Human Development Application Paper: The Breakfast Club Analysis

This paper provides a critical analysis of human development stages, focusing on the character of Judd Nelson from the movie 'The Breakfast Club.' It examines physical, cognitive, social, and identity development, exploring how the character's experiences in detention reflect these stages. The analysis includes discussions of resilience, implications for practice, and personal reflections on adolescence, supported by peer-reviewed research. The paper explores the character's behaviors and interactions, linking them to developmental milestones and challenges. Furthermore, the paper delves into the character's cognitive and social development, highlighting how his experiences shape his understanding of himself and his relationships with others. The paper also examines the application of counseling theories to address the character's problems, emphasizing the importance of understanding and empathy in the counseling process, and how to apply learning theory to resolve the character's social and physical development issues. The paper also explores the character's resilience in the face of adversity.

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Human Development Application Paper
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Human Development Application Paper
Changes are always bound to occur throughout a person’s life. In this light, changes tend
to happen from the point of conception and continue through to the moment of death. Life
development stages are the basic process that implies both the physical and cognitive changes
that occur through the entire life of a person. The movie Breakfast Club features various
characters that undergo development stages throughout their lives. One such character who is not
short of both physical and cognitive development is Judd Nelson. This paper proposes to
critically analyze the development stages of life by using the character of Judd Nelson. The paper
will achieve this by looking closely at various development stages such as physical development;
cognitive development; social development; identity development; and implication for practice;
the aspect of resilience; resilience for the minority; and personal reflection on adolescence.
In the movie, all the characters involved had been sent to detention for different reasons.
However, Judd Nelson was detained for pulling a false. This was measured by the fact that he
had pulled a fire alarm. The paper will look at Judd Nelson’s development by looking at the
mentioned developments. In this light, physical development of a character is the overall process
that often starts in the infancy of a human and continues further to the adolescent. Consequently,
the process continues on a concentrating on a rather the fine and gross motor skill in an
individual (Belton, O’Brien, Meegan, Woods, & Issartel, 2014). On the other hand, cognitive
development is an entire process in the construction of thoughts that includes remembering,
problem-solving a well as making decisions from the childhood stage, through an individual’s
adolescence to adulthood. Socio-emotional development considered to be the overall
physiological theory that the personality of a human developed through repeating series through

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crisis and resolution. Multicultural information is that information that is that is incorporated
through ideas and cultural background.
Physical Development
Both boys and girls can start their puberty life at exactly the same time yet they end their
puberty apart, yet still they can be considered to fall within what is mostly referred to as normal
physical growth. However, the timing as well as the sped can vary due to the fact that they are
well determined by the genes inherited from parents. Through Judd Nelson’s obnoxious
pestering behavior, one is in a position of understanding that he is actually in an adolescent stage
of his life (Colten, 2017). Although he is in the same age group as the others, he is tall and has
broader appearance than his teens. Additionally, the movie defines Judd’s personality by a rather
total compulsiveness, where he often alternate between being wisecracking and therefore ending
up indulging his entire genuine anger where he delves into his overall messed up family life
(Berk, 2017). By continually harassing a supervising teacher is a clear way in which Judd’s
development stage is showcased. In fact, he shouted at Vernon and ended up being detained for
the second time. His behavior showcased that of a teenager who was undergoing a total
adolescence age. In the movie, there is a point where he jokes that he was going to urinate in the
library summing up his development stage in being an adolescent person. On the other hand, he
looks older than the other kids, with a rather long hair, grey coat, Denham jacket, and a hearing.
Cognitive Development
A person’s cognitive development is the ability or rather the overall construction of
thoughts, process such as remembering, problem solving as well as decision making in a person
all the way from adolescence to adulthood. Cognitive development is most build on how a
person perceives, think, and gain understanding of one’s world through interaction especially of

