Introduction To Psychology: Case Study Method
Introduction To Psychology: Case Study Method
Introduction To Psychology: Case Study Method
• Introduction To Psychology
“The science of human and animal behavior; it includes the application of this science to
human problems”
.So the term psychology deals with the science of psychology as well as
application of this science to solve human problems.
⭐Case study
• The case study is not itself a research method, but researchers select methods of data
collection and analysis that will generate material suitable for case studies.
• Amongst the sources of data the psychologist is likely to turn to when carrying out a case
study are:
• observations of a person’s daily routine
• unstructured interviews with the participant herself (and with people who know her),
diaries, personal notes (e.g. letters, photographs, notes)
• official document (e.g. case notes, clinical notes, appraisal reports).
• Most of this information is likely to be qualitative (i.e. verbal description rather than
measurement) but the psychologist might collect numerical data as well.
⭐Little Hans
• Little Hans - Freud (1909)
• by Saul McLeod published 2008
• Little Hans was a 5-year-old boy with a phobia of horses. Like all clinical case studies, the
primary aim was to treat the phobia.
• However, Freud's therapeutic input in this case was minimal, and a secondary aim was to
explore what factors might have led to the phobia in the first place, and what factors led to
its remission. By 1909 Freud's ideas about the Oedipus complex were well-established and
Freud interpreted this case in line with his theory.
• Freud didn't actually work directly with little Hans, but instead worked through
correspondence with Hans' father, who was familiar with Freud's theories, and wrote to him
when he first suspected that Hans had become a case that Freud might be interested in.
Freud suggested possible lines of questioning which the father could try with Hans, and the
father tried them and reported to Freud what had taken place.
• Research which only looks into the measurable aspects of human behaviour is not likely to
give us insights into the subjective dimension to experience which is so important to
psychoanalytic and humanistic psychologists.
• Case studies are often used in exploratory research.
• They can help us generate new ideas (that might be tested by other methods). They are an
important way of illustrating theories and can help show how different aspects of a person's
life are related to each other.
• The method is therefore important for psychologists who adopt a holistic point of view (i.e.
humanistic psychologists).
🔷Personality
“The combination of characteristics or qualities that form an individual's distinctive
character”
“The characteristic patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that make a person unique”
⭐Psycho-Analytical Theory
Perhaps one of the most influential and well-known figures in psychology’s history was
Sigmund Freud. Freud (1856–1939) was an Austrian neurologist who was fascinated by
patients suffering from “hysteria” and neurosis.
Perhaps Freud's single most enduring and important idea was that the human psyche
(personality) has more than one aspect.
Freud's personality theory (1923) saw the psyche structured into three parts (i.e., tripartite),
the id, ego and superego, all developing at different stages in our lives. These are systems,
not parts of the brain, or in any way physical.
Freud’s structural model of personality divides the personality into three parts the id, the
ego, and the superego. The id is the unconscious part that is the cauldron of raw drives, such
as for sex or aggression. The ego, which has conscious and unconscious elements, is the
rational and reasonable part of personality. Its role is to maintain contact with the outside
world to keep the individual in touch with society, and to do this it mediates between the
conflicting tendencies of the id and the superego. The superego is a person’s conscience,
which develops early in life and is learned from parents, teachers, and others. Like the ego,
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the superego has conscious and unconscious elements. When all three parts of the
personality are in dynamic equilibrium, the individual is thought to be mentally healthy.
However, if the ego is unable to mediate between the id and the superego, an imbalance is
believed to occur in the form of psychological distress.
According to Freud psychoanalytic theory, the id is the primitive and instinctual part of the
mind that contains sexual and aggressive drives and hidden memories, the super-ego
operates as a moral conscience, and the ego is the realistic part that mediates between the
desires of the id and the super-ego. Although each part of the personality comprises unique
features, they interact to form a whole, and each part makes a relative contribution to an
individual's behavior.
⭐The Id
The id is the primitive and instinctive component of personality. It consists of all the inherited
(i.e., biological) components of personality present at birth, including the sex and the
aggressiveness.
The id operates on the pleasure principle (Freud, 1920) which is the idea that every wishful
impulse should be satisfied immediately, regardless of the consequences. When the id
achieves its demands, we experience pleasure when it is denied we experience ‘unpleasure’
or tension.
The id engages in primary process thinking, which is primitive, illogical, irrational, and fantasy
oriented. This form of process thinking has no comprehension of objective reality, and is
selfish and wishful in nature.
⭐The Ego
The ego is 'that part of the id which has been modified by the direct influence of the external
world. ‘The ego develops to mediate between the unrealistic id and the external real world. It
is the decision-making component of personality. Ideally, the ego works by reason, whereas
the id is chaotic and unreasonable.
