Howard Hughes was America’s First American
Billionaire; as described by Author Richard Hack. Hughes was said to have been
born on December 24, 1905, and died on April 5, 1976. Hughes was born into a wealthy family as an
only child. The relationship the young Howard Hughes had with his parents would
eventually shape his behavior as a young adult and further into his eccentric
adult behavior. He would eventually become one of the most powerful men in the
world. Through-out his life Hughes would lay claim to the titles Husband,
entrepreneur, pilot, movie producer, and lover. His eccentric behavior is said
to be related to a variety of undocumented mental disorders, in addition to a
dependency on prescription medications.
Howard Hughes’s very beginning was an indicator of what was to come from America’s first billionaire. His birth certificate claims Howard was born on December 24, 1905; however, even though Howard’s Aunt Annette claims to have first laid eyes on Howard around that Christmas at an age of about two or three months. Howard’s parents, Howard Robard Hughes and Allene Gano Hughes celebrated a Christmas Eve dinner with family the day they claim Howard entered the world. Even though no one may ever know the legitimate date, it is clear that Howard began his life as elusively as he would eventually leave it. As a baby, young Howard lived with his parents in town outside Houston called Humble. This was the beginning of Allene’s fixation on Howard and her obsession over his health. Allene’s priority was, and stayed, Howard. She was devoted to young Sonny, her nickname for him, and would spend countless hours reading, singing, and playing with him. The senior Hughes was moved to a second bedroom so young Howard could sleep with his doting mother. On August 10, 1909 Howard Hughes Senior procured two patents from the U.S. government that would secure the future for his son and heirs to come.
Howard began school at Miss Eichler’s University when he was five years old. Often Howard arrived late to school due to his mother’s rituals which included “washing him with lye soap, inspecting his feet, ears, throat, and teeth”, as well as inspecting his waste for worms. This behavior would continue as Howard became a young man. Howard attended his first summer camp in 1916. Allene was in so much distress over Howard’s well-being that she removed him from the camp. Upon his return to Houston, Howard was put in yet another school. The pattern of Howard going to camp, entertaining his mother’s neurotic tendencies and being moved from school to school would not stop until his beloved mother’s death in March of 1922. The relationship Howard had with his father after his mother’s death was precarious at best. Howard Robard Hughes passed in January of 1924. Howard never got to receive the approval he was looking for
Howard bought all the shares of his father’s company, Hughes Tools, from his family, making him the sole owner. He then turned his attention to his golf game and the first of many women that would have a small piece of Hughes’s time. Her name was Ella Rice.
Hughes was a self pro-claimed ladies man. Over his 70 year life span, he dated countless actresses and models. His relationships never lasted, which will later be directly tied to his relationship with his mother, and consequently her treatment of her young, impressionable son. As Howard continued with his endeavors he would succeed in his life-long goal to become a movie producer and the fastest pilot in the world. It became apparent at an early age, Hughes was becoming obsessed with being clean and fearing disease. His mother had distilled in him the fear of catching disease from people at very early age.
Howard’s eccentric behavior led to the bizarre orders that he gave his employees. The following are only a partial description of some of the things Hughes paid his employees to do.
* Use 6 to 8 tissues before opening any bathroom door.
* Use 6 to 8 new tissues to open the cabinet in the bathroom to get an un-open bar of soap.
* Clean hands thoroughly multiple times a day.
* Use at least 15 tissues before opening the cabinet that contains his hearing aid.
* Use another 15 tissues in each hand to open the sealed envelope that which the hearing aids were contained.
