Biography

Biography

Introduction

This paper presents the biography of Bill Gates in the light of psychological theories to understand and identify some of the key elements that explain why he is able to make achievements in the business world that most cannot. It is this type of psychological analysis that may unlock psychology's truest potential, for our society and maybe even for our children.

Freudian Theory as it Applies to Gates

According to our textbook, Personality, by Jerry M. Burger (2000), Freud states that the superego represents society's and parent's values and standards (p.49). Even from an early age, Bill Gates' own "structural model" (id, ego, and superego) was being formed at a rapid pace.

Although Bill Gates has become the most famous business celebrity in the world, he remains personally elusive to all but a close circle of friends. His success stems from his personality: an awesome and at times frightening blend of brilliance, drive, competitiveness, and personal intensity. Nathan Myhrvold, a colleague, stated, "The personality of Bill Gates determines the culture of Microsoft" (Time.com, 2007)

When Gates was a child, his parents decided that he needed to seek counseling. This was because, most times, he was at odds with his parents. Gates felt that he was competing with his parents at all times. The psychologist concluded that his parents should not try to compete with him (if they knew it or not) because "he will win" (Time.com, 2007). He enjoyed the sessions with the counselor because the psychologist gave him a lot of reading material to study.

Gates' ego, as well as his superego, started to take a real form when he became very bored at school. Burger, in our textbook states, "but the superego does not merely punish us for moral violations. It also provides the ideals the ego uses to determine if a behavior is virtuous and therefore worthy of praise" (Burger, 2000, p.50). It was apparent that this was a trait that Gates possessed growing up. His parents recognized this, so they were always trying to feed him more information to keep him busy. They finally decided to put him in a private school where he would be challenged more. He spent most of his time programming, playing poker and seeing how little work he could do and still get A's. In the ninth grade, Gates came up with a new form of rebellion: he achieved all A's without taking a single book home. He took an aptitude test and his scores ranked in the top 10 in the nation. "That established my independence and taught me I didn't need to rebel anymore" said Gates (Time.com, 2007).

By the 10th grade, he was teaching computers and writing programs. He felt that he was above the teachings of high school and college. This was because he quickly surpassed all of his peer's abilities in nearly all subjects, especially math and science. At times, he felt that he even knew more than his teachers did. One of his teachers was quoted as saying, "he was a helluva ...