Analyzing Walter Mitty's Character Through Psychological Theories

This case study examines the character of Walter Mitty from the movie "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty," focusing on his life transition and psychological development. It explores how Mitty's journey from a mundane life to one of adventure and self-discovery can be analyzed through the lenses of Albert Bandura's social learning theory and Lev Vygotsky's social development theory. The analysis delves into the key aspects of these theories, including attention, retention, reproduction, motivation, social interaction, the more knowledgeable other (MKO), and the zone of proximal development (ZPD). The study highlights how Mitty's interactions and experiences in various environments, as well as his observation of others' behaviors, contributed to his personal growth, increased confidence, and shift in perspective on happiness and life goals. The conclusion emphasizes the importance of embracing challenges and seeking experiences to achieve personal fulfillment and a deeper understanding of oneself.

ASSIGNMENT 2: CASE STUDY
Page 1 of 12

Table of Contents
1.0 Introduction:..............................................................................................................................3
2.0 Description of the character and life transition theme:..............................................................4
3.0 Key aspects of major development theory:...............................................................................6
3.1 Development theory of Albert Bandura:................................................................................6
3.2 Developmental theory of Lev Vygotsky:...............................................................................7
3.3 Interconnection between the development theories with respect to the chosen character:....8
4.0 Conclusion:..............................................................................................................................10
References......................................................................................................................................11
Page 2 of 12

1.0 Introduction:
Analysis of human character may be considered to be one of the most interesting and crucial
aspects of the study of psychology as the process of such analysis and evaluation take into
consideration lots of factors that are not only internal but also external to the human being. A
number of researchers and theorists has argued that the human psychology is a complex science
that aims to examine the behaviour of a human being with reference to individual personality
traits, thinking patterns, and value and belief system. The instant report delves into such an
analysis focusing on human psychology as portrayed in the film, a popular cultural media. The
researcher identifies a movie called “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” (2013) in which the
protagonist Walter Mitty, played by Ben Stiller, embarks on an adventurous journey that changes
his attitude towards life expectations and life philosophy.
The essence of the report revolves around the evaluation of the given fictional character in the
backdrop of established theoretical frameworks and establishment of a linkage between the
theories and the given character by way of examination of the storyline and assessment of the
character portrayal. Finally, the researcher wraps up the discussion through a concluding note.
Page 3 of 12

2.0 Description of the character and life transition theme:
The character of Walter Mitty has been shown, in the movie, in a major life transition phase.
Mitty worked at Life Magazine as a Negative Assets Manager and had an absolutely dull and
boring life. As a young lad, Mitty had dreams of travelling the world and thereby experience
various real adventures. But, after his father died, he had to compensate for his dreams by
daydreaming. He used to zone out and daydream about absolutely absurd situations. At one
point, Life Magazine starts to transfer online and as a result, the employees that will be no longer
required would be sacked. For the purpose, the company employed corporate shills to screen the
transition. In this process, Walter Mitty was assigned the job of developing the cover photo for
Life Magazine’s last ever magazine, named ‘quintessence’ by the freelancer photojournalist and
adventurer Sean O’Connell. As soon as he finds out the required photo is missing, he sets out on
his unexplored journey leaving behind his humdrum life and family with the purpose of tracking
down Sean and finding the missing photo in question ("The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013) -
IMDb", 2019).
Leaving home and setting out for the adventures towards the greater unknowns has actually
backed Walter Mitty to tick off things that people, in general, can only think of putting in their
bucket lists. His visits to Greenland, Iceland and also the Himalayas together with his adventures
like diving out of a helicopter into waters filled with sharks, fleeing from the erupting volcano
and also climbing the lofty Himalayas gained him a lot of attention in the dating website. In
addition to this, his leaving home and adventuring made him much more confident as a person
and he was able to discover a new Walter Mitty within himself. As he was enriching himself
with adventures unknowingly, his daydreams were fading as well. If he had not left his home in
Page 4 of 12

search of the missing photograph, he would have never been able to gain such experiences and as
a result, evolve. All these experiences have helped his personality to develop immensely and he
was able to evolve from an underachiever and discover the world. So, it can undoubtedly be said
that the character of Walter Mitty is an extremely inspirational one and it captures the real
essence of leaving home, travel and gain some once in a lifetime real experiences.
Page 5 of 12