Hughes himself constantly washed his hands, feared microbial infections from food, dirt, and others. He reacted by avoiding dirt and physical contact with people who he was not comfortable with Also, often becoming paranoid that the government and owner of Pan Am airlines were out to get him and his company. Sometimes he would not be able to stop repeating again and again certain phrases that came to his mind. Multiple times Hughes was found naked in public, one time in an airport. Later in life became so fearful of infections, he locked himself in a room and quit grooming himself, letting his nails and hair grow excessively long. Hughes experienced many obsessions defined as, recurrent and persistent thoughts, impulses, or images that are experiences, at some time during the disturbance, as intrusive and inappropriate and that cause marked anxiety or distress. The thoughts, impulses, or images are not simply excessive worries about real-life problems. He also exhibited compulsive behavior defined as, repetitive or mental acts that the person feels driven to perform in response to an obsession, or according to rules that must be applied rigidly. Howard also fits section C of the DSM-IV code for obsessive-compulsive disorder which states "The obsessions or compulsions cause marked distress, are time consuming (take more than 1 hour a day), or significantly interfere with the person's normal routine, occupational functioning, or usual social activities or relationships. Howard fits this section of the code because of his obsessive hand-washing, repeating phrases over and over again, having to use tissues to open cabinets and doors, and doing a simple task more than once to make sure it was done right.
Socially Mature Exaggerated feelings of Superiority
Low Cooperation Skills
Inflated sense of self
Howard Hughes was an eccentric billionaire raised by an overly protective, hypochondriac mother who ultimately affected Hughes to the degree that he lived the majority of his life as a recluse. Each theory is interesting enough when you apply it to the Hughes case study. As far as an opinion of which theory I would rate higher than another, I would choose Social cognitive theory. I prefer this approach, because it seems more related to the patients experiences and treats them accordingly.
Works Cited
Engler, Barbara. Personality Theories. N.p.: Wadsworth Pub, 2013. Print.
Hack, Richard. Hughes, the Private Diaries, Memos and Letters: The Definitive Biography of the First American Billionaire. Beverly Hills, CA: New Millennium, 2001. Print
Howard Hughes’s very beginning was an indicator of what was to come from America’s first billionaire. His birth certificate claims Howard was born on December 24, 1905; however, even though Howard’s Aunt Annette claims to have first laid eyes on Howard around that Christmas at an age of about two or three months. Howard’s parents, Howard Robard Hughes and Allene Gano Hughes celebrated a Christmas Eve dinner with family the day they claim Howard entered the world. Even though no one may ever know the legitimate date, it is clear that Howard began his life as elusively as he would eventually leave it. As a baby, young Howard lived with his parents in town outside Houston called Humble. This was the beginning of Allene’s fixation on Howard and her obsession over his health. Allene’s priority was, and stayed, Howard. She was devoted to young Sonny, her nickname for him, and would spend countless hours reading, singing, and playing with him. The senior Hughes was moved to a second bedroom so young Howard could sleep with his doting mother. On August 10, 1909 Howard Hughes Senior procured two patents from the U.S. government that would secure the future for his son and heirs to come.
Howard began school at Miss Eichler’s University when he was five years old. Often Howard arrived late to school due to his mother’s rituals which included “washing him with lye soap, inspecting his feet, ears, throat, and teeth”, as well as inspecting his waste for worms. This behavior would continue as Howard became a young man. Howard attended his first summer camp in 1916. Allene was in so much distress over Howard’s well-being that she removed him from the camp. Upon his return to Houston, Howard was put in yet another school. The pattern of Howard going to camp, entertaining his mother’s neurotic tendencies and being moved from school to school would not stop until his beloved mother’s death in March of 1922. The relationship Howard had with his father after his mother’s death was precarious at best. Howard Robard Hughes passed in January of 1924. Howard never got to receive the approval he was looking for
Howard bought all the shares of his father’s company, Hughes Tools, from his family, making him the sole owner. He then turned his attention to his golf game and the first of many women that would have a small piece of Hughes’s time. Her name was Ella Rice.
Hughes was a self pro-claimed ladies man. Over his 70 year life span, he dated countless actresses and models. His relationships never lasted, which will later be directly tied to his relationship with his mother, and consequently her treatment of her young, impressionable son. As Howard continued with his endeavors he would succeed in his life-long goal to become a movie producer and the fastest pilot in the world. It became apparent at an early age, Hughes was becoming obsessed with being clean and fearing disease. His mother had distilled in him the fear of catching disease from people at very early age.
Howard’s eccentric behavior led to the bizarre orders that he gave his employees. The following are only a partial description of some of the things Hughes paid his employees to do.
* Use 6 to 8 tissues before opening any bathroom door.