The ego operates according to the reality principle, working out realistic ways of satisfying
the id’s demands, often compromising or postponing satisfaction to avoid negative
consequences of society. The ego considers social realities and norms, etiquette and rules in
deciding how to behave.
Like the id, the ego seeks pleasure (i.e., tension reduction) and avoids pain, but unlike the id,
the ego is concerned with devising a realistic strategy to obtain pleasure. The ego has no
concept of right or wrong; something is good simply if it achieves its end of satisfying without
causing harm to itself or the id.
The ego engages in secondary process thinking, which is rational, realistic, and orientated
towards problem-solving. If a plan of action does not work, then it is thought through again
until a solution is found. This is known as reality testing and enables the person to control
their impulses and demonstrate self-control, via mastery of the ego.
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⭐The Super Ego
The superego incorporates the values and morals of society which are learned from one's
parents and others. It develops around the age of 3-5 years.
The superego's function is to control the id's impulses, especially those which society forbids,
such as sex and aggression. It also has the function of persuading the ego to turn to moralistic
goals rather than simply realistic ones and to strive for perfection.
The superego consists of two systems: The conscience and the ideal self. The conscience can
punish the ego through causing feelings of guilt. For example, if the ego gives in to the id's
demands, the superego may make the person feel bad through guilt.
The ideal self (or ego-ideal) is an imaginary picture of how you ought to be, and represents
career aspirations, how to treat other people, and how to behave as a member of society.
Behavior which falls short of the ideal self may be punished by the superego through guilt.
The super-ego can also reward us through the ideal self when we behave ‘properly’ by
making us feel proud.
If a person’s ideal self is too high a standard, then whatever the person does will represent
failure. The ideal self and conscience are largely determined in childhood from parental
values and how you were brought up.
⭐Cardinal traits
Cardinal traits are the traits around which a person organizes his whole life. Allport suggested
that these traits are developed later in life, and are in fact quite rare. But, these traits play
such an important role in a person’s life that they often become synonymous with the names
of the person. Meaning, a person might be specifically known for these traits. E.g.: greed,
lust, kindness, narcissism.
Some historical figures with strong cardinal traits are Abraham Lincoln for his honesty,
Marques de Sade for his sadism, and Joan of Arc for her heroic self-service. People with such
personalities are known for these traits and their names are often associated with these
qualities.
Allport suggested that cardinal traits are rare and tend to develop over the years.
When they’re present, cardinal traits shape the person, their self-concept, their emotional
composition, their attitudes, and their behaviors.
⭐Central traits
Traits representing major characteristics of a person are referred as central traits. These can
also be considered as the characteristics that lead to the foundation of an individual’s
personality. Example of central traits: shy, anxious, intelligent, dishonest.
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Central traits are the general characteristics that form the basic foundations of personality.
They aren’t as dominant as cardinal traits. Central traits are the main characteristics that
describe another person. They’re important traits, but not absolutely dominant.
According to Allport’s theory, each person has between 5 and 10 central traits. They’re
present to varying degrees in each person. These include common traits such as intelligence,
shyness, and honesty. Central traits are the main factors that determine most of our
behaviors.
⭐Secondary traits
Secondary traits refer to the general behavior patterns that only appear under certain
circumstances. An example would be getting nervous to speak in public.
Secondary traits are sometimes related to attitudes or preferences. They’re dispositions that
are significantly less generalized and relevant. They’re only seen in certain situations or under
specific circumstances.
For example, a person whose cardinal trait is assertiveness may show signs of submission
when the police stops them for speeding. This is just a situational trait that may or may not
show up during other interpersonal encounters.
According to Allport, these secondary traits are difficult to detect because they’re stimulated
by a narrower range of equivalent triggers.
💠Criticism
Trait theory approach fails to predict individual’s behavior. Even though an
individual might score high on a particular trait, he/she might differently.
Another major weakness of these theories is their inability to explain the
emergence of differences between individual personalities.
🔷Emotions
Definitions. The Oxford Dictionaries definition of emotion is "A strong feeling deriving from
one's circumstances, mood, or relationships with others." Emotions are responses to
significant internal and external events. In some uses of the word, emotions are intense
feelings that are directed at someone or something. (joy, trust, fear, anger, disgust, sadness,
surprise).Emotions are how individuals deal with matters or situations they find personally
significant.
🔷Theories of Emotion
The major theories of emotion can be grouped into three main categories: physiological,
neurological, and cognitive.
⭐Physiological theories: suggest that responses within the body are responsible for
emotions.
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⭐Neurological theories: propose that activity within the brain leads to emotional
responses.
⭐Cognitive theories: argue that thoughts and other mental activity play an essential role in
forming emotions.
⭐Attitude
In psychology, an attitude refers to a set of emotions, beliefs, and behaviors toward a
particular object, person, thing, or event. Attitudes are often the result of experience or
upbringing, and
they can have a powerful influence over behavior. While attitudes are enduring, they can also
change.
