Research Assignments
Complete ONE of the following.
Submit on June 4th.
Use APA format. Go to Owl Purdue & Citation
Machine to familiarize yourself with this documenting
format.
Be critical of the sources you find: no wiki, no “freefor-all-googling”. Try to find respectable, relevant
research. (Google Scholar can help)
Download the sample APA paper on Owl Purdue and
use it as a model * this is not an option; I will not
accept another format*
Guidelines
Use 2-3 sources.
Your paper should be a combination of the
information you find in these sources & your own
observations and insight.
Information from the sources should be mostly
paraphrased (from the original), but you will be
expected to use between 2 and 5 direct quotes, as
well.
Length: 1) cover page, 2) abstract, 3) 3-4 pages
(double spaced, 12 font) of content (use
subheadings), 4) reference page
Famous People
and Mental Illness
Research a historical figure who did or is believed to
have battle mental illness.
•
What was their illness?
•
How did it affect their life?
•
Does the illness still exist today? What is its
prevalence?
You could choose: Abraham Lincoln, Vincent Van Gogh,
King George III of England, Rosemary Kennedy, Sylvia
Plath
Repressed
Memories
Repressed memories have come under fire in recent years
as research in eyewitness testimony and dissociative
identity disorder put the reliability of human memory into
question. Research these topics to decide if repressed
memories uncovered through therapy are reliable and
accurate
Some questions to consider:
•
What have studies by Elizabeth Loftus and others
revealed about the reliability of eyewitness testimony?
•
How much do therapists rely on repressed memories in
diagnosing dissociative identity disorder?
•
Why can’t repressed memories be relied on as accurate
recollections of the truth?
Fake Psychological
Illness
•
Movies like “One Flew OVer the Cuckoo’s Nest” and “Primal
Fear” have main characters who fake psychological illness to
avoid legal problems. Explore the incidence of defendants who
use the insanity plea and how many win “not guilty by reason of
insanity” judgments.
•
What is the legal definition of insanity?
•
Do a significant number of defendants try to use insanity as a
defence?
•
Are there documented cases of people who successfully
faked insanity? Describe any of those cases or hypothesize
why there haven’t been many of these cases.
Sigmund Freud
Freud’s ideas were perhaps some of the most
influential and controversial of the twentieth century.
Research Freud and his influences on popular
culture. What has he contributed? Do we still use
any of his findings? How is he regarded in the
psychology world today?
a source you may want to consult :
www.psychoanalysis.org/resources-library.htm
The Misinformation Effect
Conduct a literature review on the misinformation
effect.
•
When are people susceptible to misinformation?
•
Who is susceptible to misinformation?
•
What happens to the original memory?
•
Do people genuinely believe the misinformation?
•
Dissociative
Amnesia
A famous case of dissociative amnesia concerns the
daughter of the last Russian tsar Nicholas II. In 1920,
people believed that an amnesiac woman named Anna
Anderson was Anastasia, the youngest daughter of the tsar.
Research the Romanov family and the conflicting evidence
surrounding Anna Anderson.
•
What is dissociative amnesia?
•
Why did Anna arouse suspicions concerning her
identity?
•
What evidence supports Anna’s claims? What evidence
disputes them?
•
What means can researchers use to verify claims like
Anna’s?