social psychology reflection paper 4 pages

Self-Concept Exploration

The purpose of this paper is to explore the self-concept of a fictional character. This character may be one that you pull from a popular TV show, movie, book, or other form of media. Through this paper, be sure to include the following information:

· Please include 1 paragraph setting a context for this character. Give me the relevant background information I would need to understand your paper if I had never heard of your character before.

· What are the central components of this character’s self-concept? What traits, roles, skills, values are at the center of who this person is? Please include at least 3 components of their self.

· How does this character come to know these things about themselves? Of the knowledge sources discussed in class, which ones did the character most likely rely on to build their self-concept?

· In class, we talked about how we really construct multiple “selves” that we occupy at the same time. How does this character fit into that discussion? Do they have multiple highly-contradictory and divergent “selves?” Or do they have an overly-narrow concept of the self? What are the possible dangers of how this character’s “self” is constructed?

· Please describe a time this character faced a threat to their self-esteem. Based on our discussion in class, what “source” of self-esteem was damaged by this threat? How did this character cope with the threat to their self-esteem?

NOTE: Exceptional papers will be able to provide both (1) a thorough understanding of self-concepts, how they are constructed, and the ways in which they can be damaged or threatened and (2) provide detailed, relevant examples from the character’s life. Papers will be regarded as incomplete if they do not respond to each of the points in this paper with clarity and specificity.

NOTE: The writing prompt is listed here in a checklist to facilitate your writing and organization. It is not an indication that you should write your paper as a set of several separate short answers to the different points listed here. Exceptional papers will sound like one single, connected narrative. Papers that sound “choppy” or disconnected will be evaluated more poorly.

Audience

Write to a professional, college-educated audience

Don’t assume a very specific understanding of social psychological concepts

Avoid first-person writing

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“I think that...”

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“I am going to write about...”