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Good Will Hunting And Sean Mcguire Essay

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Self-Disclosure:
Finding the Good in Will Hunting’s Self-Concept

The focus of this study will revolve around the relationship between Will Hunting and Sean McGuire, characters in the critically acclaimed film Good Will Hunting (See Appendix for a summary). In researching the film and different perspectives of interpersonal communication there could be many arguments made to social classification, how one associates and assumes roles within their particular group such as language, perception, stereotyping, etc. Except, upon further examination, the risky strategy taken by a therapist exposing themselves personally to a client in hopes of reciprocal outcome made the relationship between McGuire and Hunting appealing for study. However, its use clinically has many detractors as “[t]herapist disclosure has been viewed as the first step to violating boundaries in therapy that could lead to harming the client” (Audet 2). Conversely, the reasoning for this report is to look at the effects of the method of communication itself rather than the professional dynamic of the relationship. The analysis researches the communication approach Maguire took to building an intimate confidence with the defensive and defiant 20-year-old genius. Sean uses a series of self-disclosure stories to help build credibility, trust and ultimately a dyadic effect to promote a positive breakthrough of Will’s self-concept away from his troubled past.
Before delving into the argument, it is

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