Good Will Hunting Due 10/6 Midnight

The movie Good Will Hunting had a lot to do with the psychological needs and social needs. The main character Will is a genius that does not know how to focus his talent. He has been given a gift but does not know how special it is.

At the very beginning of the movie Will is shown proving a difficult math theorem on a chalkboard that was supposed to take students at MIT an entire semester to solve. Next, he solves a problem that took faculty at MIT 2 years to solve! Will had intrinsic motivation to solve these problems. He was capable of solving them for the purpose of enjoyment without any ulterior motive. Intrinsic motivation leads to persistence, creativity, conceptual understanding and optimal functioning. After Will is arrested for pushing a cop, the professor at MIT agrees to let him out if he continues to do the math problem and visit with a psychiatrist. The introduction of a reward changes the reason Will does math problems. Now, rather than being intrinsically motivated, Will is extrinsically motivated. Although extrinsic motivation promotes compliance it also has many negative side effects. Extrinsic motivation and decrease intrinsic motivation, decrease the quality of learning and decrease the ability for autonomous self-regulation.

Will intrinsic motivation for learning satisfied his psychological need for competence. He never tried to flaunt his talent, but he uses it when the time is necessary. The bar scene when Will first meets Skylar does a great job of demonstrating this. Will stands up for his friend Jack by calling a guy out for quoting a book. Having this need satisfied allowed for Will to be effective in his environment. When Will was just hanging out with his friends at a bar, he was comfortable just goofing off without having to impress anyone.

Will’s need for autonomy was not satisfied through a majority of the movie. Autonomy involves (1) having an internal locus of causality (2) volition and (3) choice over one’s actions. Will grew up in raised as an orphan in South Boston and he did not believe he would ever leave that town. He did not have a plan for his future and was most comfortable living in the same environment he was used to. In order to be truly autonomous, a person must acknowledge and accept failure. Will had an extreme fear of failure that led him to develop a state of learned helplessness. He did not feel like he had control over his future so instead he decided to remain living in the past.

Will satisfied his need for relatedness through his friendship with Jack. Will and Jack grew up together and always had each other’s backs. This relationship meant a lot to Will but he never realized that his fear of leaving town held him back from gaining the autonomy he desperately needed. There is a scene where Jack tells Will that he owes it to himself to go and get a nice paying job instead of wasting his time and talent living in South Boston with a construction job. Jack stated that he would be truly happy if showed up at Will’s empty apartment to find out that he left town without saying goodbye.

When Will started hanging out with his Skylar he was able to satisfy his need for relatedness with someone new. At first he was happy with the relationship and had a great time goofing off with her like he would with any of his other friends. When the relationship starting getting more intimate, Will was scared. He used an avoidance style to handle the situation and broke up with Skylar.

The last scene in the movie shows Will driving to California to be with Skylar. This is the first time in the movie where Will is making a choice for himself and showing autonomy. He left the environment that he was most comfortable in and took a chance. He was finally approaching intimacy rather than avoiding it.

Psychological needs, social needs, intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, reward, persistence, creativity, conceptual understanding, optimal functioning, autonomy, internal locus of causality, volition, competence, learned helplessness, relatedness, avoidance, intimacy

A movie Good Will Hunting in fact is not about mathematics, it it more about psychological needs and motivation. The young man, Will struggles through his childhood and young adulthood and try to figure out where is his place in the world. The movie is based on many emotions, social and intimacy situations. Will's feelings about himself, feelings to the girl, his background, his gift, and contact with people.
The movie shows the power than an individual's mind can have and paper or degree are not the most important in life. The movie shows what is the power of human emotions and the power of experience that it cannot be easily rationalized or deduced.
According to our book, I can see examples from the movie that the author talks in our textbook. The topic of motivation, instristic, and extrinsic motivation has a lot to do in this movie. We see a main character who is a genius and working as a janitor at the school who definitively his motivation to change his life knowing that he has a gift is too low to change his life. Will's goal in life is to make enough money to survive, he seems satisfy what he does and what he has, yet the professor discovered his potential and talent and does not want to waste it. Will started to work with him and psychologist and during that sessions we can observe his changes in himself. He struggle in discovering who he really is.
Going back to motivation, Will definitely is not interested at first in changing his life, he does not believe in himself, his low goals setting result in low motivation both instristc and extrinsic. Knowing he can make a lot of money form taking advantage of his big talent he rejects, he does want to, he is comfortable with the life he has now and afraid to live up to his potentials, so he has no desire to change his live to higher expectations. That is a good example of how low goals result in low motivation. As w talked in class, it is very important that we set a goal that is very challenging. Setting a low multiplier to the expectancy theory then everything will become lower and if you add higher multiplier to the expectancy theory, you are more likely to be more motivated.
Also, for Will social needs are important. Having a chance for better life, he doesnt want to leave his friends. He could do anything for his friends.

Terms:

extrinsic motivation, intrinsic motivation, autonomy, achievement, goal setting, intimacy, relatedness, social needs, psychological needs, performance avoidance goals.

In the movie Good Will Hunting there are many characteristics Will shows that are presented in chapters 5 through 7. He showed intrinsic and extrinsic motivation as well as social and psychological needs.

In the movie, Will has a photographic memory where he can do things that would take other people years to achieve and learn. He is very talented in Math. The head of math professor wants Will to work for him and pursue a job in math where he could be making ten times more than what he is doing as a janitor/construction worker. Will is lost and doesn’t like to do things people want him to do. He finds math so easy that he is not even interested in it because there is no struggle at all to reach his goal. I believe Will wants a challenge in life and by working with the professor it doesn’t give him a sense of that.

Chapters 5 & 6 talk a lot about intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is the inherent propensity to engage one’s interests and to exercise one’s capacities and in doing so toe seek out and master optimal challenges. Math may be interesting to Will but that is why he always seeked out the hardest of all problems to do that no one else could achieve. When working for the professor he lost interest in math because he wasn’t mastering any challenges. They all just came to him like music comes to certain people. Stating that you enjoy doing something or that it is fun is an example of intrinsic motivation. Sports wouldn’t be fun if there wasn’t a challenge to beat the opposing team. For Will, there was no challenge at all and he didn’t want to teach, therefore he was lacking intrinsic motivation. Extrinsic motivation arises from environmental incentives and consequences. This could be receiving money, food, scholarships, etc. Extrinsic is external where- as intrinsic was internal. Will was offered many extrinsic motivators that could have made him want to pursue in math but the extrinsic motivation was not as powerful as the overall intrinsic motivation. People offered to pay him tens of thousands of dollars to go the route others wanted him to, but Will was not for it. “Do this and you will get that”. This is the way extrinsic motivation is presented.

There are three main types of psychological needs in the book. These needs are autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Will was able to satisfy his need for autonomy because his gift for his memory gave him independence and choices that he could make; and whether or not he wanted to pursue those choices. He read constantly and loved doing it. He was able to choose what he wanted to read and what he didn’t because he was able to read more than the average person can. He is able to understand the complexity of his reading which gave him such a broad area. The psychological need for competence refers to how confident we feel in our abilities to function on in our environment. Will showed very strong confidence of his knowledge by always bringing others down. His last counselor he had he brought down by showing his “knowledge” about the picture. He brought down the guy in the bar by showing he was much smarter than him and by showing he doesn’t need an education to be smarter. Relatedness is the last of the psychological needs. Relatedness is sharing things with others. Will was more independent on this area because no one else has the mind that Will does. He had such a wonderful gift but Will wanted to live life like his other fellow friends. That’s why he didn’t want the life the professor wanted for him is because he felt more relatedness when he was doing the same activities his friends were engaging in.

Social needs are what come from experience, development, and socialization. Social Needs are an acquired psychological process that grows out of one’s socialization history and activates emotional responses to a particular need-relevant incentive. These include achievement, affiliation, intimacy, and power. Will was constantly with his friends. To him his friends had always been his family. He grew up in several different foster homes where he was treated in not the right way a child should be brought up to live. He had always avoided being in intimate relationships because he always thought of the worst possible outcomes that could possibly happen. This left him with a low need for affiliation. When he talked to his counselor about his widowed wife, Will asked if he regretted ever meeting her. This shows that Will can’t handle hard times and is always worried about losing people he grows close to. Will was scared to tell Skylar his girlfriend that he loved her. He didn’t want to get attached and then find out that she isn’t good enough or that he isn’t good enough. He always tried to avoid failure which means he is also avoiding loss of social respect from his peers, avoiding embarrassing situations, and not losing his self esteem. He ended up breaking up with Skylar all because he was scared of the failure that could occur. He knew he was truly in love with her but feared to many things to go through with telling her how he really felt.
At the end of the movie Will chose to fight for Skylar. That is what he wanted the entire time to pursue and finally was able to meet these needs by pushing past the fear. What he wanted most motivated him to strive for it at the end even though it took some time. He gave up money, jobs, and friends to be with the one thing he wanted. This shows the power of intimacy and how we a lot of the time choose that over everything else.

