One of the marks of a literary classic is its ability to illuminate the life situations or readers living years after it was written and in places far distant from the country of its origin. Dostoevsky's psychological perceptivity, borne out of his own struggles, enables him to create characters whose problems illuminate our own. Dostoevsky knew that the outer conflicts we face mirror our own inner conflicts.
A key aspect of an individual's personality is the nature and intensity of the frustration he or she experiences, and the ways in which he or she tries, either successfully or unsuccessfully, to resolve these frustrations. Frustration results when a primary goal has been thwarted. These goals always relate to some psychological need of the individual.
One of the most universally accepted accounts of human needs has been developed by Abraham Maslow. Maslow assumes that human needs are arranged in a hierarchy, meaning that lower level needs much be basically satisfied before higher level needs can be recognized. His hierarchy from lowest (1) to highest (5) follows. This is information many of you have had if you have taken Psychology with Ms. Raby.
1. Physiological needs, such as hunger and thirst, necessary for survival
2. safety needs, providing protection from harm or injury
3. Love needs, suvh as affection, warmth, belongingness
4. Esteen needs, such as self-respect, social approval by doing a job well
5. Self-actualization, involving achiveing a maximum development of potentialties.
Please respond privately (in e mail directly to me (teachins@aol.com) discussing the following. If all are comfortable, then we can discuss this part of the assignment as a class when we meet.
the goals that a person pursues are the product of these needs. When these goals are thwarted, frustration occurs because needs are not met. See how frustration of need-directed goals works in your own life by answering the following questions. This is the private response part.
1. Identify a time in the recent past when you wanted to do something (your goal) but experienced frustration
because you were unable to.
2. What psychological need were you trying to fulfill?
3. How did you respond to your frustration? What did you do? Were you alone or with someone else? Did you
talk about your frustration to anyone?
Now for the second part. This should be submitted to me as well. (So that I can check that each of you has completed it.)
For each of the following characters from Brothers, analyze the primary frustraions which Dostoevsky shows us.
Character Goal Need Frustration Solution
Fyodor
Need 1
need 2
Dmitri
Need 1
Need 2
Grushenka
Need
Smerdyakov
Need
Ivan
need
Aloysha
Need
Katerina
need
A key aspect of an individual's personality is the nature and intensity of the frustration he or she experiences, and the ways in which he or she tries, either successfully or unsuccessfully, to resolve these frustrations. Frustration results when a primary goal has been thwarted. These goals always relate to some psychological need of the individual.
One of the most universally accepted accounts of human needs has been developed by Abraham Maslow. Maslow assumes that human needs are arranged in a hierarchy, meaning that lower level needs much be basically satisfied before higher level needs can be recognized. His hierarchy from lowest (1) to highest (5) follows. This is information many of you have had if you have taken Psychology with Ms. Raby.
1. Physiological needs, such as hunger and thirst, necessary for survival
2. safety needs, providing protection from harm or injury
3. Love needs, suvh as affection, warmth, belongingness
4. Esteen needs, such as self-respect, social approval by doing a job well
5. Self-actualization, involving achiveing a maximum development of potentialties.
Please respond privately (in e mail directly to me (teachins@aol.com) discussing the following. If all are comfortable, then we can discuss this part of the assignment as a class when we meet.
the goals that a person pursues are the product of these needs. When these goals are thwarted, frustration occurs because needs are not met. See how frustration of need-directed goals works in your own life by answering the following questions. This is the private response part.
1. Identify a time in the recent past when you wanted to do something (your goal) but experienced frustration
because you were unable to.
2. What psychological need were you trying to fulfill?
3. How did you respond to your frustration? What did you do? Were you alone or with someone else? Did you
talk about your frustration to anyone?
Now for the second part. This should be submitted to me as well. (So that I can check that each of you has completed it.)
For each of the following characters from Brothers, analyze the primary frustraions which Dostoevsky shows us.
Character Goal Need Frustration Solution
Fyodor
Need 1
need 2
Dmitri
Need 1
Need 2
Grushenka
Need
Smerdyakov
Need
Ivan
need
Aloysha
Need
Katerina
need
Last modified: Tuesday, 26 June 2012, 5:39 PM