The Cause and Effect in Melinda’s Traumatic Experiences: A Psychosocial Analysis in Anderson’s Speak which was written in 2014. In this research, she
focuses on how sexual harassment affects Melinda‟s psychological condition and how is the impact toward her psychosocial development.
The second thesis is Eka Setiawati‟s thesis entitled The Psychological Effects of Wor
ld War II on Ira Hayes and John Bradley’s Characters in James Bradley’s Flags of Our Fathers. This thesis was written in 2011. It focuses on
identifying the psychological changes of the characters in Flags of Our Fathers as the effect of traumatic experience in war.
The third thesis is Irsha Karisha Puspitasari‟s thesis entitled Esperanza’s Personality Development as Reflected in Sandra Cisneros’ the House on Mango
Street. This thesis was written in 2012. This research focuses on identifying the personality development of Esperanza and the factors that affects her personality.
The theory used by the previous researchers is similar to this research; they
used Erik Erikson‟s psychosocial theory. Although the theory which is used is similar, the focuses of the other three previous researches are different. The first
research focuses on the effects of sexual harassment towards a character‟s psychological condition and psychosocial development. Then, the second research
focuses on identifying psychological changes due to traumatic experience in war. The third research focuses on identifying personality development of a character
and the factors that affect the personality. Meanwhile, this research focuses on finding the types, the causes, the effects of the abuses experienced by Tess and the
effects of the abuses on her personality development in Tess Stevens‟ Sold.
C. Conceptual Framework
Tess Stevens Sold is an autobiography which tells the lives of Tess being abused by her mother. Many types of abuse are experienced by Tess throughout
her lives mostly in her childhood. Besides being abused by her mother, Tess is also abused by her stepfather, caregiver, school teacher, friends, and partners, and
the punters. This research analyzes the abuses, the causes which Tess experienced, and its effects in general and on her personality development.
This research uses the mimetic approach because the characters or the setting in a literary work is an imitation of the reality. Psychology of literature is
used because psychology and literature contains a similarity that it focuses on analyzing human being. Since both psychology and literature focus on analyzing
humans, and literature reflects the reality, the mimetic approach is appropriate to be used in this research.
The re searcher used Erikson‟s psychosocial development theory in
conducting this research. According to this theory human undergoes eight psychosocial stages. The stages are infancy, early childhood, play age, school age,
adolescence, young adulthood, adulthood, and old age. In each of these stages there are syntonic and dystonic qualities.
Figure 1 : Conceptual Framework
Mimetic
Literature
Psychology of Literature
Erikson‟s Psychosocial Theory of the Development
Stages: 1. Trust vs. Mistrust
2. Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt
3. Initiative vs. Guilt 4. Industry vs. Inferiority
5. Identity vs. Role
Confusion 6. Intimacy vs. Isolation
7. Generativity vs. Stagnation
8. Integrity vs. Despair Research Question 4.
What are the effects of the abuses on
Tess‟ personality
development? Abuse Theories by
Corby, Howe, Olive, Turton, Harris, Hunter,
Community Against Violence, Inc., Child
Welfare Information Gateway, and
allaboutcounseling.com.
Research Question 3. What are the effects of
the abuses experienced by Tess?
Research Question 1. What abuses are
experienced by Tess?
Research Question 2. What are the causes
of the abuses experienced by Tess?
Tess Stevens‟ Sold
Human
Psychology Society
40
CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHOD
A. Research Design
This research has several purposes; to find the abuses experienced by Tess, to find the causes of the abuses experienced by Tess, to find the effects of the
abuses experienced by Tess, and to find the effects of the abuses on Tess‟ personality development in the autobiography entitled Sold. The researcher uses
the qualitative research method in conducting this research. According to Hayllar and Veal 1996: 30 “Qualitative research methods are concerned with collecting
information which doesn‟t involve numbers.” “The aim of qualitative research is to understand a particular social situation, event, role, group, or interaction
” L Kocke. Spirduso, Silverman in Creswell: 226.
In this study, the researcher used content-analysis in analyzing the autobiography. According to Hayllar and Veal 1996: 36 content analysis is a
method that uses three types of data: written, visual, and spoken material. The written data include historical documents, government policies, speeches,
magazines, newspaper, etc. Visual data include television, documentaries, and films.
B. The Sources of the Data
The data of this research are words, phrases, sentences, and paragraphs which are taken from an autobiography entitled Sold, which have correlation with
