Suggested Answer Chapter 5

Suggested answers Chapter 5

STUDY 17: GOULD (IQ TESTING) Qs (page 175) 1 People who believe certain characteristics (such as intelligence) are inherited and not influenced by experience. 2 Alpha (a written test with eight parts, e.g. multiple-choice items), Beta (a pictorial test, e.g. work out what is missing from each picture), and individual examination (recruits tested individually and asked the questions). 3 He claimed they tested innate intelligence (‘native intellectual ability’). 4 Some tasks assessed intelligence but many of the tasks assessed experience – things learned in school or general cultural knowledge. 5 Showing a preference for, or benefiting, one culture rather than another. 6 The Alpha test included items on American history (e.g. presidents) and cultural consumer knowledge (e.g. ‘What is Crisco?’). The Beta test included items such as an Americanstyle house, and luxury items such as a gramophone, which may have been less familiar to recent immigrants. 7 [1] Standards varied from camp to camp in terms of how much schooling was required as a cut-off point for the Alpha test, [2] many men who were unsuitable for the Alpha test had to take it because there were too many doing the Beta test, and [3] men who failed the Beta test should have been given an individual examination but there wasn’t time.

Qs (page 176)

Evaluating the study by Gould (page 177) NB all answers should be contextualised The research technique Strengths: mental tests produce quantitative data so you can compare people easily. Limitations: tests may be culture-biased (in fact they almost inevitably are culture-biased) and therefore don’t assess innate abilities. Quantitative or qualitative Yerkes’ intelligence tests produced quantitative data, e.g. mental ages. However, Gould’s work has a great deal of qualitative data e.g. descriptions of items in the tests, problems administering the tests and the conclusions and consequences. Strengths of quantitative data: produce numerical information which can be easily analysed and conclusions drawn. Limitations of quantitative data: may not accurately represent people, and do not show the different skills that people have which may be just as important to function well on cognitive and other tasks (such as being an officer). Can mask some reasons for underlying differences e.g. culturally biased items and poor administration of tests which systematically disadvantaged immigrants and blacks. Strengths of qualitative data: rich in detail and so provide a fuller picture around this period of IQ testing, e.g. reasons mentioned above for blacks and immigrants performing less well on these tests.

1 [1] The immigrant groups who were the most recent arrivals in the US did worst on the test, which suggests that it was experience rather than innate factors that affected test results; and [2] there was a positive correlation between average test score for foreign-born recruits and years of residence in America.

Limitations of qualitative data: they are difficult to analyse, e.g. it is not possible to determine exactly how much the problems in test administration adversely affected the black and immigrant recruits.

2 He said it was because the people who were immigrating now were the dregs of Europe, whereas earlier immigrants were from ‘better’ countries, e.g. those from northern and western Europe.

The army recruits were all men of a certain age and certain generation. IQ varies with cohorts – people born in the 1940s have lower IQs that those born in the 1960s because diet and educational opportunities were better. It would be unreasonable to generalise from such a homogenous sample of male army recruits to the whole population.

3 It could have been used to argue that immigrants needed better schooling in order to improve their mental abilities. 4 The Act especially restricted the immigration of those from southern and eastern Europe because it was these Europeans that Yerkes’ tests appeared to show were particularly low in mental ability. The generally poor standard of immigrants also supported the need for the Act because, it was argued, they were lowering the genetic stock of native Americans. 5 If you want to create a group of people of high intelligence then you should encourage people of higher intelligence to breed. You can identify suitable people using IQ tests. 6 No, it’s largely one-sided against the early intelligence tests.