Terms: Extrinsic motivation, intrinsic motivation, social needs, psychological needs, achievement, affiliation, intimacy, power, autonomy, competence, relatedness, failure avoidance, incentives, and persistence.

The movie, Good Will Hunting, examines many aspects of psychological needs and motivation. Its pretty much a poster child for chapters five and six. First thing to be examined is the use of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and how it is applied in this movie. When professor Lambeau puts the equation on the board and challenges his students to solve it and get the prize of glory and a spot in the newsletter, he is trying to extrinsically motivate his students by offering them something in exchange. Will, however, does not know of these prizes or even wants them (seeing that he walks away when he gets caught solving one of the equations) so he is solving them intrinsically. Will is a genius and there is know doubt about that, but he got that way by having the intrinsic motivation (and some credit is due to natural ability) to read the books that taught him what he knows. He had a joy in learning as exhibited in the scene with Skylar when she is baffled that he learned organic chemistry for fun. However, after Lambeau requires him to help him solve mathematical theorems, he loses all interest in the activity because he is no longer doing it for the fun and challenge he was doing it because he was extrinsically motivated by other people. When Will is required to see a therapist, he is an incredible ass to all of them so that the extrinsic motivation dissolved and no one, until Shawn, wanted to help him. Shawn at first was annoyed with him, but after getting to know him, Shawn developed a genuine interest in Will and his motivation to help Will becomes intrinsic. Will had no intrinsic motivation to go anywhere with his life or take the high paying jobs and there was no extrinsic motivation either because all he wanted was to stay near those he cared about. It wasn't until the inspiration from Shawn and his friends that he becomes intrinsically motivated to win Skylar back and make something of himself.
In this movie, the need for autonomy is very high for Will. Its very important for him to be in charge of what is is doing and the actions he takes. This is exhibited in his resistance to his therapy sessions, his refusal to attend the job interviews and they way he pushes everyone away; he wants everyone to know that he is the one calling the shots when it comes to his own behaviors. Professor Lambeau also shows a high need for autonomy and he demonstrates this in his attempt to control Will by making him help with the theorems and trying to force him to get a job; he wanted to be the one controlling behavior. Will also showed a high need for competence; its important from him to feel effective in his environment. He exhibits this by showing off his intelligence by humiliating that guy in the bar, how he quotes his way out of prison sentences and when he fights with Lambeau over how easy the math is for him. Will has been beaten and treated like crap his whole life. He was fought his way in and out of foster families and it would only make sense that he took the initiative to learn and to be smarter than everyone to make up for incompetence he felt growing up. Lambeau also has a high need for competence especially when faced against Will because the man nearly drives himself to ruin trying to wrap his head around how Will does it and he has a large amount of envy to him and is somewhat trying to live vicariously through him. Relatedness is low on the needs scale for Will. In fact, Will tries his best to push everyone away. When Skylar tells him she loves him he hangs up the phone and when he first encounters Shawn he does all he can to scare him away. Years of emotional and physical abuse have left Will with little to no need to develop bonds with other people. However, at the same time, I feel that maybe the need is high, but he has approach issues. He seems really dependent on the friends he does have to the point where he is willing to live a life of a simpleton to be with them, but than again maybe he thinks he doesn’t need people because he has them.
This film is a very good example of the three major psychological needs as well as intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. The characters demonstrate strong needs for psychological nourishment while all trying to get what they want out of life.
Intrinsic Motivation, Extrinsic Motivation, Psychological Needs, Autonomy, Competence and Relatedness.

Good Will Hunting hit a lot of the concepts of Chapters 5-7 for the fact that the movie had to do with a lot of Will’s lack of motivation to work to his true potential and his needs that he never admitted wanting, but what he really needed most.
In the movie Will’s intrinsic motivation at the beginning of the movie is there, but he is not using it that could better benefit his life. Intrinsic motivation is when a person is good at or just enjoys doing something and challenges themselves in relatable areas because they want to and enjoy it. Because he had shown at the beginning of the movie that he is very smart and potential to strive to bigger and better things when he solves that extremely hard problem on the wall, but he instead is a janitor at a college. But though he has no intrinsic motivation to better himself career wise with his knowledge, but he does by reading and learning new things constantly because he proves himself in the bar scene with the know-it-all guy who knows vast amount of knowledge, but Will shows him up by competing with his knowledge. Extrinsic motivation arises from environmental incentives and consequences. For instance, for him to avoid from going to jail, he needs to stick with the program and make the weekly visits to the math professor and his therapist. Also, when his friend had a deep conversation for him to do better and he shouldn’t stay in the neighborhood and use his potential to do better things. So at the end of the movie he takes his friends advice and leaves town to make his way to his girlfriend to start a better life.
For his psychological needs (autonomy, competence, and relatedness) I believe there were very significant parts in the movie that showed those three needs. Autonomy is when we feel that we have control over the actions and future intentions when it comes to our lives. For instance, Will’s total lack striving to do better because even though he has the knowledge to do better, he controls his own destiny by sticking in the neighborhood and not putting forth effort at all until he is forced to. Also, there is a point in the movie that Skylar and him are discussing organic chemistry and she begins to ask him if he knows any and that has some knowledge over it, which surprises, her because she says that a guy like him would have never have no reason to know about it, but for some reason he does. That’s like his own special of way of what he wants to learn and even though he has no reason to learn it, he knows it and develops his own beliefs on the subject, which is his special way of controlling what he wants or even knows. Competence is when people interact effectively their surroundings. There is a part in the movie that shows that the environment doesn’t challenge his needs, which is towards the end of the movie and he’s with the professor, which is looking over his work and Will gets angry with him because his problems are a piece of cake for him and that he feels like it is a total waste of his time. Relatedness when we feel like we have some social connection or something familiar that keeps us related. I feel like Sean and Will had that because they had come from the same neighborhood and both grew up with bad upbringings and were a lot like each other when it came to personality.
Then, we have Will’s social needs (achievement, affiliation/intimacy, and power), which played very important roles in the movie. Achievement is the desire to do well relative to standard of excellence, and seems low in this movie because when the professor sets up interviews for him to go on he takes it as a joke and sends his friend to make fools of the people interviewing. Also, he doesn’t take to initiative to achieve for better, not until he finally realizes that he is really ruining his life the way he is going. Intimacy reflects a concern for the quality of one’s social involvement. And Will doesn’t allow people to get too close to him because when someone gets to close emotionally he pushes them away before he can get hurt, but towards the end of the movie he begins to take down his defensive wall and goes out to get his girl back. Affiliation I could not see at all because he was too busy trying to push people away in the movie to really get all paranoid about them. Power I feel was and wasn’t important for him, because the only power he really wanted was control over himself and choose what he wanted to do with no influence by others, but eventually he wanted power to have much higher achievement in life, to have a job better than being a janitor.
Terms: Intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, psychological needs, autonomy, competence, relatedness, social needs, achievement, Intimacy, affiliation, power

Throughout the time that Will is introduced to Professor Lambeu it is clear that he is not interested in exposing and using his talent in the ways in which Lambeu thinks he should. Although I think Lambeau’s intentions with Will were good, they were not effective. Professor Lambeu provides a great example of how you can stifle someone’s intrinsically motivated behaviors by taking away any sense of autonomy they might have. For instance, Lambeu used external motivation techniques like threats of punishment to go back to jail if Will did not choose to do the things that Lambeu asked of him. By doing this, I think he blinds Will of the positive outcomes that could come from utilizing his talent. Will doesn’t have any power over his decisions and his yearn for growth and the intrinsic motivation he had in solving those problems at the beginning of the film were stifled because Lambeu did not show care for his interests only control over his decisions. I also noticed how there didn’t seem to be much rationale for Will to find a job where he could utilize his talent other than that he was lucky and others would kill for his talent so he should want to use it. Maybe if rationale was used right away instead, Will could have seen the specific positive outcomes that were possible, he might have found identified regulation within his talent and possibly made goals and internalized that sense of importance his gift held. Instead, the external regulation to avoid jail was the only reason he was taking any time working with Lambeu. Lambeau’s approach shows clearly what the book describes when discussing hidden costs of rewards. While the professor is only trying to build Will’s interest and help him, by motivating him solely using external motivation like rewards and punishment, he is only hurting his intrinsic motivation. One example would be the professor’s attempt to make will see a therapist. If he saw a therapist he was rewarded by letting Will stay out of jail and be under his wing, so to speak. Will only did the actions the professor asked of to receive his reward and nothing more. He didn’t get anything out of the experiences with the first therapists and didn’t take them seriously. He looked to complete the task to receive the reward and nothing more.

