Psychological Analysis of a Person from Literature, Film, or Television
Pierce College
Instructor: Stephanie Winnard
For this assignment, you will choose a person with a psychological disorderto analyze from a psychological perspective. The person can be chosen from a book, a film, or a television show.The person can be a real person from a work of nonfiction or a fictitious person from a work of fiction, but he or she must be someone you learned about from a book, film, or TV show. You may not use a person you know in real life for this assignment. It must be a person you learned about from research. You should use class notes, class discussions, our text book, and additional research from at least one academic journalto support your analysis. The body of this paper should be 4 to 5 pages long, double spaced. The reference page does not count towards the 4 to 5 page length requirement. This assignment is worth 100 points. Submit your paper via Canvas. Please submit your paper topic to me as soon as possible for approval.Only one person can write about each topic, and topics will be approved in order they are received.
Your paper should include a description and explanation of the following questions. You should have one paragraph for each one of these questions and answer them in order in essay format.
- What psychological disorder does this person suffer from? Explain the symptomsand give examples of specific behaviors displayed by the person. Also explain if the person is from a novel, film, or TV show and which one. You may use Ch.15and/or our class notesto help you with your diagnosis.
- Choose a personality theory from our class notes or our book ( Ch.11) to explain the person’s personality. Also, include a discussion of at least one defense mechanism.
- Discuss the issue of nature vs. nurtureand how this applies to the person’s personality and development of the psychological disorder. It is important that you choose a person from a book, movie, or TV show that provides ample information about the person’s childhood and/or their environment, so that you will be able to discuss the issue of nature vs. nurture, so choose wisely.
- 4.What psychological perspectivebest explains this person’s symptoms and explains their behavior? Choose onefrom biological, psychodynamic, behavioral, cognitive, or humanistic, and explain.
- Choose one chapterfrom our book, and apply the information from this chapter to your analysis of the person you chose. Make it clear what chapter you have chosento include for this section of your paper.
- What treatment planwould you recommend to best help this person cope with their mental illness? Use Ch.16on Therapyand our class notesto help you.
- Connections: Make at least one connection from what you learned through completing this analysis to another component of knowledge.For example, you can connect what you learned to your own personal experience, to another chapter in the book, to another book you have read or film you have seen, to another subject you are studying in school, etc.
- 8. Critical thinking: This is where you approach the subject with skepticismand you question everythingand give a critique. For example, you can explain if there is any material that you disagree with or agree with and why. You can explain if there were mistakes made by the person you analyze or by their loved ones. You can explain if mistakes were made by the psychological and/or medical profession. Maybe you want to critically evaluate the relationship between the pharmaceutical industry, psychology, and our society. Perhaps you want to analyze the role of society or the media in the development of psychological dysfunction. These are only examples; your critical thinking will depend on the person you choose to analyze, and your own original thoughts. You should try to think of your own critical thinking questions.
- REFERENCE PAGE OR BIBLIOGRAPHY PAGE IN APA FORMAT:This page will be the last page, and should include at least 3 sources. One source must be our textbook,one source must be the book, movie, or TV showthat you chose the person to analyze from, and one source must be about the disorder you choseto write about, and from an academic journal. You may have additional sources if you choose, but 3 is the minimum. See the Pierce College library website for help on how to do the References in APA format.
10. APA Format for citations:Throughout the paper, cite your sources according to APA format. On the Pierce College website, the library link provides a guide for how to cite sources in APA format.
Note:you do not have to include an abstract or running heads, just a title of paper, body of paper, and reference page/ bibliography page. Citations throughout the paper and the bibliography should be in APA format.
Important: A single magazine article or short TV interview would not be acceptable as your main source for which to choose a person to analyze. Your paper must be based on a book/novel you reador a film/TV show you have watchedas part of your research.
Don’t plagiarize (copy someone else’s work or use others’ ideas without giving them credit).
Throughout your paper, be sure to cite your sources in APA formatto avoid plagiarism. Any plagiarism will result in an automatic zero and you will not receive another chance to redo the paper.
I will score your paper according to this grading scale which is on Canvas.
Possible Points Your Points
Title of paper, your name, and date 5
Psychological disorder and symptoms 10
Personality theory and defense mechanism(s) 10
Nature vs. nurture 10
Psychological perspective analysis 10
Chapter from our text book analysis 10
Treatment plan 10
Connections 10
Critical Thinking 10
Cite your sources in APA format 5
Reference page in APA format (our text and at least 1 journal) 5
Correct semantics (spelling, punctuation, grammar, capitalization) 5
TOTAL POSSIBLE POINTS 100
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