Analysis of the Grinch Who Stole Christmas (1966 TV Special) from the perspective of personality theory
Siqi Li
The Grinch is a fictional green character created by Dr. Seuss. He is best known as the main character of the children's book How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1957). The Grinch is depicted as a furry, green humanoid recluse living in seclusion on a cliff overlooking the cheerful and optimistic town of Whoville. He scorns the Christmas season and the boisterous and rambunctious festivities customarily celebrated during the holiday. The iconic story of How the Grinch Stole Christmas! can be analyzed through Freud’s psychodynamic perspective, Roger’s humanist perspective and the social-cognitive perspective.
According to Freud’s …show more content…
Social cognition is basically social thought, or how the mind processes social information; social-cognitive theory describes how individuals think and react in social situations. How the mind works in a social setting is extremely complicated—emotions, social desirability factors, and unconscious thoughts can all interact and affect social cognition in many ways. Two major figures in social cognitive-theory are behaviorist Albert Bandura and clinical psychologist Julian Rotter. Albert Bandura is a behavioral psychologist credited with creating social learning theory. He agreed with B.F. Skinner’s theory that personality develops through learning; however, he disagreed with Skinner’s strict behaviorist approach to personality development. In contrast to Skinner’s idea that the environment alone determines behavior, Bandura (1990) proposed the concept of reciprocal determinism, in which cognitive processes, behavior, and context all interact, each factor simultaneously influencing and being influenced by the others. Cognitive processes refer to all characteristics previously learned, including beliefs, expectations, and personality characteristics. Behavior refers to anything that we do that may be rewarded or punished. Finally, the context in which the behavior occurs refers to the environment or situation, which includes rewarding/punishing stimuli. This theory was significant because it moved away from the idea that environment alone affects an individual’s behavior. Instead, Bandura hypothesized that the relationship between behavior and environment was bi-directional, meaning that both factors can influence each other. In this theory, humans are actively involved in molding the environment that influences their own development and growth. Julian Rotter is a clinical psychologist who was influenced by Bandura’s
Siqi Li
The Grinch is a fictional green character created by Dr. Seuss. He is best known as the main character of the children's book How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1957). The Grinch is depicted as a furry, green humanoid recluse living in seclusion on a cliff overlooking the cheerful and optimistic town of Whoville. He scorns the Christmas season and the boisterous and rambunctious festivities customarily celebrated during the holiday. The iconic story of How the Grinch Stole Christmas! can be analyzed through Freud’s psychodynamic perspective, Roger’s humanist perspective and the social-cognitive perspective.
According to Freud’s …show more content…
Social cognition is basically social thought, or how the mind processes social information; social-cognitive theory describes how individuals think and react in social situations. How the mind works in a social setting is extremely complicated—emotions, social desirability factors, and unconscious thoughts can all interact and affect social cognition in many ways. Two major figures in social cognitive-theory are behaviorist Albert Bandura and clinical psychologist Julian Rotter. Albert Bandura is a behavioral psychologist credited with creating social learning theory. He agreed with B.F. Skinner’s theory that personality develops through learning; however, he disagreed with Skinner’s strict behaviorist approach to personality development. In contrast to Skinner’s idea that the environment alone determines behavior, Bandura (1990) proposed the concept of reciprocal determinism, in which cognitive processes, behavior, and context all interact, each factor simultaneously influencing and being influenced by the others. Cognitive processes refer to all characteristics previously learned, including beliefs, expectations, and personality characteristics. Behavior refers to anything that we do that may be rewarded or punished. Finally, the context in which the behavior occurs refers to the environment or situation, which includes rewarding/punishing stimuli. This theory was significant because it moved away from the idea that environment alone affects an individual’s behavior. Instead, Bandura hypothesized that the relationship between behavior and environment was bi-directional, meaning that both factors can influence each other. In this theory, humans are actively involved in molding the environment that influences their own development and growth. Julian Rotter is a clinical psychologist who was influenced by Bandura’s