Frida Kahlo Psychobiography

Psychobiography

Students will be required to complete a research project as part of the requirements for this course, and the project will take the form of a psychobiography. Students will select a figure from history or current events (e.g., scientist, politician, actor, musician, etc.) and research their psychosocial history, and then attempt to interpret that person through ONE of the theoretical paradigms discussed in class. No fictional characters please. Please keep in mind that in order to do a decent job you will need to select a figure who has reliable biographical information, either through a biography from reliable sources and/or an autobiography. You will then write up a biographical summary of this individual highlighting key points in their development (e.g., family of origin, parents and siblings, family atmosphere, any trauma, educational experiences, love relationships, etc.). Most importantly for this project, students will also be required to attempt to interpret this individual’s personality through the perspective of a single personality theorist. More weight will be given to the interpretation you provide citing the theorists ideas than just your biography of the subject. The project will need to prepared APA style, and approval of the instructor on the topic of the paper is required. The project will need to be at least 5 pages in length to do it justice – points are not deducted for lengthier papers as long as the information is relevant. I prefer Times New Roman 12 point font, double-spaced. You will need to use and cite at least three references for this project – one may be the text for this course, another will be the autobiography or biographical source, and the other(s) must be scholarly material related to the theory you are using to analyze this person. References citing Wikipedia, web blogs, or About.com type sources are not acceptable.

 

– One of the references you would need to use is this book: Herrera, H. (2002). Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo (Reprint ed., p. 528). New York: HarperCollins.

– The theoretical paradigm that you choose have to be from this book Cloninger, S. (2013). Theories of Personality: Understanding Persons (6th ed.). ISBN-13: 9780132434096 Boston: Pearson.