Saturday, March 17, 2012

Sheldon Cooper, PhD (actually 2 times PhD) and his personality

Today, we will continue to analyze the characteristic traits of the most complex figure in 'The Big Bang Theory' sitcom. In the CheeseCake Factory menu for today this time we have Neuroticism!

What does neuroticism mean in personality terminology?

The name of this trait was based on the Greek Mythology, and the story of Narcissus - a man, who got in love with his own reflection in the water. The strength of this affection was so great, that it resulted with Narcissus death, because he was unable to part with his beauty. In psychology, this term is associated with self-admiration and belief in one's perfectionism. However, in the Big Five this trait has a different meaning, it can be described as emotional instability with experiencing a wide range of negative emotions and states (e.g. anxiety, anger, depression, envy). People with high levels of neuroticism are prone to be easily upset, irritated and vulnerable to experience stress, which is hard to cope with. Also, they can interpret daily life situations as threatening and try to avoid them. Neuroticism correlates with negative psychological states like lower intelligence, poorer memory, impulsiveness, lower feelings of self-efficacy or self-confidence. Finally, neuroticism can be linked to a tendency to analyze self and the world in a critical manner, resulting in a more depressing view.

Source
Now, how do the personal behaviors and attitudes of Sheldon fit the above description?

Firstly, based on almost 5 finished seasons, it is rather hard to say that Sheldon expresses a lot of negative affect. Sometimes he behaves cynical, unemotional or even contemptuous, but he does not seem to be envious, aggressive or depressed. It is true, however, that his life is based mostly on rationality and not on emotions. Maybe he is afraid of them, because he can't cope with negative emotions? An example for this can be found within the scene when Penny and Leonard are arguing, whereas Sheldon turns on the blender to drown their quarrel with noise (Series 3 Episode 07 – The Guitarist Amplification).


Similarly, Sheldon doesn't seem to be irritated easily or have difficulties with stress in daily life. Although, he has a social phobia, which causes him a lot of nerves when he has to speak in public (see the Series 3 Episode 18 – The Pants Alternative). A lot of specific anxiety can be also observed in his functioning, as Sheldon has developed a variety of routines to prevent himself from using public transportation, shaking peoples' hands (a type of germophobia and hypochondria mix), being in the same place as sick people, or using public restrooms. He is scared by birds, dogs and teddy bears. Still, he has a reasonable explanation for each of his 'specific routines'. 
Sheldon using Lysol


Lastly, Sheldon does not see the world in an overly depressive manner, but sometimes he feels sad. One reason making him emotional is 'stupid people' ('I cry because people are stupid and that makes me sad'). All in all, Sheldon seems to be a mildly neurotic person, mainly because of his exaggerated fears, but his emotional stability stops him from scoring too high on this dimension.

Till next week!

We will investigate Sheldon's agreeableness
(dust-off your notes about 'the roommate agreement') :-)
This should be fun!

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