Ap Psychology Case Study Michael Oher

Michael is a sub-affected person of the war . He is affected because of Alice going overseas to become a nurse. “Alice was in one of the war zones… [and] we feared for her life.” In the process, Alice became missing for a while and in result Michael received a stroke, and starts to feels depressed about everything.

Michael was brought up in poor project housing that was consumed by drugs, alcohol, and gangs. He was pushed in and out of foster homes forcefully being separated from his mother and siblings. As the movie showed in harsh flashbacks, Michael is deeply affected by the forceful separation from his mother. This constant absence from the mother or other supportive figures leaves Michael unable to make a secure attachment to any strong base. Erikson’s stage of trust versus mistrust is displayed due to Michael’s inability to count on the kindness and compassion of others which leads him to withdraw from his surroundings (p 248). This abrupt memory in life affects Michael in his idea of family and commitment. The harsh environment also kept Michael from attending school, and the times he did there was no support for him to even try in school.

Summary: Michael Oher was a young boy who had to go through rough times as he was growing up. Fatheralong, Oher was taken in by the Tuohy family after they saw Oher didn’t have a home or anyone to go to for help. Once Oher gained the love of the Tuohy family, he became their adopted son, and soon he became the star football player of Briarcrest Christian School (BiJog). He became an interest to many colleges and after high school, he attended University of Mississippi.

As infants grow up to be adults, they succeed and surpass phases in their development that prove mental growth has occurred. These phases, such as learning to be independent and being able to make decisions on their own or being persuaded by others, are well explained within theories created by theorists and psychologists such as Jean Piaget and Erik Erikson. These theories were created to show a unique psychological outlook on ones’ personal developmental growth. One of the most crucial phases is the adolescent stage; this stage sees a growth and development in the biosocial, cognitive, psychosocial and moral aspects of an adolescent’s life. The Blind Side’s Michael Oher is a great example of someone who is experiencing the adolescent stage. Michael Oher is a seventeen-year-old African American who grew up in the housing projects in Memphis, Tennessee and was separated from his drug-addicted mother. As a result, Michael went from foster home to foster home until he was adopted by the Touhy’s. Throughout the movie, Michael demonstrated various cognitive and psychosocial developments. Even through his struggles and experiences, he was able to overcome the obstacles and become successful as a student and as an athlete.

“Based on a book by journalist Michael Lewis chronicling the real life Oher’s experiences, “The Blind Side” manages to inspire despite its broad-strokes approach to characterization.”(VLM, 2010) The Blind Side is based on a true story, the story of Michael Oher, a homeless boy with a traumatic past until one women, Leigh Ann, took him in as her own son and changed his life for the better. Michael is now known as an American football player, that was drafted by the Baltimore Ravens. The film, “The Blind side”, produced by John Lee Hancock, demonstrates that a tragic childhood does not necessarily mean one is destined for defeat, as long as there are those who care enough about you. “The Blind Side” uses rhetorical appeals by illustrating ethos, logos, and pathos to teach the audience moral lessons on learning and coping with traumatic life experiences and defining oneself socially through personal actions.

After fulfilling his basic needs, Michael also achieved the safety needs where he had a sense of protection with his newly adopted family and environment that were surrounding him. According to Norwood (2009), living in a safe place and having protection from other is very important for human beings. In home, Anne treated Michael Oher as her own child where she always gives him support such as bought him some new cloths to encourage him to start a new life; she also brought Michael a trunk when he wishes for it. Besides than his adoptive mother, Sean Junior also plays an important role in the changes of Michael’s life. Because of the adoption, both of the boys had become buddies in a matter of seconds. After Michael joined the American football team in school, Sean Junior had became Michael’s personal trainer to brush up Michael’s techniques and physical abilities in football. Collins, daughter of Leign Anne also showed acceptance towards Michael when she ignores her friend’s impression towards Michael and chosen to accompanied Michael when she saw him study alone in the library.

