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Running Head: Lifespan Development and Personality

Lifespan Development and Personality: Joseph Stalin

Chad A. Cohan

University of Phoenix

Lifespan Development and Personality: Joseph Stalin

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Many evil people have sacrificed human lives to achieve their ambitions. Joseph Stalin,

the former dictator of the Soviet Union, was a leader who sacrificed the lives of millions of

people to achieve his agendas. His "Great Terror" campaign cost a great deal of lives. The Great

Terror was the "aptly named period when Stalin effectively liquidated all traces of opposition to

his rule. Large-scale purges struck the country, targeting all levels of society--including children:

Stalin reasoned that parents were more likely to confess to trumped-up charges of subversion and

disloyalty if they knew their children's lives were at risk." ("The Great Terror," 2009) Therefore,

Stalin showed no mercy for his opposition, even for children. Stalin would take extreme

measures to remain in power. What resulted in millions of deaths were when Stalin was initiated

in the Five-Year Plans that profoundly changed the USSR's economy and social aspects ("Joseph

Stalin," 2009). Joseph Stalin was a political figure who used his power to terrorize people and

expand his political, military, and ideological agendas.

Joseph Stalin's birthplace was in Gori, Georgia. He was a politician and dictator of the

former Soviet Union. Stalin was the son of a cobbler; in 1903, Stalin befriended members of a

revolutionary group and joined that group. He also took part with the Bolshevik movement of

the Russian Social-Democratic Worker's fiesta. Stalin admired Lenin and was elected to the very

first Bolshevik Central Committee after he partook in minute party posts. Stalin remained

engaged in the security of the curtains and in banishment, at which time the Bolsheviks were

brought to power in the Russian Revolution of 1917. In terms of the Politburo's party Central

Committee, Stalin was the secretary general. After Lenin died, Stalin destroyed his enemies

including, but not limited to, Leon Trotsky, Grigory, Zinovyev, and Lev Kamenev. It was at this

time that the politics of the Soviet Union were under the control of Stalin. He executed and

persecuted any threats to his power (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2009).

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Stalin was born introduced with an inspiring family so dysfunctional, abusive, and poor

in a village in Georgia. Due to having smallpox when he was younger as a child, Stalin was

forever scarred and had a minutely disfigured arm. Because of Stalin's feelings that life treated

him unfairly, he came up with an audacious and amplified desire for primacy. Stalin's mother

had four children, three of which died and Stalin's mother believed that Stalin's health was in

jeopardy. Stalin had a consistency to feel inferior to educated intellectuals, and in particular

distrusted them. As the third child, Stalin was born to his father Vissarion, who was a poor

shoemaker. Yekaterina, Stalin's mother, supplemented Vissarion's money by working as a servant

domestically. ("Stalin's Childhood," 2009).

Stalin was commended for his cognitive abilities and his excellent memory during his

five years at the Gori primary school. When Stalin left Gori, he was accredited as the top student

for entry into the Tiflis Seminary, which was a school known for its dismissal of Tsarism, which

enlightened Stalin (Grey, 1979). When Stalin was 18, he joined the first Socialist organization in

Georgia. The year thereafter, Stalin partook in a circle for workers. Stalin was truly into

Plekhanov and Lenin's writings at this time. Stalin was eventually expunged from the Seminary.

This is where he began his career of professional revolutionary (McNeal, 1988).

Due to the aforementioned influences, Stalin became a destructive egomaniac. Stalin had

a dignified self concept. In other words, Stalin was the Soviet Union, and the Soviet Union was

Stalin. In Stalin's mind, the destiny of Stalin and the Soviet Union were one and equivalent. His

dignified self-concept was complimentary with this Marxism-Lenninism political ideology. In

Stalin's mind, he was destined for that role. No compulsion compunction is also a factor that

should be taken into consideration. When Stalin was searching for his angelic dreams, he was

not prohibited by compunction. The only person whom Stalin was loyal to was to himself.
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Whenever there was a road block in his radical road to success, Stalin destroyed it, not minding

if it was a friend or foe. For example, during the Great Terror, he executed and indirectly killed

many people, even children (Rogovin, 1996).

Stalin also showed unconstrained aggression in pursuit of his goals. With respect to

achieving his goals, Stalin used aggression routinely. He used whatever force was at his disposal

and go to the depths of violence, including mass executions and persecutions (Jones, 2002). His

unconstrained aggression was an example in striving for his ambitions, but at the same time it

was aggression in a defensive nature. Stalin also experienced a great deal of paranoia. While

Stalin was not considered psychotic, he had extreme paranoia. He was always prepared for

retaliation--with or without reason--and saw himself as surrounded by rivals. It was his political

personality--angelic aspiration for infinite arbitrariness, the lack of compunction, uncontrolled

rage, and a paranoid personality--which made Stalin so threatening. This is also termed

destructive arrogance.

