Antwone Fisher Psychology

Antwone Fisher is a film based on real events about how a child’s upbringing can affect his life choices. Fisher is in the Navy and gets into fights with his fellow sailors. He was told to go to a mental hospital to see a “shrink” get a mental evaluation. Dr. Davenport helped unveil his anger issues through therapy sessions. This movie opens the floor for discussion on how nurture and nature can affect’s one current environment.

Erickson’s psychosocial stages of the life cycle were defined in the interactions between Fisher, Dr. Davenport, his Navy Psychiatrist, his foster parents, Mr. and Mrs. Tate, and his mom. Erickson’s psychosocial stages of the life cycle proposed that personality develops in sequences. (Hutchinson, 2013) Fisher

showed signs of mistrust, shame, guilt, inferiority, confusion, and isolation that Dr. Davenport was trying to reverse. Fisher was showing signs of the negative sides of each stage because he did not have a stable home life. Everyone Fisher trusted left him and he felt abandoned. Fisher felt inferior to authority because his foster mom, Mrs. Tate, would beat him for making small mistakes (Washington et al, 2002). Mrs. Tate would beat him for making money for himself and putting his hands on the walls. His self-confidence could have been strongly affected by how poorly he was treatment by people who were supposed to protect him. Fisher demonstrated role confusion during his current relationship because he was raped several times by Cousin Nadine. Fisher got irritated when people joked that he was a virgin or a fag because he never experienced a normal relationship before. These social complexes prove how difficult life could be without a strong healthy relationship with caregivers.

Piaget’s cognitive development is used to evaluate how children solve problems well into their adulthood. Fisher demonstrated formal operations stage, the last stage in Piaget’s theory when he was younger making decisions to protect himself from his caregivers. With the help of Dr. Davenport, he would be able to problem solve and to add to why things may have happened and how to improve his current situation. Davenport’s suggest finding his family to receive answers to questions that he had. Fisher in majority of the movie was thinking in the concrete operation stage, but Davenport and Fisher’s girlfriend, Cheryl, helped him think of ways to solve his problems directing him to the formal operations stage. Fisher’s cognitive development could have been negatively affected by the abuse that Mrs. Tate inflicted upon him. Fisher stated in his recount that “Mrs. Tate found enjoyment in beating [him] unconscious”, but it did not affect the way he could problem solve and figure out his problems to learn how to control his anger.

Bowlby and Ainsworth’s theory of attachment suggests that early attachment affects future relationships. Fisher became very attached to Mr. Davenport during their interactions. After their sessions ended, he went to his office and disrupted his office and demonstrated anxious attachment suggest by Ainsworth. Fisher may have not had real attachment to his Foster Family because of the abuse that was given to him as a child. Attachment, later in life, can be related to sex and since Antwone Fisher was raped it was easy to see why he had a hard time developing relationships with women. His rape led to mistrust in individuals that may take advantage of him. Fisher, according to Bowlby, was demonstrated goal-oriented attachment with the Dr. Davenport to resolve his issues, but Dr. Davenport suggested in the end that he was also using his relationship with Fisher to have a child that he always wanted. Fisher’s attachment to caregivers affected his life to the point where if anyone leaves him that was nice to him would cause him to go into a depression. Fisher also showed signs of insecure disorganized/disoriented response. During his interactions with Cheryl, he stopped trying to pursue her after she showed him interest. It was not until after his sessions with Dr. Davenport that he began developing a secure attachment style. He began his journey to secure attachment as his sessions continue and his girlfriend Cheryl allowed him to find his own direction before suggesting anything.

This movie demonstrated how nature vs.

nurture has an impact on the life cycle. Fisher who was not nurtured in his early life has a very resilient personality that allowed him to be successful in the navy despite his disciplinary conduct. In many people, the actions that happen in childhood could cause them to grow up and it effects relationships and make poor decisions. Although Fisher fought he was able to develop a healthy relationship with Cheryl. His relationship with her helped him see that everyone does not abandon him. Fisher’s nature up to him joining the Navy was filled with negative conflict that could have caused anyone to give up hope on people and life. He felt abandon and although he wanted to run from his problems instead of facing them head on, Dr. Davenport helped him work through his issues. Dr. Davenport told him that he had the ability to change, but he could not change unless he wanted too. He was nurtured through his therapy, however. His therapy allowed him to grow into a man that wanted to work through his past instead of it allowing it to create more issues for him in the

future.

Bronfenbrenner’s ecological perspective how the environment of all kinds affects an individual. It is broken down into four systems, microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, and macrosystem. Microsystem involves direct interaction between people. Fisher’s microsystem consists of his foster parents, cousin Nadine, Dr. Davenport, Cheryl, his childhood friends, and later his family that he found. Those relationships created his perspective on how life should be handled. He realized that he can live a normal life without abuse and neglect. He did not let negative relationships, after a while, effect his current relationships. Although his relationship with his mother may never be normal, because it is her fault, he forgave her. The next level is the Mesosystem. The Mesosystem are networks of microsystems of a given person. Fisher’s microsystems included Dr. Davenport’s wife, Berta. They invited him to their home, showing him what family could be since he did not have that as a child. Fisher expressed that he never had a Thanksgiving prior to that evening. Bronfenbrenner’s definition of exosystems are the linkages between microsystems and larger institutions. Fisher’s exosystem was his family dynamics as well as the Navy. If Fisher did not join the Navy, he may have not ever been able to deal with his family system. His foster family was the only “stable” family he knew but it was clear that he needed the Navy and the mental hospital to help him get through his issues. Mesosystems can also be a person’s getaway from reality but this time Fisher’s mesosystem helped him work through his past to make a better future for himself. Lastly, Bronfenbrenner’s macrosystem is the broader influences such as culture, subculture and social structure. Dr. Davenport helped Fisher realized the “slave complex” that Ms. Tate may have had while raising them. Mrs. Tate should beat the sin out of him in order to make him a better human being. Fisher also was affected by racial slurs that made him get an evaluation in the first place. His culture could have affected the way he responded to his fellow sailor.

Antwone Fisher, the movie, demonstrated how well the Systems Perspective works in life.

The Systems Perspective is seeing the human behavior as the outcome of reciprocal interactions of persons operating within social systems. Fisher’s life ties together beautifully in how he demonstrates how negative circumstances do not always have a negative effect on your outcome. The positive interactions he had with Dr. Davenport, Cheryl, and later his family allowed him to see that past situations do not always have an effect on future circumstances. Although this may not always be the case for individuals, Fisher proved that childhood can affect current life for a while but therapy can help reverse the actions of inflicted upon an individual during

childhood.

Antwone Fisher is a wonderful movie to demonstrate how life circumstances can affect individuals differently. It shows how therapy with the right individual can change how you interact, think and feel. Antwone Fisher allowed therapy to change him and the change was bigger than he could have imagined.