Stewie+Griffin

//Julie Bruhn//
 * __Stewie Griffin__**

**Biography**

Family Guy is a provocative animated sitcom that trivializes serious social issues through sarcastic and crude humor. While the show is based around a middle-class father named Peter Griffin, the stand-out character is his youngest son, Stewie. Stewie is a one-year-old with a multi-dimensional personality. He lives in Quahog, Rhode Island in a suburban neighborhood with his parents, brother and sister, and dog.

The infant speaks maturely with a British accent, and viewers debate on whether his family members can understand him. The only household member that recognizes Stewie's adult persona is the family dog, Brian. Although he often speaks intelligently and knows cultural references before his time, Stewie frequently contradicts this maturity by succumbing to his babyish needs. For example, he is breastfed, requires his diaper to be changed, and is very ignorant about sex.

The depth of Stewie's personality is evident through his evil habits, infantile needs, and conflicting sexual desires. He has an insatiable urge to kill his mother, Lois, and is seemingly wise beyond his years, even though his babyish tendencies bleed through on occasion (Crawford, A., 2009). Although some episodes portray Stewie as heterosexual, there are several instances that depict his homosexuality. Like such, Stewie is often caught in the middle of personality spectrums; good vs. evil, mature vs. childish, and intelligent vs. uninformed. These paradoxes are due to the young age of the character, and the fact that, as Stewie states, he is still trying to “find himself” (Episode: Stewie B. Goode).

**Psychoanalytic Theory**

Stewie Griffin would be an ideal subject for Sigmund Freud to analyze. Freud developed the psychoanalytic theory to personality, which incorporates an individual's unconscious desires and hidden motives (“Measuring the Unmeasurable,” 2004). He believed there are three aspects to personality: the id, based on natural drives and emotions, the superego, based on morality and societal norms, and the ego, which balances the id and superego (“Measuring the Unmeasurable,” 2004). While Stewie is aware of ethical principles, his ego is not yet fully developed and his emotional drives tend to take over. For instance, in the “Patriot Games” episode, Brian owes Stewie money but forgets to give it to him. Stewie then proceeds to beat Brian up, punching him multiple times and sticking his head in the toilet. This is an example of how Stewie's anger took control over his moral standards, and the ego failing to maintain balance between the id and superego.

Freud describes many young girls as having an Oedipus Complex, where they are sexually infatuated with their fathers and thus become jealous of and despise their mothers (Huntington, A., //Psychoanalytic//). Even though a boy, due to his homosexual tendencies, Stewie seems to experience the Oedipus phenomena (Guan, n.d.). He resents his mother and often attempts to kill her. In the 100th episode, “Stewie Kills Lois, Lois Kills Stewie,” the infant succeeds, and seemingly murders his mother on a cruise ship.

Defense mechanisms play a huge role in the psychoanalytic theory of personality. Individuals use these defense mechanisms in order to reduce anxiety and guard themselves against undesirable unconscious thoughts (Huntington, A., //Psychoanalytic//). Stewie likely uses the displacement mechanism, which is when an individual refuses to accept his/her major insecurities and instead focuses negative emotions on an easier target (Huntington, A., //Psychoanalytic//). This provides another possible explanation for why Stewie hates his mother. Stewie is often shameful of his infantile behavior, which may cause insecurity (Crawford, A., 2009). For example, in the episode “North by North Quahog” Stewie tries to not dirty his diaper, and then gets upset when he does. Lois symbolizes Stewie’s dependency, which most likely leads the character towards resentment. He may impose hatred toward his caregiving, loving mother as a way to evade his own self-doubts.

Another defense mechanism that is evidently used by Stewie is acting out. Acting out is a defense mechanism in which an individual exhibits radical behavior as a means of dealing with unattractive feelings or thoughts (Huntington, A., //Psychoanalytic//). For example, in the “Stewie B. Goode” episode, Stewie realizes he is not a good swimmer. Instead of coping with his low self-esteem in a productive way, Stewie becomes jealous of an athletic peer and attempts to kill him. This behavior is clearly irrational and undoubtedly reflects Stewie's defense techniques and personality traits.

