Analysis of Good Will Hunting

Part 1

Cognition regards the process that makes people who they are with respect to

their thinking shaping their actions and collective characteristics portrayed in the process. The

movie Good Will Hunting does an excellent job at depicting cognition from various angles. What

is undertaken through the movie is depiction of personality as well as human growth on the basis

of nature and nurture[ CITATION Koo10 \l 1033 ]. What is depicted in the movie is a case of

how life experiences influence personality development and stimulate growth this leading to

people becoming better versions of themselves.

The movie opens up with Will Hunting mopping the floors and at a chalkboard

on his side is a mathematical equation written down. The expression that forms on Will’s face

after looking at the equation is one which speaks of him being able to solve the problem. This is

a good example of the cognitive abilities that Will possesses. In respect to this action, cognition

is best set out as individual mental capabilities of people that influences people’s actions in their

daily life. Hence, cognitive processes refer to the steps that make cognition a possibility.

Cognitive processes include; motor skills, visual as well as spatial processing, memory,

perception, executive functions and attention.

Collectively, occurrence of the processes set out here, occur without the

engagement of any kind of thought as well as effort. This is replicated Will seeing the

mathematical equation on the board and moving forward to solve the same. What this means is

that biological together with environmental factors are responsible for shaping the cognitive

processes of people. Influence under his case is attributed to people interactions, cultural

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 influences and gender for behavior interpretation as opposed to simply the case reward and

punishment measurement. The unique situations running through the life of Will are what shape

his personality.

Part 2

Will’s personality varies in accordance to his environment and who he is in

interaction with at any given time. This personality developed throughout his life where he

picked up various aspects of it as a means of his own protection. In the presence of his friends,

he displays this act of toughness ready to go all out and fight those he considers to have wronged

him. At the same time, the scene where he gets to meet Skylar brings out his softer side. At the

same time, his good nature is depicted through his contact with Chuckie where they discuss his

life journey.

The parents’ treatment towards Will while growing up has a lasting impact on

Will’s personality. Abuse while growing up leads him to having a difficult time with

establishment of any meaningful relationships with his peers and people from the opposite sex.

He is not capable of managing his emotions such as anger which leads him to either verbally or

physically attack those who wrong him. The aggressive reaction is reflective of his rough past. It

ends up influencing his behavior us different ways[ CITATION Sih04 \l 1033 ]. Anger on one

part is a defense that he uses to guard himself. Through these experiences, we get to see the

evolution theory in play through the flashback scenes of his life as a young child.

Part 3

The whole concept around self-efficacy revolves around the idea of believing in

oneself that you can undertake a given task. Will’s case presents an individual who us scared of

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 getting vulnerable because his self-image is developed to suit his current situation in a painful

world. There are several actions of will that point towards his self-efficacy and how it shapes his

personality. In several instances, he makes choices which are befitting to his social status. For

starters, he is comfortable with being a poor South and considers this status to remain like this

for him the rest of his life.

From his own logical perspective, his choice of friends depends on a

combination of reciprocity and loyalty. He is a man who lives with no aspirations in life and

dares not to dream big. Choice of being violent is driven by the need to belong to his group of

friends. Through such actions, we are able to see cultural aspects influence on his personality

from his behavior. Such projected actions are a means by which is capable of self-efficacy. The

whole theme of the movie is set out in a way that reads of a man on the hunt to attain his full

potential against his own self efficacy.

In order for his genius to be realized, Will has to beat the challenge of beating

his self-defeating tendencies that shape his behavior and personality generally. Over the years,

his friends have been his go to reserve for whatever he lacks in sense of belonging, comfort and

intimacy. When presented with the opportunity of growing, this turns out to be really frightening

for him. Sean for instance challenges Will to take the risk of loving. The relationship developed

from this encouragement allows him to see incongruence in his self-efficacy that serves as a

hindrance to his growth.

Part 4

Settling for what determines the personality of Will is set on nature or nurture.

In this case, nurture plays an important role in shaping the personality of will. Nurture relates to

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 the environment in which someone exists. His true parents are never talked about in the movie

but what is projected through the movie are links to his childhood that lead to the creation of his

personality.

Freud was of the idea that, structuring of personality is not only reliant on

heredity but extends to environmental effects. Throughs independent self-efficacy, the

development of personality takes time to be conceptualized form infancy to

adulthood[ CITATION Dal04 \l 1033 ]. Irrespective of the fact that body sizes of people being

shaped by biological information picked up from parents, the learning experiences of a child are

what is responsible for shaping personality. Will’s intellect gift to a great extent has the capability

of shaping his personality with respect to inferiority related complexes.

He tended to consider himself as lacking in all aspects and this knowledge is

kept in with them with no opportunity for comparison with those around them. Will is one such

person whose intelligence shapes his personality to consider himself as weak; inferior on all

aspects of life. Events from Will’s childhood were capable of intimidating his conscious thoughts

as an adult. He was thus very receptive to external influences that distorted his consciousness

leading to development of various defense mechanisms. As part of experiencing his childhood

abuse, Will developed the sense of avoidance, defensive and was in denial on several occasions

of his life events.

References
Dall, S. (2004). The Behavioral Ecology of Personality: Consistent Individual Differences from
an Adaptive Perspective. Ecology Letters , 734-739.
Koolhaas, J. (2010). Neuroendocrinology of coping styles: towards understanding the biology of
individual variation. Front Neuroendocrinol , 307-321.

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 Sih, A. (2004). Behavioral Syndromes: An ecological and evolutionary overview . Trends in
Ecological Evolution , 372-378.

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