The movie revolves around the main character who is Forrest Gump played by Tom Hanks. He came through various developmental stages that brought along a share of challenges starting from his childhood. The character development of Gump seems to align with the lifespan psychosocial theory of development proposed by Erik Erikson. The first stage begins at birth and involves the young child developing trust towards its care giver. In this movie, Forrest Gump is very close to his mother, which is a perfect description of the attachment theory between the two. Gump has a long-term need and desire to develop affectionate ties with his mother during his childbirth stage. Psychiatrists established that such close attachment of a human being (Forrest) to another primary care giver (his mother) is very important in the process of survival of mankind and influences the mental wellbeing of a person.
Even at the second stage of development, Gump is very slow in gaining autonomy and still relies on his mother for assistance. Gump also undergoes all the domains of human development including biological, cognitive, and socio-emotional processes. The biological domain implies the physical growth that Forrest Gump undergoes from childhood to adulthood; it involves the changes in his body size, hormonal changes at the stage of puberty, and even brain development. Forrest experiences biological development as he matures; but concerning his mental abilities, he has a limited or low IQ. His low Intelligence Quotient earns him nick names, and he feels guilty at his third level of development. He lacks the cognitive ability to grasp concepts and operate swiftly like his mates at the time. This is in line with the observations of Erickson that every development stage presents an individual with a unique type of crisis, whose solution must be established before progressing to the next level. In addition, Erikson notes that these types of challenges may not necessarily bring catastrophes to the individuals but may eventually make them more vulnerable in the end.
Psychologists have described the cognitive process to be inclusive of the changes in the thinking capabilities through demonstrating creativity, high levels of imaginations, making sound judgment, and having good problem solving skills. The low IQ has affected Gump’s ability to make proper judgments; thus he ends up expressing contrary views and is less judgmental of those around him. Despite knowing that Jenny’s father is prone to child abuse, Forrest perceived him differently describing him as a loving man. This clearly demonstrates that his cognitive abilities are lower than those of the rest, thus making him reason differently. His observations thus come across as humorous and also very innocent, with no pun intended as a result of his worldview.
The socioemotional aspect involves the psychosocial development of an individual. This is inclusive of the emotional self-identity, communication, and the relationship with others through behavior and reasoning. Forrest develops the behavior of adaptation that helps him to accept the situations in his environment. He makes friends with his mates in the army while in Vietnam and puts into practice what he has learnt through his mother’s wisdom.
Contrary to this finding, Forrest does not become a victim of the situation as he does not put much emphasis on what people think of his low IQ. This may have had a major impact towards him developing inferiority complex on his abilities at the fourth stage of development in his lifespan. Instead, Forrest takes the crises as they come and deals with them. He overlooks his cognitive inabilities and goes ahead to form another strong relationship with Jenny who is his childhood best friend and lover. He discovers his personal identity through the various situations he finds himself in at the fifth stage of development. He goes ahead to join the Vietnam’s army of service; there he meets his new friends Bubba and Dan. He becomes active and interacts with the high level dignitaries in the society, inspires people to excel, and is eventually rewarded with medals.
A critical point worth noting at his sixth stage of development is that he develops an intimate relationship with his love Jenny, who is different from him. A common belief in the society is that most people who suffer from cognitive disability often end up paring themselves with others in the same situation thus worsens their development progress. Forrest only interacts with others and is able to overcome his cognitive challenges. It is encouraging to note that Forrest, despite having been put across as one with various crises in life, which he never creates but finds himself within them, finally emerges victorious as a man with the capabilities of loving and giving proper care to those he is close to like his mother and Jenny.
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