Ronnie++(Jersey+Shore)


 * Steve Fereno**

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__**Biography**__

Ronnie Ortiz-Magro was born in 1986. He was born in the Bronx, New York and grew up there. Ronnie is of Puerto Rican and Italian descent. Between his nationality and place of birth, Ronnie turned into the typical “New York Guido.” His image was quickly recognized and seemed to be the perfect fit for MTV’s new reality show “Jersey Shore.” The Jersey Shore was originally going to be a competition series focusing on the Guido lifestyle. However, producers came up with a new concept similar to “The Real World.” The Jersey Shore soon turned into a series of episodes in which eight housemates, including Ronnie, simply spent their summers in Seaside Heights, New Jersey. The show instantly became a hit and viewers loved the drama of the eights Guido’s living the dream summer of young adults. For the most part, the housemates partied every day. They went to clubs along the boardwalk, restaurants, and the beach every day. In order to stay in their house, they worked at a store along the boardwalk selling shirts(Carlson).

Before the housemates really got to know each other, Ronnie’s only rule was to never fall in love at the Jersey Shore. However, he quickly began a relationship with one of the other housemates, Sammi “Sweetheart” Giancola. This relationship could be considered one of the primary reasons the show is so popular. The two of them became a roller coaster of extreme emotional swings. Ronnie and Sammi fought almost every episode and the other housemates easily became annoyed and sick of the two of them. Aside from the fights, they constantly made up and declared their love for one another. On multiple occasions, the fights even escalated to the point of physical violence. In became quite clear to the audience and other cast that Ronnie definitely had some anger issues. The cast has had three successful seasons, two in New Jersey, and one in Miami, and the next is scheduled to be shot in Italy. They have become very famous and Ronnie has made appearances on The Wendy Williams Show, Live with Regis, and Good Morning America (Carlson). Ronnie, as well as the other cast, gets money for his appearances and many endorsements. This is aside from the cash he brings in for the show. He is estimated to make 100,000 dollars per episode in Italy this season.


 * __Trait Skill Approach__**

Trait approach is the use of adjectives or adjective dimensions to describe an individual. They have been around for thousands of years. It started from biblical references and ancient Greek text, and has worked its way into everyday life today. In some cases, it is so useful that it helps save lives (Friedman 267). What I mean by this is that it is used by the FBI to profile individuals and figure out exactly what they are looking for in a person and what they will do next. Trait approach is recognized and shown in almost every CSI, Law and Order, and Criminal Minds television episode. Although, it is probably exaggerated, there is no doubt that it helps catch criminals.

Aside from catching bad guys, trait approach is a very common aspect used in many studies. One of the great discoveries using trait approach is called the Big Five. Starting in the 1960’s, the Big Five is a gathering of research that is based around the idea that common personality traits can be captured by five dimensions. The dimensions are; extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness (Friedman 267). The Big Five is created through factor analysis and emerges from data (Huntington).

Extroversion includes enthusiasm, dominance, and sociability. So, extroverted people tend to be talkative and energetic. Meanwhile, shy and quiet people are at the low end of the scale, and are considered introverted (Friedman 267). Ronnie is certainly at the high end of this dimension. He is very enthusiastic and is not afraid to open his mouth. He is very sociable and loves to be the dominant. For this dimension, all of the cast of Jersey Shore would be considered extroverts. The reality show in its self is a prime example of their sociable characteristic.

It is no secret Ronnie has anger problems. In fact, there is controversy stirring about the next season of Jersey Shore. Because of his arrest record, Ronnie may have some trouble entering Italy. He was indicted on assault charges that happened off camera when taping season one (Cheesus). This rowdy behavior is common for this cast member and his short fuse categorizes him as neurotic. Neuroticism includes nervousness, tension, anxiety, and hostility (Friedman 267). I believe that this category is the easiest to generalize with Ronnie. Throughout the show Ronnie struggles to hold back his emotions and is very high-strung. If anyone says or does something he does not like, the mood in the room gets ugly. This is particularly obvious in his relationship with Sammi. I honestly could fill the paper with times he and Sammi got into quick heated fights followed by a make up and then more fights. It came to the point in the show that the other cast mates were absolutely sick of them and their relationship together. Instead of talking about all the different fights, I just used a summed up video posted above.

After viewing Ronnie’s attitude towards Sammi and their relationship, you could describe him as being cold and unkind. Thus being said, Ronnie is on the bottom of the dimension agreeableness. Agreeableness includes friendliness, cooperation, warmth, and trust (Friedman 267). Although Ronnie could be friendly to others at first and at sporadic moments, he is generally too overwhelmed by his hot temper and ego to be considered high on this scale. The girl that Ronnie “loves and will do anything for” winds up leaving the show for a short while to recover from what Ronnie has put her through. In my opinion, Sammi does over react sometimes and gets upset for no reason. But this is no excuse for Ronnie to treat her the way he does. Their relationship is just unhealthy for the both of them and their colliding personalities.

