children, Alder would most likely look at him at as he would a “middle child”. Adler said that middle children, are born into this world ready to compete because from birth they had to compete for their parents attention with their older siblings. This innate response leads them to have a drive to achieve and excel a t great things. In the case of Michael Jordon this makes perfect sense. **Trait Approach to Personality **  Gordon Allport defined personality as a dynamic organization within the individual of those psychophysical systems that determine his/her characteristic behavior and thought. Within his theory he says that there are five major traits that can be used to describe one’s personality. These “big five” include: extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism and openness. Extroversion is a measure of the amount that a person is sociable, enthusiastic and talkative. The opposite of this would be introversion which describes someone who tends to be shy and submissive. Allport would put Michael high on extroversion, given that he is always very animated in news conferences and television interviews and considered to be a social person. Agreeable people are ones that are described as friendly, cooperative, trusting and warm while those that are said to be “low” on agreeableness are said to be cold and unkind. Michael Jordan would be placed high on agreeableness, due to the fact that he opened a Boy’s and Girl’s club in honor of his father amongst many other charitable things he has done over his lifetime. Michael would be high on conscientiousness because he is e xtremely competent and persistent in everything that he does. Conscientiousness is described as being dependable, organized and determined. Neuroticism is used to describe people that are emotionally unstable, nervous, moody. For the most part, it can be said that Michael is low on neuroticism because he isn’t hostile or emotionally unstable from what the public eye can see. Lastly, Michael is high on openness because, given the success of his own brand Jordan, which generates a billion dollars annually for Nike; he is very creative and imaginative and possesses a good taste for the business world. People that are “low” on this dimension of personality are said to be shallow and plain, which Michael Jordon definitely is not. There traits are not the only traits that a personality can embody, but they hit the major high-notes of a person’s being and they seem to fit Michael Jordan well. **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">Discussion ** <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"> After analyzing Michael Jordan through both perspectives, one can gain a greater respect for the man whom has made himself into one of the most influential people of the 20th century. Alfred Adler’s approach gives a higher understanding of Michael’s “egotistical” ways, in saying that it is most likely developed after he was told he couldn’t excel in basketball, which left him feeling inferior. The trait approach looks to explain Michael Jordan’s personality by looking at five different traits in which he falls on the upper end of all of them but neuroticism. Being high in these different traits including extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness and openness, may explain much of his success and determination to become one of the most iconic figures in American history. **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">Sources **

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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">Advameg, I. (2011). //Michael Jordan//. Retriev <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 32px;">ed April 2011, from Noteable Biographies: [|http://www.notablebiographies.com] ======

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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; line-height: 200%;"> Michael Jordan. (2011). //Biography.com//. Retrieved 10:48, Apr 15 2011 from [|http://www.biography.com] ====== = =