This paper is a two-part personality analysis of Jenny ‘s character in the movie Forrest Gump . Jenny is the lead character ‘s childhood friend who , as a child , is sexually and physically abused by her own father and , as a young adult , gets into drug addiction and attempts suicide ,and eventually succumbs to an early death , leaving behind Forrest and their only son . Section I looks at Jenny from the points of view of Social Cognitive and Psychodynamic theories.
Section II is an in-depth analysis of Jenny ‘s personality using Social Cognitive Theory . Section I : Character Personality Matrix Theory Major Components Structure Process Growth and Development Psychopathology Change Social Cognitive Theory Jenny has a talent in singing but has poor self-perception , low self-efficacy and does not have goals . Jenny lacks self-regulation . Jenny has a mal-adaptive personality which is a result of her low self-efficacy.
She could have learned her anti-social or maladaptive behavior (drug use , being associated with anti-social peers , and suicidal tendencies , among others ) through observation from models as well as through direct experience . She was brought up by an abusive father , she has witnessed aggression (she was present when Forrest was bullied by the kids at school ) and , as a grown-up , been a direct recipient of an aggressive behavior (she was hit in the face by her boyfriend in the Blank Panther party.
Jenny ‘s maladaptive behavior is a result of dysfunctional learning -she has observed and directly experienced inadequate or sick models (his father and his peers ) – and maintained this kind of learning through reinforcement . She seems to have a phobia in relationship , that ‘s why she keeps running from Forrest who loves her and whom she professes to love . Jenny shows a remarkably altered behavior toward the end of the movie -the result of her acquiring new thought patterns and behavior , and improved self-efficacy . Psychodynamic Theory Jenny has a weakened ego caused by an internal.
