Michael Jackson : a psychobiography
- Authors: Ruiters, Jeremy John
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: Jackson, Michael, 1958-2009 , Psychology -- Biographical methods , Psychoanalysis , African American singers -- Biography
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3228 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1013061
- Description: In a psychobiography a psychological theory is used as a framework to uncover the story of an individual. The psychobiographical approach to research tends to be underutilised. The result of this is that an important area for the application of psychobiographical theory and the study of completed lives is neglected. The value of psychobiographical studies has been advocated by many scholars in the field of psychobiographical research for the development and testing of theories relating to human development. The subject under investigation in this psychobiography is Michael Jackson. Although much has been written about Jackson, not much of the existing literature adopts a psychological focus. The sampling procedure was purposive, as the subject was deliberately selected. The aim of this research was to explore and describe the life of Jackson through the use of the psychobiographical case method. Life history material in the form of biographies, newspaper articles, documentaries and interviews aided in creating a biographical sketch of Jackson's life. The progression of Jackson's personality development was analysed using Erikson’s psychosocial development theory. The data collection and analysis were conducted according to Yin's analytical generalisation which consists of two main strategies: (1) using a theoretical framework as a guide to determine what data are relevant, and (2) developing a matrix as a descriptive framework for organising and integrating the data. Furthermore, the process of data analysis was aided by the use of guidelines prepared by Alexander with Erikson’s psychosocial development as the theoretical framework. This research undertaking can be recognised as a positive demonstration of the value of Erikson’s psychosocial developmental theory in understanding the process of Michael Jackson's personality development. Recommendations regarding future research that utilises the psychobiographical research design and methodology have been made.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
- Authors: Ruiters, Jeremy John
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: Jackson, Michael, 1958-2009 , Psychology -- Biographical methods , Psychoanalysis , African American singers -- Biography
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3228 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1013061
- Description: In a psychobiography a psychological theory is used as a framework to uncover the story of an individual. The psychobiographical approach to research tends to be underutilised. The result of this is that an important area for the application of psychobiographical theory and the study of completed lives is neglected. The value of psychobiographical studies has been advocated by many scholars in the field of psychobiographical research for the development and testing of theories relating to human development. The subject under investigation in this psychobiography is Michael Jackson. Although much has been written about Jackson, not much of the existing literature adopts a psychological focus. The sampling procedure was purposive, as the subject was deliberately selected. The aim of this research was to explore and describe the life of Jackson through the use of the psychobiographical case method. Life history material in the form of biographies, newspaper articles, documentaries and interviews aided in creating a biographical sketch of Jackson's life. The progression of Jackson's personality development was analysed using Erikson’s psychosocial development theory. The data collection and analysis were conducted according to Yin's analytical generalisation which consists of two main strategies: (1) using a theoretical framework as a guide to determine what data are relevant, and (2) developing a matrix as a descriptive framework for organising and integrating the data. Furthermore, the process of data analysis was aided by the use of guidelines prepared by Alexander with Erikson’s psychosocial development as the theoretical framework. This research undertaking can be recognised as a positive demonstration of the value of Erikson’s psychosocial developmental theory in understanding the process of Michael Jackson's personality development. Recommendations regarding future research that utilises the psychobiographical research design and methodology have been made.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
Mahatma Gandhi : a psychobiographical study
- Authors: Pillay, Koneshverrie
- Date: 2009
- Subjects: Mahatma Gandhi Institute (Mauritius) , Psychology -- Biographical methods , Psychoanalysis , Developmental psychology
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:9890 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/1159 , Mahatma Gandhi Institute (Mauritius) , Psychology -- Biographical methods , Psychoanalysis , Developmental psychology
- Description: The study is of a psychobiographical nature, employing a psychological theory as a paradigm within which to uncover the narrative of an individual’s life. There are relatively few studies of this nature, particularly with a South African focus. The study applied a qualitative psychobiographical research method which aimed to describe Mahatma Gandhi's psychological development according to Erik Erikson’s (1950) Psychosocial Developmental Theory. Mohandas Karamchund Gandhi or Mahatma Gandhi as he was generally known was a major political and spiritual leader. Although much has been written on his life, a psychobiography has not yet been written. He was chosen as the research subject through purposive sampling on the basis of interest value, uniqueness and significance of his life. The data collection and analysis was conducted according to Yin’s (1994) ‘analytic generalization’ which incorporated Erikson’s theory of psychosocial stages. Alexander’s (1988) nine proposed guidelines assisted in the process of data analysis. The study concluded that Gandhi had attained the ego virtues of hope, will, purpose, competence, fidelity love, care and wisdom as proposed by Erikson’s (1950) Psychosocial Developmental Theory within the delineated age frame.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
