Thigpen and Cleckley Quick Notes
Background Dissociative Identity Disorder Multiple Personality Disorder Having more than one personality in one mind.
Aim/hypothesis To help 25 year old married lady with her “severe headaches” and “blackouts”
Methodology Case study and longitudinal study
Variables No variables due to case study
Participants Eve White-Repressive Eve Black-Regressive Jane-Emergent Personality
Procedure Collected evidence A. Puzzled by expensive clothes trip. Had no memory. B. Letter –Shift in tone and different handwriting C. Hearing an imaginary voice, insane? D. Age 6, trip to wood, Eve Black prank
Data 100 hours of interviews Observations Psychometric tests-IQ and Memory Projective tests-Rorscach and human figures Physiological Tests-EEG
Apparatus Completed at the office of Thigpen and Cleckley Videotape and recorder Assessments
Main Findings Minute alterations of manner, gesture, expression, posture, eyebrow and eyemovement, and nuances in reflex or instinct. IQ-110 for White and 104 for Black Memory-Black same level and White far above IQ Rorshcach-Black healthier than White. Black-hysterical traits, White-anxiety, OCD, rigidity Projective: White-Repression, Black-Regression EEG: 12.5 Black and 11 for White and Jane (Fast sometimes psychopathic)
Conclusions This is a genuine case of MPD
Strengths Case study Variety of tests (validity) Amount of data (reliability) Psychometric Tests Projective Tests
Weaknesses Generalisability Practicality Ethics Psychometric tests Projective Tests
Ecological Validity High due to natural setting
Ethics D – R – D– I - C - H –
Usefulness Limited due to applications to others (small percentage) But could be deemed therapeutic for participant herself
Relationship to approach MPD or DID
Relationship to issues Case Studies Generalisation Psychometrics Sampling