3.0 Key aspects of major development theory:
3.1 Development theory of Albert Bandura:
As per the social learning theory of Albert Bandura, observing other peoples' behaviours,
attitudes as well as the result of those attitudes and behaviours, help people to learn (Bandura,
1989). Demonstration of the observations helps in the learning of most of the human behaviour.
It can be said that by observing others, a person can gain an idea in which various new
behaviours are executed. With time, such coded information helps to work as a guide and direct
the actions in various similar situations. This can be referred to as social learning. In the opinion
of Tri Harinie (2017), the theory of social learning explains human behaviour with respect to the
uninterrupted give-and-take interactions amongst cognitive, behavioural as well as
environmental encouragements. Bandura (1989) proposed four meditational processes in the
social learning theory and they are attention, retention, reproduction and motivation.
Attention is the extent to which one person notices a particular behaviour. If a behaviour does
not grab the attention of the observer, it cannot be imitated (Burford, 2012). So attention is very
important when it comes to a behaviour influencing an observer.
On the other hand, how well behaviour is remembered by the observer is retention. Imitation is
not possible if the behaviour is only noticed and not remembered. So memory formation of the
observation is necessary for retention (Hlyva & Schuh, 2003). In cases where social learning is
not instantaneous, retention is vital.
Reproduction refers to the ability to perform any previously demonstrated behaviour. It is not
possible to imitate every behaviour that is seen daily. Limitations of physical abilities come into
Page 6 of 12

play here. Whether the observer wants to try to imitate a particular behaviour or not influences
his or her decisions.
The spirit to execute the behaviour is called motivation. The observer considers the reward as
well as punishment for the following of the behaviour. In the opinion of Rifai (2010), the
observer is most likely to imitate the behaviour if the apparent rewards seem to be outweighing
the apparent costs. If the reward does not seem to be adequately significant for the observer, then
imitation of the behaviour will not take place.
3.2 Developmental theory of Lev Vygotsky:
According to Lev Vygotsky’s social development theory, development is a result of social
interaction. Similarly, the end results of socialization are awareness as well as cognition (Helou,
PhD & Newsome, Ed.D, 2018). Constructivism is founded on the basis of this theory. In relation
to social interaction, this theory proclaims three major themes and they are –
Social Interaction – Cognitive development is based on social interaction as it plays a very
important role in the process. In contradiction to similar other theories, Vygotsky felt
development is the result of social learning. According to Pitikoe (2017) in a child’s cultural
development, every function appears two times: firstly, on the social level, and secondly, on an
individual level (Wertsch, 1979). It can also be described as firstly, in between people who can
be called inter-psychological and secondly, inside the child which is called intra-psychological.
More Knowledgeable Other (MKO) – The more knowledgeable other is someone whose
understanding is comparatively better than the learner or someone who has a higher capability
level, in the context of any particular activity, method or even concept (Abtahi, Graven &
Page 7 of 12

Lerman, 2017). The MKO can generally be regarded as a teacher or a coach but peers or younger
people can also pose to be the MKO. Sometimes a computer can be he MKO too.
Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) – The ZPD can be referred to the distance in between a
person’s capability of executing any task under any adult or senior guidance. Here Poehner
(2012) says that the task can also be executed with peer collaboration. The person can also be
able to solve the issue self-reliant. In the opinion of Vygotsky, this zone helped in the learning
process.
In the theory of Vygotsky, the main focus is laid on the networks among the people and the
socio-cultural context. In such networks, people can have shared experiences and
understandings. As per the theory, the culture develops the tools that are used by humans and
these tools are speech and writing (Thompson & Wittek, 2016). The tools help the people to
arbitrate their social environments. Internalization of the above-mentioned tools had ultimately
led to much higher rational abilities.
3.3 Interconnection between the development theories with respect to the chosen character:
Hence, from the above developmental theories, it can be sated without any doubt that the
external environment, as well as the various interactions that Walter Mitty had in the various
places that he visited, had helped him grow as a person. His confidence has been boosted due to
all his social interactions. The various behaviours that various people executed were attentively
followed by him and some of them retained with him. A person like Walter Mitty, coming from
such an ordinary and boring home as well as lifestyle had been capable of jumping into waters
filled with sharks, escaping an erupting volcano and many more such activities. These show his
immense inner development as a person and hence it can be said that the theories of both
Page 8 of 12