* Use 6 to 8 new tissues to open the cabinet in the bathroom to get an un-open bar of soap.
* Clean hands thoroughly multiple times a day.
* Use at least 15 tissues before opening the cabinet that contains his hearing aid.
* Use another 15 tissues in each hand to open the sealed envelope that which the hearing aids were contained.
Hughes himself constantly washed his hands, feared microbial infections from food, dirt, and others. He reacted by avoiding dirt and physical contact with people who he was not comfortable with Also, often becoming paranoid that the government and owner of Pan Am airlines were out to get him and his company. Sometimes he would not be able to stop repeating again and again certain phrases that came to his mind. Multiple times Hughes was found naked in public, one time in an airport. Later in life became so fearful of infections, he locked himself in a room and quit grooming himself, letting his nails and hair grow excessively long. Hughes experienced many obsessions defined as, recurrent and persistent thoughts, impulses, or images that are experiences, at some time during the disturbance, as intrusive and inappropriate and that cause marked anxiety or distress. The thoughts, impulses, or images are not simply excessive worries about real-life problems. He also exhibited compulsive behavior defined as, repetitive or mental acts that the person feels driven to perform in response to an obsession, or according to rules that must be applied rigidly. Howard also fits section C of the DSM-IV code for obsessive-compulsive disorder which states "The obsessions or compulsions cause marked distress, are time consuming (take more than 1 hour a day), or significantly interfere with the person's normal routine, occupational functioning, or usual social activities or relationships. Howard fits this section of the code because of his obsessive hand-washing, repeating phrases over and over again, having to use tissues to open cabinets and doors, and doing a simple task more than once to make sure it was done right.
- In psychoanalysis on an
obsessive-compulsive disorder, the therapist would search the past of the
client for relationships with mostly parents and adult figures that is causing
obsessive behaviors much like Freud did with his patents. The therapist would
use free association and listen to the client while he speaks what is on his
mind. In the case of Howard Hughes, Howard may bring up something along the
lines of his mother's fear of microbial infections and of people as disease
carriers. The therapist would then relate these unconscious thoughts to the
conscious mind of the client and describe the defense mechanisms that the
client is portraying in his everyday life.
- Cognitive-Behavioral Rational Emotive
Behavior Therapy
The Cognitive-Behavioral approach to psychological disorders believe thoughts drive a person's feelings instead of the outside world such as people or situations. They believe that changing the way you think will change the way you feel; if you think positive, positive things will happen to you. In the case of Hughes or someone with obsessive-compulsive disorder, the cognitive-behavioral therapist would help the client realize that the thoughts they are experiencing are irrational. The therapist would then advise the client to wait out the anxiety. Another method is to repeatedly introduce what triggers the anxiety to the client and create a resistance to the anxiety or fear.
- Adler-Interpsychic theory
Adler believed all human behavior concerns striving for success. We set goals and then strive to obtain them. These goals develop from early childhood. Inferiority Complex: feeling small and helpless, a child desires to grow, in order to become as powerful as the adults around her/him. These inferiority complexes help develop the life goal: how a person ideally would like to live, based upon their own attitudes and personal experiences an individual’s personality is determined by age 5 and that all human experience is subjective. Adler believed in the creative power in people. Adler would attempt to increase Howard’s courage, self-esteem, and social interest. He would try to convince him of the power he has to make himself better.
Socially Mature Exaggerated feelings of Superiority
Low Cooperation Skills
Inflated sense of self
- Bandura-Social Learning Theory
Howard Hughes was an eccentric billionaire raised by an overly protective, hypochondriac mother who ultimately affected Hughes to the degree that he lived the majority of his life as a recluse. Each theory is interesting enough when you apply it to the Hughes case study. As far as an opinion of which theory I would rate higher than another, I would choose Social cognitive theory. I prefer this approach, because it seems more related to the patients experiences and treats them accordingly.
Works Cited
Engler, Barbara. Personality Theories. N.p.: Wadsworth Pub, 2013. Print.
Hack, Richard. Hughes, the Private Diaries, Memos and Letters: The Definitive Biography of the First American Billionaire. Beverly Hills, CA: New Millennium, 2001. Print