This essay will discuss the film ‘Precious’ using the Carl Rogers person-centered, humanistic theory to analyse the development of Precious’s personality. I will analyse the different concepts of the humanistic theory as well the main character’s relationships with her parents and others around her. The main focus of this essay is to distinguish whether Precious moves towards self actualization or not.
Personality can be defined as the forces that make people themselves and the ego forces that provide an identity (Friedman & Shustack, 2006). A human’s personality can be affected by the unconscious and people are shaped by their environments and experiences which can affect their personality (Friedman & Shustack, 2006). An example of this is …show more content…
There are experiences that will distort your self image for example Precious is treated very badly by her mother for example she forces her to eat, she allowed her husband to rape her, she isn’t there for Precious and she doesn’t show compassion towards her. These experiences have threatened Precious’s self image as she has a low self esteem and thinks she is worthless. The therapist helps Precious talk about these issues and let out her feelings as she isn’t allowed to do this at home. Due to Hergenhahmn (1994) the development of self is detrimental to self actualization because one has to be happy within themselves in order to grow. If a child feels unsafe in their home with their family this results in the child becoming afraid and anxious and so they isolate themselves from reality (Horney, 1994). This occurs with Precious as she feels unsafe when around her mother and she has an insecure attachment with her so she isolates herself from the world by going into her own world by picturing her ideal self (Horney, 1994). This shows us that Precious wants to be someone better then she is now and it shows us what she could be capable of. In Precious’s life the need for family is not being met as her life is so dysfunctional and so she denies her real self (Horney, 1994). The teacher and therapist help Precious to get to …show more content…
Due to Hergenhahn (1994) positive regard means receiving warmth, love, sympathy, care and respect as well as acceptance from the important people in your life. Precious did not receive this from her mother and father as the mother despises her for ‘stealing’ her man, she is envious towards Precious and so she doesn’t want Precious to make anything of herself. The mother looks at Precious with hatred in her eyes. She beats her and uses food as punishment as she wants Precious to be unattractive. The love of a mother is very important as nurturing is a big theme in this film. Precious tries her best to gain acceptance from her mother but she never receives it, she cooks for her, listens to whatever she says, gets into a good school but the mother doesn’t care. This is known as conditional positive regard when children think that their parents won’t love them if they don’t do what they say (Engler, 2014). Unconditional positive regard is when a child will always be loved no matter what they do due to Engler (2014) which Precious did not receive and this resulted in her having no identity and thinking she was invisible. Rogers believed that conditions of worth are the heart of all human problems (Hergenhahn, 1994) as Precious was seen as unworthy by her mother as well as her peers at her first school and so she
Personality can be defined as the forces that make people themselves and the ego forces that provide an identity (Friedman & Shustack, 2006). A human’s personality can be affected by the unconscious and people are shaped by their environments and experiences which can affect their personality (Friedman & Shustack, 2006). An example of this is …show more content…
There are experiences that will distort your self image for example Precious is treated very badly by her mother for example she forces her to eat, she allowed her husband to rape her, she isn’t there for Precious and she doesn’t show compassion towards her. These experiences have threatened Precious’s self image as she has a low self esteem and thinks she is worthless. The therapist helps Precious talk about these issues and let out her feelings as she isn’t allowed to do this at home. Due to Hergenhahmn (1994) the development of self is detrimental to self actualization because one has to be happy within themselves in order to grow. If a child feels unsafe in their home with their family this results in the child becoming afraid and anxious and so they isolate themselves from reality (Horney, 1994). This occurs with Precious as she feels unsafe when around her mother and she has an insecure attachment with her so she isolates herself from the world by going into her own world by picturing her ideal self (Horney, 1994). This shows us that Precious wants to be someone better then she is now and it shows us what she could be capable of. In Precious’s life the need for family is not being met as her life is so dysfunctional and so she denies her real self (Horney, 1994). The teacher and therapist help Precious to get to …show more content…
Due to Hergenhahn (1994) positive regard means receiving warmth, love, sympathy, care and respect as well as acceptance from the important people in your life. Precious did not receive this from her mother and father as the mother despises her for ‘stealing’ her man, she is envious towards Precious and so she doesn’t want Precious to make anything of herself. The mother looks at Precious with hatred in her eyes. She beats her and uses food as punishment as she wants Precious to be unattractive. The love of a mother is very important as nurturing is a big theme in this film. Precious tries her best to gain acceptance from her mother but she never receives it, she cooks for her, listens to whatever she says, gets into a good school but the mother doesn’t care. This is known as conditional positive regard when children think that their parents won’t love them if they don’t do what they say (Engler, 2014). Unconditional positive regard is when a child will always be loved no matter what they do due to Engler (2014) which Precious did not receive and this resulted in her having no identity and thinking she was invisible. Rogers believed that conditions of worth are the heart of all human problems (Hergenhahn, 1994) as Precious was seen as unworthy by her mother as well as her peers at her first school and so she