There iBenjamin Franklin and Muhammad and Their Personality
Introduction
In this article, I’m going to look at two famous people and review specific personality traits that these two figures tend to fit into. The first person I am going to look at is Benjamin Franklin (January 17, 1706 – April 17, 1790), and the second person will be the founder of the religion known as Islam, Muhammad (April 26, 570 – June 8th, 632). While these two people come from different backgrounds at different times, they both still hold a strong influence in the world today.
Personality Traits and Motives
First, I will define the personality traits and needs that I’m measuring. I will be basing this paper on the big-5 personality traits which include extraversion, neuroticism, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and Open to Experience/Intellect. While there is conflict regarding the meaning of what exactly defines these personality traits, I will go with these traits, which include the following: “Extraversion – bold, forceful, self-confident, talkative, spontaneous, gregarious, outspoken, energetic, and happy. Neuroticism – Nervous, anxious, excitable, high-strung, concerned, fearful, and tense. Agreeableness – friendly, warm, kind, polite, good-natured, and considerate. Conscientiousness – cautious, serious, responsible, thorough, hardworking, neat, persevering, and planful. Intellect – imaginative, intellectual, polished, curious, creative, knowledgeable, perceptive, verbal, and original” (Carver and Scheier 2008).
I will also look at the needs and motives of these individuals which include the need for achievement, need for power, need for affiliation, and need for intimacy. As defined by the text: The need for achievement – the desire to do things well, to feel pleasure in overcoming obstacles. There is the need for power – the motive to have an impact on others, to have prestige, to feel strong compared to others. The need for affiliation – the motive to spend time with others and form friendly social ties. The need for intimacy – the desire to experience warm, close, and communicative exchanges with another person, to feel close to another person” (Carver and Scheier 2008).
Benjamin Franklin
Brief Overview
First, I will start with Benjamin Franklin. Benjamin Franklin was a very accomplished man. He was a political theorist, scientist, musician, inventor (lightning rod, bifocals, etc.), and author, among other things. He even began the first fire department in Pennsylvania and the first lending library in America. Franklin strongly believed in hard work, education, self-governing institutions, and community spirit. He was opposed to such things as political and religious authoritarianism.
He had many accomplishments, which would include such things as helping establish the University of Pennsylvania, helped prevented the Stamp Act from taking place, having a positive effect on French/American relationships, and many other things. Toward the end of his life, he became a prominent abolitionist, which he demonstrated by freeing his own slaves.
Extroversion
I would consider Franklin to rank very high on extroversion. He was involved in and created many groups throughout his life, keeping him in contact with several people. Franklin created the Union Fire Company, was appointed president of the Academy and College of Philadelphia, organized the Pennsylvania Militia, and even became the governor of Pennsylvania. He was socially active in that he led the anti-proprietary party against the Penn family and publicly opposed the 1765 Stamp Act. A person who is introverted would have a very difficult time doing the things that Franklin did.
Neuroticism
It is hard to measure Benjamin Franklin’s degree of neuroticism just by reading of what he accomplished. I will make an attempt to show that he probably would have scored low in the area of neuroticism by looking and some of his thirteen virtues. One said “Order. Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time” (Franklin). This shows that Franklin strived to keep order in his life. One with more order usually has less stress and, therefore, a lower rate of neuroticism. This would probably also increase his score when it came to conscientiousness. Another one is “Tranquility. Be not disturbed by trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable” (Franklin). This statement shows that Franklin sought to find peace within rather than be bothered by things happening around him. While it is difficult to tell how well he did at this, it does show that he strived for inner peace. Inner peace would lower him on the neuroticism scale.
Agreeableness
Regarding agreeableness, it is hard to say where he would fall. It would be closer to the middle, perhaps toward the higher end. On the agreeableness side of things, Franklin promoted religious tolerance, indicating that he wasn’t interested in arguing regarding spiritual matters. However, someone who supports religious tolerance may be more opt to argue with someone who demonstrates intolerance. It did appear that Franklin’s ultimate goal was peace. I would think that to have as significant of an influence as he had, he would need a degree of agreeableness. In fact, one of his virtues was “silence,” which he defined as “Speak not but of what might benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation” (Franklin), which also is evidence that he was fairly agreeable. However, he would also have to have a degree of disagreeableness. He was openly opposed to authoritarian government and religion, meaning he would probably not agree with certain political and religious leaders.
Conscientiousness
When it comes to conscientiousness, I would say that Franklin would also score high on this. Since this trait is connected to the will to achieve, it seems that he had a strong will to succeed. An example being that he accomplished a lot of what is mentioned above. He valued hard work, which is a trait of conscientiousness, and seemed to be a very responsible man.
Openness to Experience/Intellect
I believe that Benjamin Franklin would have scored high on the openness to experience/intellect trait. Being an inventor would require Franklin to be quite creative and imaginative. For instance, he came up with the lightning rod by believing that conductors with sharp points tended to be more capable than smooth points of discharging electricity silently. Therefore, he found a way to draw electricity out of the sky more safely. More evidence that he was strong on this trait is that he played and composed music. To be involved in such things as being the president of the American Philosophical Society he would probably would have had to demonstrate a high degree of intellect.
Needs And Motives
Regarding needs, I would say that Franklin had a high need for achievement. He continually strived to succeed at what he did, whether it was inventing things, putting together music, or having political influence. I would not say that he had a need for power since he was opposed to authoritarian style authority and was more in favor of individual freedom. However, the need for power can also be defined as having an influence on others. Franklin seemed to have the need to have a positive influence on others as demonstrated by his accomplishments such as becoming a governor.