The sample

Validity and reliability Validity: the army IQ tests didn’t really test what they aimed to test (innate intelligence) and thus the results lacked validity. They tested cultural knowledge. Reliability: the reliability of the tests was poor because when some recruits were retested individually their scores were much higher. Therefore the measurement was not consistent. Ethnocentrism The view taken by Yerkes and others was very ethnocentric – they saw their own cultural group as best and sought objective

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scientific evidence to prove this. The tool they used to obtain this evidence was biased because of their blinkered view of general knowledge. Inevitably immigrants would do poorly on their test – a self-fulfilling prophecy. Nature or nurture? The evidence doesn’t show that intelligence is innate – this is just an assumption at the start of Yerkes’ work. It probably supports the nurture view because it is difficult to see how intelligence can be tested except through cultural experiences, which implies that cultural experiences modify our intelligence. Applications/usefulness Yerkes’ research had an effect – to support immigration policies – so its value lay in providing the kind of ‘objective’ evidence that the US government of the time wanted. Immigrants would not regard this as valuable. The review is valuable because it makes us reflect on ethnocentric practices of our own time, and warns us to be cautious of evidence that is described as ‘objective’. It is important to assess the methods that are used.

Exam questions (page 177) 1. The IQ tests identified the different mental abilities of different immigrant groups and this was used to argue that all immigrant groups were lowering the mental age through uncontrolled interbreeding. To prevent this, immigration restrictions were imposed, particularly on those with lower IQs. 2. (a) One fact was that whites had an average mental age of 13, which was just above being a ‘moron’. This mental age appeared to be decreasing. (b) The data were used by politicians to help frame the Immigration Restriction Act of 1924, supporting the view that immigrants were undesirable because interbreeding was reducing mental ability. 3. (a) One was for the literate recruits (Alpha test), one was for those who couldn’t read and write (Beta test) and the final form of test (individual interview) was for those who failed the pictorial (Beta) test. (b) One problem was that the Beta tests still required people to be able to use a pen and write – which many of them had never done before. 4. (a) He meant a person’s innate (inherited) ability to do intellectual tasks, determined genetically rather than through educational opportunities and cultural experiences. (b) [1] Many of the test items required specific knowledge which had to be learned and was not innate (such as identifying Crisco), and [2] even to do the Beta tests you had to know how to write and hold a pen which was something that had to be learned.

Exam-style question (page 179) Core Study: Gould (a) This study involved the use of IQ tests. They were used to collect data either in a written test (the Army Alpha) or a pictorial test (the Army Beta) or given in an individual examination. Anyone who was illiterate should have been given the Army Beta test but in practice there were too many recruits who were illiterate and therefore many were given the Army Alpha. Those who failed the Beta should have had an individual interview but again there were too many so individual exams proved difficult to administer. (b) One advantage of using IQ tests is that you get a score for each person so you can compare individuals. For example, in the case of the army tests each man was given a grade from A-plus to E-minus. These scores also helped decide who would be given responsible Army jobs and who would be mere privates. Thus, this could be seen as a necessarily quick and useful way of getting people into the right jobs, taking less time than interviews etc. Another advantage of using IQ tests is that they enable the collection of statistics on large groups of people and the identification their average IQ. For example, in Gould’s article he showed that the army tests were used to demonstrate that white Americans were declining in intelligence and Europeans from the south and east were lower in intelligence than those from the north and west. One disadvantage of using IQ tests is that they do not fairly represent IQ. For example, in Gould’s article it was clear that the reason blacks and some immigrants did less well on the tests was not related to their intelligence but instead to their familiarity with American culture. There were items on the Alpha test which could only have been known if you had lived in America for some time (e.g. ‘What is Crisco?’). Therefore IQ was at least partly a measure of cultural knowledge, not intelligence. A second disadvantage is that information from seemingly objective equipment like an IQ test or PET scan may be treated as a fact and used to shape social policy. For example, the IQ data were presented as facts and the Immigration Act in the US in the 1930s restricted immigration of people from southern and eastern European because they were regarded as low in intelligence. Thus, people may not realise that data from such measurement tools are reductionist and may hide important information. (c) The data could have been collected using a less biased test such as the pictorial test or a non-verbal IQ test. This could have been administered, like the Alpha test, in groups (like an examination room), under controlled conditions. All the participants could take it in this way and there would be less need for having three different forms (Alpha, Beta, individual) as just this one should suffice. The effect of this would be to produce a more valid measure of IQ and one that would not show such significant cultural differences, i.e. there should not be such a noticeable difference between immigrants according to country of origin. However, such non-verbal tests might be problematic as they measure an even narrower idea of intelligence, and this might be unfair towards individuals who are less spatially aware. [NB when answering questions such as (c) you are required to suggest alternative procedures for a study with the same aim. You need to spend time describing what you would do (4 marks) and then also spend time considering the effect specifically upon the results (4 marks).]