Will’s final therapist, Dr. Maguire, recognized his need for autonomy. Will needed to feel as if it was his decision to use his talent, when to use it and how to use it for him to have volition rather than to feel obligated. Contrast to Lambeau’s controlling motivational style, constantly pressuring will to use his talent in certain ways all the while using social influence techniques, like threatening jail-time, to motivate him to do certain things. This only hurt his inner motivation and interest by taking away autonomy. It also showed lack of relatedness with Lambeu, who didn’t show care for Will’s well-being but only his talent. Maguire’s supportive approach of encouraging, identifying, and nurturing Will’s interests, preferences, and psychological needs seemed to be the overall best thing for Will’s well-being and motivation. The two professors in the film are great examples of autonomy support vs. control, and the positive and negative behaviors that come from using those approaches.

Overall the main theme I chose to discuss relating the text/lectures to the movie was the importance of competence, relatedness, and especially autonomy. Maguire ultimately helps Will by recognizing and encouraging his need for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Lambeu failed, because he was not allowing him to make any decisions, he was not allowing/ providing Will with challenges, and he was not providing him with the relatedness that Maguire did, because he was interested in Will’s talents and not Will’s interests.

Oops, forgot to put my terms.

Intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, rewards, punishers, indentified regulation, rationale, external regulation, autonomy, competence, volition, controlling motivational style, autonomy supportive approach, relatedness, well-being, support, control.

Good Will Hunting had many examples of the topics cover in chapters 5-7 in our book. Will’s childhood was filled with a lot of disappointment and negative circumstances. His experiences as a kid led him to have little trust or faith in other people. His three close friends in this movie were the only people in Will’s life that had not abandoned him, hurt him, or broken his trust. Everyone else that Will met was nothing to him. He constantly put up a front to look tough and intimidating. He constantly tried to demonstrate his power. He had a strong desire to “make the physical and social world conform to his own personal image and plan for it”. He started fights and had a bad mouth, no matter who he was talking to.
Will knew he had a gift but he did not use it for external rewards. His motivation for reading and learning was purely intrinsic. He enjoyed it and that was evident because he had no reason to read, other than for his own enjoyment.
What was interesting about Shawn and Will’s relationship was that Shawn understood that he could not force or influence Will to do anything that Will did not want to do. Shawn understood that Will had built a wall up so that no one would be able to see the hurt inside him. Shawn was the reason that Will’s life turned around. Shawn demonstrated an autonomy-supported type of motivational style. Rather than being controlling and pressuring Will into things, he allowed Will to be self directed and to be able to make his own choices. Shawn also acknowledged Will’s expressions of negativity as okay and he listened to Will and allowed him to express himself fully. This led Will to feel that Shawn was on his side. In other words, because Shawn was not controlling during therapy, Will felt in control and his need for autonomy was highly supported.
One psychological need that Will satisfied on his own was his need for competence. He knew that he was smart and he knew that he could meet any challenge that was presented to him. That is why he solved the problem on the chalk board; he wanted to feel more competent. This need for competence works as motivation because we seek out optimal challenges that we feel we can succeed at because when we do, we feel satisfied. Will’s need for competence was supported by his strong intrinsic motivation. He did not solve that problem so that he could gain some external reward or any other type of reinforcement; he solved the problem because of his need for competence. The interesting thing about Will was that he was so much smarter than all of his peers and he expressed boredom with the sort of problems that everyone else found extremely difficult. His level of optimal challenge was much higher than everyone else.
One very interesting scene was when Will tried to analyze Shawn. He mocked him, made fun of him, pointed out his flaws, and used all of his book smarts to bring Shawn down. But the interesting thing was that Shawn pointed out that even though Will could remember details and facts from books, Will had no life experience. He did not know what love was or what it feels like or what it means to be in love. Will had never experienced any real blessings in life. Will had learned to look at the world as his enemy and he learned to push people away. But being smart will not give you joy in life and Shawn points that out. Will tries to convince Shawn that he made the wrong decisions because his wife is dead and now he is alone. That is one of Will’s biggest fears; letting someone get close to him and then losing that person. Shawn shows Will that even though his wife is gone, he would not change the time he had with her.
One interesting thing that Will said about Skyler was that he “didn’t want to ruin perfect”. Shawn tells him that it is about being perfect for each other, not about being perfect. You could see in Will and Skyler’s relationship how scared he was to let her get close to him. In his past, he never had anyone love him so he didn’t know how to love someone else. His developmental influences made him fear close relationships. His need for relatedness had never been met so he didn’t know how to establish emotional bonds with others. He had a very low need for affiliation. He was not afraid that people would reject him, he was afraid of letting people in because he felt that they would abandon him. When he met Skyler she started to make him feel important and he could tell that she cared about him. He was terrified of feeling close to her because all of his past experiences led him to believe that no one could be trusted. Skyler tells him that if he says he doesn’t love her then she will leave him alone. So, Will tells her he doesn’t love her and pushes her away. His behavior demonstrates an avoidance motivated type of behavior. His fear of failure or losing her leads him to avoid the situation completely.
After Skyler left to go to California, Chucky asked Will how his lady was. When Will replied he casually told him “she’s gone”. The conversation switches to Chucky telling Will that being a lab rat is much better than the life he has to live. Will is convinced that he will stay there and work there for the rest of his life. But Chucky tells him “if you keep doing this for the rest of your life, I’ll fucking kill you”. Chuck knew that Will was better than that place and that his talents should take him to much better things. I thought it was really interesting how Chucky said that Will didn’t owe it to himself to be successful, he owed it to him. Chuck tells him that he would do anything to have what Will has. I think this is when Will realized that for the first time in his life he was lucky.
Shawn allowed Will to realize his potential and see the good in life through being an autonomy supportive therapist. At the end of the movie Will had learned how to trust others and how let others into his life. His need for relatedness increased tremendously. He learned to internalize the values of Shawn and Skyler, and because of that he became more engaged; meaning, he showed more intensity and emotion towards his ability. The structure that he got from being required to go to therapy satisfied his need for competence. His involvement in therapy gradually increased and this led to an increase in his feelings of relatedness. Everyone saw Will’s potential and believed in him, all Will needed to do was believe in himself.
TERMS: intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, relatedness, autonomy-supportive motivation style, competence, autonomy, engagement, internalization, avoidance-motivated behavior, achievement, developmental influences, power, optimal challenge, rewards, reinforcement, affiliation, intimacy,

Good Will Hunting displays a plethora of topics discussed in chapters 5-7, from types of motivation to psychological and social needs.

Will is an extremely intelligent young man who has a rough background. He grew up as an orphan and was passed around different foster families, some, which were abusive. He wasn’t given the support and love that every child deserves from a family. He does, however, receive the support and love from his friends. They seem to get in a lot of trouble together, but they fill each other’s needs for relatedness (a psychological need). This is one of the reasons I think Will doesn’t go the distance with Skylar for most of the movie. He feels like his need for close relationships is already being fulfilled. What he doesn’t realize for a while (until Sean points it out) is that he is neglecting his social need for intimacy. Because he has been abandoned by his birth family, and then neglected and abused by his foster families, he doesn’t let himself become vulnerable to the possibility of deep relationships with others, besides those of his friends (who have proved their loyalty to him through the years). He pushes people away as a defensive, avoidance mechanism, out of fear that he will once again be abandoned, and additionally feel like a failure, if he honestly opens up to others. He doesn’t call Skylar after their first date for this reason, though he cites it because she was perfect and he didn’t want to “ruin the perfectness”.

Sean also lacks true intimacy since his wife died. He is saddened by the loss of his soul mate and uses that as an excuse as to stay in his comfort bubble (just as Will does). He doesn’t even realize he is doing this until Will calls him out on it. Sean and Will end up filling a bit of each other’s needs for intimacy as they grown in their relationship. They challenge one another cognitively and emotionally, and in the end they push each other to enhance their wellbeing and life satisfaction.

