blog




  • Essay / A psychological theoretical analysis of the character of Squidward from SpongeBob SquarePants

    Table of Contents The character of Squidward through the lens of Maslow's theorySquidward's traits in the Big Five modelSummary and thoughtsI chose Squidward from Bob the sponge to do an analysis of psychological theory. Squidward is one of the main characters of the Nickelodeon series. Squidward is portrayed as a moody, hot-headed, cunning, selfish, lazy, vain, cynical, and incredibly unwelcoming octopus in the series. He hates his neighbors for their noisy and annoying behavior and likes to stay alone in his house without noise. Squidward works at the Krusty Krab as a cashier which he despises. Squidward lives his entire life in a constant state of grief and agony because he desperately wants to be a celebrity or an artist with hair and wealth. He has a passion for the clarinet, but he is not good at it. Squidward doesn't talk much about his family and considers himself misinterpreted by the bikini bottom people and blames society for his failures. He also has a nemesis from high school who took away his life purpose and always had disgust towards him because it should have been Squidward. This plays a big part of his personality because he always has to show her that he is much better, which is why he is always trying to improve his ability to succeed. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay The Character of Squidward Through the Lens of Maslow's Theory The theory that I believe best describes Squidward in the humanistic approach is Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. Squidward has met the physiological needs to be able to live alone and be independent and this has allowed him to move up the ladder where he gains security. It has the security of the defense of the body, employment, morality, family, health and property. This allowed him to move to where he remained for most of his life. He has no relationship with his family now and because of that he longs for that love which is why he is so distant when SpongeBob and Patrick give him attention because it's not the attention he wants but from his family. He was very spoiled and loved as a child, but now, as an adult, he barely speaks to anyone in his family. He is therefore stuck in this place in the hierarchy. According to the Hierarchy, he is incapable of achieving self-esteem and self-realization, just as he has failed to achieve love and belonging therein. This causes him to fail to satisfy lower needs in the hierarchy, which produces a more serious problem called needs deficiencies. This is shown by Squidward because he doesn't have the confidence to know that he can really be a famous clarinetist, but he doesn't train properly. He thinks everything he does is perfect, but it's not. This is where his growth stops because he is stuck at the love/belonging level. Since he no longer achieves levels, he uses this as a reason to act and pretend that he is achieving self-realization. According to the author, "If you can perceive the world accurately and without neurotic distortion, and if you take responsibility for your choices, then you become what Rogers calls a fully functioning person, living what existentialists would call a authentic - except that "that the fully functioning person is happy." This concerns Squidward because he is trying to reach that point where he is normal and is able to achieve his goals, but fails due to the fact that he is stuck at a level that lowers his motivation, resisting him from moving forward, which causes him to lose hisconcentration on what he wanted to do. This is where he started to lose his motivation at work and only started to think about what he wanted to do, which led to him constantly thinking about playing the clarinet or practicing it at work so that he should work as a cashier. According to the author: “It is therefore crucial that employees go the extra mile and apply their initiative and imagination to the goals of the organization.” This is what Squidward doesn't do because he seeks to be an independent person who doesn't need any love or support, that's why he always tries to play the clarinet to make himself known in public in order to become famous. For him, he doesn't need anyone to help him get to where he needs to be, but since he hasn't gotten to where he needs to be, he starts to become very irritated and shows signs of neuroticism. This explains why he doesn't have many friends or people who support him while he wants to move forward to get where he wants but can't. It's because he tries to act like he doesn't need friends when, he feels very lonely and acts crazy when he's with SpongeBob, but he still loves too his company but tries to keep it hidden. Squidward Traits in the Big Five Model Another theory, I think the Big Five model best describes Squidward in the traits approach. He would score low on extroversion because he doesn't like being around people. He does not have a warm, excitement-seeking, dominant, optimistic ambitious demeanor. He simply claims that he has potential to achieve his goals, but has not been able to achieve them like he is famous. He also reacts much more than a normal person to sensory stimuli. For example, when his nemesis came to him, Squidward had to show that he was just as successful by lying that he owned a restaurant. According to the text, “But introverts react more quickly and strongly to loud, bright, or exciting stimuli – or even sour tastes. These reactions cause them to withdraw – the crowds, noise and excitement are just too much – and adopt the same pattern of behavior. This shows that this represents Squidward the most as he always tries to stay away from people as he doesn't like interacting with people and likes to be left alone in a quiet place without anyone. Squidward would also score very high on the neuroticism scale, as Squidward is very self-conscious and hostile. Squidward struggles to use his effective problem-solving skills with SpongeBob, as he doesn't know how to deal with people since he never really had many friends. According to the text, “people who score high on this trait tend to deal ineffectively with problems in their lives and react more negatively to stressful events.” This fits very well with Squidward as he is unable to deal with problems as he goes crazy when SpongeBob or Patrick bother him or if he sees his nemesis, Squilliam Fancyson, as they stress him out, causing him to react negatively and very aggressive. causes him a lot of stress. This is because he sees him as the embodiment of the success he is trying to achieve. He also doesn't react well to SpongeBob and Patrick when they stress him out because he starts going crazy and reacting abnormally towards them because they are too loud for Squidward to handle. Squidward would probably score low on conscientiousness because he comes to work at the Krusty Krab all the time, he doesn't like working there and doesn't have the qualities to be a cashier because he's not a very welcoming person. . According to the author, "this character trait has other disadvantages: people who are very.