Donald Trump Biographical Sketch

Donald Trump biographical sketch

Donald Trump Real-estate developer and now reality show celebrity was born June 14th, 1946, in Queens New York. Born the fourth of five children of Fredrick C. and Mary Macleod Trump, Donald decided to take after his father in real estate developing. Donald brought the Grand Hyatt to Manhattan in 1980 and several more development projects which made him the city's most known real estate developer. In 2004 he began to star in the hit reality series, The Apprentice. Donald is known for taking on whatever he sets his mind to large or small, regardless of what others may tell him.

In his earlier life starting from childhood he was raised around real estate as his father was a real estate developer known for constructing and running middle income apartments in Queens, NY. Donald had a very comfortable childhood and at the young age of 13 he was sent off to New York Military Academy. His parents sent him here with hope to channel his energy in a positive direction. Here he learned the true art of competing and how to be aggressive to achieve what you desire. During his time here he became a student leader and also a star athlete before he graduated in 1968. After the Military Academy he then moved on to Wharton School of Finance at the University of Pennsylvania where he earned his bachelor's degree in Economics.

After he graduated college he moved on in his life never forgetting the lessons his dad taught him in business and the competitive spirit he learned at the Military Academy. He joined his father s company and was able to expand it, in 1971 he moved to Manhattan with the goal for making large profits from the economic opportunity here. He turned a profit with the old rail yard for the Pennsylvania Central Railroad by selling it to the city government as a lot for the city convention center. He then obtained one of the Penn Central's hotels that was unprofitable and signed a deal for the Hyatt Hotel Corporation to build a complex for them. He was also involved with a casino deal at New Jersey's Atlantic City.

Donald Trump has been through up's and downs throughout his time as an entrepreneur, a quote from Trump "Going through tough times is a wonderful thing, and everybody should try it, once." Some of these hard times came during the early 90's when his company's worth went from $1.7 billion to 500 million and the only thing keeping him afloat was extensive loans. Over all he has a very strong desire to complete what he starts and never quits. He's business smarts landed him a reality series, The Apprentice.

Psychological Explanations

I choose to look at Donald Trump through a Psychodynamic perspective since this is the one I agree with the most. With the psychodynamic approach "the human brain is looked at like an iceberg, with only a small amount of it being visible, that is our observable behavior, but it is the unconscious, submerged mind that has the most, underlying influence on our behavior." (Mcleod, 2007). Donald Trump is a third generation entrepreneur whose family's success goes from gold mining in Colorado to real-estate development in queens NY. He was raised by his father was a well-known real estate developer in Queens, NY. Just by looking at the family he comes from I can see that he was raised in business imbedded in his subconscious mind. Also he was sent to Military Academy at a young age, this was an experience that instilled even more of a hardworking and competitive nature in him. This combined with the subconscious mindset that he already had from being raised around business is what encouraged his unconscious mind to make him want to create a huge empire and the drive to go out and accomplish his goals no matter what barriers were in front of him.

Part A: Development

Infancy through Adolescence

We all of the ability to achieve in life, but what gives us this ability? How do make our way from a helpless infant to a successful adult? Many people would say it is our upbringing. Some of us are born with a "silver spoon" in our mouth where others are raised very poor. All in all I believe it is not how we are raised but how we adjust to our surroundings. For example one person who was raised financially poor may use it as an excuse not to strive for more where another may use as "fuel to their fire" and become financially successful. This is one thing that Donald trump never had to worry about as he was raised in a very comfortable environment.

Donald trump, the fourth of five children was raised in Queens, New York. His father Fredrick Trump was a well-known real estate developer who specialized in constructing and operating middle income apartments in the Queens, Staten Island, and Brooklyn sections of New York. Donald trump was very energetic, bright and assertive child. As a youngster his parents didn't think that he was using his qualities to their full potential. They enrolled him in New York Military Academy at the age of 13 with the hopes he would channel his energy into more positive things, which he did. Earning academic honors playing varsity soccer, baseball and football not only was he recognized with his athletic abilities but also his leadership. His senior year he was promoted to Cadet Captain- S4.

After graduating from New York Military School Donald went on to Fordham University two years before he transferred to Wharton school of University of Pennsylvania. Instead of partying all summer long he spent his summers working for his father. He graduated from college with a Bachelor of Science in economics in 1968. It seems he was strongly influenced by his father in his chosen career path of real estate. He joined the family business shortly after college.

Psychosocial development

Donald Trump is a very proud and driven individual. He strives to be great and recognized at what he is doing. Even through times of adversity he continues to drive on towards his goal. He has a very strong ego and does not like to stay in the background. He is has a very strong opinion and does not like to be wrong. Looking at all of these social traits through Erik Erikson's 8 stages of psychosocial development can explain how he ended up with such a strong personality.

Erik Erikson's work looks at 8 psychosocial crises that happen throughout our lives. Each stage involves two opposing emotional forces for example Identity vs. role confusion. To successfully make it through each