The Sixth Sense Analysis

In the film, The Sixth Sense, Dr. Malcolm Crowe is a well-renowned child psychologist on the brink of fame. One night, while at home with his wife, an old patient of Crowe’s broke into their home and cornered the couple in their bedroom. The patient (Vincent Grey) accused Crowe of failing him. Grey then shot the psychologist and himself. After this traumatic incident, Crowe stumbled upon a case involving a young boy by the name of Cole Sear. Crowe’s intrigue in the case spiked as he discovered striking similarities between Sear and Grey.
The film proceeds and audiences watch as Crowe struggles to fix his biggest mistake through this new patient. Cole is frequently bullied in school which makes him wary of confiding in others. However, through …show more content…
According to Dodge, when a reactive aggressor is harmed, they’re more inclined than others to react in an overtly retaliatory way. Because of this overreaction, these children frequently have many negative experiences with peers and teachers. Their perception that others dislike and antagonize them on purpose is further reinforced through these experiences (Schaffer and Kip, 2014, p. 498). In the movie, Cole is a reactive aggressor. This means that he lives in a state of constant paranoia that everyone alienates him on purpose. So, when his teacher disagreed with him, Cole immediately lashed out, retaliating by bringing up one of the worst experiences of the teacher’s past. This example in the film can also be related to Bandura’s social learning theory. Bandura’s social learning theory highlights, “the importance of observing and modeling the behaviors, attitudes, and emotional reactions of others” (Social Learning Theory). Cole has been bullied throughout his entire school career. Due to this treatment, he has learned to act aggressively to others in order to get what he wants. Cole is typically a quiet, reclusive boy but when confronted by the teacher, he begins to react as harshly as he knows how to. He reacts this way in an attempt to goad the teacher and win the argument. This surprising behavior from a typically mouse-like boy encapsulates the learned behavior …show more content…
His evocative genotype and environmental correlations affect his childhood because he was born with the ability to connect with those who have passed. Because of his unique ability, Cole acts timid and shy. He has no desire to communicate with other kids and thinks that people may act differently toward him and even mock him if they knew his secret. Cole is also affected because he is smaller than other kids his age. Smaller kids are more likely to be picked on because they appear “weak”. When this seemingly weak size combines with a timid, coy personality, as seen in Cole, the children are even more likely to be targeted. His height and temperament are determined by his genotype. The other children’s treatment of him because of these genotypic traits further shows the interaction of a child’s genetic makeup and the environment.
An ecological approach to Cole’s situation states that his chronosystem has been affected by his father’s abandonment. The chronosystem contains all major life transitions in addition environmental and historical events. Events within the chronosystem provide meaning to other aspects of that child’s life. Cole’s experience with his father’s rejection invoked such poignant feelings that Cole incorporated this event within his chronosystem. This incorporation altered how he defines other aspects of his life. Changes seen in Cole due to this altered chronosystem include