Psychologists define attitudes as a learned tendency to evaluate things in a certain way. This
can include evaluations of people, issues, objects, or events. Such evaluations are often
positive or negative, but they can also be uncertain at times.
For example, you might have mixed feelings about a particular person or issue. Researchers
also suggest that there are several different components that make up attitudes. The
components of attitudes are sometimes referred to as CAB or the ABC's of attitude.
⭐Cognitive Component: Your thoughts and beliefs about the subject
⭐Affective Component: How the object, person, issue, or event makes you feel
⭐Behavioral Component: How attitude influences your behavior
Attitudes can also be explicit and implicit. Explicit attitudes are those that we are consciously
aware of and that clearly influence our behaviors and beliefs. Implicit attitudes are
unconscious but still have an effect on our beliefs and behaviors.
Attitude can be formed through experience, social factors, learning and observations.
⭐Beliefs
A belief is an idea that a person holds as being true.
Beliefs are generally defined as “convictions that things held in the mind are true”.
Beliefs are important foundations of attitudes and behavior, but they can be extremely
difficult to change. Often, people will vehemently maintain their beliefs even in light of
disconfirming evidence. This phenomenon is known as belief perseverance. Belief
perseverance typically occurs because people base their beliefs on information that they find
logical, compelling, or attractive in some way. Therefore, even when beliefs are seemingly
disconfirmed by new evidence, the foundation for what the person believes may still exist. At
times, the belief will still be maintained because of the remaining support of the explanation
behind it.
is also affected by the press: external stimuli that elicit motivational tendencies. Needs (and
press) vary in strength from moment to moment, but people also differ in patterns of chronic
need strength. According to this viewpoint, this difference is the source of individual
differences in personality.
Murray believed human nature involved a set of universal basic needs, however, he said that
individual differences on these needs lead to the unique personalities that each person has.
Murray said that everyone has the same basic set of needs but that individuals differ in their
priority of those needs. According to him, some needs are temporary and transient, whereas
others are deeply seated in our nature. These psychogenic needs function mostly on the
unconscious level, but play a major role in our personality. Frustration of these psychogenic
needs plays a central role in the origin of psychological pain. Murray distinguished each need
as unique, but recognized shared attributes among the needs.
American psychologist Henry Murray (1893–1988) developed a theory of personality that was
organized in terms of motives, and needs. Murray described needs as a "potentiality or
readiness to respond in a certain way under certain given circumstances."
Theories of personality based on needs and motives suggest that our personalities are a
reflection of behaviors controlled by needs. While some needs are temporary and changing,
other needs are more deeply seated in our nature.
According to Murray, these psychogenic needs function mostly on the unconscious level but
play a major role in our personality. Murray identified needs as one of two types:
◾️ Primary needs: Primary needs are basic needs that are based upon biological demands,
such as the need for oxygen, food, and water.
◾️ Secondary needs: Secondary needs are generally psychological, such as the need for
nurturing, independence, and achievement. While these needs might not be
fundamental for basic survival, they are essential for psychological well-being.
⭐General Overviews
Because political psychology is such an expansive field, even within the narrower discipline of
international relations, it is difficult to find a definitive statement that covers everything.
Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky are the key pioneers in constructing, on the basis of
clinical experiments, a variety of decision-making models that IR scholars have used. These
models are collected in Kahneman and Tversky 2000 and Kahneman, et al. 1982 (for an
example of a specific application of these models to IR, see Prospect Theory). For a broad
introduction to political psychology’s origins, prominent approaches, and major
developments and trends, Monroe 2002 is very good, though it has not been updated. Huddy,
et al. 2013 compensates, and provides a good discussion of various theoretical approaches
and empirical cases for both IR and political psychology more generally. A textbook on
political psychology designed specifically for college students, Cottam, et al. 2016 is in its third
edition, and covers considerable theoretical ground, though with a focus on group
psychology. For IR in particular, McDermott 2004 is a good source to begin with. Goldgeier
and Tetlock 2001 is more explicit about using political psychology to study specific issue areas
in IR. Political psychology is a thriving field of social scientific inquiry, with roots in political
science and psychology and connections to a range of other social sciences, including
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sociology, economics, communication, business, education, and many other fields. Political
psychologists attempt to understand the psychological underpinnings, roots, and
consequences of political behavior.
Some of this work enhances understanding of political phenomena by applying basic theories
of cognitive processes and social relations that were originally developed outside of the
domain of politics. Other political psychology involves the development of completely new
theory to provide psychological accounts of political phenomena. Political psychology thus
illuminates the dynamics of important real-world phenomena in ways that yield practically
valuable information and also that enhance the development of basic theories of cognitive
processes and social relations.
And all of this work helps us understand why political events unfold as they do.