The film “When Harry Met Sally” is rife with examples of interpersonal communication victories and utter failures. The main characters- Harry Burns played by Billy Crystal and Sally Albright played by Meg Ryan- are captive to each other’s company during a car ride from Chicago to New York and quickly find they maintain very opposite viewpoints on much of life, especially relationships between men and women. The premise for the argument and the remainder of the film is the disagreement as to whether or not women and men can be friends without sex getting in the way. Harry maintains it is not possible, and Sally takes the opposite position. Throughout the film Harry and Sally display a number of different communication traits. Their …show more content…

Self-concept can actually affect future outcomes through expectations of an event which influences behavior based on those expectations and ultimately make that outcome more likely. This phenomenon is referred to as self-fulfilling prophecy (Adler, Rosenfeld, Proctor 64). Each morning I train a friend in Crossfit, a fast-paced, grueling modality that is a cross between Olympic style lifting and circuit training. The self-fulfilling prophecy is readily apparent in the quality and outcome of these daily workout sessions. Each night when I text the next day’s WOD (workout of the day) to this friend I receive back a response that ranges from “Bring it!” to “That is going to suck!” from him. Over the course of the last year I have noticed that the response he provides has great bearing on his performance the following day. As a result I have made the conscious effort to provide an note of encouragement and support on those instances when he expresses a negative attitude to help negate a self-fulfilling prophecy of poor performance.

The great culmination of the effects of self-concept as seen in the film occurs when several of the constructive elements come together in one scene. Nearing the end of the film Sally receives news that her previous long-time boyfriend, Joe, is getting married. Suddenly the managed identity-presenting self-or public image that Sally had been holding up can no longer be maintained. In numerous conversations Sally has maintained to