Gali Sivaditya 1

13BSP0244

THERE IS NO SUBSTITUTE FOR HARD WORK Thomas A. Edison

The Pursuit of Happyness, the whole story rotates around Chris Gardner and his behaviour.
Several scenes in the movie exhibit few theories viz., MBTI theory 1, Self Efficacy 2 and Goal-Setting
theory 3, Maslow's hierarchy of needs, Self Motivation, Determination, Perception.
According to the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator(MBTI), the main character of the movie, Chris
Gardner, is an individual who is extraverted, outgoing, sociable, and assertive behaviour. He is not
hesitant to talk to the superiors of the brokerage company, and is very assertive in doing so. He is
sociable with all of the colleagues and businessmen he meets during his internship at the company.
Self Efficacy and Goal Setting, the specificity of Chris Gardner's goal to become stock broker
itself seems act as an internal stimulus. The goal set by him is not so easy, it is difficult to reach the
position what he is dreaming. When goals are difficult, people persist in trying to attain them. Chris
did the same and his high self efficacy motivated him a lot. Self Efficacy and Goal Setting don't
compete with one another; rather, they complement each other.
Equity Theory - other-outside 4.
Chris to Employee of dean witter
Chris
:
Man, I got two questions for you:
What do you do? And how do you do it?
Employee
:
I'm a stockbroker.
Chris
:
Stockbroker. Oh, goodness.
Chris compares him with an of employee of dean witter. Based on equity theory who
perceive inequality will make one of six choices and Chris made a choice to quit the work of selling
bone density scanners and chosen to become stock broker. Chris enjoyed the idea of becoming a
stock broker, and knew that becoming one would make him happy.
Self Motivation and Determination, humans are driven to achieve the maximum point of
goal at some point of their lives regardless of any obstacles and hindrances. His wife Linda decided
to exit her relationship with him and moved to New York. She left because she was not happy with
the current situation, and went to seek it elsewhere, away from Chris . At a point of time he is
homeless and couldn't get a place to stay and sleeps in metro station toilet along with his son
Christopher. Besides all these problems he finally achieved his goal with his self motivation. Chris
Gardner was determined throughout The Pursuit of Happyness to succeed, even when various
challenges were thrown his way.
Perception, we can find perception 5 process very much in this movie in different scenes.
Before interview, perception about Chris was different among interview panel which was entirely
different after the interview. Below conversation explains their perception about Chris.
1

Personality test that classify people into 1 of 16 personality types.

Individual belief that he/she is capable of performing a task, it is directly related to performance, confidence.
3
Specific and Difficult goals with feedback lead higher performance
4
Comparing with another individual outside the employee's organization
2

Gali Sivaditya 2
13BSP0244

INTERVIEWER :
Chris Gardner :

What would you say if a man walked in here with no shirt , and I hired him ?
He must have had on some really nice pants.

To be more particular, Stereotyping 6 plays a major role before interview and it was different after
interview. Before interview, entire panel's perception about Chris was stereotyping. It was due to
the way he dressed and the way he entered the room. But after the interview it was completely
changed with his explanation and the way he projected himself in front of the panel. Now the
perception is Halo effect 7
I'm the type of person that if you ask me a question and I don't know the answer, I'm gonna tell you
that I don't know. But I bet you what, I know how to find the answer and I will find the answer.
These words created an positive impression about Chris and his attitude which made them to select
him for the internship program.
Hierarchy of Needs Theory 8, in every human, there exists a hierarchy of five needs.
Physiological, Chris became nomad and needs a shelter very badly. Once physical needs are
fulfilled other needs arise. The safety needs, when he had paid taxes of amount $600, and left with
$21 he meets Wayne, to get his $14 from him but fails, then he finds his scanner and successfully
sells it the Doctor to make some money. Social, Chris is a social animal from the beginning which
helped him more during internship program to sign 31 accounts for Dean Witter.
Chris decreases his sons expectancy by telling him that he probably wont be able to play
basketball well, no matter how hard you try. Later Chris tells his son that he can accomplish
anything, the situation completely turns around. Chriss son believes in himself again and his selfesteem becomes higher. The words, You want Something. Go get it. Period, is a moment of
realization for both Chris and his son. We can see his self-actualization 9 to do well himself and his
son is drive to achieve the goal that he established. He seems to be a person that doesnt give up.
Movie Summary
The Pursuit of Happyness follows Chris Gardner as he struggles to achieve his dream. Chris has
everything going against him. His wife left him and he's raising his 5-year-old son alone, without any
real income. Determined to provide for his son Christopher no matter what, Chris enters an unpaid
internship program at a brokerage firm in hopes of landing the one paid position available at the end
of the training program. Finally Chris succeeds in his dream to become a stock broker.

Process by which individuals organize and interpret their sensory impression in order to give meaning to their
environment
6
Judging someone on the basis of one's perception of the group to which that person belongs(race, ethnicity).
7
Tendency to draw a general impression about an individual on the basis of a single characteristic (wise,
intelligence, sociability)
8
Maslow's hierarchy of five needs - Physiological, Safety, Social, Esteem and Self-actuaization.
9
The Drive to become what a person is capable of becoming.