Personality Persistence: A Study on Tony and Bruce in 49-Up

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In the film 49-Up, many individuals are observed using a longitudinal model of observation. Two of the individuals, Tony and Bruce, both express personality traits that are stable throughout time. However their environments differ in the amount that they influence these personality traits. These individuals possess traits that are both similar and contrasting. Tony can be seen as an extraverted person who has ambition and values. He is constantly challenging himself. Bruce is more of a quiet and optimistic person. Both characters are unique in their own way, yet both would have successfully gone through Erikson and Maslow’s developmental stages. Tony has changed slightly from when he was younger (Apted, 2006). He used to be highly active as …show more content…

Tony has successfully fulfilled his physiological needs by having access to all the basic needs such as food, shelter, and water. He has a home that satisfies his safety needs by protecting him from the outside world (Apted, 2006). Tony leads an orderly, structured and somewhat predictable life, another aspect of safety needs. Tony belongs to his family group as well as having an identity as an Eastern European. Tony became very defensive when he talked about other cultures coming and taking over his, indicating that he felt strong social ties to that identity. In addition to this, he has fulfilled his esteem needs by feeling proud of his accomplishments and having his wife happy for him as well. Tony has reached the top of the hierarchy of the need for self-actualization. Tony does not appear to have any doubts in his life or worry as to what he failed to accomplish. He does state that he wished he could have been a jockey but accepted that he could not due to his height. Tony appears to be satisfied with his life and all of his …show more content…

Bruce always had a home and food, yet it took him a while to find a female partner (Apted, 2006). His safety needs were met once he was older and could take care of himself since the boarding school failed to protect him from other children bullying him. Additionally, Bruce did not experience a sense of belongingness until he was older. He was beaten on by the other children in the school and did not appear to be happy. Once he was older and entered school, he belonged to a student body and a school board. Later in life, Bruce was a member of a cricket team and the father of his family. His esteem was not fully developed until later in life when he was no longer being picked on by others, however he did not believe in himself to play international cricket so whether or not it ever fully developed could be debated. When Bruce reaches old age, he will have reached self-actualization since he appears to have little regrets as to how his life turned out (Larsen & Buss, 2014). He did realize at one point in his life that teaching was not a long term job for him and decided to quit, but if he had not done this he may not have reached self-actualization since he would never have been truly happy with his life (Apted,

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