- Authors: Pillay, Koneshverrie
- Date: 2009
- Subjects: Mahatma Gandhi Institute (Mauritius) , Psychology -- Biographical methods , Psychoanalysis , Developmental psychology
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:9890 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/1159 , Mahatma Gandhi Institute (Mauritius) , Psychology -- Biographical methods , Psychoanalysis , Developmental psychology
- Description: The study is of a psychobiographical nature, employing a psychological theory as a paradigm within which to uncover the narrative of an individual’s life. There are relatively few studies of this nature, particularly with a South African focus. The study applied a qualitative psychobiographical research method which aimed to describe Mahatma Gandhi's psychological development according to Erik Erikson’s (1950) Psychosocial Developmental Theory. Mohandas Karamchund Gandhi or Mahatma Gandhi as he was generally known was a major political and spiritual leader. Although much has been written on his life, a psychobiography has not yet been written. He was chosen as the research subject through purposive sampling on the basis of interest value, uniqueness and significance of his life. The data collection and analysis was conducted according to Yin’s (1994) ‘analytic generalization’ which incorporated Erikson’s theory of psychosocial stages. Alexander’s (1988) nine proposed guidelines assisted in the process of data analysis. The study concluded that Gandhi had attained the ego virtues of hope, will, purpose, competence, fidelity love, care and wisdom as proposed by Erikson’s (1950) Psychosocial Developmental Theory within the delineated age frame.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
Obedient daughter, silenced witch: the hysteric in Freudian psychoanalysis
- Authors: Roux, Catharina
- Date: 1989
- Subjects: Freud, Sigmund, 1856-1939 -- Criticism and interpretation , Hysteria , Psychoanalysis , Seduction
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3117 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004637 , Freud, Sigmund, 1856-1939 -- Criticism and interpretation , Hysteria , Psychoanalysis , Seduction
- Description: This study explores the theoretical consequences of Freud's renunciation of the seduction theory. The dissertation defends the thesis that the seduction theory was shaped as much by Freud's adherence to the nomonological model as by the empirical evidence of child sexual abuse. A renunciation of the seduction theory was inevitable, not because the accounts of the daughters were lies, but because the methodology was inappropriate. The nomonological model obscured the emotional structure of the nuclear family in which the structure itself, through which sexuality emerged, directed the girl's entrance into womanhood and caused the woman's dis-ease. Freud's methodology forced him to isolate an event as cause of an illness and to attribute the event to an agent. The universal perversity of the Victorian father thus became the central theme around which an explanation of a female disease was built. When this theme became theoretically untenable, Freud renounced the seduction theory and, still using the nomonological model, built up the construct of the Oedipus complex in which the father was vindicated. In order to exonerate the father, the transactions through which the child's libido developed were represented as originating in inherent tendencies. As a result, the hierarchical nature of the interaction between parent and child was distorted, and this led to the formulation of the distinction between real events and fantasies as a basic premise on which the difference between the pleasure principle and the reality principle rests. This formulation gave rise to the sharp duality between fantasy and reality which eventually compelled him to separate psychic reality and social reality. The theoretical structure built on this duality could not but fuse hysteria, masochism and "normal" femininity into an explanation of the female state, and obscure the essential social relations between men and women which were structured in terms of dominance and submission. The thesis traces the journey from the perverted father as cause of a female disease, hysteria, to the theoretical conjunction of masochism and hysteria. It comes to the conclusion that Freud's model is unable to explain the self-mutilation of the hysteric; nor is it capable of explaining the hysteric's refusal to participate in the circuit of symbolic exchanges which constituted Victorian society. The study further attempts to understand hysteria in terms of the complex interlacing of fact and fantasy and tries to show that fantasy was rooted in the facts of Victorian culture.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1989
- Authors: Roux, Catharina
- Date: 1989
- Subjects: Freud, Sigmund, 1856-1939 -- Criticism and interpretation , Hysteria , Psychoanalysis , Seduction
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3117 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004637 , Freud, Sigmund, 1856-1939 -- Criticism and interpretation , Hysteria , Psychoanalysis , Seduction
