Section 1: Introducing the Character and the Plot
The essay is based on ‘Walter O’Brien’, a fictional character in the American TV series, Scorpion. O’Brien is the leader of a team of geniuses who help to tackle world-class threats in America. Walter himself has an Intelligence Quotient of 197 which is higher than Albert Einstein’s, 166 (O’Brien, 2016). Walter works along with Sylvester Dodd, a human calculator and a mathematical genius who can make calculations and predict disasters by working out of potential variables in seconds. He also works with Tobias Curtis, Toby, a Harvard trained psychiatrist and behaviorist with an IQ of 170. He helps to narrow down crime victims by assessing their behavior. Then there is Happy Quin, a mechanical prodigy with an IQ of 184. Amongst the team is also Paige Dineen, a normal person, and former waitress who joins the group to keep the geniuses’ emotional incapacity in check. In return, they help her understand her genius son Ralph.
Walter was born and bred in Callan, Ireland before he relocated to the United States. Walter is born different from an advanced mental capability unlike any of the adults, let alone the kids of his time. His overly genius nature makes him distant from his parents because they have a difficult time understanding who he was. He also has a difficult time making friends because he tended to maneuver through mundane activities logically. He consequently develops a very low EQ. Moreover, he communicates bluntly to people because to him there are no emotions, but science. As a result of this, he finds it hard to maintain a relationship even with his fellow geniuses.
The only friend that Walter has is his sister, Megan O’Brien, because of her caring nature towards her. She is the only person who listens to her. She constantly saves his brother from being punished for being a know-it-all nerd in school. Megan is the only person in the family that knows how to relate and treat him. Walter, therefore, grows up with no intimate relationships with anyone except his sister. He meets Cabe Galo, a former marine and an agent of the FBI before becoming a part of the Homeland Security, the highest security team in the United States. Cabe becomes the only father figure he has ever known, but he also finds it hard relating to him as a son because he has never developed an intimacy with someone to lay out the foundation for his other relationships.
Section 2: Describing the Theory
Erik Erikson suggested that an individual’s personality grows in a predetermined system which consists of eight stages of psychosocial development (McLeod, 2018). In every stage, the individual encounters a psychosocial crisis that brings either a positive or a negative impact on his overall life. The central point to Erikson’s theory is the conflict which serves as the turning point to the individual’s growth, that is, it is the bridge and the determinant to whether a person develops a psychosocial virtue or fails to do so. Additionally, Erikson describes these conflicts as psychosocial because they are made up of disputing the psychological needs of the person with the social demands of the community. Finally, the success of one stage instills the person with virtues that better enable him to succeed in the subsequent stages.
The first stage in Erik Erikson’s psychosocial theory is Trust versus Mistrust. This stage takes place during infancy, that is, from birth to nearly eighteen months of age (Batra, 2013). During these stages, the child is unaware of anything about the world and therefore depends on the mother or the primary caretaker for stability. If the care given by the infant is in tune, that is, reliable, then they trust which is important in the child’s subsequent relationships. Because of the relationship they have already built with their primary caregiver, they always feel secure even when they are threatened. However, if the care they receive from their caretaker is inconsistent and unreliable then they become mistrusting and insecure. They become unconfident about the world. If their caretakers are unreliable then they also conclude that the world wouldn’t either. The virtue gained from this stage is hope, where the child is hopeful that there will be people who will support him in the preceding tasks. The downside of it is feelings of mistrust. Erikson’s findings also coincide with Bowlby’s Attachment Theory which suggests that a person’s mental health and personalities are a result of their experiences during childhood. According to him, children come into the world preprogrammed and after developing one primary attachment, the look to this attachment to form other relationships.
The second stage of Erikson’s theory is autonomy versus shame and doubt. At the age of 18 months to 3 years, the child is learning to take control of their lives and opts for independence. The child for example wants to put on their shoes, or clothes for example. If they are encouraged to develop this independence, then the child becomes more confident in their capabilities to thrive in the world (Knight, 2017). On the flip side, if they are denied this opportunity to prove to themselves that they can do their things successfully, then they become too dependent on others in the later years or they acquire low self-esteem and doubt their capabilities.
The third stage is initiative versus guilt. In this stage, the child looks to postulate their abilities. Through relations with other children in school, they find their interpersonal skills. The child also develops the need to initiative activities among their friends, lead the rest, and make decisions that impact the group. If they are supported in the decisions they make then they become purposeful. If they are criticized, however, then they become guilty of their existence (McLeod, 2018). During this time they also become more curious about the world that leads them to ask many questions. If they are ignored and turned down then they feel like a nuisance.
The fourth stage of Erikson’s theory is industry versus inferiority. The child’s peer group at this age is a major determinant of their self-esteem. They, therefore, feel the need to demonstrate their competencies through their specific competencies. Encouraging them to embrace their skills more makes them feel more competent but if they are held back they feel inadequate to the skills demanded by the society and consequently perceive themselves as inferior.