Michael suffers great depression since his dog Ked died. Most of his family and other colleagues address him to see if he is through with Ked’s death, but really he was depressed all along. “I can't tell how sad i really am about Keds versus how sad i am in general”(Cameron 223). In addition, Michael gets sad of unusual things. “I can picture her eating a banana in her tiny office. This, too, makes me sad”(226). Michael gets depressed about Mrs. Dietrich being alone. Also, Michael gets heartbroken about other little things. “I think of her learning to write beautifully as a child and then growing up to be a guidance counsellor, and this makes me unhappy”(227). Michael is not just depressed of his dogs death, but every little problems in his life.

The lack of ability of creating friendships when he was a child could explain why he always surrounded himself with children, and preferred to be in the presence of children than adults. He always stated that children were pure in the heart and less manipulative than adults. The Id of Michael struggled with the ego. The ego was never able to keep under control his desires and pleasures, allowing his Id to take over. His creation of the amusement park shows how the Id overpowered his ego. The amusement park wasn’t only for children to enjoy, but for him to enjoy and relive his childhood. Freud would analyze this gratification as becoming a core aspect of Michael’s personality.

Finding the right person for this design project did not start out smooth. Initially, I started out with 4 potential clients, first volunteer was not comfortable to share her personal issues affects her to sleep, second volunteer stopped responding to me, third volunteer resident in Japan, and due to her profession my last volunteer has a really busy

Starting in chapter four, “The Blank Slate”, Michael Oher moves to Briarcrest High School, a wealthy private school. He no longer lives in the slum or poverty stricken neighborhoods he once lived. Now he’s having a human experience, away from the monotony and struggles of a kid from the ghetto. Being as such, he has a tough time adjusting, lacking a base of knowledge of how anything works. For example, when Oher gets

As a young child Michael suffered abuse and enforcement to succeed by his father. Michael has said that this has affected his physical development as there had been times when his father would come to see him and he would be sick. This was just from the fear he had of his father hurting him if he did not do well.

Michael Oher is a complex character, this is mostly due to the fact that he speaks very little, and so in order to understand him better we must look at his actions. In the movie After watching the movie The Blind Side it is easy for one to see that at the beginning of the film Michael struggles with internal conflict, specifically about school and his living arrangement with the Touy family. The first time we see Michael really open up about his internal conflicts is when we hear his poem entitled “White Walls”, in this poem Michael talks about how he does not want to listen to the teachers and that he feels out of place in this new school. With the Touy’s Michael also feels out of place, this is shown the first night he stays with them,

The main character Micheal Oher’s, who is introduced to us through his rough life growing up. Micheal never knew his father and his mother was a drug addict. HIs mother gave birth to a total of fifteen children, who of course due to her drug addiction raised themselves basically. Michael spent his teenage years running away from a string of foster homes and situations. Michael got tired of foster care

One of the defense mechanisms that were used by Michael was denial. When Michael found out about his diagnosis with young onset Parkinson’s disease, he was in complete shock and refused to believe that he had this disease because he didn’t want it to be true. For example “I clung to fantasies of escape, hoping against hope that somehow my diagnosis would turn out to be a mistake” (chapter 5, pg.147). Another defense mechanism that was used by Michael was displacement. While Tracy and Sam were sleep, Michael would sneak and drink heavily all night then he would take his anger out on Tracy while she found him intoxicated. For example “there were nights that I’d get out of bed after Tracy had fallen asleep and continue drinking. On those occasions

Lesley Choyce’s The Book Of Michael illustrates that it is important to move on from hardships that occurred in our past. Michael decided to move on from his girlfriend’s murder, and instead of mourning, he decided to go back to school and do something with his life. “I had nothing to lose. I had already lost it all. I was free. Strangely enough, my parents tried to stop me. They thought I had lost my mind. ‘Why today?’ my dad asked. ‘What do I have to lose?’ was my answer.” (Choyce 147-148) This quotation tells us that Michael wanted to go back to school and start a new life again. He keeps repeating that he has nothing to lose, which shows us that he is starting from scratch again and has nothing that he can possibly lose. In addition, Michael