**Trait/Skill Theory**

While Stewie Griffin's personality is fairly complex, the most profound aspects of his character can be easily identified. Most of the time, he is an angry, deceptive child, who is intelligent, yet still maintains some ignorance. His personality is perhaps best described by the Trait and Skill approach, which uses identifiers to define one's character. Hippocrates was one of the first to use this method, and proposed that the role of four bodily humors, blood, black bile, yellow bile, and phlegm is correlated with one's personality characteristics (Huntington, A., //Trait//). Stewie would undeniably be labeled as choleric, meaning he has angry and irascible tendencies (Huntington, A., //Trait//). This is evident through a few of the previously mentioned examples of beating up the family dog, killing his mother, and attempting to murder a peer.

Carl Jung expanded the trait approach by developing typologies, which are a combination of four functions – sensing, thinking, feeling and intuiting – and two attitudes – extraversion and introversion (Huntington, A., //Trait//). Stewie Griffin would be categorized as an INTJ, which stands for introverted, intuiting, thinking and judgment (“INTJ Personality,” 2007-2011). The strategic and natural leadership abilities that are characterized by INTJs accurately align with Stewie's character (“INTJ Personality,” 2007-2011). This is evident in the McStroke episode, where Stewie enters high school on a bet and immediately becomes one of the most popular kids in school. In this episode, he had a well-thought out plan to gain popularity and his natural leadership abilities shined through. The only characteristic of an INTJ that does not align with Stewie's personality is that INTJs are willing to relinquish the leadership role, as long as their replacement is competent (“INTJ Personality,” 2007-2011). This is not consistent with Stewie's perspective; he wants all the power because he believes that no one could be as competent as he.

A highly researched trait approach is known as the Big Five. This approach is utilized by countless psychological personality studies, and is widely accepted as a good reflection of an individual's character (Huntington, A., //Trait)//. According to the Big Five theory, there are five major dimensions to personality, all of which are on a spectrum (Huntington, A., //Trait;// Mulyanegara, R., Tsarenko, Y., & Anderson, A., 2009 ). The five dimensions are extraversion, neuroticism, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness (Huntington, A., //Trait//; Mulyanegara, R. et al., 2009). Where an individual lies on the spectrum of each of these dimensions is determinant of his/her behavior and revealing of the individual's personality.

Stewie Griffin would land in the middle of the extraversion scale. Extroverts are talkative, sociable, dominant and assertive (Huntington, A., //Trait;// Mulyanegara, R. et al., 2009 ). While Stewie is not very sociable and affectionate like complete extroverts, he is very assertive and controlling, which is shown through his bouts with his family and peers. As for conscientiousness, Stewie would be on the low side. Even though he seems intelligent, the character is not very perseverant or dependable (Huntington, A., //Trait//). He is, however, hard-working and ambitious, which he shows in several episodes like Stewie B. Goode, when he works very hard at becoming a better person (Huntington, A., //Trait//; Mulyanegara, R. et al., 2009). The dimension Stewie would score lowest on is agreeableness. The character is very stubborn, not altruistic, and rarely good natured (Huntington, A., //Trait//; Mulyanegara, R. et al., 2009). However, Stewie would land very high on the scales of openness and neuroticism. Due to his age, Stewie is very curious and has a vast imagination, which exemplifies his openness (Huntington, A., //Trait//; Mulyanegara, R. et al., 2009). For example, he has a wonderful friendship with his stuffed animal, Rupert. The infant believes his teddy bear is a tall, muscular man. The two have tea parties together, talk to each other, and go places in Stewie's imagination, like the carnival or the beach. Lastly, Stewie is an extremely neurotic character. He often lets his emotions take over and tends to be anxious and hostile, which are clear neurotic traits (Huntington, A., //Trait//; Mulyanegara, R. et al., 2009). The infant is also highly vulnerable and insecure (Huntington, A., //Trait//; Mulyanegara, R. et al., 2009). He feels offended when his mother leaves him to go on vacation, and is constantly searching for reassurance.

