Psychology, Life Cycle

Psychology, Life Cycle

            The film "beginners" is a play that depicts the life of Hal's family and the decisions he had to make across his life stage. Hals has been married for thirty-eight years and had a son, Oliver, who, by the time her mother Georgia died, was thirty-eight years old. His father, later on, confesses to his son that he has been gay and would like to set the records straight going forward. The confession that was made barely six months after his mother's death startled Oliver. The confession kept Oliver wondering and speculating why his father stuck with the relationship that long if he knew he was not happy with it and why the sudden confession.

            The psychological development theory, developed by Erikson, asserts that a caring relationship between parents is developed from a young age by the caregivers; they build trust in their young ones, which is then transferred to their later stages in the life of intimacy and the generativity that comes in the mid to the late-life development. Erickson further details that generativity, or rather the ability to develop true care, cannot entirely result from childhood connectivity with the caregiver but can be achieved later in life through altruism (Shenk, 2009). This explains his sudden confession to his son, something he did not do before. He gained a sense of care through altruistic behavior and felt the need to seek the trust of his son by telling him the truth.

            The article "What makes us happy "is Grant's study of people's lives and their state across their life history Vaillant. Anna Freud presents adaptations in the life process of a person as unconscious thoughts that could shape or distort reality based on one's approval or disapproval. He compares it with the body mechanism (An, 2006). In the case where there is an injury, and the blood oozes out, the body responds through clotting to prevent bleeding. Valiant presents four defenses that people decide to choose in a scenario they are faced with a situation in life. They choose to adopt a psychotic adaptation that entails assuming a behavior like paranoia or hallucination; the immature adaptation involves passive aggression, fantasy, and projection. Neurotic defenses that entail intellectualization are common in normal people. Dissociation and suppression are conscious efforts to postpone an impulse or decision.

            From these adaptions, it is noted that Hal, Oliver's Father, chose suppression adaptation as an approach to solve his issue. He stuck around marriage with her wife even after realizing he was interested more in being gay.

            Vaillant identifies adaptions as the results of painful experiences in life, and they occur organically, in contrast with Anna Freud's work on the origin of defenses. In the film "Beginners," after Hal confesses about his gay life, his life changes; he feels some dignified joy and goes around dancing and throwing parties in clubs; the old man later dies happy that there is nothing that he kept secret (An, 2006). According to Valiant, the confession came at the correct time, it took its organic trend.

            Another interesting point from the article is the generativity; the fact that the ability to give care does not entirely depend on how well someone was brought up in childhood presents an opportunity for other people who grew up in a toxic family set up to be good caregivers. Thanks to the altruistic way, generativity can be learned.

References

An, J. S., & Cooney, T. M. (2006). Psychological Well-being in Mid to Late Life: The Role of Generativity Development and Parent–child Relationships across the Lifespan. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 30(5), 410-421.

Shenk, J. W. (2009). What makes us Happy? The Atlantic, 48.