Personality Analysis on ‘The Breakfast Club’ Essay

Released in 1985 and directed by John Hughes The Breakfast Club is a blast slightly teenagers that seem unlike on the surface but come to discover otherwise . When five students from different high check cliques are forced to spend their Saturday in detention, the wit, athlete, basketb each hoop case, princess and the criminal together are faced with the question of who they think they are. The five characters put aside the ir dissimilarities in aid to survive the painful eight-spot hour detention and in the process they discover they arent as unalike after each(prenominal).The Breakfast Club is a n all age classic dash that portrays a number of individual and complex soulalities. It is visible in the film that each teenager has their own traits and characteristics due to various peck such as environmental and parental influences .The character focus will be John toot, the so-called the criminal of the five teenager s . Upon source glance, curvature seems to be the ave rage high school bad male child getting his position in this specialized detention for pulling a off fire alarm . This gives viewers th e idea that his character does whatever he can for attention. curvature also has a tendency to rate and do things that will get a negative reaction out of a person, by insul ting and antagoni sing every character at any(prenominal) point in the film . By applying Maslows hierarchy of urgencys and B. F. Skinners theory of reputation you ge t a more than intellectual psychological catching of Benders personality.Abraham Maslow developed his Hierarchy of Needs theory in 1954 to athletic supporter himself and other humaneic theorists to better understand what motivates people. Maslow believed that people are motivated to satisfy specific ineluctably, in saying this he created a five stage pyramid that depicts the order of importance of these specific needs. Maslow has suggested that o nce one need or category is satisfied and fulfilled by p erson they can then move on to fulfilling the next need . (McLeod 2007)Figure 1 (Maslows Hierarchy of Needs diagram- 1954)Thus according to Maslow if a person does not fulfil their basic physiological needs they abide motivation to satisfy belonging and esteem needs. When this occurs the person feels a disinterest to socialise and make friends, typically leading in said person to run low disrespectful and inconsiderate of the feelings of others and their opinion. (NetMBA 2010)Bender is clearly portrayed throughout the film as a person who has failed to meet the first both basic needs of the hierarchy table refer to figure 1 . In the film, when lunch break is commenced it is showed that Bender has come with no food for lunch, whilst the other characters have all got substantial packed lunches. This could be classified as a sign that shows that Benders physiological needs are not being fulfilled. When Bender pulls out a pocket knife during a heated discussion you get the idea that Bender clearly doesnt feel safe and that he needs a weapon as form of protection, showing that Bender is clearly privationing a sense of security and safety .Further twist of the idea that Bender does not have substantive or rewarding home life takes course when Bender shows the group a scar on his fore arm, given to him by father as mere punishment for accidentally spilling paint in the garage.That being said, it is seen throughout the film that Bender is weakness to adequately satisfy his physiological and safety needs, leaving him disinterested in fulfilling social needs and lacking in self-esteem and respect. Benders lack of motivation in socialising and making friends is the most dominant aspect of his bad boy personality, he constantly insults the other characters in the film about things that genuinely upset them -evidently pushing them away. Bender also suffers from low self-esteem which is why he compensates by putting on a tough, bad boy front. You see this through the w ay in which he dresses, disobeys the Principals orders, constantly challenge s another male character and also in the way that disrespects the school and its property.In behavioural theorist B. F. Skinners perspective an individuals personality development is heavily influenced by their environment and prior experiences (Sincero 2012) , he wrote that A person does not act upon theworld, the work acts upon him (Skinner 1971) . Skinner proposed that the development of an individuals personality is largely dependant on the way in which significant adults in their lives would reward or punish then throughout the course of their childhood. (Carter Grivas 2005, p. 407-408) Therefore, children and adolescents raised by abusive and war-ridden parents are more inclined to also be come aggressive and hostile towards peers. (Hellesvig-Gaskell n.d)Throughout The Breakfast Club (Hughes 1985) there are multiple scenes that express the negative home life in which Bender is being raised and how i t is influencing his personality.In a specific scene Bender imitates a previous heated discussion between him and his father and according to Bender his father called him stupid, worthless, no good, goddamn, freeloading son of a bitch. Retarded, big mouth, know-it-all, asshole, jerk then Bender pantomimes getting punched in the face by his father as a result of Bender retaliating. In a behaviourists perspective this would justifyBenders aggressive personality and tendency to lash-out and insult the other characters.When comparing Bender to Brian Johnson the character portrayed as the brain or the nerd of the group, it is visible that as result of polar opposite home environments that Brian and Bender have e qually opposite personalities. Brians family are shown as very over supportive and pushy in his school work, yet still compassionate. T his is well symbolised again in the lunch scene of the film when Brian unpacks his nutritious, home-made lunch , whilst Bender has been sent to school with nothing to eat.Brians personality comes off as very timid and anxious, and not once throughout the film does Brian retaliate towards Bender when he acts in a hostile or cruel manner- although if the roles were reversed and Brian was acting in a similar fashion toward Bender he w ould lash-out violently or show signs of aggression in return , just as father would to him. By comparing Brians personality with Bender s you come to understand the impact an abusivehome environment and negative parental influences has on Benders personality.Al t hough both Maslows and Skinners theories o f personality assist in better understanding Benders character the two theorists have are entirely opposite perspectives on personality and how it is developed. Behaviourists believe that personality is determined by environment and the way an individual reacts to different stimuli (Sternburg 1995, p.589), whilst humanist theories state that personality is a conscious and free choice for the i ndividual to control. (Coon 1998, p.543) Behaviourist s also state that personality is motivated by all kinds of drives, whilst Humanists think that personality is motivated by the want to fulfil self-actualisation.In conclusion, the application of Maslows humanistic perspective and Skinners behaviour ist viewshelp to understand Benders personality efficiently. Discarding the point that both theorists completely contradict one another they both give a deeper explanation into why Bender chooses to be insulting and why he lacks interest in making friends, along with justifying Benders rage and aggression struggles. Overall humanist and behaviourist theories on personality assist in the process of understanding and evaluating the personality that makes John Bender of The Breakfast Club. (Hughes 1985)Bibliography-Coon, D 1998, Introduction to Psychology geographic expedition and Application , Brooks/Cole Publishing Company , California, United States of America.Grivas, J, Carter, L 200 5, Psychology VCE Units 1 & 2 , John Wiley & Sons Australia , Queensland, Australia.Hellesvig- Gaskell, K n.d, Parental Influence on Personality , Viewed 12 th March 2014, http//everydaylife.globalpost.com/parental-influence-personality-5605.htmlMcLeod, S 2007, Maslows Hierarchy of Needs , Viewed 12 th March 2014, http//www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.htmln.a, 2010, Maslows Hierarchy of Needs, Viewed 12 th March 2014, http//www.netmba.com/mgmt/ob/motivation/maslow/Sincero, S 2012, Behaviourists Theories of Personality, Viewed on 12 th March 2014, http//explorable.com/behaviourist-theories-of-personalitySkinner, B 1971, Beyond Freedom and Dignity , Hackett Publishing Company, Inc. 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