Theory Application Project
1) Choose a movie and a theory/theorist.
You will watch one of the movies listed from the perspective of a developmental theorist. This gives you an opportunity to dig deeper into one of the major theories/theorists we studied this semester and apply that theory in a more concrete manner. Please choose only ONE theory or theorist to focus on. You may reference other theories/theorists, but I want you to focus on ONE overall theory or theorist for the paper. Make sure that you state which theory you will be using in your introduction paragraph so that I know what to look for in the rest of the paper. You will also want to include a solid description of the theory in the first few paragraphs to give the rest of the paper context. Choose only one character in the movie to focus on! Pretend you are writing a case study on the character from the perspective of the theory that you choose.
Adolescence & Emerging Adulthood:
Lady Bird (2017) – R
The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012) – PG13
Our Song (2000) – R
Real Women Have Curves (2002) – PG 13
The Notebook (2004) – PG13
Raising Victor Vargas (2002) – R
Beautiful Boy (2018) – R
Examples of developmental theories/theorists include the following: Erikson’s Psychosocial Theory (Stages); Learning Theories (Behaviorism/Skinner); Social-Cognitive Theory (Bandura); Cognitive Theories (Piaget); Sociocultural Theory (Vygotsky); Information Processing Theory; Ethology and Evolutionary Biological Psychology; and Ecological Systems Theory (Bronfenbrenner).
I recommend that you choose your theory/theorist before watching the movie and do enough research to feel comfortable with the theory/theorist. You will have to use outside sources beyond the textbook to get a more comprehensive understanding of the theory/theorist. You will then be able to find solid examples of the observed developmental stages that fit the theory. You can choose to watch a movie other than those listed above, but you must get previous approval from me. If you do not get approval, you will not earn credit for the project. Please know that some of these movies have offensive language, graphic scenes, and so on. It is fully your responsibility to do research into the film content before viewing it if you are concerned about these issues. I accept no responsibility for any negative impacts these movies may have on you, because it is up to you to make an informed decision about which movie to watch.
2. Your paper should have a strong integration of both theory and movie excerpts throughout the paper.
I do not want a summary of the movie. I want an explanation of the observed developmental stages presented in the movie and examples to support them. For each example you provide, please say how or why that example fits the theory. If a particular example does not fit the model, please include a few sentences about how it does not fit. There will likely be some parts of the movie or the characters that do not fit the model well. In this case, feel free to talk a bit about another theory/theorist that might better explain the developmental stage.
3. Cite your sources throughout the paper and provide a reference page.
APA style is required throughout the paper. Please use www.apastyle.org, https://media.ccconline.org/redirects/purdue/owl/apa-style.html, ccconline tutor – Brainfuse, or your home school writing lab if you are not familiar with APA style. As part of APA style, you will include a cover page, reference page, headers with page numbers, 12-point Times New Roman font, 1-inch margins, double spaced, and so forth. There is no need to include an abstract.
REQUIREMENTS:
- The minimum word count for this paper is 2,000 words.
- You must include at least five sources, three of which must come from academic journals.
- I expect an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. College-level writing is required.
- There will be a few small steps to take throughout the semester in writing the paper. Remember, each of these steps will be graded as part of your overall points for the project:
- Final Paper (180 points): Your final paper is to be uploaded to the course assignment folder by 11:59 p.m. on the due date. No late papers will be accepted! Make sure that your name is in the filename that you upload to the assignment folder. For example: FROTTINI.TheoryPaper.doc Make sure that you save your paper as a .doc, .docx, or .rtf file. Apple .pages format will not upload to the assignment folder.
Remember to observe conventions of APA format as presented at https://media.ccconline.org/redirects/purdue/owl/apa-style.html and refresh your memory on what constitutes plagiarism (Student Handbook: Academic Integrity). All your papers are run through Turn It In after they are submitted to the assignment folder; Turn It In alerts instructors to the possibility of plagiarism. Submitting work from a previous course is not acceptable.
The movie I choose is the Real Women Have Curves and the theory and theorist I choose is Cognitive Theories (Piaget). Please see more details on files I uploaded.