1

Running head: Will Smith: The Fresh Prince

Will Smith: The Fresh Prince

Christina Ferguson

26 July 2020

PSY 2220

Sinclair Community College

2
Will Smith: The Fresh Prince

Will Smith was born on September 25, 1968 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was the

second of four children born to Willard and Caroline Smith. The family lived comfortably in a

diverse middle-class area of Philadelphia called Wynnefield. Growing up Will loved to entertain

his family and friends. His parents offered immense support and offered balance as Will Sr. was

a drill sergeant in the United States Air Force while Caroline worked for a public school. Despite

working for public school Caroline wanted Will to receive the best education so she enrolled him

in Catholic school. Will’s fear in his father made him excel. He never did drugs, always got good

grades, above all he loved music as everyone in the house played an instrument. Will heard

“Rapper’s Delight” by Sugarhill Gang and started rapping. It began as a hobby until he decided

to take it more seriously after earning money as a rap disc jockey at parties in only the seventh

grade. Early on Will’s raps contained profanity. When Will’s grandma read this, she wrote

across the page, “Dear Willard, intelligent people do not use these words to express themselves.”

(Schuman, 2013, p31) Will vowed never to swear in his lyrics again because all he wanted was

his family’s approval. He formed a hip-hop duo with his best friend Jeff Townes and called the

group DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince. The group was very successful and brought in serious

cash. Will was having a difficult time in school; his grades were barely good enough to get into a

college. His parents told him school is a first priority, rap is a hobby for the weekends. They

wanted him well-rested, Will disregarded this. One night he arrived home just fifteen minutes

before he was supposed to go help his dad at work. Will was responsible for holding the

flashlight while his dad worked with electrical wires and Will fell asleep while holding the light.

His father screamed and was electrocuted. His father’s immediate reaction was to punch Will in

the chest. Will stopped staying out so late after this mishap. Will explained to his parents to give
3
Will Smith: The Fresh Prince

him a year before going immediately to college because his rap career was about to take off. Will

was right, DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince made three albums and was incredibly successful.

Will indulged in life’s finer things. It wasn’t until Will had already purchased a mansion, six

cars, and two motorcycles he came to the realization he put nothing aside for taxes. Will’s father

thought he was wasting his money and asked why he needed six cars if he only had one butt?

After this financial crisis Will questioned if his rap career would last and be enough to pay the

bills. This is when Will decided to start his acting career. His first role being a big one where he

stars as himself on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. The rest is history.

I chose Will Smith because he has been famous for as long as I have been alive. He

remained in the spotlight for almost thirty years even to this day. Smith continues to have a very

successful career as a actor and earlier career on a rapper. Alone he is iconic, but his family

matches his energy. Wife Jada is a talk show host. Their children Jaden and Willow are both

very successful music artists as well on the big screen. Will’s first son Trey has dabbled in

acting. Everyone knows Will Smith and his successful career but what got him there? We will

dive into personality theories to better understand just that.

From Adler’s perspective, Will displays the socially useful type. Will’s parents nurtured

him as his mother provided only the best education and encouraged the children to play

instruments. Will adapted to his environment and set out a goal to entertain. Will never endured

any traumatic event in his childhood to make him unhealthy, his father was a military man and

was stern, but Will respected this. After considering his career choice of whether to act or rap

Will developed his finalism thinking ahead and made his decision to act over rap. This allowed

Will to channel his creative self and set out new goals. Adler’s theory of birth order also comes
4
Will Smith: The Fresh Prince

into effect when you consider Will was the second oldest of his four siblings. Will being the

second oldest accounts for his ambition and competitiveness. Will is not power hungry because

the only person Will is competing with is himself. Will knows what he is capable of and

manifests his dreams. Will’s feelings of inferiority stemmed from wanting his family’s approval.

When his grandmother discovered his rap lyrics contained profanity she disapproved. He vowed

to never use profanity again. When his father got electrocuted because Will was sleep deprived,

he changed his behavior and shifted his focus more on schoolwork and a good night’s sleep.

When his father scolded him for wasting money on 6 vehicles, Will changed his career to make

more money. Will took these feeling of inferiority and strived for perfection. He overcame these

feelings of inferiority by continuing his rap career with these fictions until later on becoming an

actor still carrying the ideas presented from his family.

Allport’s perspective of trait disposition. Will devotes himself to his Hollywood career;

rapping and acting. This leads me to infer that Will’s cardinal trait is to entertain others. From

childhood Will loved to entertain his family and friends with shows. Now in the present Will

varies from comedic roles to more serious ones in television as well as being a successful

Grammy winning recording artist. Central dispositions for Will would be talented, hardworking,

and outgoing. Though fame came easy to Will he often worked on many projects at once in

efforts to gain popularity whether it be rapping and attending school or acting. Will displayed

propriate functioning, he knew what he was destined to do and always considered his future in

making decisions. He displays extroverted qualities by obviously acting in lead roles but more

realistically by marketing himself and making many connections in Hollywood. It’s hard to

pinpoint secondary disposition on a celebrity and the media controls their image so you never
5
Will Smith: The Fresh Prince

truly get the opportunity to know them on a personal enough level, but I imagine that Will acts

different around family and friends in private vs with his colleagues in public. One example I can

think of for secondary disposition would be Will acting reserved at home. Considering Will’s

militaristic upbringing I concur that Will was not as wild at home as he was at the parties.

Focusing on Will’s adult motives he displays functional autonomy as his motivations have

shifted. He continues to act but for different intentions. Initially Will wanted to rap and act for

the paycheck but Will now acts for the love of entertaining others. This discontinuity can account

for why Will went solo and shifted his focus more on acting rather than rapping.

In completing this assignment, I learned that it is a lot easier to evaluate an individual

when all the information is in front of you. This is not the case in the field of psychology

sometimes you have to go looking. Whether your patient is reserved and doesn’t like to open up

or has repressed memories they can’t begin to recall, or in my case your patient is a celebrity. In

the theories I chose, Alport’s was easier to apply to Will. I experienced difficulties when

thinking of Adler’s theory. I had a difficult time figuring out Will’s feelings of inferiority

because you would assume a successful celebrity doesn’t feel inferior. I realized I should’ve

been looking at Will’s childhood rather than his present life. This allowed me to present a better

analysis on Will.
6
Will Smith: The Fresh Prince

References

Schuman, M. A. (2013) Will Smith A Biography of a Rapper Turned Movie Star Berkeley

Heights, NJ Enslow Publishers, Inc.