Good afternoon. I hope that someone can help me revise what I think is a very good assignment.
I typically assign students in my undergraduate Abnormal Psychology classes to write what I call Application Papers. The basics of the assignment are-Students write a short paper about a fictional character in a movie or TV program who shows behavior that seems to reflect one of a list of psychological disorders I provide.
A key part of the assignment is justifying/clarifying the fit between the character's behavior and the criteria for the disorder. (I also provide them with the headings they are required to use [and what goes under each one], but that's a separate issue.)
The assignment has served me well, and students seem to like it and learn from it. However, in recent years there have been an increasing number TV programs and films that have main characters who are presented as having a particular disorder (and which disorder is often made pretty clear). Granted it's an extreme example, but the TV show "The United States of Tara" is built around a character who has a Dissociative Identity Disorder.
The diagnoses stated in the programs aren't always very accurate; however, they still kind of torpedo the assignment. The options I have thought of to deal with this problem are (a) for me to provide a of list of movies and programs that are off limits (which for a variety of reasons I really don't want to do), (b) require that they also write about behaviors the character shows that don't fit the diagnosis (and that perhaps even rule out the diagnosis [which might be a little much to expect of undergraduates]), or (c) perhaps just scrap the assignment (which I also don't want to do).
I'd appreciate any input you may have. Thank you,
Gary Coulton, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Psychology
Texas A&M University-San Antonio
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