Miguel’s Hypothetical Situation

Described below are the hypothetical behaviors and mental processes of a boy named Miguel. What follows are the interpretations of Miguel’s behaviors and mental processes from the viewpoint of six of the main theoretical lenses in psychology.

Miguel has been struggling with his coursework lately. He has felt very tired in recent weeks and has found it difficult to focus on his studies. Even though he is always tired, he has trouble falling asleep at night, is irritable during the day, and picks fights with his roommates. He is a bit of a perfectionist and gets mad at himself when he makes even tiny mistakes. It’s gotten to the point where he doubts his ability to do anything right.

Psychodynamic Perspective:

Miguel may have had a traumatic experience when he was a child, where he made a mistake that had severe consequences or caused him to be harshly reprimanded by his parents. Now he fixates on every mistake he makes as a means to prevent himself from having that experience again. This has created a “perfectionist” complex in Miguel, which he likely tries to repress. That act of repression then causes Miguel to be irritable and tired, but unable to fall asleep as his unconscious mind is still focused on his insecurities about completing simple tasks.

Behavioral Perspective:

Miguel may not be in an effective learning environment, which is influencing his ability to study. The lighting and decor of the room may be distracting him, or a lack of color and lighting could be putting him in a bad mood. The same can be attributed to Miguel’s lack of sleep. Miguel’s roommate may make a light of noise, keep his or her light on late at night, or talk to Miguel into the early hours of the morning. This would explain why Miguel picks so many fights with him or her.

Humanistic Perspective:

Miguel is struggling with his coursework and cannot get to sleep because he is not happy with who he is as a person. He needs to stop worrying about the past mistakes he has made, and believe that he is more capable of doing right than wrong. If he takes strides to believe in himself and focus on how he can succeed in the future, he will no longer have problems sleeping or doing homework, which will put him in a better mood overall.

Cognitive Perspective:

Miguel may not be fully developed cognitively. Miguel’s cognitive processing systems may get overloaded and shut down easily, causing him to have difficulties in paying attention and completely coursework. He also many not be fully developed in the problem-solving and decision-making regions of his brain. This can be concluded as Miguel is a perfectionist and doubts he can do anything right, meaning that he cannot properly come to solutions and be confident and content with them. These factors are most likely why Miguel is in such a foul mood and cannot sleep.

Neuroscience Perspective:

Miguel may have a genetic predisposition towards being a perfectionist. It is likely that Miguel was born this way, or inherited his perfectionist nature from his parents, who may show perfectionist tendencies as well. Miguel likely is always in a foul mood and cannot sleep because there he cannot find a way to stop being a perfectionist, as it is ingrained in his genetic code to act that way.

Cultural Perspective:

Miguel may come from a culture where making mistakes is not socially acceptable for children. Many cultures hold children to high standards and do not hold a very positive view of the mistake-making processes. Miguel may feel this pressure to conform to his culture’s social norm, therefore he beats himself up over any mistake he makes, leaving him unable to sleep well and extremely irritable.