School of Psychology Homework

School Of Psychology Homework

Voldemort, the “evil” guy from the infamous Harry Potter series, is an individual who came from a broken home. His goals are to have eternal life, ultimate power, and to kill Harry Potter.

Neuroscience: The Neuroscience school focuses on how the body and brain enable emotions, memories, and sensory experiences. They would link Voldemort’s desire to have eternal life with the foods he chooses to eat. Or, his need for ultimate power and Harry Potter’s death with his blood chemistry. They would run cat scans and blood tests to find abnormalities. To change Voldemort’s behavior they would prescribe medication and/or change his eating habits.

Evolutionary: The Evolutionary school focuses on how the natural selection of traits promotes the perpetuation of one’s genes. They may say that Voldemort’s ancestors were in power and killed, allowing them to survive. These traits were passed on throughout generation’s because those who did not have these traits did not survive, therefore did not reproduce. This school would inform Voldemort why he’s acting as he is (because of his ancestors) and explain it is no longer necessary to survive using those traits. They believe that understanding your propensities helps you overcome them.

Psychodynamic: The Psychodynamic school focuses on how behavior springs from unconscious drives and conflicts. Voldemort has a desire to kill Harry because self-consciously he has a sexual drive towards him, which is not acceptable. He wants ultimate power because he fears being “lost in the crowd”. He wants eternal life, not to guide his followers, but because he fears death. To help Voldemort, the psychodynamic school would test him with projective tests, Themetic Apperception Tests, or Rorschach Inkblot tests. With these tests they would understand his inner feelings and conflicts and be able to address them.

Behavioral: The Behavioral school focuses on how we learn observable responses. They would not care about Voldemort’s feelings, only that he’s trying to kill Harry. Instead of figuring out why Voldemort wanted to kill Harry they would only try to stop him from physically doing it. For example,