Bandura and Vygotsky clearly shows Mitty’s development post leaving home and going on the
adventure to find the missing photograph.
In this context, it may be stated that happiness is a psychological state of mind and hence varies
man to man based on individual attitude towards the life (Thompson & Wittek, 2016). In the
given story, it had been observed that the protagonist used to enjoy his heroic daydreaming in the
first half of his life unless he confronted with the hard reality and embarked on a life-changing
adventurous journey to find out the real happiness. Researchers have often argued that happiness
is primarily a choice of attitude and not a choice of action (Abtahi, Graven & Lerman, 2017). As
a result, it may be observed that the “feel good” factor of the movie or the story acquires its
essence from the fact that the central character manipulates emotions of the people (to be more
specific, the audience) to emphasise on the truth that the living a fun-filled and satisfying life
may be simpler than the people generally perceive it to be.
Page 9 of 12

4.0 Conclusion:
Based on the discussion and analysis performed in the preceding sections of the paper, it may be
construed that the character of Walter Mitty provides a meaningful perspective of the life and
state of awareness of the people towards the reality. The movie and the protagonist, to be more
specific, focus on exploring the gateway of the wisdom by showing how not to escape from
reality and thereby happiness. Finally, it may be concluded that the eternal quest of life, may
optimally be performed through a journey of awakening which involves the number of
encounters with perilous as well as adventurous situations. It is needless to mention that those
encounters may teach the life goal and set the human philosophy to idealise life from a different
but probably the simplest viewpoint where the true happiness comes from within (Helou, PhD &
Newsome, Ed.D, 2018). As a result, Walter Mitty may be considered to be a true embodiment of
such quest and personification of every common man’s psychology towards life, people and
relationship.
Page 10 of 12

References
Abtahi, Y., Graven, M., & Lerman, S. (2017). Conceptualising the more knowledgeable other
within a multi-directional ZPD. Educational Studies In Mathematics, 96(3), 275-287. doi:
10.1007/s10649-017-9768-1
Bandura, A. (1989). Regulation of cognitive processes through perceived self-efficacy.
Developmental Psychology, 25(5), 729-735. doi: 10.1037/0012-1649.25.5.729
Burford, B. (2012). Group processes in medical education: learning from social identity theory.
Medical Education, 46(2), 143-152. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2923.2011.04099.x
Helou, PhD, M., & Newsome, Ed.D, L. (2018). Application of Lev Vygotsky’s Sociocultural
Approach to Foster Students’ Understanding and Learning Performance. Journal Of
Education And Culture Studies, 2(4), 347. doi: 10.22158/jecs.v2n4p347
Hlyva, O., & Schuh, J. (2003). How a Cross-Cultural Learning Community Facilitates Student
Retention and Contributes to Student Learning. Journal Of College Student Retention:
Research, Theory & Practice, 5(3), 325-343. doi: 10.2190/701v-6aw9-6kmu-pflb
Pitikoe, S. (2017). Basotho herders learn through culture and social interaction. Learning,
Culture And Social Interaction, 13, 104-112. doi: 10.1016/j.lcsi.2017.03.003
Poehner, M. (2012). The Zone of Proximal Development and the Genesis of Self-Assessment.
The Modern Language Journal, 96(4), 610-622. doi: 10.1111/j.1540-4781.2012.01393.x
Rifai, N. (2010). Attitude, motivation, and difficulties involved in learning the English language
and factors that affect motivation in learning it. Procedia - Social And Behavioral
Sciences, 2(2), 5216-5227. doi: 10.1016/j.sbspro.2010.03.849
Page 11 of 12

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013) - IMDb. (2019). Retrieved from
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0359950/
Thompson, I., & Wittek, A. (2016). Writing as a mediational tool for learning in the
collaborative composition of texts. Learning, Culture And Social Interaction, 11, 85-96.
doi: 10.1016/j.lcsi.2016.05.004
Tri Harinie, L. (2017). Study of the Bandura’s Social Cognitive Learning Theory for the
Entrepreneurship Learning Process. Social Sciences, 6(1), 1. doi:
10.11648/j.ss.20170601.11
Wertsch, J. (1979). From Social Interaction to Higher Psychological Processes A Clarification
and Application of Vygotsky’s Theory. Human Development, 22(1), 1-22. doi:
10.1159/000272425
Page 12 of 12