To continue, Ronnie is pretty careless and shows no gratitude towards Sammi. He basically feels bad after they hate one another each and every fight. He is also at the low end of the dimension of conscientiousness. Conscientious people are usually cautious, dependable, preserving, organized, and responsible. Ronnie is considered impulsive. Ronnie falls somewhere in the middle of the last dimension, openness. Open people are imaginative, witty, original, and artistic. Whereas people low on this dimension are shallow plain or simple (Friedman 267). The show does not really allow viewers to get a good grasp on where Ronnie lies on this one.

If you are not buying into the Big Five, perhaps Eysenck’s Big Three is more fitting. Hans Eysenck agreed with extroversion and neuroticism, nut was not a fan of the other three dimensions. Instead, he believed that traits are derived from an underlying biological system (Huntington). He the added the dimension of psychoticism to extroversion and neuroticism. Psychoticism includes the tendency toward psychopathology, involving cruelty and impulsivity, tough-mindedness, and shrewdness (Friedman 267). Using that exact definition, that sums up Ronnie in a nutshell. Ronnie’s attitude is tough- minded and his actions could be considered cruel. Putting fame aside, I do not see how anyone could want to date Ronnie after seeing the show.

**__Psychoanalytic Approach__**

According to Freud, there are three parts of the mind; the Id, the ego, and the superego. The Id is the core of personality that contains the basic psychic energy and motivations. The Id’s principle of operation is pleasure (Friedman 67). The Id is like the “devil on your shoulder”. He whispers in your ear to do what you really want to do, even if you know it is wrong. For Ronnie, his Id takes over much more than it should. He loves doing whatever he wants with whoever he wants whenever he wants. He then expects Sammi to ignore all problems and cuddle or sleep with him. His primitive drives just take over and are unable to be controlled. The superego is the structure that develops to internalize societal rules and guide goal-seeking behavior towards socially acceptable pursuits (Friedman 67). The Superego is tge “angel on your shoulder” that whispers to do what is right. Comply with the social norms and understand morality. Ronnie absolutely listens to the superego. He just listens after the bad choice had been made and he is left apologizing and pronouncing his love. Lastly, there is the ego. The ego is basically the middle man. It concentrates on reality and tries to be realistic when making decisions. Throughout Jersey Shore, Ronnie is in a constant battle with himself over Sammi, the other cast mates, and if he wants to even be on the show in general. In the last season he considers leaving when Sammi comes back after her intermission, because he cannot be in the same room as her or hang out around her.

Defense mechanisms develop when the ego has to balance out the superego and id. Defense mechanisms are processes by the ego that distort reality to protect from anxiety (Huntington). One mechanism Ronnie uses is denial. He refuses to acknowledge how much anxiety his and Sammi’s fights bring to himself. This is why he just thinks the fights are part of the relationship and thinks nothing of them. Another mechanism he uses is displacement. He shifts his aggression to a different target. So when he gets mad at Sammi in the last season, he throws her clothes out of the house and breaks her containers. Lastly, he uses rationalization when he tells Sammi he did no hook up with other girls. He was trying to prevent a future fight (Huntington). He tried pleading it was for her own good not to know and that it would hurt their relationship.

The psychosexual development also plays a big role in Ronnie’s personality and decision making. Underlying Ronnie’s tensions, Freud would say that there is sexual energy, also known as libido. He also stated that this energy is the basis for drive and motivation (Friedman 70). There are five stages within this concept; oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital. In most of the stages there is a theme, a conflict with that theme, and a fixation that occurs if you cannot overcome that conflict. You could argue that Ronnie is stuck in the phallic stage. These stages occur when you are a child, but if you cannot overcome that conflict you are stuck with the fixation (Huntington). As a result, Ronnie developed vanity, narcissism, and the ability to love. As we have already mentioned, these traits seem to describe Ronnie perfectly.


 * __ Discussion __**

Ronnie has become very famous and rich from being on Jersey Shore. His personality and issues made him into a celebrity. Nobody knows what the remainder of his life will be like, but if he doesn’t find a way to deal with it, he may never find a healthy relationship or life. Between the trait and psychoanalytic approach, it is clear to see Ronnie’s problems and bad personality traits.

His neurotic impulses are not healthy for his and Sammi’s relationship. The new season should be interesting for the both of them. I’m sure they will fight and nothing will change with his behavior at all. Also, he cannot continue with his hot temper. He gets in too many fights with other people and could easily wind up in jail.

In a way, I understand his actions because he is now famous for acting out like he did. He keeps getting rewarded for his wild personality and American continues to applaud him. I just think it will catch up to him in the long run.

__ **References** __

Carlson,Meaghan.(2011,April). //Sober Season FourJersey Shore Cast Not Allowed To Drink In Florence,Italy//. Retrieved from http://buddytv.com

Cheesus. (2011, April). //Jersey Shore Cast Salary is 100k Per Episode in Season Four.// http://poponthepop.com/category/ronnie-ortiz-magro/

Friedman, H. S. & Schustack, M. W. (2009). Personality: Classic theories and modern research (4th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.

Huntington, A. (2011). Chapter 3: Psychoanalytic Aspects of Personality. Retrieved from []

Huntington, A. (2011). Chapter 8: Trait and Skill. Retrieved from []