Psychological Principle Analysis of Rain Man
By: J.P. Wilson 28-3
Rain Man is a 1988 film directed by Barry Levinson and starring Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman. In the film Tom Cruise plays the role of Charlie Babbitt, a self-absorbed, distant, car dealer and presumptive heir to his father’s three million dollar fortune. However, at his father’s will reading, he learns that he has been left nothing but his father’s antique Buick and his rosebushes, and all of the money had been left with his estranged, autistic brother, Raymond, played by Hoffman, who had been living under the care of Dr. Bruner, a psychiatrist at a mental institution, since Charlie was a very young boy. Charlie takes Raymond from the institution …show more content…
During the movie, Charlie tries to make Raymond get on a plane to Los Angeles with him, only to have him refuse, citing the most recent crashes of all of the airlines Charlie tries to make him get on, eventually having a panic attack once Charlie tries to physically pull him onto a plane, showing that he has a phobia of flying. After they get on the road, Raymond almost immediately develops a phobia of riding on the interstate after having seen the aftermath of a bad car accident, forcing his brother to only take back roads for the rest of the journey. He shows that he’s afraid of going outside in the rain when they are in a hotel room. Later on, Raymond shows that he has a long standing fear of hot bath water due to an event during his childhood where he accidently burned Charlie badly in the bathtub leading to his eventual departure to the mental institution.
The different types of learning is present throughout the film as well. As mentioned before, Raymond observationally learned to be afraid of the interstate by seeing the aftermath of a deadly accident. One could argue that Charlie was operantly conditioned to give in to Raymond’s routines using the negative reinforcement of Raymond not having a panic attack. Raymond uses operant conditioning as well, …show more content…
Raymond originally believes this to be bad, however his attitude later changes about it and he says it like it’s something he’s proud of to almost everyone he meets for the rest of the film. Charlie shows group polarization when he is in the custody meeting with the psychiatrists. As the psychiatrists argued that Raymond wasn’t capable of making his own decisions regarding where he wanted to live, Charlie became even more adamant about his belief that Raymond was mentally competent enough to make his own decisions, even lashing out at the doctors at one point during the discussion: “You have no idea what he’s capable
By: J.P. Wilson 28-3
Rain Man is a 1988 film directed by Barry Levinson and starring Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman. In the film Tom Cruise plays the role of Charlie Babbitt, a self-absorbed, distant, car dealer and presumptive heir to his father’s three million dollar fortune. However, at his father’s will reading, he learns that he has been left nothing but his father’s antique Buick and his rosebushes, and all of the money had been left with his estranged, autistic brother, Raymond, played by Hoffman, who had been living under the care of Dr. Bruner, a psychiatrist at a mental institution, since Charlie was a very young boy. Charlie takes Raymond from the institution …show more content…
During the movie, Charlie tries to make Raymond get on a plane to Los Angeles with him, only to have him refuse, citing the most recent crashes of all of the airlines Charlie tries to make him get on, eventually having a panic attack once Charlie tries to physically pull him onto a plane, showing that he has a phobia of flying. After they get on the road, Raymond almost immediately develops a phobia of riding on the interstate after having seen the aftermath of a bad car accident, forcing his brother to only take back roads for the rest of the journey. He shows that he’s afraid of going outside in the rain when they are in a hotel room. Later on, Raymond shows that he has a long standing fear of hot bath water due to an event during his childhood where he accidently burned Charlie badly in the bathtub leading to his eventual departure to the mental institution.
The different types of learning is present throughout the film as well. As mentioned before, Raymond observationally learned to be afraid of the interstate by seeing the aftermath of a deadly accident. One could argue that Charlie was operantly conditioned to give in to Raymond’s routines using the negative reinforcement of Raymond not having a panic attack. Raymond uses operant conditioning as well, …show more content…
Raymond originally believes this to be bad, however his attitude later changes about it and he says it like it’s something he’s proud of to almost everyone he meets for the rest of the film. Charlie shows group polarization when he is in the custody meeting with the psychiatrists. As the psychiatrists argued that Raymond wasn’t capable of making his own decisions regarding where he wanted to live, Charlie became even more adamant about his belief that Raymond was mentally competent enough to make his own decisions, even lashing out at the doctors at one point during the discussion: “You have no idea what he’s capable