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STUDY 18: HRABA AND GRANT (DOLL CHOICE) Qs (page 183) 1 Making sure all the dolls looked the same except for their colour. 2 Racial preference (measured by doll choice), and racial selfidentification (also measured by doll choice). 3 Children might not have wanted to give the same answer every time (on all eight questions), so they varied their choice. As in Samuel and Bryant’s study the children may have thought different answers were required because they were asked different questions. 4 They may have been confused by the questions. 5 The white children were most ethnocentric because more of them thought the white doll was nicer than the black children’s choice of black doll. 6 There were social changes so that black people were held in greater esteem generally (civil rights movement, ‘black is beautiful’ movement) which meant that at least some black children had higher esteem for blacks.

Qs (page 184)

Ethical issues Informed consent – the children were too young to give their own consent and might have preferred to not take part. If they found the experience confusing or disturbing they should have been debriefed and reassured that their answers were normal. Deception – presumably the children were not told the true aims of the study, so again debriefing should have been thorough. Psychological harm – some of the children might have been distressed by questions such as ‘Which doll looks bad?’. Confidentiality – it would probably be possible to identify the schools in this study. This is an example of socially sensitive research since the findings may have a significant social impact. Therefore caution should be taken in the conduct and reporting of this study. Qualitative or quantitative? The data were all quantitative. Strength: easy to analyse percentages showing doll choice and race of friends.

1 The black pride (‘black is beautiful’) movement which increased the positive identity of blacks (for blacks and whites) and increased acceptance.

Limitation: no insights provided into the reasons why children made these choices. If they had been asked to explain their choices one might have discovered much more about their attitudes.

2 Hraba and Grant used an interracial setting.

Ethnocentricism

3 Piaget noted that children of this age can’t detect conceptual contradictions, which can be used to explain the lack of consistency in their choice of dolls and friends.

This study shows that the children’s attitude to other dolls was ethnocentric and probably served to increase their self-identity, e.g. white children thought the black doll looked bad but thought the white doll was nice.

Evaluating the study by Hraba and Grant (page 185) NB all answers should be contextualised The research method Strength: such methods allow us to investigate the relationship between IVs and DVs in situations which we could not manipulate artificially, such as race. In this study you can see what effect race (IV) had on doll choice and friendship choice (DVs). Limitation: as this is not a true experiment we cannot conclude that race caused these behaviours, merely that there were associations (or not) between some of the variables.

Validity Demand characteristics – the children may simply have been demonstrating society’s preferences rather than their own. The fact that some children didn’t correctly answer the question on the colour of the doll suggests they weren’t really answering the questions properly (e.g. not concentrating). There should have been some questions to assess truthfulness. Some children may have been responding to social desirability bias. Doll choice is not the same as friendship choice so they may not have been testing racial preference at all and the findings may be meaningless. Ecological validity

The sample The 1939 study was related to one particular community which may have not been representative of the whole of the US at the time. More southern US cities may have had a larger percentage of blacks and less integration in comparison. The 1969 study relates to its own historical period – social changes meant that there were differences between this and the 1939 sample, but there have also been changes since. The 1969 sample was characterised as an interracial community which was not the same as the 1939 sample or other communities. The findings can only be related to people of this historical period and from similar communities but they also tell us how social changes and community attitudes and settings are related to black identity (and may cause differences).

