Monster's Inc Behaviorism

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In Monster’s Inc. there are many different personality theories that can explore why the monster acted the way they did. One of the main questions from the movie is why the monsters are afraid of the children. Behaviorism can explain this through the character of Mike Wazowski. The beginning of the movie shows that the monsters purpose is to gain scream from the children because this provides power for the monster’s city. The company is called Monster’s Inc. and this is where Mike works. At the very beginning, it shows a monster training on how to scare children. He messes up on the practice and leaves the door open. The boss, Henry, walks in and tells them that children can kill the monsters. This is something that every monster has heard …show more content…

One of the ways that they can be cured is through systematic desensitization. Systematic desensitization is a method that therapists use to slowly decrease someone’s phobia. At first they may start with pictures of the thing that causes the phobia and eventually lead up to the person holding or touching what causes their phobia. This is exactly what happens to Mike throughout the entire movie. He starts off being afraid of the children just like everyone else but by the end of the movie he actually cares and loves Boo. The first time he sees Boo he freaks out just like Sully and the rest of the monsters. This would be the first stage in systematic desensitization. Next he is in the same room as Boo. Boo stays at their place overnight. Eventually he is holding Boo and comes to learn there is nothing fearful of this child or any other child. This leads to extinction. Extinction is when pairing of the unconditioned stimulus and conditioned response is cut off. This happens gradually alongside of systematic desensitization. When the CDA stops harming monsters for having contact with the children all the other monsters stop being afraid of the children alongside Mike. By the end of the movie not only is Mike’s phobia of the children gone, but he is so comfortable with them that he is allowed to be very successful in his new job which is making the children laugh in instead of