The fifth stage of the psychosocial theory is identity versus role confusion. Through the ages of 12 to 18 years, the child tries to figure out their identity. They explore their abilities more, develop a sense of dependence, and the need to belong in society. This is the stage where they develop what they want to do and how they can be useful to wherever they are centered. If they go throw this stage successfully, then thy develop the virtue of fidelity, which means that they become more confident in committing to others and accepting others for who they are (McLeod, 2018). If they fail to discover themselves, however, then there is the confusion of roles. The identity crisis during this time may lead to rebellion as the world tries to impose an identity that the child is not.
The sixth stage is intimacy versus isolation which happens between the ages of 18 and 40 years. Most of the crises during this stage are mainly emotional, that is, romantic relationships with other people. If the person is successful in sharing themselves intimately with others then they can form long term commitments that lead to happiness and feelings of care. Contrarily, if the person is unable to become more intimate with other people then they become more reluctant to commit which may lead to loneliness and isolation.
The second last stage of Erikson’s theory is generativity versus isolation which happens between the ages of 40 and 65 years. In this stage, there is the full sense of adulthood and the person develops the need to be a part of something that will outlast them. They want to give back to society and make a name for themselves. If they go through this stage successfully them they feel useful and satisfied with their achievements. If not then they plug off from the issues of the society because they feel useless.
Finally, the last stage is ego integrity versus despair which is from 65 years to death. The person looks back on what he has achieved throughout their lives. If they feel satisfied with what they have done then they feel ego integral and develop the virtue of wisdom. Ego integrity according to Erikson refers to one accepting their life cycle as something that had to be (Erikson, 1950, pg.268). If not then they regret their lives and spend the rest of their lives in despair and bitterness.
Section 3: Analysis
Concerning Walter O’Brien’s case, there was very minimal attachment in his early stages of life. For the first stage, for example, Walter does not develop that type of bond that a mother usually creates with her mother which makes him develop mistrust. He is unconfident in the world because he has not been raised to rely on the care of anybody. This failure to develop trust is evident in his other relationships where he feels that he can only trust math and science and that emotions are not meaningful. The fear he develops during this stage makes him turn to the world of physics which to him is reliable and never fails. As a result of an increase in intelligence quotient, Walter develops a very low emotional quotient that makes it hard for him to relate empathically to the world.
Being a child prodigy, Walter has more self-independence than any child his age. He is more confident about his calculations and is more confident about his ability to tackle worldly issues. At the age of nine, Walter hacks into NASA and steal their blueprints for his bedroom wall (Ainurrohman, 2018). According to Erikson, he develops a sense of autonomy. Walter’s ability to over assert himself, however, instills guilt rather than purpose in him. He is more knowledgeable than any of his teachers, who see him as rude, and his classmates see him as a nerd and a brag. His parents also do not in a position to relate with him because the questions he asks are not your ordinary child questions.
In the fourth stage of development, Walter feels inferior to the rest, despite his extreme level of competencies. He sees himself as different. Because of his inability to develop the skills that society requires of him, he becomes withdrawn. At the adolescent stage, where peer influence plays a crucial aspect in determining the competency of a person, he becomes unable to fit in. He is made fun of in school and hardly anyone wants to become friends with a nerd. During this time is when he meets Cabe Galo who acts as a father to him and teaches him a lot of things his father did not. He however does not know how to respond to this affection because it was something very new to him.
Walter is now in the sixth stage according to Erikson’s theory. He dates a few girls but they all end tragically because he is not emotionally present. He however falls in love with Paige Dineen who guides him through the whole process. Walter is therefore more likely to resolve his emotional issues in the past and attain generativity and ego integrity in his later life.
Erik Erikson’s theory consequently maps out O’Brien’s life and see what to expect in his later years. Through his theory, it is also able for use to figure out the stages that we might have skipped in our lives and how to amend for the virtues we failed to pick up.
References
O’Brien, W. (2016). An interview with the Scorpion: Walter O’Brien. The STEAM Journal, 2(2), 27.
McLeod, S. A. (2018, May 03). Erik erikson’s stages of psychosocial development. Simply Psychology. https://www.simplypsychology.org/Erik-Erikson.html
Batra, S. (2013). The psychosocial development of children: Implications for education and society—Erik Erikson in context. Contemporary Education Dialogue, 10(2), 249-278.
Knight, Z. G. (2017). A proposed model of psychodynamic psychotherapy linked to Erik Erikson’s eight stages of psychosocial development. Clinical psychology & psychotherapy, 24(5), 1047-1058.
Erikson E. H . (1982). The life cycle completed. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.
Ainurrohman, R. (2018). Grammatical cohesion used by 4 geniuses in” Scorpion” tv series (Doctoral dissertation, UIN Sunan Ampel Surabaya).