The lack of validity suggests that we can’t really make useful generalisations from this study. Choosing between dolls is not the same as choosing friends, i.e. it is not a representative task. Applications/usefulness This study was useful insofar as it suggests that social changes have made a difference to black identity, and that interracial communities are better for black self-esteem, which should encourage such social changes.

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What next?

You could add a task which said ‘Which of these dolls would you like as a friend?’ This would mean the answer to this was more comparable to the other questions and you might find a closer

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relationship between friendship choice and other choices (though it could still be criticised for lack of ecological validity). It would be interesting to see if what they said about friend choice related to actual friend choice.

Exam questions (page 185) 1. (a) Children were asked questions about doll preference using eight instructions, e.g. give me the doll you would like to play with, the one which is nice, looks bad, etc. (b) Hraba and Grant collected additional data about friendships with black or white children. 2. (a) The majority said that the white doll was nice or they preferred it rather than saying ‘don’t know’. (b) One problem is that of ethics as you encourage people to make statements for or against a group of people and this may produce socially sensitive data. 3. (a) Two factors are racial preference and racial knowledge. (b) The black pride movement which has increased the self-esteem of black Americans. 4. [1] The black pride movement meant that black children in 1969 had a more positive identity than they did in 1939. [2] The 1969 study looked at children who lived in a more interracial community, which may enhance positive identity because interracial contact leads to greater acceptance of and by whites and increases selfesteem.

Exam-style question (page 187) (a) Gould: this article is useful in highlighting the way that people are blinded by facts and need to look beyond such facts to the way that facts were collected. In this case Gould showed that the supposed facts (apparently showing differences in intelligence according to ethnic background) were highly subjective and biased. Hraba and Grant: this study has been useful because it deals with the issue of racial identity and shows that black children appeared to have a higher self-concept than they did when the study was conducted thirty years earlier. It suggests that campaigns like ‘black is beautiful’ have been effective in raising self-esteem. It also suggests that other groups in society that feel discriminated against could benefit from such campaigns (e.g. in the past twenty years there has been a gay pride campaign).

Rosenhan: this study raises an important question about the reliability of diagnosis in psychological illnesses. It was very useful in making psychologists and psychiatrists question whether they were actually diagnosing a real condition or were over-influenced by the situation in which they saw a person. This research is useful because it has led to tighter diagnostic procedures and criteria. Loftus and Palmer: this study was useful in highlighting how easily eyewitness testimony could be influenced. They showed that not only do leading questions alter the responses given by an eyewitness but also they change the person’s memory for events. This research has been influential and juries are now guided never to convict a person on the strength of eyewitness testimony alone. (b) Problem 1: in order to conduct useful investigations you often have to reduce the variables in everyday life to something that doesn’t closely resemble real life and therefore cannot necessarily be generalised to everyday life. For example, in Loftus and Palmer’s study, the identification tasks involved watching a film of a car accident which lacked many real-life elements which may affect memory, such as the emotional involvement. Therefore we can’t be sure how much these results tell us about real-life eyewitness testimony. Problem 2: useful investigations generally need to be conducted in realistic settings and so may fail to control all extraneous variables which means that the conclusions of a study may not be valid. This could be the case in Rosenhan’s study which was not very tightly controlled. There were situational cues about whether a person was mentally ill so it wasn’t simply a false diagnosis. The same thing might happen if a doctor saw someone on a TB ward. Problem 3: some useful studies raise ethical issues which affect people’s lives and perhaps such research should not be conducted. For example, Hraba and Grant’s study concerned the issues of racial identity. Some black people might object to such racial differences being investigated and the findings might be misused if they show that blacks have weaker self-concepts. Thus, the research may be used against people (even though this might be unintentional on the part of the researchers). Problem 4: useful research relies on individual interpretation of events. For example, Gould’s article is his interpretation of the history of IQ testing. Some people might object to the spin he puts on the uselessness of the tests because they could argue that IQ tests had many positive effects such as being used to place people in jobs. Thus, useful research is often controversial and the same data may be used by different people for entirely different purposes.

