1. Since conducting that research, Pennebaker has gone on to investigate the exact language that people communicate in and how that not only predicts which will get the most benefit from writing about their traumas, but also many other things about their personality and relationships.

Below you will find links to three short videos found on YouTube that have Pennebaker discussing various aspects of this research. The third is the longest, but they total only about 26 minutes.

Read Chapter 10 in your text, watch these clips, and then make a post to the first Week Ten discussion board answering the following questions:

What was the most interesting or surprising thing about Pennebaker’s research for you? Why?

How do you think Pennebaker’s recent research can expand on or help illuminate some of the other aspects of life scripts and life stories?

150 for each Discussion

2.This week we are learning about stories and “narrative” theories of personality. Part of our personal story is related to the cultural stories we are exposed to as children, which influence our own self-understanding.

Make a discussion board post answering the following questions:

What is your favorite story that you remember from childhood (before age 15)? This could be from a fairy tale, a children’s book or other fiction book, or from a television program or film.

Briefly describe the story, and speculate on how its themes and/or characters might be related to your own self-understanding.