When it comes to motivation behind his actions, Will shows that he is internally motivated to solve math problems and, above all, to learn. When he is learning or solving problems, Will is in a state of flow. If the problems could be harder, he would probably be in the state of flow for a longer period of time. He gains competence and confidence (which he also uses to push others away) from his ability to acquire conceptual understanding. He is an extremely quick learner and he has power through his knowledge. He need for power is heightened, and is fulfilled, when he is able to influence and manipulate others. His friends and others around him (like the professor and the therapists before Sean) support, though not always intentionally, his need for power. Will’s main external motivation throughout the movie to help the professor and go to the therapy sessions is to keep out of jail. The reason he faces jail time is because he got in a fight to prove that he is now competent to beat up his kindergarten bully. He is punished for his actions by being arrested and facing jail time that is until the professor makes a deal with the judge.

Finally at the end of the movie, with help from Sean, Will realizes what he wants in life. He also comes the actual realization (as opposed to saying he knew it) that the crappy things that happened early on in his life were not his fault. Will becomes finally ready to take a chance and let himself be vulnerable to the possibilities of failure, abandonment, and rejection when he decides to leave the job possibility and go “see about a girl” (Skylar) in California. With support from Sean and his friends he acts autonomously, and goes after his possible fulfillment of his intimacy need. He needs intimacy to grow as a person and to enhance his psychological well-being and life satisfaction.

Terms used from the chapters: relatedness, psychological need, social need, intimacy, avoidance mechanism, internally motivated, external motivation, power, competent, punishment, psychological well-being, life satisfaction

In Good Will Hunting, the man character, Will Hunting is found out to be a genius with a photographic memory. He’s in intrinsically motive; you can see that instantly when you see him reading there in his chair and the surrounding books around him. Intrinsic meaning that he’s knowledge seeking is the inherent desire to engage one’s interests and to exercise and develop one’s capacities. It’s his inner motivation to discover knowledge that he is able to learn and remember all these amazing things simply from books. He has a high persistence rate because he is interested in what he learns regardless of what it is. Will is also a creative thinker has a conceptual understanding of things; he’s able to take concepts from books and form his own ideas and opinions. This is best described in the Harvard Bar where the Harvard student decides that he wasn’t to show his smarts but Will shows that he has no creative thoughts of his own where he does. Also when he stares at the picture done by Robert Williams’s character, he’s able to interpret it in his own way. Course at the same time Will is digging for something that’ll twist his psychiatrist as well. Of all the things that make up intrinsic motivation Will has all but one; optimal function and well-being, where this would help a person with creating a high self-actualization and esteem, due to Will’s background he doesn’t have that.

With his rough past of several cases of physical abuse as a child while in foster homes, he’s become a defensive individual. As a child he has no control over what happened, so back then he did not have a high sense of autonomy, now-a-days he’s aims for that, for the most part. He has the control of the job he’s at, though it may not inspire much autonomy he’s still got the control of where he chose to work. He has the experience of self-directing his behavior to spend time with his friends and go out and have fun. At the same time the choices to continue seeking his own intrinsic motivation of learning and taking in knowledge. These friends of his, are the closest thing he has to family, views them as family I think. Will doesn’t allow himself to get close to people; he puts everyone at arms length. With Skylar, he was interested in her, enjoyed being with her, but once she started to ask questions and dry and dig down to know about Will more he pushed her away. He wants that psychological need of relatedness satisfied. Will has trouble and doubts about seeking out and engaging in an environment for fear that his needs won’t be met. With Robert Williams’ character, Sean, they have similar backgrounds, stories even, gradually over time they are both able to develop that relatedness. Even developing a communal relationship, where both parties, Will and Sean, mutually care about each other. When Will finally realizes this, he finally opens up and lets things out with some coaxing from Sean. I think this is one of the key factors and concepts in this film, a person can’t survive affectively without this connectedness with others and forming relationships. And through meeting Will, Sean his able to put behind him is wife’s death and move on with his life.

Extrinsic motivation, is an environmentally created reason and or insensitive to engage in an action or activity. Throughout the movie, Will has a rather considerable lack intrinsic motivation when it comes to certain things. With Professor Gerald finds him, he instantly begins to form a plan to motivate Will into his full potential and his successful future in mathematics. Will really doesn’t feel it; the Professor keeps pushing and pushing. Setting up interviews for jobs for Will, all these people want him at their company. These companies coming up with extrinsic rewards and incentives like higher salary and benefits to get him there. And still Will doesn’t have that much motivation to do any of that. Will has an exchange relationship with Professor Gerland which I think is best expressed when Will finally has enough and burns the math problem the Professor cannot do. He’s disappointed when he sees some of the answers are gone. It was a work relationship, where the Professor seemed to be using Will a bit more then he was giving back. And eventually it isn’t the Professor that get’s Will’s life around where he can finally be intrinsically motivated to do something with his life, it was Sean; giving Will extrinsic and intrinsic motivation in life.

Terms: intrinsic, extrinsic, communal relationship, exchange relationship, relatedness, creativity, conceptual understanding, persistence, optimal function, reward, incentives, self-directing behavior, autonomy, psychological needs

There were many good points in the book that applied to the movie “Good Will Hunting.” I will only talk about the points that I found to be very interesting to me that I picked out in the movie.
The first one that I point in the movie I found interesting is the use of incentives from Skylar when Will and Skylar were lying in bed together. She really wants to see his place and to meet his friends and family but he is reluctant. She uses herself as the incentive or actually she says she will not let him sleep with her anymore until they can go see those things. Will’s motivation then to have her come with him to see his place kind of creates a goal that he wants to reach that would fulfill some of his needs for sex and his needs for intimacy.
Intimacy comes into play in the movie in large portions both positive and negative. Some of the more positive things were when Will blew off the meeting that was set up for him in order to go on a date with Skylar. Another was when he showed up at her place and wanted to go out on the second date. She was too busy at the time and said they couldn’t until tomorrow and his motivation to go on that date was so high that he solved the problem for her (even thought it was easy to him) and they went on their date. There also was a large portion of negative intimacy though. The scene that Skylar asked Will to move to California with her was the biggest. He implemented an avoidance approach to the situation. His fear took over him and he panicked and had to get out. From his early situations as a child, he had developed a low need for intimacy. This low need is what caused him to “freak out” because he had never felt it before and that’s why he was scared and had to avoid it.
Another thing I found interesting from the book that appeared in the text was the need for achievement and the need for competence. These both would appear very slightly throughout the movie. Many of the characters showed these needs at some point. Here are a few that were bigger to notice.
With regards to the need for achievement, Will demonstrated this need the most. At first he had no need to achieve he just wanted to live his life and stay in the same place where he was comfortable. As the movie went on, he gradually was given signs that he should strive to be more than that or to set some goals for what he wants in life. His counselor, Sean, pushed him to figure out what he wanted to do the most. Another character that pushed him was his best friend who gave him the reinforcement of if you’re still here in 30 years, I will kill you. Will needed to go out and find things that would challenge him. He even said it himself in the movie that the problems he was doing were too easy for him.
The need for competence mostly popped up with all the professors that were working with Will. In one scene where Will first starts working at the university, the professor starts to question that it will work but Will shows the reason why it does and the professor looks defeated. He feels like he is now worthless because he can’t help with the problem and doesn’t understand how the answer works. The professor’s need for competence clearly hasn’t been met here.
Terms Used: incentives, motivation, goal, intimacy, sex, avoidance approach, need for achievement, need for competence, and wants.

Overall, this movie displayed Will as being a very autonomous person. He was very determined about doing what he wants, when he wants. Throughout chapters 5-7 we discussed psychological needs, social needs, and extrinsic and intrinsic motivation.

First, an example of intrinsic motivation is when Will is doing the mathematical equations on the chalkboard in the hallway while he is working as a janitor. He does these equations because he finds them fun, and has interest in them whereas others may find them boring and difficult. Will found these equations to not be much of a challenge, and it intrigued the Professor Lambeau because he was having difficulties solving some of these equations. Therefore, when Will gets into trouble and finds himself in jail Professor Lambeau presents him with an ultimatum. His incentive is if Will partakes in solving these equations and goes to see a therapist then he will not have to remain in jail. Therefore, Will is rewarded by having freedom. In addition, this can be seen as extrinsic motivation, Will does not thoroughly enjoy the idea of seeing a therapist, however in order to remain out of jail he takes the offer presented to him.