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STUDY 19: ROSENHAN (SANE IN INSANE PL ACES) Qs (page 191) 1 One hypothesis is ‘Abnormality is not a characteristic of certain individuals but is rather the context they are seen in.’ A more operationalised version is ‘Pseudopatients (no abnormality) are diagnosed as insane when placed in an insane context rather than being recognised as sane.’

The sample The pseudopatients were a relatively representative group in terms of age and occupation, so were not particularly unique, which means we can generalise the findings to other people. The hospitals were also selected to represent various typical differences.

2 They both showed that the diagnosis of mental illness is totally unreliable. Study 1 suggested that unreliability is due to a type 2 error. Study 2 suggested it could be due to a type 1 error. Thus, both studies show that doctors cannot make valid judgements about whether a patient is ill or not.

Both samples, however, were small so it could be that the results were biased because of a few unusual circumstances such as some of the pseudopatients having troubled life histories despite being ‘normal’, or some of the hospitals might have had a poor management structure.

3 It means that someone has had schizophrenia but at the moment the symptoms have disappeared.

The second study was conducted in only one hospital so perhaps these data should be treated with more caution.

4 It is better to call a healthy person sick just in case you are wrong and they then don’t get treated and are very ill. This of course depends on the severity of the treatment used.

Quantitative or qualitative?

5 Because the treatment of a physically ill person doesn’t involve a label that will stick and the treatment may be less invasive of the individual’s personality. 6 No, because I would not have liked to be stuck in a mental hospital.

Qs (page 192)

Quantitative data, e.g. number of days before release, number of true patients diagnosed as pseudopatients, percentage of types of responses of health professionals when approached by a patient. Strengths: easy to analyse and make comparisons, and reach conclusions about the reaction of hospital staff to the patients. Limitations: oversimplify the situation and do not give rich data on what life was like in the mental hospital.

1 Because it has a powerful influence on how we perceive the individual’s whole personality.

Qualitative data, e.g. quote from psychiatrist describing the case of the 39-year-old man, descriptions of lack of human rights.

2 The psychiatrist saw this as evidence that he had difficulty controlling his emotions.

Strengths: provide interesting and new insights into the way mental patients were treated.

3 [1] They spent little time with the patients and made little eye contact (which indicates a lack of interest), and [2] they beat the patients and swore at them.

Limitations: difficult to analyse and make generalisations because the examples cited may be unique.

Evaluating the study by Rosenhan (page 193) NB all answers should be contextualised The research method Controlled participant observation (IV tested e.g. effect of voices, telling hospital staff there were pseudopatients, asking questions). Strengths: study may be more natural because participants were observing from within the mental institution, and the fact that the observation had some controls (using pseudopatients who are normal to observe effect on diagnosis) means a relationship can be investigated. Limitations: participant observation isn’t highly objective because the observations will be influenced by the fact that the observers were taking part – being treated as patients may have affected their views on the behaviour of the psychiatric staff. Field experiments Strengths: able to study behaviour in a more natural environment so responses of people to mental patients are more realistic than in a contrived laboratory situation. Limitations: it isn’t possible to control extraneous variables to the same extent as in a laboratory. For example, the way the pseudopatients presented themselves might vary from one occasion to another.

Ethical issues Informed consent of the pseudopatients, which was obtained though they still may have experienced psychological harm as a result of spending time in the mental hospital. This could be dealt with by debriefing. Deception of hospital staff in all of the studies. This could be dealt with through debriefing and offering participants the chance to withhold their data – though this would have muddled the results of the study. Personality versus situation The results of this study suggest that situational factors are more crucial in determining behaviour and how others view us than an individual’s personality. Ecological validity It seems reasonable to generalise these findings to other situations where insanity is diagnosed, and to question the reliability of such diagnoses. The participants and hospitals were selected to be representative. It is true that the observations may have lacked objectivity which somewhat reduces the validity. There is also the issue of demand characteristics, which reduces validity. The willingness to commit a patient on flimsy evidence may be because the psychiatrist wouldn’t suspect for a minute that someone might be pretending and therefore assumes that anyone seeking admission must have a good reason to do so. This does not negate any of the subsequent events, e.g. the effects of labelling.

