FIVE PSYCHOLOGY CASE STUDIES EVERYONE SHOULD KNOW - Ayesha Sabeen M / Head & Assistant Professor / PG Department of Psychology / MKJC

FIVE PSYCHOLOGY CASE STUDIES EVERYONE SHOULD KNOW  

1. PHINEAS CAGE (1848)

A railroad worker survived an ion rod through his skull - but his personality changed drastically.

This showed early evidence that frontal lobe affects personality, decision - making, and emotional control.

This was a ground breaking case in neuropsychology and brain - behavior relationships. 

2. THE BOBO DOLL EXPERIMENT (1961)

Children watched adults act aggressively towards a doll - then imitated that behaviour.

This showed observational learning and how aggression can be modeled socially.

This contributed to the key understanding in social learning theory and media psychology.

3. THE VISUAL CLIFF EXPERIMENT (1960)

Babies placed on a safe "visual cliff" to study depth perception.

Ethical, non - invasive, showed that depth perception may be innate

This contributed to the understanding og perceptual development in infants. 

4. THE WISCONSIN CARD SORTING TEST (1948 - PRESENT)

Measures cognitive flexibility and executive function by asking participants to sort cards by changing rules.

Still widely used in clinical neuropsychology.

This helped to understand the frontal lobe functions without harm or distress.

5. THE STROOP EFFECT

Simple color - word interference test showing how automatic processes can interfere with controlled ones.

Fun, low - stress talk still used in psych labs today.

A staple in attention, cognition and executive function studies. 

From Phineas Gage's personality shift to babies on the visual cliff, these iconic case studies transformed how we understand memory, perception, learning, cognition, and the brain - behaviour connection in Psychology. 

A Blog By

Ms. Ayesha Sabeen M

Head & Assistant Professor

PG Department of Psychology

Marudhar Kesari Jain College for Women (Autonomous)

Vaniyambadi