The Pursuit of Happyness
PSYCH/645 Personality Theories
Donna Belvin
March 1, 2015
Instructor: Juliet Fenyk
Introduction In the biographical film The Pursuit of Happyness, the central character Chris Gardner is a self- employed salesman with a girlfriend and five year old son, who has spent his life savings on medical machines. The sale of the medical machines is not producing consistent income and the lifestyle of his family suffers leading to his girlfriend leaving him, but Chris insists on his son being left with him. During this time Chris life changes and he becomes homeless with his five year old son and his determination is to succeed. Chris is able to enter an internship where he is employed and not paid with Wall Street, and despite his challenges and struggles he is able to become a stock broker.
Evaluation of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and Chris Gardner Personality Chris Gardner motivation to rise above the struggle of homelessness can be connected and reflected in the theory of Abraham Maslow Hierarchy of Needs. Maslow’s work placed importance on how social structures which restrict people are the cause of the individual’s not reaching their full potential (Cervone & Pervin, 2010). Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs theory is based upon the fact that as the basic needs of people are met, the person’s goal is to reach higher needs. As Chris became homeless his central motivation was to provide food, shelter, and economic stability for his son and himself. After being evicted his experience with finding shelter lead to he and his son sleeping in a public restroom and his struggle to maintain the appearance of being normal as he arrived at his unpaid job at the stock market each day. Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs theory is based upon the act that as the basic needs of people are met, the person’s goal becomes to reach and meet higher needs (Maslow, 2012). According to Maslow deficient or deprivation