**Discussion**

Family Guy is by far one of the most popular sitcoms on television. The most iconic character, baby Stewie, has a multi-faceted personality that could be difficult to interpret. He has several standout features of his personality, most of which are contradictory. The infant is intelligent yet ignorant and needy, villainous, but can have a good heart, and seems heterosexual, yet has many gay tendencies. It is easier to comprehend Stewie Griffin’s personality if it is looked at through a scientific eye. By using the psychoanalytic and trait/skill approach, we are able to understand the character better and explore possible reasoning behind his actions. Freud’s psychoanalytic approach is a useful tool to explain the personality of Stewie Griffin. The character is not old enough to have a fully developed ego, which explains why his id often overcomes his sense of morality and adherence to social norms. Many viewers believe Stewie is gay, and if this is true, he definitely experiences Freud’s Oedipus complex. Stewie is unsure of why he holds hatred toward his mother, but the Oedipus complex provides a solid explanation for this unconscious desire. Stewie relies on a few different defense mechanisms, displacement and acting out, to help him deal with insecurities about his age and his helplessness. These damaging coping techniques account for the character’s malicious habits and mischievous ambitions.

Malicious and mischievous are only two elements of this intricately built character. The trait/skill approach allows us to examine Stewie’s personality in a variety of ways. Instead of labeling the character, we can analyze the his personality through a spectrum of five different attributes, according to the Big Five theory. This is helpful because Stewie lands on a separate position on the spectrum for each of the five traits. His leadership abilities and strategic senses are accurately described by one of Carl Jung’s typologies, INTJ. While the character does not completely align with this title, it is a good way to compare some of his traits and behaviors to others like him.

For such a young age, Stewie Griffin’s intentions and mindset are very difficult to understand. At first glance, it seems as though the creators of Family Guy threw a medley of traits into one character without knowledgeable intentions. However, once we delve deeper into the makeup of Stewie Griffin’s personality, the structure of his behaviors seem to make more sense. His paradoxical qualities can mostly be explained by the psychoanalytic approach, and can be thoroughly examined by using the trait/skill perspective. If Stewie ever does age, his identity may become more explicit, but Family Guy as a whole would not possess nearly as much comedic brilliance.


 * References **

Crawford, A. (2009). 'Oh Yeah!': Family Guy as Magical Realism?. Journal of Film and Video, 61(2), 52-69. doi:10.1353/jfv.0.0027

Huntington, A. //Psychoanalytic Aspects of Personality// [PDF document]. Retrieved from Lecture Notes Online Web site: [|http://lms.uconn.edu:80/webct/urw/ssinboundCAS.snWebCT.siURN:X-WEBCT-VISTA-V1:8dd26cf1-8963-1ae4-0185-6ec100232f70/cobaltMainFrame.dowebct?appforward=/webct/viewMyWebCT.dowebct&ticket=ST-10879-Rp3nL4NssBn3uQuthfchi9VByjQdvDRbA5c-20]

Huntington, A. //Trait and Skill Aspects of Personality// [PDF document]. Retrieved from Lecture Notes Online Web site: [|http://lms.uconn.edu:80/webct/urw/ssinboundCAS.snWebCT.siURN:X-WEBCT-VISTA-V1:8dd26cf1-8963-1ae4-0185-6ec100232f70/cobaltMainFrame.dowebct?appforward=/webct/viewMyWebCT.dowebct&ticket=ST-10879-Rp3nL4NssBn3uQuthfchi9VByjQdvDRbA5c-20]

"INTJ (Strategist) Personality Type - Jungian." //Personality Tests and Type Profiles//. Personality Max, 2007-2011. Web. 14 Apr. 2011. .

“McStroke.” //Family Guy: Season Six.// Writ. Seth MacFarlane and Wellesley Wild. Dir. Brian Iles. 20th Century Fox Television, 2008. DVD.

"Measuring the Unmeasurable: An Introduction to Psychology." //Making the Modern World//. The Science Museum, 2004. Web. 13 Apr. 2011. .

Mulyanegara, R., Tsarenko, Y., & Anderson, A. (2009). The Big Five and brand personality: Investigating the impact of consumer personality on preferences towards particular brand personality. Journal of Brand Management, 16(4), 234-247. doi:10.1057/palgrave.bm.2550093

“North by North Quahog.” //Family Guy: Season Four.// Writ. Seth MacFarlane. Dir. Peter Shin. 20th Century Fox Television, 2006. DVD.

“Patriot Games.” //Family Guy: Season Four.// Writ. Mike Henry. Dir. Cyndi Tang-Loveland. 20th Century Fox Television, 2006. DVD.

“Stewie B. Goode.” //Family Guy: Season Four.// Writ. Gary Janetti and Chris Sheridan. Dir. Seth MacFarlane. 20th Century Fox Television, 2006. DVD.