Wednesday 28 January 2015

analysis of akeelah an the bee- personality theories

ALBERT BANDURA ---- PERSONALITY THEORY ---- SOCIAL COGNITIVE THEORY

Bandura developed a perspective on personality that combines the contemporary emphasis on cognitive processes with the study of individual in the context of social factors. This helps us to understand how these factors work along and help us to make decisions

OBSERVATIONAL LEARNING

Albert Bandura called the process of social learning modeling and gave four conditions required for a person to successfully model the behavior of someone else:

·        ATTENTION TO MODEL

Attention includes observing the behavior; and paying attention to action of their model. It includes remembering the observed behaviors, replicating behaviors and motivated to reproduce behavior.

·        RETENTION OF DETAILS

Observer must not only recognize the observed behavior but also remember it. This process depends upon observer’s ability to code or structure the information so it is easily remembered.

·        MOTOR REPRODUCTION

Person should be physically and intellectually capable of producing the act. In many cases the observer possesses the necessary responses, but sometimes reproducing the observed actions may involve skills the observer has not yet acquired

·        MOTIVATION AND OPPORTUNITY

Observer must be motivated to reproduce the actions they have seen. Motivation can come from external reinforcement, such as rewards promised by an experimenter, vicarious reinforcement, or noticing that models of the behavior are rewarded. Models to whom the observer affords higher status affect performance more through motivation

Akeela’s father was the key influential character for her from very beginning. Dr. Larabee acts as Influence Character. About the middle of the film (or just after), the Influence Character functions are handed off to Akeelah’s mom and various community representatives. Later plot temporarily brings back Dr. Larabee as Influence Character, but he is soon replaced by spelling wunderkind Dylan.
In movie at certain places Akeelah had been shown having image of her father playing scrabble with her which means she had remembered the behavior of her father and replicated behavior as she was good in spellings . She not only observed her father but she remembered also. We can say that figure of father was one of the motivational force to get her to achieve the trophy. Akeelah was not only a child who had role model but she has intellectual capability too. It was once mentioned by Akeelah that she can learn anything as she put her heart into it. Akeelah was motivated to learn more and more words as it was not only because she had her role model father but the external reinforcement was also present as winning the trophy of spelling bee competition for her school.

Self-Efficacy

According to Albert Bandura, self-efficacy is "the belief in one’s capabilities to organize and execute the courses of action required to manage prospective situations." In other words, self-efficacy is a person’s belief in his or her ability to succeed in a particular situation. Bandura described these beliefs as determinants of how people think, behave, and feel (1994).

Akeelah was determined that she is capable of doing well with spellings. Her determinism was clearly shown when Dr. Larabee refuses to coach her in start but she did not lose hope and worked hard by herself and won the competition on regional level.  Later at the end part when Dr. Larabee again left coaching her she continued learning herself and did not forgot struggling hard. Her behavior was also changed as she became more confident because all f the attention was on her, she was happier with her family

Reciprocal Determinism

Reciprocal determinism suggests that individuals function as a result of a dynamic and reciprocal interaction among their behavior, environment, and personal characteristics. Personal characteristics include one's thoughts, emotions, expectations, beliefs, goals, and so forth. Behavior is conceptualized as a person's skills and actions. Lastly, environment is considered to be a person's social and physical surroundings. All three systems interact with each other; therefore, a change in one will influence the others as well. Reciprocal determinism indicates that people do have a say in their future, because of reciprocal interactions.
Akeelah was a shy girl with high intellectual aptitude who usually keeps to herself this is the personal component. But as she goes to school. She faces the pressure because of its intelligence. The school is her environmental factor.  She starts to bunk classes to fit in his school environment better. This includes as her behavioral component. As the competition of spelling bee came her life totally change, new environmental factor came in her life which led to change Anna’s normal routine as a result her behavior has changed.



 







ALFRED ADLER: ­­­BASIC CONCEPTS OF ADLER INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGY AND APPLICATION OF MOVIE


INFERIORITY FEELINGS AND COMPENSATION:
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              Adler gave the concept of organ inferiority. Every person is born with some physical limitation. In response to this limitation the person get motivated to overcome it or develop another aspect of self. Soon he realized that perceived inferiorities are as important as organ inferiority. He then coined the term of inferiority feelings. Inferiority feelings are described as feelings involve the response to real or imagined inferiorities individual perceived them as possessing. Adler stated that individual overcome this inferiority feeling through some form of compensation. Compensation consists of individual taking positive step to deal with and overcome inferiority feelings. Inferiority feelings begin in childhood and continue to crop up now and then throughout adulthood. They occur when someone does better than you, criticizes you, shows authority over you, hurts you, or otherwise gains advantage over you. Inferiority feelings are normal and even beneficial, because they lead to a compensating drive to become superior or improve you to avoid such feelings in the future.

In this movie Akeelah is not as much enthusiastic about physical sports as much as she is in spellings. It seems as if she is physical weak and this weakness is compensated by his intellectual ability as everyone in school called him as a geek and nerd. Driven by her feelings, she is inclined to take the path of least resistance, choosing to skip classes to lessen her reputation as a “brainiac.”As she was shy and timid, insecure and indecisive, she fall into inferiority complex which motivated her to work even harder in her intellectual field
STRIVING FOR SUPERIORITY:
Adler used the term of superiority in way that individual strive for perfection and develop all aspects of their personality to their fullest potential. He had point of view that striving for superiority is fundamental part of human personality and this does not happens in isolation rather it is fostered by family friend’s parents and social circle.  Only by striving for superiority human can achieve to its fullest.

Akeelah strived to get better in his spellings. She put all of her into this and her whole personality revolved around spellings to get perfection in this and to win spelling bee. When Akeelah does what she is “supposed” to do she feel fulfilled. Akeelah was supported by her best friend and school principle and her coach in start but later every member of society as well as her family members encouraged her

SOCIAL INTEREST:
It is tendency of an individual to put forward need of society and others rather than his own while striving for superiority. It involves feelings that individual have. Primary goal of self-improvement becomes betterment of society. Only by making them perfect they can make society better and can cause improvement in society and others. These circles continue as individual cause betternet of society and in result other strive for betterment of society too.

It is quite visible that movie revolve around Akeelah getting better in her spellings but another factor is that principle continue to pressurize her to take part in this competition just to get school the basic aid and money. , Akeelah makes it to the finals. Her school and community get great exposure. Her mentor, Dr. Larabee, gets a job at UCLA. And, in a split decision, she ties for first place 
 Dr. Larabee goes back to work after a long sabbatical of disillusionment. Akeelah’s mother reconsiders pursuing the college degree she abandoned after feeling she couldn’t make it. Dylan intentionally misspells a contest-winning word when he realizes Akeelah has thrown the contest in his favor. Various South Central community figures recover belief in themselves and their community. Each of these illustrates a betterment of society.

BIRTH ORDER

Adler emphasized on basic four birth orders as first born, middle born, last born and only child.
As reference to case of Akeelah the youngest one in family; the younger born are baby of family. They have older siblings to contribute to feelings of inferiority and there are more people around child to pamper him this child has multiple models to strive for perfection.

Akeelah was the youngest one in family and was quite pampered. His eldest brother was high achiever and was in air force. Akeelah had not only her father as a model but her mother and brother was also a model for her. His father motivated her to take part in competition of spellings as this was the passion of her father whereas in general discussion her brother told her to be brave and overcome every fear. In short we can say that Akeelah was surrounded by the people who pampered her.


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