JoinAll Case Studies
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In keyword search, list the criteria you would like to find cases. Multiple criteria can be listed separated by commas (i.e. directed, high school)
Educational levels are defined as follows: Elementary, Middle, High School, College
Types of cases are defined as follows: Analysis/Issues, Clicker, Debate, Intimate Debate, Demonstration, Dilemma/Decision, Directed, Discussion, Interrupted, Jig-saw, Journal Article, Laboratory, Student Presentations, Mini-case, Problem-Based Learning, Public Hearing, Role-Play, Trial, Flipped, Game
Stereotype Threat and Recommendations for Overcoming It
By Robert W. Grossman, Selena Kim, Siu-Lu Tan, Thomas E. Ford
This case study uses an example of racism experienced by a Korean American student to explore the concept of stereotype threat and its impact on college classrooms and student performance. The case was designed for use with college faculty in teach t...
By Robert W. Grossman
This case uses an excerpt from the novel I Never Promised You a Rose Garden to teach students to recognize symptoms of mental illness. Students read the excerpt and then work in small groups of two to three to identify and label symptoms of mental il...
By Deborah Engelen-Eigles
This case examines a rare condition known as Body Integrity Identity Disorder, in which an individual has a persistent and consuming desire to become an amputee. Students apply Charles Horton Cooley’s theory of the "looking-glass self" to explore f...
By Laura Y. Lorentzen, Youssef Kousa
This case study follows a woman faced with a series of difficult medical decisions. Students apply systems-level physiology as they explore a pregnancy with medical complications and discuss situations involving life-changing decisions prompted by mo...
Mini Cases in Movement Disorders
By Antoinette Miller
This collection of six short cases focuses on brain areas and neurotransmitters involved in the control of movement. Students are divided into working groups and given one or more of the case descriptions. Each scenario depicts a breakdown in the mot...
The Irresistible Costs of Impressing Others
By Jamie G. McMinn
Recent research indicates that people who boast to friends and those who are modest to strangers are less able to regulate their behaviors on other tasks. This case study presents a scenario in which four college roommates use different strategies to...
The Medicinal Use of Marijuana
By Clyde Freeman Herreid, Kristie DuRei
Whether marijuana should be legalized for medicinal purposes has been contested for decades. The claims, counter-claims, issues, and judgments in this high profile controversy make it an excellent candidate for “intimate debate.” While similar to...
By Susan Behrens, Linda Carozza
This case study on clinical practice, preparation, and acumen follows the story of Emily, an intelligent, hard working, and motivated student who yet encounters difficulties in the clinical fieldwork component of her senior seminar. A follow-up secti...
War, Death, and Cognitive Dissonance
By Jamie G. McMinn
This case study explores cognitive dissonance theory, a theory proposed by psychologist Leon Festinger in 1956 to explain the tension that exists when peoples’ attitudes are incongruent with their behaviors. Students read a news article describing ...
By Sheila O’Brien Quinn
Using the story of death row inmate Charles Singleton, who developed paranoid schizophrenia while in prison awaiting execution, this case study explores the relationship between a society’s concept of mental illness and its treatment of people who ...
By Stephanie L. Brooke, Janet Morahan-Martin
This case illustrates concepts of assessment, diagnosis, and treatment within the context of a counseling relationship. Its primary purpose is to teach students about the dynamics of the therapeutic relationship, specifically that the relationship is...
Paired Associates Learning, the Shortfalls of Behaviorism, and the Rise of Cognitivism
By Elizabeth J. Meinz
In this interrupted case study, students learn about a series of studies conducted in the late '50s/early '60s by Robert Young at the University of Texas at Austin. The studies, which explored the type of phenomena that behaviorism has had a difficul...
By Sherry Ginn, Elizabeth J. Meinz
This case describes a study conducted by students in which a number of ethical issues arise, including the treatment of research participants and the supervision of student research assistants by faculty. By examining the way in which the study was c...
A Case of Seasonal Affective Disorder
By David F. Dean (rr)
“Melanie Johnson” is a 32-year-old accountant who has moved to Green Bay, Wisconsin, from her hometown of Sarasota, Florida. For the first time in her life, she has been experiencing periods of depression, lethargy, and excessive sleeping. ...
