Bandura & Rotter, Molly Ringwald Character from Breakfast Club Essay

Bandura & Rotter, Molly Ringwald Character from Breakfast Club The reinforcement for Clair’s behavior was mainly dependent on the approval she received from her popular peer group. She has a notion that she needs to be â€Å"popular† or approved in order to be seen as better in her school. Reinforcement would also be abiding by her parents so she is able to shop with her families wealth. After she had bought something materialistic, it makes her feel good. There was a battle of the reinforcement values in this movie. One was, as stated above, to seek approval of her older known peers known to be stuck-up, condescending, and popular. The other is reinforcement of a more positive virtue. This virtue is as stated, thinking independently and making choices in one’s life for oneself instead of seeking approval from her snobbish peer group. This would help he correct her choices of behavior so they do not become repetitive. At the beginning of the film Clair wasn’t to open to the later reinforcement but then discovered it v ia introspection through group discussion. They discussed peer groups, virginity, suicide attempts, and assaults. Although many of the ways they talked about each other had been derogatory in some way. Clair still introspected. When Clair was confronted about negative evaluations and opinions about herself, she became upset. Her expectancies had been almost the same throughout the movie until her introspection. She would either get upset, denial, switches the blame to person discussing the problem, or rationalized her behavior. An example of rationalizing would be her assuming that Andrew would say â€Å"Hi.† To Brain in the halls, then Andrew would bash Brian in front of his sporty peers. This means possibility of being categorized as a defensive external. If Clair is a defensive external, then the Social Cognitive Learning Theory would be in hot water. This is because the theory states that people who indicate that they are controlled by the outside are not suppose to be competitive. This is a hypocritical theory in comparison to the external locus of control. Clair needs to be approved by groups immediately or she feels left out. Therefore, her expectancy in this situation is to be approved by others. This would also be known as social desirability. Clair also jumps in on bashing another person verbally when her peer does it. Thus, her exp... ...ce and a very new love in John Bender. The Defensive behaviors would line up with Rotter’s defensive external definition associated with Clair’s expectancies. The idea of social comparison had been used by Clair and the new group during their circle discussion. They compared each other socially via peer groups and attitudes. Clair did use dehumanization as a tactic in conversation as well. Clair proclaimed herself better then the others solely because of her group and monetary status while calling Brian an academic nerd and John a criminalistic drug burner. The â€Å"burner† remark was a little hypocritical after she had smoked it herself. She used the advantageous comparison method to explain how each of them would treat each other on the Monday after the detention they would be back in school. She discussed how she would do the same thing to Allison as Andrew would hypothetically do to Brian. Use this as an example: (Andrew [Clair] would say â€Å"Hi.† To Brain [Allison] in the halls, then An drew would bash Brian in front of his sporty peers [stuck-up popular girls].) Lastly, Clair was using displacement, blaming her condescending peer group and parents for her condescending behavior.