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genetic learned factors. Despite the fact that Judd Nelson was the antagonist character, he is the
main reason why everyone ended up being friends. His character clashed with everyone at one
point and therefore brings out the truth about his friends’ lives which made them to understand
and better relate to each other (Turnnidge, Côté, & Hancock, 2014). Although he is unreachable,
he learns that there are more people than he thought and empathize with them.
Social Development
One of the most developments of the social attribute is the aspect of education. A
person’s social development is well defined by the fact that a certain individual attends school or
not. Additionally, social development can as well be determined by the way a person tends to
interact with his or her family throughout a particular film. The writer of this film does not fall
short in describing how Bender manages his social development or rather social interactions with
others. One of the ways a normal social development of Bender is revealed is through his lack of
seriousness in educational matters (Csikszentmihalyi & Schneider, 2017). In the movie, he is
described as not caring much about his school life as well as his grades and thus he appears to on
the first track of being a dropout. Nonetheless, he appears to be happy about his status in the
society compared to his peers. In fact, he is seen as the main link between all the other kids in the
detention and Richard Vernon. Bender’s relationship with his parents can as well be considered
as a normal social development. When describing his relationship with his parents, one can no
doubt feel sorry for him. He describes the abuse that he underwent from his mother and father
(Verburgh, Königs, Scherder, & Oosterlaan, 2014). In the movie, Bender shows the scars to his
friends illustrating where his father had burnt him with a cigar. In fact, Bender is rejected by both
his father and his mother resulting in a heated argument that ended up creating a hostile
environment. The development of Bender relationship changes when he falls in love with Claire.

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Despite the fact that Bender was known to be an abused person all day long, he turns out to be
different in front of Claire. However, their relationship keeps on changing because at one point
they are madly in love and at the other time they hate each other.
Identity Development
The question on whether development changes occur in youth has become a
contemporary issue in recent times. Other people believe that this process is continuous and their
effect on a person maturity is gradual. There are arrays of theories that have been used to provide
important knowledge regarding identity as well as its development (Blum, Astone, Decker, &
Mouli, 2014). While the forces of these theories are different, they all give something critical
concerning human being development. In this light, social learning theory becomes relevant
especially in defining the identity of Bender in the movie and how he finally collects himself in
the social context (Sterdt, Liersch, & Walter, 2014). According to social learning theorists, self-
concept is in most cases build with identification with a particular role model. Although Bender
had a bad reputation, he started acknowledging himself (Holt, 2016). While the movie goes on,
Bender seemed to keep on realizing himself even more. In this light, he gets to understand that in
various ways that Andrew’s dada kept on abusing Andrew as well by forcing him to intensely
compete against his personal will, something that they all bound over hating their parents.
Furthermore, at the beginning of the story particularly in detention, they both thought
their world were apart from each other only to realize later that they both had issues with their
fathers (Khanlou & Wray, 2014). On the other hand, Bender does not harass Claire but instead
understands her better while she understands him as well. At the end of the story, Bender
appears triumphant given the fact that he was able to win the heart of a girl who he had harassed
most part of the movie. In this light, Bender is in a position of not only realizing himself but as

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well learning others identity and understanding them much better. The character seems not to be
fitting in this identity adolescent stage dues to the fact that no one expects him to have a full
understanding of what love means and falling in love so seriously. This is because, at such an
adolescent age, most of the people of Bender’s age would lack understanding and patience in
loving someone.
Implications for Practice
Counselors have often relied on theories of counseling especially those that have been
largely unsupported by research and in most cases are composed as a result of a hypothesis that
is considered untestable (Moffitt, 2017). In this light, there has been the use of various
counseling methods as well as procedures that are not in any way capable of being evaluated in
determining their effectiveness. The proposal that is contained in this paper argues that the
overall effectiveness of the counseling process particularly for Bender could be increased
through the application of different counseling procedures that are based on the learning theory
(Babic et al., 2014). There are various clients’ problems that confront counselors every day and
ranges from a simple day to day decision making to rather complex problems that are involved in
neurotic conflicts. In this light, all the presented inorganic problems are similar in such a way
that they are all problems involving or resulting from learning. There are various categories of
problems that faced bender which in some way could be addressed in the counseling session.
The counselor can incorporate all the development theories by rejecting the importance of
understanding, empathy as well as other counseling concepts, and instead point out that once
Bender’s problems have been identified and well clarified, it must be resolved and come up with
a solution for the identified problem. The work of the counselor is as well to make sure that
Bender gets to understand how his problems are solved so that he can be a position of applying

