Psychology of a Green Lantern

[Guest Close Alchemyprime]

Hey all. I need some help on a Psychology paper on the GLC.

Things like

1. What's the major personality traits they have in common and that sets them apart? I mean Hal, John, Guy, Kyle, even Alan.
2. The emotional Spectrum and how it relates to psychological disorders.
3. And whatevery else can be thought up.

Any ideas or insights?

[GL2873 Fatality's Blacksmith Find all posts View Profile Close GL2873]

Whoa - heavy. I will mull over this one and get back to ya. It's 3:18 am and I'm get'n too tired to mull.

[GL_2814 Bond, Lantern Bond Find all posts View Profile Close GL_2814]

The trait, at least one that they share, is determination. They will not allow themselves to quit anything. As for the psychological disorders, that I can't really help with.

[JohnnyV Pictionary Master Find all posts View Profile Close JohnnyV]

I think something you can talk about is how willpower is a neutral based emotion. Meaning willpower in and of itself doesn't do harm or good. So, why then are the Green Lanterns the good guys? Harnessing willpower doesn't necessarily mean you're going to help someone, yet it is used that way in GL.

[methos Kyle's Backup Artist Find all posts View Profile Close methos]

Typically i'd put Green Lantern's on an ESFP Personality Type on the Myers-Briggs scale...

Green Lantern’s pretty much live in the moment, experiencing life to the fullest. They enjoy people, rarely allowing conventions to interfere with their lives, they find creative ways to meet human needs. Green Lantern’s are excellent team players, focused on completing the task at hand with maximum fun and minimum discord. Active types, they find pleasure in new experiences.

Green Lantern’s take a hands-on approach in most things. Because they learn more by doing than by studying or reading, they tend to rush into things, learning by interacting with their environment. They usually dislike theory and written explanations. Traditional schools can be difficult for Green Lantern’s, although they tend to do well when the subject of study interests them, or when they see the relevance of a subject and are allowed to interact with people.

Observant, practical, realistic, and specific, Green Lantern’s make decisions according to their own personal standards. They use their Feeling judgment internally to identify and empathize with others. Naturally attentive to the world around them, Green Lantern’s are keen observers of behaviour. They quickly sense what is happening with other people and immediately respond to their individual needs. They are especially good at mobilizing people to deal with crises. Generous, optimistic, and persuasive, they are good at interpersonal interactions. They often play the role of peacemaker due to their warm, sympathetic, and tactful nature.

It is natural for Green Lantern’s to give less attention to their non-preferred Intuitive and Thinking parts. If they neglect these too much, they may fail to look at long-term consequences, acting on immediate needs of themselves and others. They may also avoid complex or ambiguous situations and people, putting enjoyment ahead of obligations. Under great stress, Green Lantern’s may feel overwhelmed internally by negative possibilities. They then put energy into developing simplistic global explanations for their negativity.

M

[Guest Close risingstar]

Hey all. I need some help on a Psychology paper on the GLC.

Things like

1. What's the major personality traits they have in common and that sets them apart? I mean Hal, John, Guy, Kyle, even Alan.
2. The emotional Spectrum and how it relates to psychological disorders.
3. And whatevery else can be thought up.

Any ideas or insights?

1) The major common trait the GLs seem to have is that each one wants to be more than what they are... It's to the point where they may feel naked or vulnerable without the ring. Insecurity is at the root.

2) There is a constant need for approval. It's always about "look what I can do". The Green Lanterns aren't generally bright, or good fighters, or of high moral fiber, though they'd be the first to disagree. They are, however, constantly out to prove something. This tremendously self centered appeal and deep seeded insecurity often compels them to perform fantastic acts. However, make no mistake, it's about them personally first. They seem to thrive on the attention as well.

3) There's also this enormous sense of entitlement as if they believed on some level that they were perfectly chosen for their post. You'll rarely find a GL without an ego the size of our solar system. They appear convinced that it was likely due to some kind of divine intervention that they were especially chosen to join the corps. As we have seen, the guardians have made abysmal choices over the years as to who may join their ranks. There's nothing divine or special about who they chose. Yet, the GLs seem to cling to that illusion that they're extremely special. In essence, as people, the GLs generally (need to) believe they're better or more special than anyone else. That's why most will ultimately fail because once they (inevitably) discover the truth about their own utter insignificance and bloated/fragile ego, they'll crack. At that point, they'll either go rogue or try that much harder to prove they're better (or more needed) than anyone else.

This is why I think the guardians choose these generally easily manipulated people because they are willing to sacrifice everything and anything so that they could feel better about themselves. These people will buy any compliment you throw their way and will perform just about any act to keep the approval and sense of worth coming. In essence, the Corp runs on a cult-like mentality.


As far as I'm concerned, the GLs are a collective of ticking time bombs. They're potentially the most dangerous heroes in the DC Universe. Our only saving grace is that the GLs keep an eye on each other so that when one does go rogue, they go after him.


Hope this helps your Psych paper!

[Keyser Soze Alpha-Lantern Find all posts View Profile Close Keyser Soze]

One thing I've given quite a bit of consideration is that a lot of Green Lanterns are "damaged goods", in one way or another. What kind of mindset do you need to be in to be completely "without fear"? I keep on going back to the famous quote from Daredevil: Born Again:

"A man without hope is a man without fear."

Being totally fearless, throwing yourself into any kind of dangerous situation without pause, that suggests something of a self-destructive impulse to me. Remember that Hal has said that once your greatest fear happens before your eyes, it's hard to be frightened of anything else. That's happened to Hal twice - once as a child, watching his father die, and again when he watched Coast City be destroyed. In "The New Frontier", Hal's "fearlessness" is portrayed as him subconsciously punishing himself for taking a life during the Korean War, his buried guilt feeding into the above-mentioned self-destructive impulse.