General Psychology: The Case Of Ben: A Psychological Case Study

Amy Beckman- Page
General Psychology
5 November 2013
The Case of Ben

Introduction

“The Case of Ben” analyzes eight different Psychology theories: Psychoanalytical, Behavioral, Cognitive, Humanistic, Biological and Evolutionary, and Sociocultural. Ben is a thirty-five year old male who works for a postal company and who began to have life changing problems. Throughout Ben’s life, he experiences weird behavior and thoughts, which can be explained by using the theories. He hears voices in his head, acts out in strange moods, and does things he knows he should not be doing. The treatment for each theory will explain why Ben is facing the troubles he is and how the theories relate to one another, which also important to know when describing
The biological perspective is described as “emphasis is on physical or neurological factors and how they impact behavior, thought, and emotion” (Beckham-Page Chapter 2). “Hormones, heredity, brain chemical, tumors and diseases are some of the biological causes of behavior and mental events” (Ciccarelli 15). The evolutionary theory explains general “mental strategies and traits, such as why we lie, how attractiveness influences mate selection, why fear of snakes is so common, or why people universally like music and dancing” (Ciccarelli 16). The biological and evolutionary perspectives are different from other theories because they focus on influences and
Ben owned up to hearing celebrity voices when he was delivering his boxes saying he was making a mistake (Carson 2). Ben’s behavior was influenced by the voices. One term that describes Ben in a social psychology form is social impairment. Social impairment is “the tendency for the presence of other people to have a negative impact on the performance of a difficult task” (Ciccarelli 456). This term means to the student that social impairment is a disorder in people who have low self-confidence and allow others to hinder on their performance. Ben claimed his co-workers teasing him “undercut his confidence in his ability to perform his job” (Carson 2). Another term that describes Ben is conformity, which is “changing one’s own behavior to more closely match the actions of others” (Ciccarelli 449). This term means to the student that conformity is matching attitudes and ways of dealing in situations. Ben wanted to be ‘normal’ again. He did not want to hear the voices and give his deliveries to the wrong person. One treatment option for the social psychology theory is biomedical therapy. Biomedical therapy is “therapy for mental disorders in which a person with a problem methods to relieve symptoms” (CIccarelli 574). Ben will benefit from this because he will gain confidence when completing his duties at his