In John Lee Hancock's film The Blind Side, the true story of Michael Oher and his interesting path to NFL stardom help bring light on many topics related to educational psychology. Michael is a 17-year-old African-American boy, coming from a broken home and becoming homeless, who one night is seen walking around the city with only a bag of clothes from the Tuohys, an upper-middle-class white family. The family decides to take Michael in after Michael tells them his story and send him to school with their children at a private school. At first, Michael is not the brightest student, but his size and passion for others begin to stand out compared to Tuohy and other adults such as Miss Sue, who becomes Michael's school tutor, and Mrs. Boswell , his only teacher who takes him and his work seriously. It is with the help, perseverance and unwillingness to give up the attitude of Tuohy, Miss Sue and Michael that help prove that this film is a psychological lens and shows that when you are put in the right situation with people who will support your every move , the impossible becomes possible. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay In this film, the theme of Nature vs. Nurture almost becomes the central issue. Since Michael came from a place where he was taken away from his mother, who was a drug addict, and was in and out of foster homes, many believed that Michael might not be capable of doing good or even living with a rich person. white family like the Tuohys. They believed that Michael's instincts and beliefs all came from Nature's perspective and that he could not be good, since his background was not good. This is shown when Mrs. Tuohy goes out with her friends and they talk about how Michael is a "big black boy" and that he could pose a threat to the safety of the family, especially their daughter. But all this statement does is infuriate Mrs. Tuohy and help her be a better mentor and guardian to Michael. To help nurture him to be the best possible version of himself. Tuohy's motivations and actions with Michael are grounded in the belief that "primary/basic emotions have different functions than survival and reproductive behaviors." This was Michael's need for survival that made him who he was. He came from a place where his mother was a drug addict and he separated from her. He was in and out of foster homes. Michael never really had that sense of home or family, and because of that he distanced himself from everyone and acted differently. That was his nature, as seen when he scored a 98% on the protective section of his school's aptitude test. He cared about people, he just didn't have anyone to genuinely care about until the Tuohys came along. In the article by Montag and the other researcher they talk about a “research system”. They say that this system present in every human being “energizes human beings and helps them not only to be stimulated with “enthusiasm” and “interest”, in an exploratory/investigative way in everyday life”. This search system is very defined in Michele. Once he has that reason to be better and try harder because of Tuohy, you can see a lot of options for him. He plays soccer, improves in school, takes care of his new family, but most importantly, he has become the best version of himself. When analyzing the blind side, yesthey can see glimpses and flashes of Vygotsky's theory everywhere. Vygotsky's theory is that it is not only Michael who plays a role in his learning and development, but also his caregivers, his peers, his siblings, and his educators who play a role in Michael's learning and development. In an article written by Irina Verenikina from the University of Wollongong, she talks about how she relates to Vygotsky's theory that “development is, in this case, co-constructed”. With this concept of co-constructed development, the blind side can be seen in a better light. Without the help of the Tuohys, Miss Sue, or Mrs. Boswell, who knows where Michael Oher would have ended up. He was homeless and with nowhere to go. But when all these people came into Michael's life and pushed him to be the best version of himself, magical things happened. But instead of just seeing what Michael accomplished, we need to understand why he wanted to accomplish it and how he did it. It was with the help of “externally mediated activities, actions involving the use of external means” that allowed Michael to achieve his goals. Michael wanted to make his new family proud, especially his new little brother SJ. He wanted to be a better person than the environment he came from described him as. But he only managed to do it thanks to his own motivation and with the help of others. Without Miss Sue spending countless nights coaching him and pushing him into education, without Mrs. Tuohy pushing him to be a protector of his new family at home and on the football field, without Mrs. Boswell understanding Michael and pushing him into class, and without Coach Cotton pushing him on the football field, Michael would never have had that external motivation to always do better internally. It is very evident in this film that Vygotsky's theory is what helped Michael Oher develop into the caring and selfless human being that he has become. Another psychological aspect that plays a vital role in Michael Oher's story is prejudice and discrimination. Throughout the film, prejudice and discrimination against Michael is seen almost everywhere. From his mother talking about how Michael will always come back to her, from people in his former neighborhood who see Michael as just another guy with no options, from Mrs. Tuohy's friends who believe Michael is unsafe and can't be trusted, teachers at his school who see him as an unintelligent person with no chance of succeeding, a parent at a football game who says very racist and inappropriate slurs towards Michael, a college football investigator who initially believed that the Tuohys only helped Michael because of its size. What all these people have in common is that they never tried to get to know Michael or give him a chance. People seem scared of Michael because of his size and skin color. In an article written by Stuart Oskamp, ​​reference is made to “aversive racists are people who sincerely believe they are not prejudiced, but who still harbor negative feelings towards ethnic minorities.” This aversive racism and Michael's misunderstanding comes into a better light when we see where exactly this story takes place, Memphis, Tennessee. As many know, the South is well known for its belief in the Civil War and how it wanted slavery, and regardless of what others say, that sense of racism can still be seen in the South to this day. This is where this aversive racism towards Michael is resorted to. These people I referenced above see Michael as a big black guy who is intimidating because of his size and judge him based on the color of his skin. They don't know Michael.