Introduction
The present document presents case analysis of Melissa Hershey is analyzed. The mentioned conditions in the case depict the psychological condition of Melissa. It can be observed that the Melissa is undergoing stress, lack of concentration in her education and aggressive behavior. Moreover, she is going through trauma due to the death of her father that reoccurs depression and anxiety. However, Melissa is social and likes going out with her friends, but the past events in the family have greatly affected her patterns of interactivity, behaviors, responses and learning capabilities (Morriss, 2015). The information shared by her mother, teacher and psychologist demonstrate that Melissa is facing difficulty in responding to the related external factors. Besides, she is reported to be active and social she is disorganized. Also, she faces difficulty in labeling certain emotions and exhibits aggressive behaviors. Melissa also reported having a lack of learning as she forgets her lesson soon after the class is dismissed. It indicates that the Melissa behavior is greatly affected by the families past events. She is undergoing stress, lack of concentration and disorganization that is more profound to be adopted by her mother behavior, as she reports that the child was not given sufficient attention.
Analyzing the case of Melissa Hershey, it can be identified that the brain and behavior of Melissa are influenced by some events. In the lights of Biopsychology, it can be identified that the brain of Melissa stimulates through relative past events which are evident through her behaviors. Melissa is weak in exhibiting and understanding emotions that show that the functioning of Frontal Lobe (motor cortex) of the brain is weak (Morriss, 2015). Also, the occipital lobe (visual cortex) of Melissa is weak because she is not able to detect the visual stimulate. She is sensitive to music as well as her smell reminds of her father which makes her cry indicates that Melissa has a strong and sensitive Temporal Love (Auditory Cortex) due to which she prefers listening to slow music (Morriss, 2015).
Sensation and Perception
Melissa is reported to cry when she smells the fragrance that her father. Also, she is sensitive to light and music she is more inclined to prefer slow and pleasant music. Her mother reports that Melissa does not like bright lights. It indicates that the absolute threshold of Melissa is strong she can detect soft touch and stimuli (Morriss, 2015). Moreover, Melissa sensory adaptation is relatively stronger which is influenced by the traumatic memories of her father. Her sense of detection of smells is strong as Melissa mother reports that she cries when she smells the cologne that her dad wore. The behavior reports of Melissa also show that she responds quickly to the change in the stimuli that reflects that the difference threshold of Melissa was strong (Morriss, 2015).
Learning and Memory
In the case of Melissa, it can be noted that her teacher reported that Melissa does not take the interest in completing schoolwork. She has difficulty in learning especially in the abstract reasoning. She often forgets what she learns in the class when the class is not tested. She likes socializing with the friends. The brain functioning of Melissa shows that the information is stored for a shorter period. She can retain what she has learned if she is given choices but she is not able to tell on her own. It indicates that the memory formation and storage of Melissa is weak. It may be because of the potential weakening of traumatic memories. Since Melissa is reported to have weaker memory retention, but she is aware of the answer that shows that the long-term memory of Melissa is strong. The lack of abstract reasoning capabilities of Melissa indicates that the semantic is weak.
Motivation and Emotion
The behavior of Melissa as reported by the teacher shows that Melissa does not take the interest in her homework. However, Melissa is currently granted with the sticker at the completion of her homework that has shown progress in completion of her work on time. The motivation of Melissa can be explained through incentive theory in which it was explained that the motivating behavior of Melissa is influenced by the gains (Shaffer & Kipp, 2015). However, it can be noted that the motivation for Melissa is mainly driven by the external goals. This is explained by the James Lange Theory Melissa’s emotions development is mainly influenced by environment influence. Her family and environment around her mainly affect the psychological experience of Melissa. She is adaptive of the behaviors that she has learned from her mothers such as spanking her sister, aggression, disorganization, and carelessness. Melissa has been given less attention by her mother due to whom she is more likely to gain attention in her friends (Morriss, 2015). However, implementing the common sense theory, it is evident that Melissa is not able to understand some of the emotions and does not respond accordingly. It indicates that the coding of the emotions for Melissa is weak it may because of the intake of marijuana of her mother during her pregnancy that has affected cognitive development about the coding of action.
Development
In the case of Melissa, the psychological development of Melissa can be explained through the Piaget theory in which it was identified that the capabilities of logical reasoning among within Melissa concerning abstract reasoning were poor (Shaffer & Kipp, 2015). It may be because of the epistemology that has affected the structure of properties. The cognitive development of Melissa is reciprocal to her mother, which shows that the mental process is mainly influenced by the biological maturation and environmental experience of Melissa. The development of her behaviors and attitudes is affected by the experience around her.
Personality
Social Behavior
Assessing the social behavior of Melissa, it can be noted that Melissa prefers socializing. She is more inclined to make new friends but likes bossing her friends. She has the controlling personality. She also gets aggressive and would hit her sisters. The behavior with her sister indicates that she has learned these from her home environment where she was spanked for bad behavior by her mother (Shaffer & Kipp, 2015). It can be supported by the theory of Social learning theory by Bandura that explains that most of the aggressive behavior among children is learned through their environment (Morriss, 2015). Due to the negligence of the parents, she seeks to gain attention among her peers that can be accessed through the social identity theory. Since, Melissa tries to develop bossy attitude among her friends as she seeks attention focusing on the groups (Morriss, 2015).
Conclusion
References
Morriss, C. G. (2015). Understanding Psychology. New York: Pearson Education.
Shaffer, D., & Kipp, K. (2015). Developmental Psychology: Childhood & Adolescence: Childhood and Adolescence. Mason: Cengage Learning.
Upton, P. (2011). Developmental Psychology. New York: SAGE Publishing.
