Final
Project- ‘Life span of President Barack Obama’
By Aysha
Siddiqui.
Lifespan
Development (PSYC 6215-3)
Walden University
Abstract
This paper examines the life of a
famous person who has had an impact on the lives of others and on society. The
person chosen for this paper is President Barack Obama whose life and
presidency of USA has made history in his own country as well as the world. His
actions have an impact on the millions living in his country as well as his
actions, thoughts and decisions impact relations between countries, conditions
of people in the world.
Barack Obama’s life is a perfect
cast study of nature, nurture influences, social and cognitive development and
life’s experiences having an effect on shaping a person’s life. Another very
relevant factor in the biography of Barack Obama is diversity that lies not
only in his life, but in the society he belongs to, in his background and in
his life.
Introduction
Barack H. Obama is the
44th President of the United States and the first African American
president to hold this office. He was born on August 4, 1961 in Hawaii. His
mother was from Kansas and his father was from Kenya. He was raised by his
grandfather who worked in the Patton’s army and his grandmother who worked hard
to progress from a secretarial to a management position at a bank.
He worked and studied
hard to earn scholarships and with help of student loans, scholarships he
worked his way through college and moved to Chicago. He was very active in his
work with churches in the city of Chicago and in helping communities that were
adversely affected by the closure of local steel plants.
In his lifetime being
the first black President is not the first time he has been outstanding because
of his diversity. He was the first ever African American to be the President of
the Harvard Law Review when he went to the Harvard Law School. He is also among
the first few African Americans to serve in the US Senate and in 2003 was the
fifth African American person to be elected in the Senate.
He is married to
Michelle Obama and they have two daughters, Malia, 14 and Sasha, 10.
Barack Obama impact on society and the world
David
Ewalt reports for Forbes magazine that ‘U.S.
President Barack Obama emerged, unanimously, as the world’s most powerful
person’. Barack Obama has held office of the President of the United States for
more than five years, reelected for that position in 2012. This makes him the
‘commander in chief of the world’s greatest military’. This puts him in not
only in a very strong decision making position where his decisions can impact
people and societies around him as well as in places across borders.
There
is however another angle to his persona and how it influences the society. He
is no doubt one of the most appealing and influential person because of his
life experiences, leadership and his character. Marx et al (2009) studied the
‘Obama Effect’ on four separate groups of Black and White American participants
and observed them for three months. When Obama’s election to being the first
Black American president defied all stereotyping and he made his convention
speech, there was observed a significantly enhanced performance on exams by the
sample group.
His
influence grows to his family as well and how they impact not just individuals,
but also families around them. Young parents look up to Obama and his wife as
parents, as the caretakers of their children’s futures as he inspires them to
do so with his leadership and his ideology.
Abc news featured an article from Obama on
father’s day and he writes ‘we show our children by example who we want them to
become’. The article highlights that the letter Barack Obama wrote to his two
daughters telling them about his hopes for them and for the children of America
gained world popularity because of its content and influence.
Nature and Nurture Influence
Nurture
has played a very major role in the life of Barack Obama and contributed
majorly to who he is today. In his words ‘I was raised by a single mom and my grandparents…………they gave
me love, a thirst for education, and a belief that we're all part of something
larger than ourselves’ (grandparents.com). Barack Obama’s grandparents had a
great influence on him since he was a young baby, as his parents separated
months after he was born and his grandparents stepped up to help their young
daughter help raise their grandson, Barack Obama. The financial means that his
family (parents and grandparents) had also contributed to how he started
thinking at a young age. Mendell (2008) writes that his parents and
grandparents were with ‘modest means’ and Obama did not grow up with lots of
‘material wealth’ and that’s why he is now aware, sensitive to the middle class
daily concerns because he has grown up with those.
On a personal front nature and nurture, both played a role in
his life growing when he struggled with his multiracial heritage. If we look at
the nature of his genes, then we see that his father was from Kenya and ‘black
as pitch’ as described by Obama himself and mother was ‘white as milk’ (Obama,
early life and career). He also admits to using marijuana and other drugs to
push these questions out of his mind during his teenage years.
Obama was nurtured in
his growing years by his grandparents and if they hadn’t taught him what they
did by example, attitude towards life and by words then he wouldn’t have been
the same man today. Wead (2011) looks
into the work of Freud and established how the women in Obama’s life made an
influence on his life when growing up. Freud has the psychological dictum that
a young toddler, especially male who has been his mom’s favorite can ‘conquer
the world’. The study talks about a picture of Obama as a toddler sitting on
the fence and his mom holding him. The picture depicts unconditional love,
affection and trust, showing a strong connection between the two.
Role of cognitive, physical, and
social-emotional development/changes
Physical changes are
of utmost importance in Barack Obama’s life considering his multiracial
heritage. He had a white mother and grandparents who raised him and he clearly
looked of African American origin. His social surroundings were a vital factor
as well, though he was in one of the ‘many hued’ place ( Maraniss, 2008). After Hawaii, Obama moved to Chicago and this
was a place of geographic and social influence. According to Maraniss (2008)
Barack Obama got his shape from the ‘forces’ in Hawaii but it was the forces of
Chicago that actually shaped him. In Chicago, Obama got involved in work with
the churches to help the ones being effected by closing of Hawaii is about the
forces that shaped him, and Chicago is about how he reshaped himself. His
social development was highly influenced by his move to Chicago where he learnt
to make important decisions and choices that taught him how to survive in his
adult life, how to handle politics and where he found his abilities to help
people, community when he worked with the churches to restore the ones losing
jobs.
Diversity
No example can better
than Barack Obama for diversity and its role in the life, success and
development of a famous person. He grew up carrying, racial, religious,
geographic and social diversity unlike almost everyone around him. This
probably even contributed to his popularity and his success at winning the
elections to the first Black American president of the United States. Obama’s
family tree has roots of Kenya, Muslim, Christian, African, American and even
English ancestors. Von Zambusch (2010) writes that Barack Obama finds strength
in the diversity that he carries, as he understands the points of view of many
different kinds of people then. He has relatives that live around the world who
belong to different faiths and religions. He seems to have embraced his
diversity in a very proper manner as he clearly has a strong sense of who he
is. This was crucial to survive the challenges of being the president of United
States and winning against competitors in that race who were always ready to
attack his diverse background.
Conclusion
Barack Obama and his
life is a case study now and will be for many more years as his Presidency has
created history. His decisions, actions and simple words can make an influence
on his fellow citizens, himself, his family and maybe even generations to come.
Learning his life span and his development from a social psychologist’s point
of view can bring out such interesting aspects of development that can be basis
for lots of new research.
References:-
Ewalt.
D. (2012) The World’s Most
Powerful People. Forbes. Dec, 12, 2012.
Freud, S., & Wead, D. (2011). Women Who
Shaped Obama. Barack Obama in
Hawai'i and Indonesia: The Making of a Global President: The Making of a Global
President, 55.
Maraniss, D. (2008). Though Obama had to leave
to find himself, it is Hawaii that made his rise possible. The Washington Post.
Marx, D. M., Ko, S. J., & Friedman, R. A.
(2009). The “Obama Effect”: How a salient role model reduces race-based
performance differences. Journal
of Experimental Social Psychology, 45(4),
953-956.
Mendell, D. (2008). Obama: From promise to power.
HarperCollins.
Obama, B. (2009). We Need Fathers to Step Up. Parade, 4-5.
Obama, B. Early life and career. Barack Obama, 238.
Von Zumbusch, A. (2010). Barack Obama's Family Tree: Roots
of Achievement. The Rosen Publishing Group.
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