- Description: This study explores the theoretical consequences of Freud's renunciation of the seduction theory. The dissertation defends the thesis that the seduction theory was shaped as much by Freud's adherence to the nomonological model as by the empirical evidence of child sexual abuse. A renunciation of the seduction theory was inevitable, not because the accounts of the daughters were lies, but because the methodology was inappropriate. The nomonological model obscured the emotional structure of the nuclear family in which the structure itself, through which sexuality emerged, directed the girl's entrance into womanhood and caused the woman's dis-ease. Freud's methodology forced him to isolate an event as cause of an illness and to attribute the event to an agent. The universal perversity of the Victorian father thus became the central theme around which an explanation of a female disease was built. When this theme became theoretically untenable, Freud renounced the seduction theory and, still using the nomonological model, built up the construct of the Oedipus complex in which the father was vindicated. In order to exonerate the father, the transactions through which the child's libido developed were represented as originating in inherent tendencies. As a result, the hierarchical nature of the interaction between parent and child was distorted, and this led to the formulation of the distinction between real events and fantasies as a basic premise on which the difference between the pleasure principle and the reality principle rests. This formulation gave rise to the sharp duality between fantasy and reality which eventually compelled him to separate psychic reality and social reality. The theoretical structure built on this duality could not but fuse hysteria, masochism and "normal" femininity into an explanation of the female state, and obscure the essential social relations between men and women which were structured in terms of dominance and submission. The thesis traces the journey from the perverted father as cause of a female disease, hysteria, to the theoretical conjunction of masochism and hysteria. It comes to the conclusion that Freud's model is unable to explain the self-mutilation of the hysteric; nor is it capable of explaining the hysteric's refusal to participate in the circuit of symbolic exchanges which constituted Victorian society. The study further attempts to understand hysteria in terms of the complex interlacing of fact and fantasy and tries to show that fantasy was rooted in the facts of Victorian culture.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1989
Theory in interpretive psychology - with special reference to Paul Ricoeur's interpretation of Freud
- Authors: Du Toit, Barry
- Date: 1988
- Subjects: Freud, Sigmund, 1856-1939 , Ricœur, Paul , Psychoanalysis
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2906 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002071
- Description: The thesis aims to show that, while an interpretive psychology is not compatible with theory as it occurs in the predictive- causal explanation of the natural sciences, it is both possible and necessary to develop a concept of theory valid within an interpretive methodology. These claims are advanced in the course of an examination of Ricoeur 's interpretation of Freudian psychoanalysis. After examining some traditional ways in which phenomenological psychology has responded to the psychoanalytic challenge, the thesis presents an interpretation of Freudian psychoanalysis as a hermeneutic approach which utilized theoretical constructions in a productive way, although distorted by Freud's natural-scientific self- understanding. Freud's causal-explanatory language and natural- scientific meta theory are shown to be significant inasmuch as they provide a vehicle for theory construction in psychoanalysis. However, since the theory is modeled on that of the natural sciences, it proves incompatible with the interpretive aspects of Freud's approach. We then establish a concept of theory and of causal analysis which is different to that of the natural sciences, and is compatible with, and indeed founded in, an interpretive approach to psychology. These concepts are then illustrated in the context of psychoanalysis. In the final chapter the advantages of the use of theory in interpretive psychology are discussed.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1988
Theory in interpretive psychology - with special reference to Paul Ricoeur's interpretation of Freud
- Authors: Du Toit, Barry
- Date: 1988
- Subjects: Freud, Sigmund, 1856-1939 , Ricœur, Paul , Psychoanalysis
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2906 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002071
- Description: The thesis aims to show that, while an interpretive psychology is not compatible with theory as it occurs in the predictive- causal explanation of the natural sciences, it is both possible and necessary to develop a concept of theory valid within an interpretive methodology. These claims are advanced in the course of an examination of Ricoeur 's interpretation of Freudian psychoanalysis. After examining some traditional ways in which phenomenological psychology has responded to the psychoanalytic challenge, the thesis presents an interpretation of Freudian psychoanalysis as a hermeneutic approach which utilized theoretical constructions in a productive way, although distorted by Freud's natural-scientific self- understanding. Freud's causal-explanatory language and natural- scientific meta theory are shown to be significant inasmuch as they provide a vehicle for theory construction in psychoanalysis. However, since the theory is modeled on that of the natural sciences, it proves incompatible with the interpretive aspects of Freud's approach. We then establish a concept of theory and of causal analysis which is different to that of the natural sciences, and is compatible with, and indeed founded in, an interpretive approach to psychology. These concepts are then illustrated in the context of psychoanalysis. In the final chapter the advantages of the use of theory in interpretive psychology are discussed.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1988
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