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Applications/usefulness This study is very important in questioning the treatment of abnormality and our belief in the medical diagnosis of abnormality. It leads to valuable suggestions about the diagnosis of the mentally ill which should be less biased, and the treatment, which should be more positive, from staff with more interest in the patients.

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What next?

It might be useful to consider other conditions aside from schizophrenia, which is a serious disease where patients may be dangerous and thus psychiatrists more willing to commit a type 2 error. You could do the same with depression to see if the same kind of errors were made. I would think there would be less willingness to commit someone with depression.

Exam questions (page 193) 1. (a) Because it was more risky to discharge someone who was mentally ill and not treat them (than to commit them to hospital where they could be properly observed). (b) They identified real patients as pseudopatients because they were being more cautious in their diagnoses. 2. (a) Writing notes all the time and sitting outside the cafeteria. (b) Because there is overlap between the two groups – sane people display insane behaviours, and insane people often act quite sanely. 3. (a) [1] The staff didn’t answer their questions, and [2] they had little personal privacy. (b) The psychiatrists had little to do with the patients and this inspired the rest of the staff to act similarly. 4. (a) He meant that once someone is given a label of being mentally ill, this label sticks and affects all subsequent perceptions of that person, e.g. it may be difficult to get a job perhaps even years later. (b) One man’s life history was seen as lacking stability and his relationships were interpreted as ambivalent.

Exam-style question (page 195) Core study: Rosenhan (a) The observational data were collected in this study by the pseudopatients on the ward. They made lots of notes about what other patients said and what the nursing staff spent their time doing. They noted the conditions in the hospital ward, e.g. in terms of privacy and conversations with doctors. They also observed how the staff responded when they were approached and asked a question.

(b) One advantage of the observations in this study is that the people being observed often didn’t know they were being observed and so did not alter their behaviour. For example, the nurses might have made more effort with the patients if they knew a record was being made of their behaviour. But as they did not know they were being observed, their actions included things like ignoring patients. Therefore, observation can give a truer, more valid measure of people’s behaviour than other research methods. A second advantage is that you can observe all behaviour without selecting particular variables. In Rosenhan’s study this research hadn’t been done before, so it wouldn’t have been clear what particular variables it might have been interesting to study. Therefore it was good just to observe and record everything that happened. He did later investigate a specific variable – what happened when pseudopatients or ordinary people stopped someone to ask a question. One disadvantage is that of ethical issues. In Rosenhan’s study the staff in the hospital did not know they were being observed so this raises ethical issues that their privacy was being invaded. They did hear about it afterwards but probably had no opportunity to say they didn’t want the observations made public. Thus, the (human) rights of the participants are in question here. A second disadvantage of the observations in this study is that they might have been biased. The observations were made by participant observers, that is people who were involved in the hospital and not objective observers. The fact that they were subjected to hospital treatment may have affected what they ‘saw’. This could mean that they tended to record the more negative events and encounters, so a true picture was not recorded, which questions the validity of the study. (c) One other way would be to have objective observers sit behind a one-way mirror and note what was happening using unstructured observations. This could again be conducted over several days or weeks in order to see as much as possible of the routine of the hospital. Also, the longer the observation lasts, the more likely it is that the participants will forget they are being observed and revert to their normal behaviour. A second way would be to become a participant observer, but this time as a nurse or orderly, rather than a patient. Again, there could be eight participant observers, and so a number of hospitals could be sampled. By being a participant observer in this role, they would be able to talk to nurses/staff more as equals, and understand more their view of the hospital and reasons for their behaviour, as well as observing what they are doing when they are with patients and not with patients. Again, the observations could last several weeks at least, in order to allow the participant observers to be settled in to their ‘job’ and be accepted by the other staff members. [NB when answering questions such as (c) you are required to suggest alternative procedures for a study with the same aim. You need to spend time describing what you would do (4 marks) and then also spend time considering the effect specifically upon the results (4 marks).]

