Application of HBSE to the Life of Antwone Fisher - Essay Example

Antwone Fisher Introduction There are several theories that concern Human Behavioral and Social Environment. The story of Antwone Fisher from his childhood until his adulthood explains the use of the HBSE theories and its application in day to day life. Examples of the methods include social, conflict, life span development, the psychodynamic among others. The life and times of Fisher get incorporated into a movie by the same title “Antwone Fisher”. The essay will focus on the life of Fisher and how the theories apply to his childhood, youth and adulthood. Body Childhood Antwone Fisher went through a traumatic childhood. He was born in prison and spent his whole childhood in foster homes. The first foster home was not too traumatic for Fisher as he was very young. The first theory that one can identify Fisher with is the systems theory as he moves from one system to another throughout his childhood. He goes from the prison system where he was born. His mother was in prison because she had killed Fisher’s dad out of jealousy. Fisher then goes to live with to an orphanage. Fisher stayed in the orphanage until the release of his mum. The mum does not claim him thus he goes to another foster home and eventually in a disciplinary school. The people in the second foster home had more power than Fisher thus abused their power over him. He was physically and sexually abused for fourteen years by Mrs. Tate (Washington, 2002). The boy went through many traumatic events before he could go to the discipline school. Development theory also applies to the childhood of Fisher (Forte, 2006). He goes through different phases while in various homes and different environments. The principles apply directly to the life and times of Fisher’s childhood. They explain how he went through manytraumas and he came out of the experiences successful. After growing up in a dangerous environment, he was able to join the United States Navy. Fisher’s character gets into shape from the experiences he went through as a child. The traumatic experiences have an adverse effect of making a person feel not wanted by the society. There is a traumatic stress that is a result of being abused while growing up. The Tate’s did not do any good to Fisher’s health. The conflict theory has a limitation in focusing on the macro environment of Fisher as a homeless kid (Schriver, 2015). It does not emphasize the struggles and the needs he had and was denied by the more powerful Tate family (Washington, 2002). The conditions of the foster home led to Fisher searching for his family. Fishers moves to the streets when he was fourteen years old. He needed love, understanding and acceptance as a child that he could not get from the Tates. The systems theory is general in its description of people having to move from a particular system to the next. There is emphasis on the kind of system, and it does not matter whether it is good or bad. There are psychologists who do not agree with the developmental theory and development being a process. Fisher develops in a different way from the way kids in a safe environment grow. The foster homes were terrible for his growth. Thus, he had to mature very fast. The assumption about the development theory is enormous in the case of Fisher. A young child gets physically and sexually abused his foster family. No child should develop through the same process as Fisher as the results of such development leads to trauma to a person. Fisher results in looking for his family and tries to understand why he has to go through so much trouble (Washington, 2002). He is homeless for several years as his mother has never claimed him since birth. It is so despite his mother already being released from prison. Youth As a young man, Fisher had to join the US Navy to escape being homeless. He had spent several years on the streets and found the US Navy an excellent opportunity for a home and a family. Fisher’s youth can best be described using the cognitive theory, social learning theory and psychodynamic theory. The thoughts Fisher had before he left Tate’s home led to him living on the streets. He felt the physical and sexual abuse from Mrs. Tate was enough, and he could not take it anymore. Fisher has a change of mind about life and decides his life is worth something and needed change. That is when he decides to join the US Navy (Washington, 2002). The change of Fisher’s dysfunctional thoughts to a more productive thought made him move from the streets into the Navy. The cognitive theory clearly applies to his youthful life. Fisher’s behavior and how he gets into a fight with a sailor is from his breeding. There was always violence in his surroundings from his foster parents, and he did not know how to solve conflicts without engaging in fights. The decision of fighting the sailor was not appropriate as he ended up in being restricted to the ship for forty-five days and a demotion. The psychodynamic theory also applies