Thigpen and Cleckley Flashcards
One of the personalities
Jane: Mature, sensible, capable, interesting, EEG 10.5 - 11.5 cycles per sec.
Aim of the study
Eve White was referred to Dr Thigpen because she was experiencing severe headaches and blackouts that had no physical cause and they wanted to investigate.
Why it might be a longitudinal study
Thigpen and Cleckley spent 14 months (approximately 100 hours) interviewing all three personalities.
Results of two of the psychological tests conducted on Eve White/Black
IQ Test: Eve White = 110, Eve Black = 104
The memory test showed Eve White to have a memory above her IQ and showed Eve Black to have a memory on par with her IQ
Two pieces of evidence that could support the claim that the patient did have MPD.
1) Reference to subjective observations e.g. Eve White was seen as demure and retiring whereas Eve Black was childish and egocentric.
2) The results of the Inkblot rest which showed Eve Black to be far healthier than Eve White.
Two other methods used
Observations Hypnosis Psychometric tests IQ test Memory test
Two ethical problems
1) Stress: May have been caused to either Eve White or Eve Black by being interviewed for more than 100 hours.
2) Protection from harm: The use of hypnosis during therapy sessions could have lead one of the Eves to disclose information she would rather have kept confidential.
Outline one projective test used
Inkblot: The individual is shown 10 standardised abstract designs and asked what they look like.
One problems with projective tests
Projective tests have been shown to be unreliable and Eve White/Black may have interpreted the pictures differently had the tests been conducted on another day.
Limitations of the findings in this study
1) Interviewer bias/demand characteristics making the results invalid.
2) Difficult to generalise from one person.
3) Eve may have been lying/acting so findings are not valid.
