preview

Analysis Of Bobby Stoinson

Good Essays

Barney Stinson Character Analysis The psychological analysis of a show can be tricky; with the terms and the different ways to analyze behavior it can be confusing. The character that I chose to analyze is Barnabus “Barney” Stinson, one of the main characters in of the show “How I Met Your Mother,” portrayed by Neil Patrick Harris. “How I Met Your Mother,” HIMYM, is a comedy sitcom on CBS that rotates around the life of five friends in New York. The show centers around Ted Mosby and his never-ending quest of finding true love. The series is narrated by future Ted, in which he tells his children in an extremely detailed and elaborate story the story in how he finally met their mother. Usually involving his stories is Barney, one of Ted’s best …show more content…

Defense mechanisms are thought to safeguard the mind against feelings and thoughts that are too difficult for the conscious mind to cope with. In some instances, defense mechanisms are thought to keep inappropriate or unwanted thoughts and impulses from entering the conscious mind. The six main defenses that the ego uses to help protect the mind with the most primitive being denial. Repression, projection, displacement, regression, and redirection are the other remaining of the main defenses. Barney uses denial in many situations within the show. He accepts the lies that his mother tells him because the truth is too hard for him to believe. Barney’s mother once told him that Bob Barker from “The Price is Right” was his father and Barney accepted it as truth even though it was far-fetched and unbelievable. Barney’s mother told him several unbelievable lies similar to that and he accepted them as truth all the way into his adulthood. Displacement is another defense Barney uses for his real desire to get married and have a family with the girl he loves, Robin, but because of his fears of commitment he sleeps around with several different women. A Freudian psychologist would most definitely say that Barney is going through the phallic stage. The phallic stage occurs from the age’s three to six, Barney is going through this stage because he finds pleasure using his …show more content…

By looking at the Five-Factor Model of personality we can look closer at Barney’s personality. The Big Five dimensions are openness to experiences, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. Barney is definitely an extravert person, as he is very outgoing and is always looking to meet new people especially women. He loves the bar life, drinking, and having new experiences. The next dimension would be openness to experiences, which include adventure, imagination, and unusual ideas. Barney fits this dimension well as he usually creates ridiculous customs and characters to trick women into sleeping with him. He likes to have adventure and new experiences as he takes comments such as “No one can do this” as a challenge, while announcing loudly “Challenge Accepted.” He will even go as far as to take a year to fulfill a challenge even if the person who “challenged” him doesn’t even remember, as seen when Barney took a year to get Ted to grow a mustache in the episode called Ten Sessions. The next dimension would be agreeableness, which includes compassion, friendliness, and altruism. Although, Barney would not agree with this trait because he would like people to think of he is not softhearted or compassionate especially with the way he treats women. He cares deeply for his friends, mother and brother.

Get Access