to his life as Fisher had needs, drives and emotions that he had not yet addressed. The need to find a home led him to enroll as a US Navy. There is also the need to be somebody in the society that was the drive for him to change his ways. Limitations of the psychodynamic theory are that it only has its focus on the emotional behavior of a human being (Schriver, 2015). It does not expose the other behaviors. The role of a person in the maintenance of their problems instead of solving them should not be part of the cognitive theory. Experts have the idea of human behavior being inherited and genetic more than being acquired from one’s environment. Social learning theory suggests otherwise as it puts human behavior entirely from the experiences they get from their environment (Rudolph, 2009). Antwone Fisher’s life from the story and the movie clearly shows how much trauma he received as a child and a young man. His traumatic experiences from his childhood get in the way of his decisions as a young person. Fisher clearly needs help as his commanding officer orders him to go for psychiatric treatment. The man cannot control his anger despite efforts from Dr. Davenport. He gets into another fight when his sexuality gets tested while on vacation in Mexico. Despite having overcome his trauma, he did not overly overcome his control issues. Adulthood Fischer is now a grown man and is even in a relationship with fellow Navy sailor Cheryl. He, however, does not control his anger as he fights his fellow sailor and ends up in jail. The sexual abuse from Mrs. Tate made his character and made him lose control (Washington, 2002). The cognitive theory applies to this stage of Fischer’s life once again. The thoughts people have of him makes him lose control. The man in Mexico, where he was on leave questions his sexuality and instead of him acting in a mature way, he ends up in a bad fight. The cognitive theory draws attention to the conflict, dominance and oppression people face in their social life. Fischer makes a mistake in putting his needs first, those of being vengeful. Social learning theory also applies to the life of Fischer as an adult. He develops a good character from surrounding himself with positive people, including his girlfriend Cheryl and his shrink Dr. Davenport. Dr. Davenport tries to convince Fischer to look for his family to find closure, but he decides it will not be good for him (Washington, 2002). Cognitive theory is relevant to the evaluation of Fischer’s adulthood as we get to see how Fischer deals with oppression from his childhood as an adult (Rudolph, 2009). Dr. Davenport makes Fischer a better man and in the process he also gets a chance to deal with his demons. Positive thoughts in a persons life lead to positive behavior. Fischer finally graduates college, something he did not think he would ever do while growing up. The developmental theory focuses on how a person’s behavior changes over time and remains the same after a while also describes Fischer’s adult life. Fischer can open up about feeling abandoned to Dr. Davenport that undoubtedly helps him move on from the hurt and the pain. He is now mature and has a different personality from when he was a young boy. His maturity leads him to go confront the Tate’s family (Washington, 2002). The environment after his graduation provides the requirement for his growth. Limitations of the developmental theory in Fischer’s life are that he does not get to experience fully different stages of the argument. The effects are positive, but the process is not positive. Experts suggest that it takes a long while before someone adapts to the character of their new environment. It means that Fischer took a while before leaving his old ways. Conclusion A study shows that many children go through sexual and physical abuse while young that affect their growth and adult life. Fischer was able to overcome his trauma by facing his demons. He gets his birth mother and gets closure from her by offering forgiveness. Most kids who receive traumatic experiences from their foster homes do not get to deal with their demons thus leads to a traumatic adulthood. The life of Antwone Fischer goes through several stages that psychiatrists use to evaluate Human Behavioral Social Environment Theories. The essay gives several theories and their explanation using the life of Antwone Fischer. References Forte, J.A. (2006). Human Behavior and the Social Environment: Models, Metaphors, and Maps for Applying Theoretical Perspectives to Practice. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks Cole Publications. Rudolph, A. (2009). Human Behavior in the Social Environment: A Macro, National, and International Perspective. Washington, DC: SAGE Publications. Schriver, J. (2015). Human behavior and the social environment: shifting paradigms in essential knowledge for social work practice (sixth edition). Boston, MA: Pearson Educational, Inc. Washington, D. (2002). Antwone Fisher. Los Angeles: Fox Serachlight Pictures. Read More