Self-Efficacy In Rain Man

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The movie Rain Man (Levinson, 1988) is about two brothers that come to know each other over the course of a week-long road trip from Cincinnati to Los Angeles. Charlie is the younger brother who grew up unaware that he had a brother; while Raymond has been diagnosed with autism and was sent to an institution when he was approximately eighteen. The mother died when Charlie was two and he was raised by his father who Charlie believes he was unable to please. Charlie left home after being arrested for theft of his father's car and cut all contact with his father in the ensuing years. Upon the death of his father, Charlie learns his father has left all his money to an unknown person and after investigation, he meets his brother Raymond. In an attempt to gain his "fair share," Charlie convinces Raymond to come to LA under the guise of seeing a baseball game. During the trip, the two develop a bond and Charlie wants to retain custody of Raymond, but decides to let him go in the end. Both characters grow during the trip. Charlie learns to care about someone other than …show more content…

According to Bandera (1994), self-efficacy beliefs determine how people feel, think, motivate themselves and behave. Such beliefs produce these diverse effects through four major processes. They include cognitive, motivational, affective, and selection processes (Friedman & Schustack, 2012). Near the end of the movie, Raymond has a difficult time answering questions concerning where he wants to live, which may be due to low self efficacy. By choosing to live with Charlie, he would have to engage in more unfamiliar activities which may lead him to be fearful to choose it; however he has made a connection with Charlie and this connection could strengthen his resolve to maintain it. Should he go back to the institution, he would be returning to the familiar and there would be people to aid him in all aspects of his

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