Essay Example on Oprah Winfrey: Queen of All Media, CEO & Philanthropist

Introduction

Oprah Winfrey is a talk show host, producer, actress, media proprietor, and a philanthropist. She is dubbed the title "Queen of All Media" is the richest African American women by the 20th century. Oprah Winfrey is the CEO and Chairwomen of Harpo productions. Born on January 29th, 1954, Opera Winfrey is one of the most influential women on earth, providing strong ideas about what right and wrong. Oprah Winfrey's show began in 1986 and became nationally syndicated by 2011. She began her career at 18 years as a co-anchor in a local news station. To become the spotlight of America, Oprah Winfrey took a show ranked #3 in Chicago and made it the #1. Afterward, she launched her own company and became an international all-time star. Oprah developed the tabloid talks in the 1990s and revolutionized her show to focus on spiritual, literature, and self-improvement. One reason why I choose to analyze Oprah is that she has become an iconic women figure. Since she began the show in the 90s, she influenced most people both male and female on personal growth.

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Carl Jung's theory is related to Sigmund Freud’s theory of unconsciousness. However, according to Jung's theory, the level of unconsciousness is based on psychic energy guided by spiritual awareness. More importantly, Jung concluded that the most interesting personality occurs during adulthood (Cloniger, 2013). In this essay, Oprah will be analyzed based on Jung’s theoretical approach and through the use of the dichotomous facets as defined by Jung’s. According to Cloniger (2013), the personality of an individual can be described per three major dimensions “introversion-extraversion, thinking-feeling, and sensation-intuition.” According to Jung's definitions, Oprah's personality can be categorized as Extroversion vs. Introversion as he is an iconic figure judged externally by the whole world. Oprah energy is reflected during the shows, as the energy of the show intensifies as they interact with the guests. During the show, Oprah must be intuitive and respond appropriately to the guests of her show. According to Jung’s, Oprah can be described as a personal unconscious (Cloniger, 2013).

Oprah can be categorized as an intuitive person based on how she presents the show. During the show, Oprah is always attentive and always shows intuition by clearly listening to the guests' details and coming up with quick appropriate responses. Based on Carl Jung and Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), Oprah must be using a sixth sense on when feeling or thinking about her guests. Besides, most of her shows try to establish reasoning or a reason behind behavior and Oprah uses the compare and contrast technique “They like concept maps or and often compare and contrast table” (Jung, MBTI. 2011). Oprah uses her sixth sense to understand and have a perception of her guests’ thoughts, and in a way connects with each guest’s story through intuition.

Using the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) personality instrument, I analyzed Oprah on the introversion-extraversion test and using the paired functions sensation-intuition and thinking-feeling. The MBTI personality tool has three dimensions; depth, height, width. The depth (third dimension) of the Extroversion/Introversion (EI) would be judging/Perceptive (JP). Based on the MBTI, perception refers to how people become aware of the surroundings including ideas, people, or even things. The judgment is the act of developing a conclusion based on what you have perceived. Reflecting on this, Oprah JP would be the showtime where she processes the guests and reflect on the thoughts coming from the guests. Most guest of Oprah show comes with various issues such as marriage issues, addiction, or family issues. Oprah provides a listening platform and ensures that the guests leave with relief from their struggles. Oprah's role in the show is to host guests, listen and mediate issues, and also provide a solution on how people would move on with their lives.

Ethical consideration

Various ethical issues are associated with the use of MBTI personality assessment in the setting native to Oprah Winfrey. There are specific tests that need to be utilized to assess a particular individual successful. It, therefore, means that some various ethical considerations need to be considered, especially when evaluating the MBTI identity of Oprah. The first main point of moral issue is overgeneralizing, which implies that every person is different from another one, hence Oprah is not an exemption (Westen, 1998). As such, every person possesses distinctive traits that another person does not have, meaning that this person has different abilities that another one may not have (Choca, 1999).

The second ethical concern is confidentiality and consent from the participants (APA, 2010). In this scenario, Oprah Winfrey must be informed that the personality test does not reveal everything about him but have some various limits. In this particular essence digging into the private life and even family issues should not be considered in determining his personality (Bracken-Minor, & McDevitt-Murphy, 2014). Only the workplace personality and how he presents himself to the public should be analyzed. In short, only the personality test that should be considered should also be what the public knows and understand.

Reliability and Efficacy of the Assessment

In assessing a person, it is advised to use any available source to get enough information. Relying on one device sometimes presents various weaknesses such that it may leave out essential information. MBTI, on the other hand, played a more significant role in getting the necessary information that would be required for this assessment (Cohen et al., 2013). Oprah is so good at her job and can be viewed as a self-monitoring extravert. She is good at seeing the world from another person's perception, understanding guests’ emotions, and make an appropriate judgment that will help the guest leave the show satisfied.

Personal Opinion

MBTI is an effective method that can be applied in analyzing public figures and famous character personalities. The indicator implies that every individual in particular and consequently, such needs to be in the consideration. However, I believe no one test or indicator can summarize Oprah Winfrey based on all her characteristics. There are various facts, which revolve around Oprah that cannot be reflected in the MBTI indicator. MBTI provides an opportunity to learn about Oprah as the human figure and by using her sixth sense (inner feelings) to aide in her decisions for the show.

References

American Psychological Association (APA) www.apa.org

Bracken-Minor, K., & McDevitt-Murphy, M. (2014). Differences in features of non-suicidal self-injury according to borderline personality disorder screening status. Archives of Suicide Research, 18(1), 88–103. Retrieved June, 18, 2020, from https://www.tandfonline.com/

Choca, J. P. (1999). Evolution of Millon's personality prototypes. Journal of Personality Assessment, 72(3), 353-364. doi: 10.1207/S15327752JP720303

Cloninger, S. (2013). Theories of personality: Understanding persons. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson. Chapter 3: Jung: Analytical Psychology

Cohen, Y., Ornoy, H., & Keren, B. (2013). MBTI personality types of project managers and their success: A field survey: Preview the document. Project Management Journal, 44(3), 78-87. doi: 10.1002/pmj.21338

HumanMetrics Jung Typology Test (http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes1.htm)