An example of praise in the movie is when Professor Lambeau comes to Will and discusses his intelligence with him while he is in jail. In addition, when he claims that needs his help to solve the problems as Will is burning the equations that he helped Professor Lambeau solve because he wasn't capable of doing it alone. He praises his great ability to see these equations as not much of a challenge, whereas to him he wouldn't have been able to solve without his help.

In addition, an example of introjected regulation is when Will takes on the task of seeing the therapist, but does not take it seriously and behaves in an inappropriate manner. Will has to see multiple therapists before finding Sean with whom he develops a relationship with. Therefore, Will accepted the fact that in order to remain out of jail he would have to deal with these appointments with the therapist, but refused to fully participate and made a mockery out of the first 5 that he consulted with.

An example of persistence in this film is when Professor Lambeau continues to search for a therapist to consult with Will regardless of his behavior. He goes through 5 therapists before fully talking Sean into taking on Will. In addition, Sean displays persistence when he continues to help Will regardless of his crude and insulting remarks.

During this movie, Will seeks intimacy and relatedness by the relationship he forms with Skylar. An example of his need to be around or affiliate with her is when he does her homework for her because he couldn't wait another day to see her. However, with Skylar, Will also displays avoidance and inhibition. An example of his inhibition is when he is talking with Sean about how perfect he feels Skylar is, and how it took him a long time to get ahold of her after their first date. In addition, an example of avoidance is when Skylar asks him to move to California and he freaks out claiming he does not love her, and that she would't love the real him. He is afraid that she will reject him knowing the truth that was an orphan, and some screw up that she just wanted a fling with when in reality she actually did love him. He is in denial about the notion of him going to California because he is afraid to admit he is scared.

Throughout this movie, Will can be seen as in a "flow" state when he is doing these mathematical equations or reading the numerous books he has stacked up in his apartment. He finds enjoyment in these activities and gets lost with the amount of time he spends. For instance, Skylar questions Will about organic chemistry and how he can be so interested in this topic that others find morbid and awful. For him, it just syncs altogether, and he truly enjoys spending time on this topic.

An example of engagement is when Sean gives Will an ultimatum about offering to take his help, and discuss his life with him, or play these games of insult by throwing knowledge in his face. Will put up a guard that Sean was eventually able to break down due to the bond and trust that they formed over a period of time. Sean claimed he wanted to get to know the "real" Will and understand more about him.

In the end Will displays volition and optimal functioning and wellbeing by settling down and taking a job that lives up to his abilities. Therefore, providing him with a sense of achievement in the world when his friend Chuckie claims he needs to live up to his potential and get out of the area and live his life otherwise he will kill him.

Terms used: intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, rewards and incentives, autonomy, volition, optimal functioning and wellbeing, persistence, introjected regulation, engagement, achievement, praise, competition, inhibition, avoidance, relatedness, intimacy, flow

Will has intrinsic motivation to solve the math problem in the hallway. He does the problem because it is to interest to him an exercises his capacities to seek and master optimal challenges. He does it “for the fun of it.” We know this because he doesn’t want the professor to know that it was he, the janitor, who solved the equation. When he completes the theory that many cannot solve, he feels a strong sense of competence. He is persistent in solving the problems and has high quality learning. Will is somewhat extrinsically motivated because he knows if he goes to therapy, he will not have to go to jail. However, when the professor wants him to put his talents to use and get paid for his work, Will has no interest because he wouldn’t be doing it for the sake of fun anymore. Therefore, he does not want a reinforcer to engage in the behavior. If Will works and receives a paycheck for his work, his intrinsic motivation will be undermined, interfere with the quality and process of learning and the capacity for autonomous self regulation. However, when he is praised for his ability, his intrinsic motivation is not undermined because of the verbal administration. External regulation, behaviors are performed to satisfy some external demand would come into play when Will seeks therapy to stay out of jail. Psychological needs also come into play, they are autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Autonomy is the wanting to do things ourselves. Will wants to solve the math problem himself, no one asks him to solve it. He does this because he is intrinsically motivated. With autonomy, we also want to be the one who decides what to do, how to do it, when to stop and whether or not to engage in it in the first place. Will has little autonomy throughout the movie because he has no control over seeing the therapist, unless he wants to serve jail time. He doesn’t get to decide how the sessions go, and when they stop. Therefore, others are deciding his actions. This has to do with volition, an unpressured willingness to engage in an activity. As stated before, Will is pressured to engage in therapy sessions, therefore being coerced. He also doesn’t have perceived choice which is a sense of choice we experience when we find ourselves in environments that provides us with decision making flexibility that affords us opportunities to choose from. Will has never left Boston so his opportunities have been limited. He works as a janitor and believes that is what he is meant to do and not put his mathematical ability to work. Competence is being good at what you do. Obviously Will is good at math because he solves problems not many people can solve. By solving these problems, he feels competent with his ability and has increased motivation to engage in the behavior again.Feedback is important when it comes to competence. Feedback about the task itself (his math ability), comparison of current with past performance (solving math problem vs. working blue collar job), compare current with performance of others (his math ability to those of other MIT students) and the evaluations of others. To be competent, one needs to have the pleasure of optimal challenge, but Will does not want to be extrinsically motivated by money and will end up not wanting to do math anymore. Relatedness is the need to be with others. Will doesn’t satisfy this need until the end of the movie. He pretends like he doesn’t need other people in his life (friends, girlfriend, professor, therapist). However, in the end, he develops a close relationship with Chuckie, Sean and Skylar. He develops close emotional bonds and attachment with others. Will gravitates towards Sean because he trusts that he has Will’s well being in interest. He knows this when he overhears the fight between the professor and Sean when Sean is sticking up for Will. This is the turning point in Sean and Will’s relationship. Will also stays away from the professor as much as possible because he doesn’t know have Will’s well being at heart, he just cares about his math ability and the amount of money he could make. Social needs include achievement, affiliation, intimacy and power. Will has low need for achievement because he is content with life of being a janitor, going to the bars every night and living in a run down house. To satisfy the need for achievement, one needs moderately difficult tasks and competition. Because Will is smarter than most at MIT, he doesn’t have the opportunity for competition and the math comes easy to him. Affiliation is establish, maintain and restore a positive, affective relationship with another person. Will does this with Skylar at the end of the movie. It is hard for him to do this because he grew up as an orphan only relying on himself, so has some trust issues with others. One of Will’s main concerns was failure throughout the movie. He didn’t want to fail at anything so held himself back. He was afraid of failing at relationships which is why he refused to get close with anyone until the end of the movie. When he finally realized that people in the world really did care about him (Chuckie saying that he would be angry if he worked construction the rest of his life, Skylar loving him unconditionally no matter his upbringing and way of life and Sean, caring about where he goes in life).

Intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, persistence, high quality learning, external regulation, reinforcer, competence, autonomy, feedback, relatedness, achievement, affiliation, intimacy, power

I have always loved this movie and it was incredibly interesting to go back and watch it with the ideas of chapters 5-7 in mind. I found many different topics from our text can be found in this movie. The two major topics I will talk about are achievement and intimacy from chapter 7.

Achievement is one of our social needs, and makes us want to do well in comparison to what we see as excellence. Will hunting and Professor Gerald show us prime examples of individuals with low need for achievement and high need for achievement. People with high need for achievement show action-orientated emotions and show pride. Professor Gerald is very proud of his achievement in getting the prestigious award in mathematics. On the opposite end Will shows a very low need for achievement. People with a low need for achievement show avoidance-orientated emotions like anxiety, defense, and fear of failure. Will feels no desire to use his amazing gift that he has and become a great mathematician. He uses defense in his argument with Sean (his therapist) that laying brick is an honorable profession and there is nothing wrong with that. Though it’s never clearly stated it seems that this is just because he is avoiding failure in actually trying to do something with himself. His low need for achievement may have also come from the socialization he received from his parents. Abuse often teaches children that they are worthless. Because of his childhood abuse from his foster parents Will probably see’s a much lower level of excellence to strive for than Professor Gerald sees for Will.