By David F. Dean (rr)
“Rollie Hendrix,” a 35-year-old husband and father of three children, has been experiencing headaches and palpitations of increasing frequency and severity over the past six months. In addition, he has had periods of intense anxiety and panic att...
By Julia Omarzu
This case study involves a couple deciding whether or not their son should undergo brain surgery to treat a severe seizure disorder. In examining this dilemma, students apply knowledge of brain anatomy and function. They also learn about brain scanni...
Extrasensory Perception: Pseudoscience?
By Sarah G. Stonefoot, Clyde Freeman Herreid
The overall purpose of this case study is to teach students to be skeptical of scientific claims, particularly those that are sensational and fall outside the boundaries of normal scientific explanation. Students read the case and then evaluate infor...
By Lisa D. Hager
In this case study, students are given information regarding an advertisement claiming that listening to the classical music in the advertised CD set will enhance a person’s cognitive skills and creativity. Students evaluate the claims and the evid...
Exploring Unintentional Racism
By Robert W. Grossman, Thomas E. Ford
This case study is designed to help students explore their attitudes about race and examine the complexity of racism. It also has been used to teach about the social psychology of unintentional racism, attribution theory, and institutionalized racism...
The 2000-Meter Row: A Case Study in Performance Anxiety
By Doug M. Post (rr)
This case study is based on another case in our collection, The 2000-Meter Row: A Case in Homeostasis, which emphasizes the metabolic, respiratory, and cardiac responses of a young athlete competing in a championship rowing event. In this modified ve...
By Rosemary Martin
In this interrupted case, students examine the concept of unconsciousness and develop an understanding of how clinicians diagnose death. Developed for a freshman course in human biology, the case focuses on brain death, but raises related issues, inc...
By Kathy Gallucci
In this case, students read a news article about a study of the effects of intercessory prayer on cardiac patients published in the Archives of Internal Medicine. After reading the case and discussing the questions in small groups, students evaluate ...
By Patricia Schneider
This case is based on Kate Chopin’s short story “Desiree’s Baby,” a tragic tale of race and gender in antebellum Louisiana first published in 1893. Students read the story and then answer a series of questions about the genetics and evolution...
By Traci E. Morris, Susannah Gal
In this case study, designed to help break down stereotypes about scientists and engineers, students research the personal and professional lives of researchers in their field. The case was designed for use in high school to graduate courses in a var...
Are You Blue? What Can You Do?
By Robert W. Grossman, Amy Pettigrew, Linda Walsh, Kathleen Boje
This case study introduces students to treatment alternatives for depression using a jigsaw method in which groups of students are divided up so that each member of the “home group” becomes the “resident expert” in one of five possible treatm...
By Julia Omarzu
This dilemma case is based on the true story of Jack and Lisa Nash, whose daughter Molly was born with a rare genetic disorder, Fanconi anemia. By having another child with specific genetic markers, the Nashes hoped to cure Molly using stem cells fro...
By Lisa Marie Rubin, Clyde Freeman Herreid
This problem-based case focuses on the female menstrual cycle and early stages of pregnancy of an unwed teenager. Working in small groups, students identify the learning issues for each part of the story and research answers to their questions. They ...
By Karen Chambers
This case explores the fundamental principles of memory, eyewitness accuracy, and police questioning techniques in witness identification in a criminal case. By studying the details of an actual series of attacks and the subsequent police investigati...
By Kim R. Finer
This case uses the real story of Dawn Langley Simmons, who may have been misidentified as male at birth, to illustrate the developmental basis of human sexual dimorphism and how gender misidentification may occur. Students also consider the emotional...
By Katayoun Chamany
This case study is based on the identification of 50 children who were displaced during Argentina’s Dirty War of the 1970s, subjected to DNA and protein analysis, and subsequently reunited with their biological families. The case demonstrates the r...
By Jane Marantz Connor
Students evaluate a research proposal to determine if it is consistent with ethical principles and federal guidelines for conducting research with human subjects. The case can be taught either as a discussion case or using role-playing. This ca...
By Ann W. Fourtner, Charles R. Fourtner, Clyde Freeman Herreid
In this role-playing case study on Parkinson’s disease, students learn about brain injury and brain repair mechanisms, the physical and psychological effects of a degenerative disease on a patient and her family, the ethics of fetal tissue research...