Being a social person, as mentioned earlier, I believe he had a high need for affiliation. His involvement in several organizations demonstrates this. His need for intimacy is questionable. At age 17, Franklin asked Deborah Read to marry him. However, Deborah was too afraid of the sea to go with Franklin on his trips to Europe, and she even passed away when he was on one of his extended trips. It seems that his need to achieve was more significant than his need for intimacy, but it did seem like he needed intimacy to a degree. From what I understand, his need for affiliation would have been more prevalent than his need for intimacy.
Muhammad
Brief Overview
The second person I’m going to take a look at is Muhammad who is well known for having founded the world’s second largest religion: Islam. Not only is he known by Muslims as the last prophet but also by historians as a philosopher, merchant, and military leader, among other things. Not happy with his life, he retreated into a cave for meditation and reflection. According to Islam belief, when he was 40, he received a revelation from a god named Allah and proclaimed that he was a prophet of this god and that Allah is the one true god. He gained followers, and even though he was met with hostility, he was able to unite the tribes around him and convert most of the people to his religion. He brought us the Islamic holy book, the Quran, and even today, Muslims view his name with reverence. There is much controversy about the true history of Muhammad, so I will analyze what is often said about him.
Muhammad felt a strong need to warn those who rejected Allah’s revelation but also to commended those who turned from “evil.” He emphasized ideas such as the forgiveness of sins, opposed cheating people of wealth, and also opposed the killing of newborn girls. According to historians, he brought moral reform to the area, which improved the rights of slaves, women, and children. He issued a tax called zakat, which benefited the poor, in which he demanded that those who allied with him would implement it.
Even when people of power in Mecca insisted that Muhammad would stop preaching his religion, he continued on. He was also a military leader, as seen in his conquest of Mecca, which included many battles. While a military leader, he was also merciful as when he finally took control of Mecca. He did so with as few casualties as possible and announced that those he fought against be forgiven for past sins, except for a few who continued to mock him.
Extroversion
I believe that Muhammad would score high on the personality trait of extroversion. He was bold and expressed his religious beliefs to those around him. Muhammad was able to gain a following that was loyal to him and make pacts between various tribes. He was forceful with his religious beliefs, not giving in to those around him. However, he may have had a degree of introversion, especially in his earlier years when he would withdraw to his cave for several weeks out of the year.
Neuroticism
Just as with Benjamin Franklin, it is hard to tell to what degree Muhammad demonstrated neuroticism. He did not seem like a fearful man, as he didn’t give in to threats to stop spreading his religion. He wasn’t overcome with anxiety or nervousness during confrontations, so it would appear that he might have scored low in this area.
Agreeableness
Unlike Franklin, I believe Muhammad would have scored low in the area of agreeableness. He believed that his god was the only true god and would preach this regardless of who disagreed with him. Muhammad was adamant that others needed to succumb to his belief structure, or Allah would severely punish him. He seemed to be rather intolerant in regard to religion, which differed greatly from Franklin, who promoted religious tolerance. However, he did manage to gain a following, which would have been difficult if one had never been agreeable at all. I do believe he still may have had traces of agreeableness.
Conscientiousness
I believe that Muhammad would have a high degree of conscientiousness. In order to be both a religious and military leader, one has to have a high degree of responsibility and organization. He did well in battle, showing that he was more cautious than rash and knew how to plan things out.
Openness to Experience/Intellect
I also believe he would have been high on the openness to experience/intellect scale. To create a religion that would become one of the prominent world forces almost 1500 years later would take a great deal of creativity and intellect. He had to be smart in battle strategy and come up with plans to defeat his enemies.
Needs and Motives
When it comes to needs and motives, I would say that Mohammed had a high need for achievement, as he demonstrated by preaching his religion regardless of what others thought and fought against those who opposed him. I would put him in the mid-range for his need for power. While it did seem that he was in a constant power struggle, he also ended up showing mercy to those whom he defeated. He gave to the poor, and in his marriages, he allowed his wives and concubines to express their opinions and even argue with him.
His need for affiliation would have been fairly high since he surrounded himself with those who followed him and kept them close by. This need seemed to get stronger later in his life has he made his conquests. His need for intimacy, I would say, would be about in the middle range. He married a woman at 25, and it was reported to be a happy marriage that lasted for 25 years. However, overall, he was said to have about 13 wives or concubines he married for political or humanitarian reasons; however, these accounts vary. I believe that during his earlier life, he had a higher need for intimacy since he maintained a happy marriage for 25 years. However when he really became more involved in the spread of his religion and conquest, his need for intimacy was not as high.
Conclusion
Upon researching both of these men, I found myself rather surprised at how many similarities there are between the two of them. At first, I thought they would have very different personalities. The only difference I really saw was that Benjamin Franklin was higher on the personality trait of agreeableness. Also Muhammad seemed to have a higher need for power. In some ways, those who have a great influence on society may have similar personality traits overall, even if they have different ways of going about things.
References
The description of Benjamin Franklin was taken from the following site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Franklin
The description of Mohammad was taken from the following site:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad
Carver, C. S., & Scheier, M. F. (2008). Perspectives on Personality (6th edition). New York: Pearson. Chapters 4 & 5
Franklin, Benjamin: The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin pg 38.