As a fan and practitioner of
positive psychology, I am constantly attending to the ways in which healthy people manage to construct such healthy lives—so as to marshal the insights (lessons, habits,
personality traits, life experiences, etc.) into interventions for unhealthy people who deserve but struggle to attain such happy, healthy outcomes.
Is George Clooney an insightful case study in this regard? From a distance, he certainly seems so. After all, few people have attained such success, popularity and likability in our society. A recently aired, two-hour interview on 'Inside the Actor's Studio' offered rich material.
Psychological defenses: We all distract ourselves from things we find unsettling or dissonant about our personalities and life story. At one point in the interview, Clooney began to describe his father's strict disciplinarian style: "My father would lock you in your room for a long..." My point is not to speculate on the nature of punishment in Clooney's upbringing but to note that he unintentionally began to share information that he quickly deemed to be too personal. He then decided to do what we all do in public situations involving personal information—he defended against being open. We all have different ways of defending—denial, repression, sublimation, etc. and some ways of defending are healthier than others. In this moment of defense Clooney turned to the audience, and with a twinkle in his eye, joked that "only recently in my life did my father stop grounding me." Humor is as mature and healthy a defense as we have in our emotional repertoires.
Interpersonal attitudes: We know that a warm, interested and optimistic view of other people and our interactions with them is critical to well-being. Meaningful and plentiful relationships are perhaps the best predictors of good health, mental and physical. And you can't establish such fruitful bonds without the proper demeanor and subsequent social skills. The list of effective skills in this domain is a long one, ranging from making good eye contact and providing frequent smiles to treating others compassionately. Predictably, all of the ingredients to this recipe of sociability were on display in Clooney's loving impersonation of his Kentucky-born Uncle, and his praise of former colleagues like Jennifer Lopez.
Intelligence: Sure, you can attain a healthy life without being the sharpest knife in the drawer, but being smart makes things easier. Clooney is smart. There are somewhat objective measures to reference: we learn that entertainment magazines have rated him as smart. He also shows tell-tale signs of intelligence like speaking eloquently (a test of enunciation is one of the most reliable assessments of general intelligence). He displays a thirst for and ever-expanding fund of knowledge, and expresses an ability to retain, organize and integrate it.
And although intelligence is not the most malleable characteristic we possess, it can be shaped to a deceivingly degree by environmental factors... environmental factors that we must construct for ourselves. Clooney described a routine of cognitive stimulation that keeps his intellectual motor running smoothly—he works on and memorizes intellectually dense scripts, and hosts parties for the purposes of conversing with other intellectual heavyweights. Intelligence is like a muscle and Clooney exercises it quite well.
Gratitude: Gratitude improves well-being and buffers against anxiety/depression. This is why clinicians often seek to help patients manufacture more of it through such interventions as writing gratitude letters to loved ones, or recalling three small things from the day that induce a sense of graciousness. Clooney exhibits this character strength in spades. When asked why he insists on working on "happy" sets, Clooney passionately articulated how acutely aware he was of his lot in life: "I am in the luckiest business in the world, I'm very aware of catching the brass ring. I'm very aware that had it not been for a Thursday night television spot for ER... then I don't have this career."
Expertise: It is tremendously important to have expertise in something. Research has shown that the presence of even one valued hobby in the life of an at-risk youth (a child born into a poor, drug addicted family, for instance) can shape a healthier trajectory of success. Expertise in a particular area is also one of the richest sources of autonomy, meaning, mastery and efficacy that exists, and these elements of identity are the foundation to a healthy life. There are a few highlights from Clooney's life story worth mentioning in this vein.
Nick, Clooney's father, worked in show business. He was a member of the first generation of television show hosts. Nick struggled early on, professionally speaking, and worked long hours for a revolving door of employment positions. Clooney and his siblings often helped his father with the entrepreneurial ventures. This experience stands out for two reasons: A. success has been associated with childhood's that contain some adversity, but not too much. B. Practice: Many studies have noted that practice—10,000 hours at least—leads to expertise in a rather concrete way. Clooney has become an expert at filmmaking, as evidenced by the consistent critical acclaim for his movies, and he benefited from an earlier start than most.
Sure, good fortune and good looks plays an important role in his work success, but his early introduction to showbiz and his father's persistence and work ethic should not be underestimated as key contributing factors.
Growth mindset: Some people believe that success in life is pre-determined or based on external sources like luck. This is called a fixed mindset, and can derail you from a successful life. Research has shown the opposite, core belief—effort and hard work is the approach that is needed—is associated with success across academic, professional and personal domains of functioning. Clooney had some personal experiences that induced a growth mindset, such as observing the rise and fall and rise of his Aunt, a famous singer. And this point was driven home definitively when he describe himself as the "Pete Rose" of the movies, because "what I lack in skill I can make up for in effort... I've always lacked skills but that's exciting because that only means I have to learn new skills." This comment is the embodiment of this stable, hugely important attitude toward life.
Meaning-making coping style: We all cope with adversity in a variety of habitual ways. Failing a midterm, and deciding to not study for the final as a response is an example of a hopeless stance that is awful for a healthy life. When describing an experience with his dying, Uncle Clooney unintentionally expressed one of the healthiest coping strategies uncovered by research. He described caring for a beloved Uncle and his deathbed and one gets the sense in listening to this story that it was a slow, painful and ugly death. The Uncle's last breaths were filled with bitterness and resentment. Instead of being scarred by the experience Clooney made positive meaning out of it, walking away with a vow to be more present-minded and goal-oriented in life, to avoid a fate similar to his Uncle's.
Stay tuned for Part II...