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STUDY 20: THIGPEN AND CLECKLEY (MULTIPLE PERSONALITY DISORDER) Qs (page 199) 1 Buying expensive clothes and hiding them. 2 They gave EW some things to remember, told EB to erase them, and tested EW’s memory a while later. 3 A psychometric test is a test that measures some aspect of psychological ability by giving it a numerical value. A projective test is one where a person has to interpret something like a picture or story and in doing so projects their own personality onto their interpretation. 4 It may have been because she had feelings of anger and jealousy and needed to repress these, which resulted in the formation of a separate personality to be the ‘other’ Eve.

Qs (page 200) 1 The fact they got to know both Eves may have led them to have expectations which would influence their later perceptions – seeing EW in a good light and EB in a worse light.

EEG Strength: produces quantitative data so it is easier to make comparisons between the three personalities. Limitation: interpretation of this data is limited. Meaning of alpha rhythms is unclear, and differences may not be particularly significant. Handwriting analysis Strength: gives insight into personality. Limitation: neither objective nor reliable, seen as a pseudoscience. Interviews (with three personalities and family) Strength: gains access to reflections and thoughts/feelings. Limitations: recollections may well be biased/inaccurate; interviewee may respond to interviewer’s expectations; social desirability bias. In short, lacks validity. Observation

2 [1] Different alpha rhythms, and [2] three distinct personalities with not just small differences but three individuals.

Strength: people don’t often do what they say they do, so observing behaviour may be a more ‘honest’ way to find out about a person.

3 Many of the appropriate symptoms were absent.

Limitations: observer bias – the observer sees what he expects to see. Additionally, Eve knew she was being observed and so may have altered her behaviour in some way.

4 EW – superego, EB – id, Jane – ego (moderating between id and superego).

Evaluating the study by Thigpen and Cleckley (page 201) NB all answers should be contextualised The research method Strengths: a case study allows you to study one individual case of multiple personality or other abnormal disorder. Such cases are very rare so it is really the main way to study the disorder while getting sufficient detail. Limitations: any individual is unique. There were special things about Eve’s case which were unique and therefore the conclusions drawn from this may not apply to other cases of MPD.

The sample Eve was unique even in terms of MPD – every patient has a unique set of circumstances which means it is not possible to generalise to all other cases of MPD. The case does, however, give insight into the condition and together with other cases can be used to start to build up a picture of MPD. Qualitative and quantitative Quantitative: IQ score, EEG recording. Strength: produces simple data, such as a single number so makes it easy to compare the three personalities and draw conclusions.

The research technique

Limitation: such data may mask important differences because they are so simple, e.g. IQ score doesn’t really represent intellectual differences.

Psychometric tests

Qualitative: Eve’s recollections, projective test results.

Strength: produce a single number so this makes it easy to compare the three personalities.

Strength: rich data provide insight into differences between personalities.

Limitation: such tests are not always reliable – scores fluctuate due to other circumstances so the differences between EW and EV may not be because of different personalities but simply mood at different times of day, or because one personality tried harder than another.

Limitation: much more difficult to analyse and make comparisons, therefore conclusions are not so clear.

Projective tests Strength: give insight into hidden feelings and attitudes which could not otherwise be accessed, especially since EW repressed her feelings. Limitation: interpretation of such tests is subjective so outcome not totally valid.

Ethical issues Informed consent: Eve, as a mentally ill woman, was not really in a position to provide informed consent for her case to be publicised in this way. She should have had an adviser acting on her behalf. Privacy: Eve’s name was kept secret but she was probably recognisable by those at the university and maybe even her home town. She chose later to reveal her true identity.