Two primary theories of personality exist that explain some of the behaviors of Joseph

Stalin: the developmental theory proposed by Jean Piaget and the moral development theory as

argued by Lawrence Kohlberg. In Piaget's developmental theory, four stages of cognitive

development exist: sensori-motor, pre-operational, concrete operational, and formal operational

(Crain, 1985). With sensori-motor, one realizes themselves as an agent of action and begins to

perform with desires. With pre-operational, the individual apprehends knowledge on how to

make good use of language and to associate objects by images and words. With concrete

operational, one can think logically about events and objects. With formal operation, one can

think rationally about abstruse hypotheses (Atherton, 2009).

In Kohlberg's moral development theory, he has three stages: pre-conventional morality,

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conventional morality, and post-conventional morality (Crain, 1985). In pre-conventional

morality, in existence are the compliance and correction orientation and individual

distinctiveness and barter prevail. In the conventional morality, good interpersonal affiliations

exist and conserving the order of society. In post-conventional morality, the contract with

society and personal benefits exist. On this level also exists all-inclusive ideals (Crain, 1985).

Jean Piaget's stages of cognitive development can be used to explain some of Stalin's

horrendous behaviors. In the sensorimotor stage in Piaget's theory, intellect is shown through

movements without the use of symbols. Because of the limitations of physical interactions and

experiences, limited but developing knowledge of the world is accumulating. Children attain

object immutability at roughly seven months of age, reflecting memory. Developing new

intellectual abilities starts with physical development (mobility). Even some language

capabilities are contrived at the end of this stage (Huitt & Hummel, 2003). In view of this

theory, in terms of long chains of behavior, Stalin must have learned to conclude his activities to

a broader spectrum of situations and accommodate them (Atherton, 2009). Stalin's primary

influences during his childhood in terms of the sensorimotor stage were his parents. Stalin "was

alternately smothered by his doting mother and beaten by his alcoholic father, who soon

abandoned the family." ("Young Stalin," 2007) Since Stalin was abused as a child, he too abused

people as he got older

. By the time that children reach the age of the Preoperational Thought stage, children

attain authentic skills in the area of psychological imagery and verbal skills (Huitt & Hummel,

2003). During his childhood Stalin was self-oriented and had a narcissistic view; being a child in

the preoperational stage he used these skills egotistically to see the planet from only his context.

The Concrete Operations stage of Piaget's theory postulates that children in this stage are capable
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to think more logically and more flexibly as well as more organized (Huitt & Hummel, 2003).

They are capable of taking into account another individual's point of view and juggle more than

one view at the same time. Stalin at this stage had the capability successfully to pass language,

chronological, and reasoning tasks. The Formal Operations stage is unique to Stalin because at

this stage Stalin's rationality made him capable of thinking in abstract terms. He could also

reason hypothetically. Piaget argued that this was the most important stage of development

(Atherton, 2009). It was during the Formal Operations stage that Stalin joined his first Socialist

organization, when he was 18, further complimenting his egocentrism.

Stalin's behavior can also be explained by Kohlberg's moral development theory. Stalin

obviously alternated between the stages and manipulated them for his own benefit, not

necessarily consciously. Stalin believed in Kohlberg's pre-conventional notion of obedience and

authority. He believed that everyone should obey the law or face severe consequences. Hence,

he created the secret police KGB to maintain order and stability within the citizenry. As Crain

(1985) has noted, with respect to the implications of Stalin and Kohlberg's stage of conventional

morality, "Now the emphasis is on obeying laws, respecting authority, and performing one's

duties so that the social order is maintained." Stalin believed that everyone must obey the law

and initiate the values which defined the ideal Soviet. Stalin also abided by the idea of

Kohlberg's post-conventional morality level of social contract and individual rights, even though

Stalin was very immoral. Stalin believed that society needed to function well and be organized.

He believed that a well-functioning society was a totalitarian state. Indeed, Stalin controlled

everything about the Soviet Union, including the economy, the state, mass media, and created a

form of state terrorism via the KGB (Totalitarianism, 2009). Since Stalin believed that a well-

organized society was a totalitarian state, he used that to justify his murdering of millions of
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people.

Joseph Stalin was an evil man who would use whatever means necessary to expand his

ambitions. He killed millions of people in order to achieve his political, ideological, and military

agendas. Stalin was born in Georgia and was the only child to live with respect to his mother's

other three children. Stalin went to a prestigious college and received an honorary award for his

intelligence. Stalin was abused by his mother and father as a child. As a result, Joseph Stalin

was what could be termed as a destructive egomaniac. He too abused people as he got older.

Two main theories exist that can be used to explain Stalin's bizarre behavior: Piaget's

developmental theory and Kohlberg's moral development theory. Joseph Stalin will be a figure

to be remembered for centuries to come.

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References

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http://www.learningandteaching.info/learning/piaget.htm

Crain, W.C. (1985). Kohlberg's stages of moral development. Retrieved on July 2nd, 2009,

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Encyclopedia Britannica. (2009). Joseph Stalin. Retrieved on July 1st, 2009, from

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Grey, I. (1979). Stalin: Man of History. Retrieved on July 5th, 2009, from

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Huitt, W. & Hummel, H. W. (2003). Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development. Retrieved on

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McNeal, R. (1988). Stalin: Man and Ruler. New York: New York University Press. p. 9

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