The need for intimacy is the need for a close, communicative, personal relationship with another person. Will and Sean come into this movie with a high deficit in intimacy and therefore feel high need for intimacy. Sean is still grieving for the loss of his most intimate relationship (his wife) and has been unable to meet his need for intimacy because of this. Will is deathly afraid of rejection and drive people away as soon as he feels they are getting to close or there is chance he will be hurt which is making it impossible for him to fill his need for intimacy. As the movie progresses Will and Sean’s professional client-patient relationship grow into a strong friendship and they begin to help each other fill this need for intimacy. They find a close relationship with each other which begins to help. But even more the relationship with Will brings Sean back to life in a way and makes him ready to get back to living his life and finding intimate relationships. Sean also teaches Will that it is infinitely worth the risk to have the happy loving and intimate relationship with Skylar even though he is deathly afraid of rejection from her. At the end we see Will driving to California finally filling his need for intimacy.

Terms: achievement, intimacy, social needs, action-orientated emotions, defense, pride, avoidance-orientated emotions, anxiety, fear, socialization.

At first glance, Good Will Hunting appears to be a ‘diamond in the rough’ type story about a hard-knocks Boston janitor who turns out to be a genius. However, on a deeper level it is much more than that – the film provides a nuanced exploration of several concepts from our textbook, namely intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, psychological needs, and social needs. Upon our first encounter with Will Hunting, he appears to be just another rough-and-tumble kid from the south side of Boston. He carouses with three lifelong buddies, getting in fights and raising all sorts of hell. But then the scene in the Harvard bar occurs, and we realize this kid is “wicked smart” – he possesses an encyclopedic knowledge and can hold his own in a debate with even the snootiest of Ivy League scholars. That’s odd… And then we find that he has an unbelievable aptitude for mathematics – he solves an advanced theorem posted in the hall of MIT and does not even require any sort of recognition for this feat! It soon becomes clear that this dichotomy between Will’s current situation and his seemingly boundless potential exists because he possesses very little extrinsic motivation. He does not adhere to laws (he has appeared in court on numerous occasions) and does not care to advance himself beyond his current status, despite the enormous amount of untapped potential he possesses. He does not care for the fame and fortune he could easily earn or the opinions of other people beyond his rowdy trio of friends. Professor Gerald Lambeau recognizes this gift and wants to provide Will with the necessary direction to tap into his gifts. However, his childhood friend, Sean Maguire recognizes external motivation’s potential to damage autonomy and internal self-regulation. “Direction’s one thing, manipulation’s another.” Will does possess an amazing deal of internal motivation, however – when he feels like it. He solves complex math theorems, reads a library of books, and completes organic chemistry equations…..only when he feels like it. This is because he possesses enough of the components of intrinsic motivation to get by. He has a great deal of autonomy – he is smart enough to talk his way out of virtually any problem he encounters, as shown when he is able to represent himself in the court of law. He also feels competent in the sense that he is able to accomplish the few goals he sets for himself, however he never strives for anything beyond what he considers the status quo. He also has an adequate amount of relatedness, at least on a superficial level, with his friends and his girlfriend Skylar.

When we first met Sean, he poses the question, “Why is trust the most important thing in making a breakthrough with a client?” to his class. I feel that this small scene provides foreshadowing and insight into his future sessions with Will. Sean has to go to great lengths to break through Will’s shell and earn his trust, because Will has some deeply rooted emotional problems. As the movie unfolds, we find that this is the reason he finds it difficult to strive for more, whether it be in the field of academia or on an emotional level with his peers and mentors. Skylar attempts to breach this barrier and Will retaliates by breaking up with her. With anyone else, he responds with violence, mind games, and various other defense mechanisms. The reason Will has such trouble tapping into his potential is because he was abandoned by his biological parents and abused by foster caretakers while growing up. No matter what a person’s aptitude, their motivation cannot be separated from the social context in which it is embedded. Will was not provided with detrimental motivational conditions as he was raised, and this adversely affected his aspirations over the next twenty-odd years. He was not provided with hardly any of the conditions that satisfy a need for achievement – none of his peers were in the same ballpark with him intellectually so there was no competition, he was only provided with moderately difficult tasks of his own choosing, and he received no real feedback beyond the predictable amazement shown by his gang of punks. This all changed upon meeting Prof. Lambeau, however he provided a motivational style that was autonomy-controlling and did not allow Will to define or pursue his own aspirations. Will does not know what he wants to do with his life and being pushed to achieve the professor’s goals results in him abandoning those pursuits altogether. Sean, on the other hand, takes an autonomy-supportive approach and with an extraordinary deal of patience is able to get through to Will. He repeatedly asks Will what he wants to do with his life and cultivates the young man’s multi-faceted interests while staying tolerant of the cuttingly personal remarks he often receives in return. Sean’s persistence and willingness to see things from Will’s perspective without holding rigid expectations eventually allows Will to open up and find the courage to identify and pursue his aspirations.

Terms: extrinsic/intrinsic motivation, persistent, self-regulation, autonomy, competence, relatedness, feedback, intimacy, achievement, autonomy-supportive motivating style, controlling motivating style

Intrinsic motivations take place spontaneously and done because the person yearning to do the activity, not because of outside forces. They arise from psychological needs and the desire to obtain growth. While Will was working as a janitor, he would stop and attempt the math problems provided on the blackboard. When he wasn’t working on them at the University, he was working on them at home in his mirror. He found the will do this from intrinsic motivations. He wasn’t required to do it for a class or forced to do it by someone else; he engaged in figuring out the problems it because it was enjoyable. This is the same concept that Will experienced with reading. He wasn’t expected to read the books for a class like most people his age, he choose to read them for the satisfaction of learning new things within himself.
Although, Will loved to do his math problems and acquire new information from books, he started to lose his intrinsic motivations when he was sentenced to working with the professor instead of going to jail. In this case, jail is used as a punisher to get Will to do what the court wants him to do. He was expected to work on his math skills with the professor changing his intrinsic motivation to an environmentally created reason to do it, or extrinsic motivation. Throughout the movie, we witness how slowly his love for math starts to fade away because he is doing it in order to avoid the consequence—going to jail.
Wills psychological needs (autonomy, competence, relatedness) are prominent during the movie. Autonomy is the yearning to do what one wants to do, when they want to, and how they want to. When Will burns the math problem in the professor’s office, autonomy is profoundly showed. Will didn’t want the professor to set up the meetings or pushing him into jobs. He was losing his ability to determine his actions. In this case, his perceived autonomy was very low leading to be upset and act out of character. Three key factors play into one’s level personal perceived autonomy: internal perceived locus of causality, violation, perceived choice over one’s actions. First, He had originally started studying math and engaging in these activates, but after the courts sentenced him to working with Professor Lambeau, he was forced to partake in these activates through an external PLOC, or perceived locus of casualty. Secondly, his violation, or feeling free, was being jeopardized as well. He didn’t have the willingness to engage in the activity without pressure and force to by others. Thirdly, he also didn’t have the perceived choice in this situation. He was to follow the guide lines and participate regardless if he wanted. Wills competence is satisfied through completing the equations on the board. Competence is the longing to do well in ones surroundings. Although he is a janitor, he desires to be effective and flourish in his environment which is a college campus. An important factor in relatedness is gravitating towards people who care for him. A good example is how often he switches therapists and his resistance towards them. We can see that he never opens up to them and refuses to take part in the sessions because the therapists never establish a connection and trust with him. These were exchange relationships, or relationships between two people who do business together. The more interactions Will shared with Sean, the more will starts to open up and establish an emotional in depth relationship. Sean and Wills relationship turn into a communal relationship, or a relationship between two people express the welfare of one another.
Social needs were an important part of Good Will Hunting. Social needs are acquired through experience, development, and socialization. The three most important needs in this movie were
Will experienced a high achievement through his academic life. He was well versed and math and strived in that area. His knowledge from reading all of his books pays off when he comes into contact with the man at the bar. He uses his knowledge to feel achievement in himself by proving him wrong. Wills friends were also highly important. His friends were a lot like family. They established and maintained an affective relationship also known as a high affiliation. On the other hand, Will experienced a low intimacy. He had fears and anxiety that increased his wanting to have affiliation with Skylar. At first, he shuts her out and pushes her away. By the end of the movie, they establish a close, and warm relationship that fills Will’s need for intimacy.

Terms: Intrinsic motivations, punisher, psychological needs, autonomy, competence, relatedness, extrinsic motivations, consequence, internal perceived locus of causality, violation, perceived choice over one’s actions, exchange relationships, communal relationships, achievement, affiliation, and intimacy.

