Michael Adams

Case Study #1- Eric

10/30/2015

Eric can be best described as a very anxious and timid man. He tends to keep to himself, and avoid
contact with others as much as possible. He gives off the impression of an individual that has faced rejection
a good number of times, and has probably been ignored at frequent points throughout his life. This is
highlighted by his constant need to stress the fact that he feels he is physically unattractive, and by him going
out of his way to avoid contact with women, all while being heterosexual. I do not think in my opinion that
Eric is emotionally stable. I believe he falls more towards the left-end of the spectrum and would score much
higher in terms of neuroticism. The way he interpret things throughout his everyday life show cases just how
unstable he is in that category. Whether it's the misconstrued feelings of anti-semitism or the excessive
feelings of anxiety and overall shyness. Had Eric been more at ease, less paranoid about his perceived
surroundings, he would lean more towards being considered emotionally stable.
On the surface, Eric appears clearly introverted. He doesnt look for group interactions, he seems to
prefer a simple, more secluded life. He gives off a lot of characteristics of an introverted individual. However,
it was mentioned that he eventually befriended a few misfits like himself. He also was apart of a baseball
fantasy league that required him to play with others. Granted there was no face-to-face contact, these two
instances alone show that he was capable of leaving his inner sphere. I guess it is safe to say that he is an
introvert based on the presented evidence. His want for a simple and uncomplicated life limited him a great
deal. It limited him in terms of being able to develop meaningful and beneficial relationships with others. His
life was conventional on many levels. It was extremely consistent. This was highlighted by him replacing
worn out clothes with ones that are very similar. His entire apartment and closet being completely utilitarian.
His life lacked spark. Spark that people with more open lives are exposed to. Majority of it ties back to his
introversion. Its completely due to lack of effort. He has every intention on maintaining a closed off life, and
what that follows a consistent pattern that is not subject to change.
His personality is not one that people will tend to gravitate towards. In terms of agreeableness, it is
safe to say he would score very low in that category. This is shown in full when he became very suspicious of
his classmates when it came time to reveal their forecast predictions. He felt as if his work, and methodology
was being copied by his peers and made him so paranoid that he would wait to submit his work last, even

when he had already completed it. Another more blatant example was his skepticism about the reasoning
behind him being denied a position as a teaching assistant. While it was completely due to his lack of social
skills. He felt it was more religiously fueled, and was due to the fact that he was Jewish. Individuals who are
low in agreeableness tend to be very skeptical and suspicious of others. They find it hard to put others before
themselves and do not inject themselves into the circles of others. All key traits exhibited by Eric.
Eric is a very Conscientious person. Very calculated in his work. Pays attention to the details and
consistent in the sense that his life runs like clockwork. While some may consider this a flawed way to live,
and a boring life to have, others may see and appreciate the structure behind Erics choice to live in this way.
Not on for surprises, he may rarely ever be caught of guard or hit with and unseen occurrence. Its this sense
of control that he has over his life that turns his conscientious side into a positive rather than a negative. After
learning about Eric i believe it is safe to say that he is a highly introverted man, that his low in agreeableness
and has a lot of paranoia and unresolved issues with rejection as well as a very low level of self esteem.
While there may be nothing wrong with the way he chooses to live his life, it may in the grand scheme of
things hinder his ability to form beneficial relationships and develop bonds with people, as socially he is not
quite ready to inject himself into the social spheres of others.
To be able to learn more and go much deeper into the case of Eric, I would really be interested in
past. At one point or another, I personally feel that there might have been something, maybe some isolated
incident that contributed to the way he is. We al at one point or another come across someone who is very
much similar to Eric. Isolated, doesn't seem to approachable, easily irritated, and very skeptical and
suspicious of others. Usually we avoid these individuals without trying to get a better concrete understanding
of what may of caused his person to be like that. The shy boy in the corner who no one seems to understand
could very well have those tendencies due to feeling neglected at home, being bullied at school, so forth and
so on. So while Eric may seem very undesirable as a friend or a companion, the deeper question may be what
makes him this way if there is a reason at all. This also raises an even bigger question, is there such a thing as
the socially correct personality? Is it right to say that how Eric is, is the wrong way to be? Personality is
such a subjective thing in terms of whether or not it is socially acceptable. It's because of that subjective
nature that it makes it so hard to decide whether or not a person should have to change the way they are to
appeal to the mass.