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Confidentiality: her personal affairs were made public and she should have been asked permission for this. Psychological harm: she may have been further distressed by the notoriety of the case. Nature or nurture? The details given in the study suggest that it was life events (nurture) that triggered the disorder but one might suspect that she was in some way genetically predisposed (nature) to react in this way to distressing events – otherwise why is the condition so rare? Applications/usefulness The study was useful in establishing MPD as a recognised disorder and may help other sufferers, though it may also encourage fakes.

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What next?

One change would be to study some further cases to be able to draw some general conclusions about causes.

Exam questions (page 201) 1. (a) IQ test (Wechsler-Bellevue) and Rorschach. (b) The findings from the IQ test were that Eve White scored 110 and Eve Black scored 104. 2. One problem is that the therapists became involved with Eve and may not have been totally objective in the data they recorded. For example, once they started to see Eve Black in a certain somewhat negative light this may have affected the way they treated her and the observations they made of her. 3. [1] The differences in the behaviour of Eve White and Eve Black (EW was serious, quiet and prim whereas EB was flirtatious, naughty and amoral), and [2] the alpha wave rhythms were distinctly different in EW and EB. 4. (a) He interpreted it by believing there to be a completely different person now seated before him. (b) It could be that Eve was just acting and pretending to be someone different.

Exam-style question (page 203) Core study: Thigpen and Cleckley (a) The data were collected through interviews with the patient by the psychiatrists. Sometimes they would talk to Eve White and sometimes to Eve Black and later Jane. Eve had over 100 hours of therapy sessions spread over more than 14 months. They collected other data by having a psychologist interview her and give her an IQ test, memory test and projective tests. They further used a handwriting expert and tested the patients’ EEG. Additionally, they also obtained some information about Eve from her relatives.

(b) One strength is that you can collect rich data. In the case of Eve White the therapists recorded information about her case over a long time and provided considerable insight into multiple personality disorder. This means that the research will be more useful to psychiatrists in the future who think they may have a patient with the same syndrome. A second strength is that the case study approach allows the study of unusual cases as in this case study of multiple personality disorder. At the time of the study there had only been a handful of such cases so this provided an opportunity to better understand the condition, as it would have been impossible to study a normal sample size of participants with MPD. Thus, a case study, in this situation, is the best possible option and can still be useful for other psychiatrists. One weakness is that each case is unique and thus may give us a biased view of the situation. Eve may not be a typical case of multiple personality disorder; in fact each case of MPD would have unique characteristics, but reading this case would make us assume that it is typical. For example, we might think it was typical that MPD sufferers had an alter who represented their younger self. Thus, care should be taken in generalising from this study. A second weakness of case studies is that the researchers can get too involved in the single participant and this may mean the report is too subjective. For example, Thigpen and Cleckley clearly felt emotionally involved with the plight of Eve White, and were surprised at the emergence of Eve Black and soon began to see her as more negative. This judgement may have affected how they treated Eve Black and their further observations of her. Therefore, they may have overemphasised differences between Eve White and Eve Black. Thus, a case study may lose objectivity which can then endanger the validity of the study. (c) Data could have been gathered by interviewing a number of MPD patients over the years and gathering data on particular aspects of each patient, e.g. early experiences, descriptions of alters, experiences of ‘fugue’, unexplained physical symptoms such as headaches etc. This would mean that the results gave a fuller picture of the range of symptoms shown by MPD sufferers and would give us a fuller picture of the condition. It is likely that other MPD sufferers have more than just the one ‘alter’, like Eve. Also, it is likely that many of the main personalities are not aware of the existence of the other personalities. However, the other features, such as whether the other personalities represented ‘repressed’ negative emotions from an earlier period of the patients’ lives, may well be different. Some may have alters who are more mature and responsible. [NB when answering questions such as (c) you are required to suggest alternative procedures for a study with the same aim. You need to spend time describing what you would do (4 marks) and then also spend time considering the effect specifically upon the results (4 marks).]

8 CHAPTER 5

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