In the movie Good Will Hunting there are many instances of motivation that play out and influence the characters. The first instance is how Will is intrinsically motivated. Intrinsic motivation is the inherent propensity to engage one’s interests and to exercise one’s capacities and master optimal challenges. When Will was a janitor at MIT he would mop the floor in the math department, where there would be a blackboard with a very complex problem on it. Will would solve the theorems, not knowing about the prize behind it or all the prestige that would come along with solving it. This is an example of intrinsic motivation. Will was motivated to prove the theorem not because of the recognition that would come along, but because it was a challenge. He acted out of his own self-interest, and by proving the theorem he proved to himself he could solve extremely challenging mathematical problems. He didn’t know anyone was watching him when he was discovered, and didn’t seek a reward when he proved it. Will had a high degree of intrinsic motivation and persisted when he couldn’t figure it out right away. He was functioning at optimal level, and really enjoyed solving the theorems just for the sake of solving them.
Conversely there is extrinsic motivation. Extrinsic motivation arises from incentives and consequences, including rewards and recognition. The professor tried to “bait” Will with prestigious jobs, money, lots of recognition and a chance to escape his previous life. So instead of trying to get Will to do the theorems just for the challenge of the problem, the professor tried to reward Will for the work he was doing. In response Will did not feel satisfied solving the problems, even when faculty who had been working on the problems for years couldn’t solve them. Will didn’t want the recognition, the rewards. He wanted to feel challenged and was motivated to solve these problems because of the challenge. A consequence the professor tried enforcing was telling Will that if he didn’t keep meeting with him he would be sent to jail. This worked, as Will didn’t want to be sent to jail. But Will was not happy with this, and therefore he acted out against all the counselors the professor made him see. This is an example of a negative reinforce. A negative reinforce is an environmental stimulus that, when removed, increases the future probability of the desired behavior. The stimulus was going to jail, and the desired behavior was mathematical performance. In other words, by taking away Will’s jail sentence, the professor hoped that Will would increase the time spent at the college and would succeed in solving more difficult theorems and propel himself to international fame. While this worked, as Will didn’t want to be in jail, Will didn’t cooperate easily and made the professor’s life hell. The jail term, if Will had been forced to do it, would have been a punisher to stop his illegal acts.
Overall, the method of intrinsic motivation was much more successful in getting Will to do all the work. When he actually enjoyed doing the problems, and trying to do them secretly without any recognition, he was much happier. When he was being “baited” and forced to do the problems and solve the theorems, he was much less happy and became defensive against the professor and the counselor. Therefore intrinsic motivation tends to be much more successful in producing the desired actions. When the person, who in the movie is Will, wants to be challenged and enjoys the work, he is much more likely to do it and do a good job.
Terms: motivation, intrinsic motivation, persistence, optimal functioning, extrinsic motivation, incentives, consequences, reinforce, negative reinforce, punisher, rewards

In Good Will Hunting there are several concepts that can be applied from Chapters 5 through 7. The first and foremost theme throughout the movie, at least from what I can see, is the idea of extrinsic versus intrinsic motivation. Will Hunting, a janitor at Harvard University, solves a math theorem that very few others could do. It was supposed to be a challenge for the students to work on throughout the year, but Will Hunting solved it in a night. The next one that the esteemed math professor, Gerald Lambeau, was one that took the math professors at Harvard several years to solve. Again, Will solved it in one night. Why is this? My thinking is that the students (who had not even at the point tried to solve the original theorem) and the professors were not intrinsically motivated to solve it. The students, the majority of them anyhow, were simply in the class to get the credits and move on. They most assuredly did not want to prove theorem after difficult theorem in order to prove themselves to the mathematical world. The professors, though more intrinsically motivated than the students, lost some of their intrinsic motivation to solve math due to the fact that it was now their job. They also most likely wanted to the credit and prestige that would come with solving an extremely challenging math problem. Will, on the other hand, solved the theorem simply for the enjoyment. He WANTED to do the problem and there was nothing more to that. This, in addition to the fact that he was a genius, would help him in solving the problem.

Also interesting is the fact that when the theorem was solved, Professor Lambeau’s math class was overflowing with students and staff the Monday after the theorem was solved. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that the students were not there to listen to the good professor’s lecture, but rather to hear who had solved the theorem. It was rather amusing to see that as soon as the students realized they weren’t going to see the brilliant solver of the problem, they became very restless and wanted to leave. The extrinsic motivation, albeit unintentional on the part of the professors, got the students to class, but as soon as they were there the lack of intrinsic motivation probably caused an utter lack of attention in the class.

Additionally it is worth noting that Sean Maguire was the only one of five psychologists to retain Will as a patient. Why was this? It seems to me that the other professors were doing the work as pro-bono, only to say they do pro-bono work. It was of no real desire to help Will Hunting. There was a total lack of intrinsic motivation on their part. Sean Maguire, on the other hand, was a psychology professor. He no longer practiced, but had spent twenty years counseling prior to the failing health of his wife. But when Sean’s old friend, if you will, Jerry Lambeau, came to ask for help Sean couldn’t refuse. He met with Will and though Will upset him greatly, he kept at it. This was because Sean was intrinsically motivated to practice psychology and help Will. This increased the level of persistence and, as evident by Sean’s different methods, his creativity in regards to ‘treatment.’ Sean, through his determination and versatility, broke through to Will. One of the more touching parts of the movie was when will broke down crying in Sean’s arms. It almost brought me to tears.

Another aspect of motivations and emotion that was prevalent in the movie was Will’s social needs (the other characters as well, but his in particular). For example, he obviously does not have a high need for achievement. His utter apathy in regards to using his talent is evidenced by this. Part of this seems to stem from a need for affiliation and intimacy, he’s afraid to turn his back on his friends. He also seems to be afraid to end up making a mistake.

Will also has a mix between a need for affiliation and intimacy. He has a need for affiliation, but only because he is afraid to have a warm, intimate relationship with another person. He goes out with his friends to drink all the time, though he doesn’t seem to enjoy it. He does it for the sake of company. Throughout the extent of the movie we see Will’s fear of becoming close to someone because he is afraid they’ll realize his faults. Finally, Sean breaks through to him through several conversations. The most crucial being a repeated reminder that it was not Will’s fault.

These and several more are the motivational and emotional content throughout the extent of Good Will Hunting (Which I might add, is now one of my alltime favorite movies).

Achievement, affiliation, social needs, intimacy, extrinsic motivation, intrinsic motivation

Throughout the movie Will is constantly struggling with his psychological needs. As I go through the notes and look over the chapter I can see Will struggling with in some way or another throughout the movie.

I believe that the biggest issue holding Will back is that aspects Will’s origins of need for achievement were never nurtured. He was never encouraged by the adults or role models in his life to live up to his potential (socialization origin). It is a lot like the story Dr. Maclin told about her neighbor coming over to have her check their homework. Will received no motivation to receive a higher education or even to apply his talents in any manner besides using them to back his friends up at bars, hit on girls, and get himself out of legal troubles by quoting obscure and out of date laws. Another factor that contributed to his underachievement is that in order for a person to feel satisfied in their need for achievement a task needs to be moderately difficult and one needs competition. Even some of the most advanced mathematics being done at MIT were not stimulating to Will in any manner. He solved proofs in a night that took a team of professors over two years. There was nobody to compete with Will. The only aspect of need for achievement that was satisfied is cognitive influences, this coincidentally is the only aspect that comes from within the individual.

Another issue holding will back is his need for autonomy. He chooses to be a janitor, and even though this job in itself does not have much autonomy, compared to the other jobs people with his talents perform he is much more free, relatively speaking. I would imagine that throughout his life he received little in the way of autonomy support (behaviors that identify, nurture, and develop another’s inner motivational resources) from the stories he told of being an orphan and the treatment he received from his foster parents (put out cigarettes on, stabbed, beaten with a tool of his choice). He enjoyed volition (unpressured willingness to engage I an activity). In the scene where he and Skylar are having coffee and she is working on organic chemistry he states that he has indeed studied it just for fun. All of the math he has studied, literature he has read, and art he has observed have been solely for his enjoyment. He does not want to do these things for other people, he wants to do them out of his own free will. Once his job requires him to do these things he perceives it as losing some control of his actions.

