Social-psychological principles in Good Will Hunting Donna Harris SOCI 4340

Good Will Hunting is a story about Will Hunting who works as a janitor at MIT cleaning classrooms. Will is an orphan who grew up in various foster homes and was physically abused as a child. Will is also an extraordinary mathematical genius with a photographic memory, who enjoys solving math problems. Will blames himself for his unhappy upbringing and turns this self-loathing into a form of self-sabotage in both his professional and emotional lives. Because Will blames himself he is unable to maintain a steady job or a steady relationship. Will must learn to overcome his fear of abandonment in order to learn how to trust and love people who
Will is used to being abandoned and when Skylar asks him to go to California with her he does not think she is serious. Will has attachment issues and does not believe that anything will become of their relationship. Will has a preconceived notion that their relationship will fail because he has been abandoned all his life. When Skylar tries to talk to Will about their future he gets mad and defensive and he breaks up with Skylar before she could “abandon” him. Will grew up in South Boston and wanted to fit in with the people he hung around. Will had a rap sheet that included assault and auto theft and he would get into fights or try to start fights. Will was labeled a troublemaker and was sentenced to do time in jail. The professor at MIT saw a gift in Will and wanted him to see this gift to. However Will was used to being beaten, abandoned and not loved by anyone and did not want to believe that he had this gift. It takes the Professor and Sean time and influence to make Will see that he is better than what people have labeled him and at the end of the movie Will finally realizes this.

Significant Others In the movie Will is seen with his friends Chuckie, Morgan and Billy. Throughout the movie Will comes into contact with three other people that will play an important role in Will’s quest on finding himself. Will meets Skylar at a bar near Harvard. Later in the movie Will