Thigpen & Cleckley - A Case of Multiple Personality Flashcards
Method
Case Study
Longitudinal = 14 months
What is Multiple Personality Disorder?
MPD is where two or more personalities co-exist in one person.
Procedure
Interviews with the patient and her family
Hypnosis
Observation
EEG Tests on all 3 personalities
Psychometric and projective tests eg. memory tests, ink blot tests and intelligence tests - on eve white and black.
How many hours of interview were there?
100 hours
Name of 3 personalities
Eve white
Eve black
Jane
Janes personality
More mature, vivid and capable than Eve White
Age of Eve White
25 years old
Married.
Conclusions
- this personality is showing MPD
- Jane is the psychologically healthiest personality
- not schizophrenia as none of the three personalities show signs of it
- discuss whether Eve white is acting but decide this is not the case as she is consistent in her personalities
Where there any controls?
No
Quantitative measures
Psychometric tests.
IQ, Weschler memory scale and EEGs
Advantage of EEG
Cannot be faked
Qualitative measures
Interviews
Hypnosis
Projective tests eg. Rorschach
Reliability and validity
- Projective tests need subjective interpretation. Therefore lack reliability as lack of objectivity.
- Lack of validity as MPD is often examined using hypnosis and is increasing in occurrence in the USA but not other cultures.
Hypnosis could leading questions, tried to hypnosis to understand eve white and then eve black emerged… Jane emerged after session recalling being scalded by hot water as a child.
What is Eve Whites real name?
Chris Sizemore
Are there confounding variables in this study?
Chris Sizemore revealed she had more personalities before and after 1954 - these were not detected. Therefore the patient may be vulnerable to demand characteristics and give socially desirable answers.
Some personalities may have appeared through hypnosis. The therapists could be putting ideas of different personalities into the patients mind = iatrogenesis.
What were the psychometric tests?
IQ
Weschler memory scale
EEG
How was this study useful?
It validated the idea of MPD.
Advantages of the research method
They obtain lots of detail, therefore helps to understand the client.
Done over a long time period so provides a lot of data, therefore allows time for MPD to appear as you can trace development of behaviour.
Disadvantages of the research method
Findings cannot generalise to others.
Lack objectivity when therapists are involved with the patient, as close relationship with the therapist may lead to subjective interpretations of behaviour.
Generalisability
Difficult to generalise as they used a single case study.
Flaw of the study
Ethnocentric bias as MPD is increasingly common in the USA but not other cultures.
Aim
To provide an account of the psychotherapeutic treatment of a 25 year old woman who was referred to Thigpen and Cleckley due to ‘severe and blinding headaches’
What did the Wechsler memory tests show?
Eve White to have a superior memory above her IQ.
Eve Black to have a memory the same level as her IQ.
Eve White to have a superior memory to Eve Black.
What did the projective personality tests show?
Eve White
> repressive personality
> anxious, obsessive compulsive traits
Eve Black
> regressive personality
> hysterical tendencies
What were the subjective observations of Eve White and Black?
Eve White - demure and retiring
Eve Black - childish and egocentric
Outline one projective test
- Inkblot test: the individual is shown 10 standardised abstract designs and asked what they look like.
- Responses are analysed to give a measure of emotional and intellectual functioning and integration/the test requires participants to look at 10 standardised inkblots that have been squashed between folded paper and look like butterflies, and then say what they look like.
Outline 2 issues with projective tests.
Open to error as they require interpretation.
Projective tests have to be analysed by another individual whose own inner thoughts and feelings may be projected onto their interpretations so the results may not be valid in relation to Eve White’s or Eve Black’s real thoughts and feelings.
Different days, different results.
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/days.
Vulnerable to participants attempts to fake.
Weakness of longitudinal research used in this study
The researchers may become emotionally attached to the participant so their observations become less objective + link to study
Name 3 changes to this study.
1: The study could be changed from a retrospective longitudinal study to a prospective longitudinal study
2: Increase sample size to 10
3: Make sure that a close relationship between the researcher and participant isn’t formed.
EEG Recordings
Jane - 10.5-11.5
Eve white - 10.5-11.5
Eve black - 12-13
Ethical problems
Stress might have been caused to Eve White/Eve Black by being interviews for more than 100 hours
Protection form harm: the use of hypnosis during therapy sessions which puts individuals into an altered state of consciousness could have lead one of the Eves to disclose information she would have rather kept confidential