Will’s social needs are also a big part of this movie. The book states “people with high-need affiliations interact with others to avoid negative emotions, such as fear of disapproval and loneliness, and typically experience much anxiety in their relationships.” I believe that the first part of this statement is true. Very rarely do you see will alone. He is always either with his friends, coworkers, or his girlfriend and I believe that this is because he is using them as a crutch to avoid all of the negative emotions he has from a childhood of severe neglect and cruelty. However, rarely do you see Will coming across as needy. He also has problems with affiliation and intimacy needs. The book defines these needs as “the desire or social need, for intimacy arises from interpersonal caring and concern, warmth and commitment, emotional connectedness, reciprocal dialogue, congeniality, and love.” Will desperately wants to have this sort of connectedness, but because of his past he is unable to allow himself to get close enough to anyone besides the three men he has grown up with all of his life. His relationship with Skylar is headed this way when he completely sabotages himself by projecting his feelings of inadequacy onto her (he claims that she cannot possibly love him because of the scars from his childhood). He refuses to let any of the psychologists get close to him with the exception of Sean, and he only lets Sean in after Sean tells him about the hardships he has endured. Essentially Sean gives him enough information about his life to gain Will’s trust by making himself vulnerable.

Terms: origins of need for achievement, socialization, autonomy, autonomy support, volition, perceived choice in actions, social needs, affiliation and intimacy needs

Nearly every major concept from chapter 5-7 was displayed in the movie Good Will Hunting. I will only highlight a small few with examples.

At the beginning of the film, Will Hunting is selling himself short. He works as a janitor; yet solves impossible math problems overnight. This shows that he has a very low need for achievement. Achievement is “the desire to do well relative to a standard of excellence.” He could be anything he wants, and all it would have taken is telling the professor it was him, but he doesn’t bother.

Will gets arrested, but is freed from jail by Professor Lambeau. Professor Lambeau frees him with two conditions: he must start working with the professor and he must start going to therapy.

While working with the Professor, the constant pressure from the professor for Will to use his abilities to his best capability and “be more” is an extrinsic motivation. Extrinsic motives are environmentally created reasons to initiate action. For starters, the professor uses going back to jail as a consequence for not working with him. He pushes onto Will that having a high paid prestigious job is important, and therefore an incentive (and goal).

Will’s constant disapproval of being pushed into doing these things is his clear lack of need to competence. Competence is “the need to interact effectively with the environment.” It is the desire for someone to exercise their capacities and skills to the highest level possible with the environment. Instead of winning the Nobel Peace Prize, Will would rather drink beer with Chuckie and his pals. Chuckie serves as Will’s personification of his lack of need to strive higher, exert competence, or achieve.

After upsetting other therapists, Will starts going to therapy with Sean. Will is very uncooperative at first, and even challenges Sean. In his first session, he questions Sean about a painting, and uses that to quickly accuse him of marrying the wrong women. This is Will’s way of showing his control over the situation.

Over the course of the sessions, we learn that Will has had a rough childhood; being orphaned, going through juvi, etc. This is the core discrepancy of Will’s life, and the reason that he keeps pushing everyone and everything away. We see this problem put into action throughout the movie as Will dates Skylar. He even tells Sean at one point that Skylar is perfect in his mind. Sean encourages him to give it a shot; to “play the cards” on the table.

Will’s difficult past deprived him of one very important thing growing up: intimacy. Because of this lack of intimacy, Will shows a high need to affiliation. He is so worried about being rejected (like he was as a child) that he never opens himself up or lets himself build a relationship or friendship with anyone. This affiliation negativity is brought to a climax when Skylar asks him to accompany her to California, to which he responds angrily and tells her that he doesn’t love her.

Sean tries throughout the movie to get him to feel a need for competence. Near one of the final sessions, Sean asks Will what he wants to do someday; why he chose to be a janitor as MIT. Will refuses to give an answer, so he kicks him out.

The other big thing Sean tries to get Will to feel is the need for intimacy. In the end, Sean gets Will to break down, and clean his life up. At the very end of the movie, Will heads out to California to see Skylar, proving Sean’s message that intimacy can be the most powerful and important need for someone to have.

Terms: Needs, Achievement, extrinsic motivation, incentive, competence, intimacy, affiliation

Good Will Hunting is a pretty good movie. Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation is apparent throughout the film in most of the character's lives. Concerning the therapist and math professor, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation explains a lot about their relationship and their individual lives. The professor is a well-established man respected very highly in his field. He was pushed by his parents to do well and he pushed himself in order to make them proud and because he wanted respect from peers. I would imagine the thought of achieving a Field's metal might have pushed him as well. This leads me to believe he operates based mostly on Extrinsic Motivation. The therapist however takes a different route in life. Instead of trying to make anyone proud or earn physical rewards like metals and certificates he instead is moved by his own personal motives. I would assume he works as a psychologist because he has a strong sense of morals and really cares about his patients. He doesn't work with them to achieve a specific desired goal instead he works with them because he feels challenged by it and it is interesting to him.
In the case of the main character, he doesn't have much motivation at all. All that he does is intrinsically motivated. He is obviously affected in daily life by a myriad of unconscious external regulators like reinforcers. He gets a paycheck from work which helps him to live. The paycheck is a positive reinforcer but I'm sure if he had the space and ability to do so, he would be self sufficient. He punches a guy on the street because he used to make fun of him, and he did something that went against his moral code by harrassing a woman on the sidewalk. He visits with the professor and the therapist only because of the punishers and negative reinforcers that he faces. Jail would be considered a hybrid of the two. It would not only take away freedom and time from his life but it would also decrease the likelihood that he would engage in such an activity again. At first he doesn't want to work with the professor or the therapist but eventually he warms to the therapist; he actually hates working with the professor by the end of the film. In the conclusion of the film, the main character switches from operating almost purely based on extrinsic motivation and starts switching to intrinsic motivation. I personally know what its like for him to want to stay in his comfortable life and not try to do things that are congruent with his actual desires. It's simply a fear of change and failure.

Positive Reinforcement
Negative Reinforcement
Punisher
Reward
Intrinsic Motivation
Extrinsic Motivation
External Regulators

The movie Good Will Hunting had a lot to do with intrinsic and extrinsic motivation along with psychological and social needs. The main character, Will, has the gift of being incredibly good at math but he is not intrinsically motivated to do it. Intrinsic motivation is when one engages is their interests and in doing so seeks out challenges within the interest. Despite Will’s incredible gift in math, he lacked the ambition or desire to pursue it any further. Thus, he found himself in a dead-end job and getting into trouble. It took Will receiving an extrinsic motivator before he was willing to pursue his gift of math. An extrinsic motivator is a motivator that arises from environmental incentives and consequences. Will's extrinsic motivator was to stay out of jail. After being picked up and charged with assault, Will was facing jail time. In lieu of the jail time, the judge agreed to let Will work alongside a math professor. The fear of going to jail extrinsically motivated him to further his math skills. However, as we learned in class and read in chapter 5, extrinsic motivators are not as enduring or beneficial as intrinsic motivators. People who are intrinsically motivated are more persistence, creative, have a higher quality of learning and optimal well-being. The higher Will's intrinsic motivation was, the longer he would work at developing his math skills and the easier it was for him to understand what he was learning. Chapter 5 explains the different types of extrinsic motivation. The type of extrinsic motivation that Will's falls under is external regulation. External regulation occurs when one is trying to obtain a reward or to satisfy some external demand (such as jail time).
Another common theme in Good Will Hunting that relates back to chapter 6 is the topic of psychological needs. The three psychological needs that are discussed include autonomy, competence and relatedness. Towards the end of the movie we find out that Will’s foster father was very abusive. Because of this dynamic, Will had little to no control over things in his life and he lacked fulfilling his need for autonomy. This stifling environment could have heavily contributed in Will’s desire whether to pursue a career in math or not. I also believe that is why he lets on that he doesn’t care what the consequences of his actions are and that he will do whatever he wants. Will’s therapist, Sean, spent time discussing with Will the need for autonomy. He also respected Will’s need for autonomy by not forcing Will to discuss his childhood and to stress the fact that Will needed to chose a career path that he found satisfying rather than choosing a path that someone picked for him.
Will’s need for competence was also left unsatisfied. One of the key environmental conditions that involve our need for competence is optimal challenge and flow. Flow is created when an opportunity for challenge is matched evenly with the person’s ability. If a challenge is too hard, a person will easily become frustrated or have anxiety. If the challenge is too easy, the person becomes bored. Thus, if something is only slightly challenging based on a person’s abilities, it will create flow which leads to a person feeling enjoyment and competence. There is a scene in the movie where Will points to one of the math problems and expresses to the professor how easy it was for him. This showed that Will was not being challenged enough.
extrinsic motivation, intrinsic motivation, psychological needs, social needs, optimal challenge, environmental incentives, consequences, persistence, creativity, high quality learning, optimal well-being, external regulation, autonomy, competence, optimal challenge, flow