Psychological Development In Forest Gump

In the movie, Forest Gump, the trials and tribulations of Forest’s life are explained to us. One of the most famous lines from the movie, “Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get”, explains Forest’s outlook on life. He seems to take everything in stride. Many individuals would have given up, but not Forest. The support and teachings of his mother during his childhood guided him throughout life. He always found something positive to focus on when negative things happened. The movie demonstrates many of the fundamental aspects of psychological development during the human life span. Three broad categories that the movies demonstrates are physical development, cognitive development, and social development. …show more content…
In the beginning of the movie, Forest must wear braces on his legs to walk. Some bullies are picking on him and Jenny tells him to run. He does run and the braces break off his legs. He realizes that he no longer needs the braces and can run faster than many of his classmates. His outstanding physical ability gets him a college scholarship for playing football. This part of the movie demonstrates Forest’s adolescence development. Another example of his physical development is when he saves his platoon buddies and Lieutenant Dan during the Vietnam War. They were bombed and Forest kept going back in to get his fellow soldiers. He got to meet the President and was awarded a purple heart for his valor. Young adulthood development is portrayed excellently by this example. Forest is in his prime physical condition. His strength, senses, coordination, and reaction time made it possible for him to save his comrades and himself during the …show more content…
In Forest Gump, Forest gets shot in the buttocks during the Vietnam War. During his stay at the medical ward, he discovers that he can play ping pong. Forest had never played ping pong before. Through assimilation and accommodation Forest is able to pick the game up rather quickly and become an expert, which allows him to win competitions for the military. Also during the war, Forest had a great friend Bubba. Bubba loved shrimp and talked about getting a shrimp boat after the war was over. Bubba died in Forest’s arms. After the war, Forest got a shrimp boat like Bubba wanted. Forest did not know anything about shrimping. His friend Lieutenant Dan did though. Forest helped Lieutenant Dan out of a dark stage of his life by asking him to be the captain of his boat. Lieutenant Dan was very depressed and near suicidal, because he lost both his legs in Vietnam and originally did not want Forest to save him. After Lieutenant Dan began helping Forest with the boat, he had a new lease on life. He was much happier and so was Forest, because he had his great friend with him. Forest and Lieutenant Dan both used fluid and crystallized intelligence to excel in the shrimping industry. They made a fortune together in the Bubba Gump Shrimp