Lisa Simpson, who are you?

 Appraisals...   Lisa does not typically engage in distorted primary cognitive appraisals of events which would go against her character’s nature, and probably, against the very point of the show’s authors that a child can have more functional appraisals of social experiences than adults, and better emotional responses. In fact, this is also the storyline of one episode wherein Lisa experiences sadness with no apparent reasons. She has the blues. Before dropping her off at school, Lisa’s mother, Marge, advises her daughter to swallow her sadness and be all smiles if she wanted to be accepted by her peers at the elementary school. Coming from her mother, that is a poor first appraisal of Lisa’s sadness (not caused by her lack of popularity with peers), and simply, bad parenting. Acting on her mother’s insensitive advice, Lisa tries hard to smile while feeling really in low spirits. Fortunately, her mother turns around, opens the car’s door, and invites Lisa’s back in, rushing a...

 The substitute teacher One episode wherein Lisa experienced an emotional devastation is when she had a real special substitute teacher, Mr. Bergstrom. His teaching method was spontaneous and authentic which tremendously excited Lisa. For instance, Mr. Bergstrom arrived to class wearing a 1800s cowboy costume displaying several anachronisms that the children had to notice. Lisa saw right away that the belt that read “The State of Texas” was an anachronism because Texas was not yet a state. When Mr. Bergstrom left, Lisa was devastated. According to the attribution theory, the cause of her devastation was uncontrollable because it was not the result of doing nor could she do anything about it. Lisa could not really take any action to reverse the course of events. Instead, she would do things like lashing out at her family who looked all the more unrefined as she compared her father, for instance, with the sophisticated Mr. Bergstrom. Therefore, the locus of control was external. ...

  "Lisa the Vegetarian" Lisa decides to become a vegetarian. Making the connection between her love of animals and eating meat triggers this life-changing decision. Except that Lisa is only eight years old and her home and family environment is, as usual, unsupportive of her metacognitive, cognitive, affective, motivational processes. In other words, becoming a vegetarian is a big family issue because everyone’s favorite meals are porkchops and steaks, and everyone’s favorite social events are organizing barbecues or eating out at restaurants such as” The Krusty Burger ” and “ The Frying Dutchman ”. Her brother and father mock her, singing "You don't win friends with salad!" Lisa strives to change her diet exerting primary control. Primary control refers to the human attempt to change their environment in order to fulfill internal needs or to attain desired outcomes. Exerting primary control stems from underlying self-efficacy beliefs. Lisa’s self-efficacy b...