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the solution to their problems (Simmons, 2017). In case there are those problems that have
unique solutions, then the client, in this case, would have to depend more on the counselor. To
apply the learning theory to solve Benders problems that range from social to physical
development, the counselor has to come up with a set of goals particularly for the resolution of
the available problems. In essence, there has been a long-lasting controversy among the
counselors regarding the overall constitution of appropriate goals for a specific client. Despite
the fact that there is no such a simple solution to the problems related to counseling, by learning
theories has proved to be an essential consideration for the overall use in coming up with set
goals for solving problems as presented in the character of Bender. Apart from the selected
technique, the counselor should allow Bender to accomplish his goals in a rather effective as well
as suitable way possible.
Resilience
Resilience especially psychologically is the overall ability of an individual to cop up with
a difficult situation and therefore return to a pre-crisis status as soon as possible. The aspect of
resilience is clearly shown in the movie by various characters. In Bender, there were some
elements of resilience given the fact that he had been undergoing a lot of troubles at home where
his father had occasionally beaten him up. In this light, Bender showcases resilience to fight
through the pain that he was going through at home and therefore decides to tell his friends
regarding the matter (Wang & Fredricks, 2014). Notably, this was an act of resilience because
Bender had the courage of seeking advice from his friends and realized that he was not the only
one undergoing the same problems as Andrew had initially suffered out of the hand of his father.
However, there are some instances where Bender failed to be resilience and could have
improved. Notably, this shows that Bender had a medium resilience factor. There are however

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some behavioral as well as social changes that could have improved Bender’s resilience factors.
For instance, he had poor relationships with his peers and other people as evident when he was
harassing Claire as well as irritating Andrew and he newly proved a fight. Additionally, he
continued to mock Vernon’s clothes who in turn assigned him another weekend in detention
(Esteban-Cornejo, Tejero-Gonzalez, Sallis, & Veiga, 2015). To be more resilient, a person is
required to have a good relationship with others and therefore avoid some minor mistakes that
could cause more crises. To be more resilient, Bender should have chosen to be part of the
community by establishing a good relationship with others and avoid some sort of behaviors that
lead to more harm (PYD, 2015). Moreover, it would have been important for Bender to
understand that making mistakes is part of a learning process, and being a teenager, he was
learning thus it was important if he reflects on his action to have a more resilience factor within
himself.
Resilience for Minorities
Among the various methods as well as theoretical models of studying ethnic youth, the
variant of youth Ecological system theory is considered to best serve the overall basis of the
understanding and thinking regarding resilience and strength in relation to the African American
youth (Lee et al., 2014). In this light, positive, racial identity, as well as gendered is an important
factor in the personal as well as the collective well-being of an African American youth
(Zoogman, Goldberg, Hoyt, & Miller, 2015). For instance, in a communal or rather an extended
as well as spiritual anchored social relationship across the diverse groups is an essential element
in developing the resilience of the minority youth. An African American for that matter
particularly the male adolescent who has a positive sense of himself often engages in a peer
group. In most cases, these peer groups are self-affirming while at the same time viewing the

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female gender in a respectful manner (World Health Organization, 2014). Other resilience
factors that are common in the youth considered to be white and are practiced by the African
American youth include the aspect of being actively engaged especially the agentic behaviors in
their schools, with peers as well as at home.
Personal Reflection on Adolescence
In most cases, I enjoy learning about various characteristics of adolescence including
cognition due to the fact that it tends to reaffirm certain behaviors that I have in teens particularly
at my library. In essence, my physical development was not difficult for me. In this light, I went
through the growth spurt at the time when I was only 10 to about 15 years of age. At that time, I
did not think that it was going to be difficult for me due to my wide range of development spurts.
Moreover, I was not belonging to the sports club and for that reason, I never felt uncomfortable
especially when moving my body. Besides being with boys, I had my own interests. My physical
developments have had some impact on my current character. This was mainly because I was
considered to be taller than any other teen since I was very young and most of my friends kept on
saying that I was like their elder sisters. At that moment, I had no idea that the changes that were
happening to me were influenced by genetic or rather environmental factors. Some major
theories that are related to my development stages include Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive
development which proposed that often proposes that children are meant to learn through play
with four main stages involved. In this light, this theory did well in describing when I was
advancing in cognitive or rather the motor ability. Another theory that had an impact on my life
during the development stages in adolescent was the social learning theory which allowed me to
fully interact with my peers and being able to understand various individuals that I got to interact
with.

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Conclusion
In essence, it is evident that there are various development stages that teenagers and in
particular adolescent can undergo. Through the comedy-play Breakfast Club, the paper has
successfully analyzed various development stages in the character or Bender. Additionally, the
paper looked closely at the various factors that influenced the resilience of an individual as well
as particularly that of the minority youth. Through the assignment, I have been in a position of
learning arrays of elements regarding my development. For instance, I have learned that physical
development played a role in shaping who I am today while my cognitive development required
me to fully understand myself and those that were around me during my teenage.
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