University Psychology Assignment: Oscar Pistorius Case Study Analysis

This psychology assignment delves into the tragic case of Oscar Pistorius, analyzing his actions and the events leading to the murder of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp. The student applies the four goals of psychology—description, explanation, prediction, and influence—to understand the case. The assignment explores the events, providing a detailed account of the crime and the circumstances surrounding it. It then offers explanations for Pistorius's behavior, considering factors like his past incidents, personality, and relationship dynamics. The assignment also predicts potential outcomes based on the analysis and proposes interventions to prevent similar situations. Furthermore, the student utilizes both behavioral and cognitive models of psychology to analyze Pistorius's actions, examining how his environment and thought processes influenced his behavior. The conclusion synthesizes these models to offer a comprehensive understanding of the case.

Running head: THE CASE OF OSCAR PISTORIUS
THE CASE OF OSCAR PISTORIUS
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

1THE CASE OF OSCAR PISTORIUS
Part One
Psychologists use critical thinking skills by using scientific method of inquiry. In order to
do so, the psychologists use four goals of psychology, which are description, explanation,
prediction and influence of the events. The event that I have chosen is the murder charge that the
South African sprinter Oscar Pistorius faced over his girlfriend’s shooting.
Description
Psychology is a science; therefore, it serves to understand behaviour and the mind in a
scientific manner. As such, the first goal of psychology is to describe the event or the behaviour.
Describing the event gives a detailed perspective in understanding what normal and abnormal
behaviour is (Wood, 2017). On 14 February 2013, Oscar Pistorius was charged with murdering
his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp. According to an article in The Guardian, Pistorius had fired
four bullets into her head, chest and arm when they were at Pistorius’s house in Pretoria (Smith,
2013). The officers reported that there were no traces of forced entry and they were the only
people at house at that point of time. She had been shot at around 3 a.m. The neighbours even
added that they had heard “screaming and shouting” (Smith, 2013). It was worth noting that they
had earlier asked the police for help for investigating events of domestic nature of fall out in the
past (Smith, 2013). The newspaper article reported that Pistorius later admitted to unintentionally
shooting his girlfriend when he mistook her for an intruder and shot her through his locked
bathroom door.
Explanation
The next step in psychology is explaining the event. Here the psychologist tries to explain
the behaviour related to the event by exploring into the qualitative and quantitative analysis of

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the event (Wood, 2017). An in-depth research into the personality of the individual can provide
good evidence about the behaviour of the individual. In this case, a number of factors can be
taken into account as to why he got involved in such a tragic incident. In 2009, he was arrested
after a 19-year old woman alleged assault against him and as a result, he had to spend a night in
jail (Smith, 2013). However, there were no charges made against him due to lack of any
evidence.
In another incident, he had crashed a speedboat on Vaal River in South Africa and broke
his nose, jaw and ribs. The witnesses said that he was indulged himself in drinking prior to the
crash (Smith, 2013). The police even found alcohol in the wreckage however; they admitted that
they did not run any tests on him. Pistorius had even threatened a man of breaking his legs, as he
believed that his girlfriend had cheated on him with the man. Pistorius enjoyed target shooting
and had even engaged in a session with a journalist where he said that he would be deadly if he
practised enough. He had even admitted that he would go to target shooting ranges when he
could not sleep (Smith, 2013). The relationship of Pistorius and Reeva seemed normal and happy
that can be accounted in the form of tweets where Reeva had tweeted that she was excited for
this Valentine’s Day and wished for the day to be blessed (Freeman, 2014). She had told South
Africa’s Sunday Times that Pistorius was an impeccable man who had best interest for her.
However, Reeva had stated in messages that she was afraid of him and felt attacked from the one
person she deserved protection from.
Prediction
The next goal of psychology is to predict. The psychologists can use the knowledge from
the evidences in explanations and predict as to why, when and how things would occur in the
future (Wood, 2017). I would use the case of Oscar Pistorius as an example to understand cases

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regarding gun violence and aggressive nature of individual’s that lead them to commit crime. I
would predict that having relationship problems, lack of trust and having control in controlling
one’s anger issues could lead to major problems in the future.
Influence
The fourth goal of psychology is influence. Here the psychologists plan to change the
behaviour of the concerned individual (Wood, 2017). In order to prevent the case of Oscar
Pistorius from happening, I would make him take anger management classes. I would suggest
him to stop using guns whenever he felt lonely and talk to people around him in order to share
his feelings. Both Oscar and Pistorius could have taken therapy where they could have sorted out
their differences and talked about their trust issues. Oscar specially should have taken therapy
sessions to manage and control his anger. If they had talked about their problems in a healthy
manner then this would not happened.
Part Two
Many schools of psychology have provided various theories that can be used to analyse
situations and behaviours of individuals. In order to understand the case of Oscar Pistorius, I
have used the behavioural and cognitive models of psychology.
Behavioural model Cognitive model
Explain The behavioural model of
psychology would explain the case
with analysing the behaviour of
Oscar. The model suggests that the
behaviour of an individual is learned
This model analyses how people’s
perceptions; his thoughts about the
situations can influence a person’s
emotions and behaviours (Beck & Haigh,
2014). The people who learn to control

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because of the interaction with the
environment (Pereira, Palmer &
Nardi, 2017). Since, Oscar had both
his legs amputed; it can be a source
of his aggression that likely
influenced him to kill his girlfriend.
their distorted beliefs are able to lead a
happy and a stress free life. Here, Oscar
had the misconception about his
girlfriend’s behaviours and had trust
issues that led him to take such a drastic
action that resulted in him murdering his
girlfriend.
Predict The behaviourists would predict this
situation by analysing the past
behavioural pattern of Oscar. He had
been involved in drinking issues,
had a history of being arrested on
assault charges and was actively
pursuing his love for shooting.
These were the hints for his
aggressive behaviour.
The cognitive psychologists would have
predicted the behaviour by understanding
the thought processes of Oscar. When
Oscar had reported that he went out
shooting whenever he felt lonely, it was a
hint at his loneliness being an influential
reason for him acting up the way he did.
This takes the emotional, behavioural
and physiological reaction of the
individual into analysis.
Influence The behaviourists would influence
the situation by changing Oscar’s
environment. If only he did not have
the gun and was aloof from such
practices, then maybe he would not
have killed his girlfriend.
The cognitive psychologists would seek
to influence behaviour of Oscar by
helping him engage in having healthier
thoughts, building trust and managing his
anger issues. He would have evaluated
and responded to the automatic thought

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processes and understood his situation.
Part Three
In conclusion, I would use both the behavioural and the cognitive models of psychology
to understand the case of Oscar Pistorius. Understanding the situations and his environment that
led him to be take up arms as a way of relaxation is extremely critical. In the same way,
understanding the thought processes that Oscar went through while he decided to murder his
girlfriend and that too on Valentine’s Day is another vital aspect of research. I think that this was
a planned action on behalf of Oscar. He did not trust her. Though they showed that they had a
perfect relationship and were happy with each other, however, in reality it was exactly the
opposite. Thus, Oscar had twisted thought processes and unhealthy environment that led him to
take up such action.
Overall, the four goals of psychology can be used to analyse the situation and help
examine a situation. Description, explanation, prediction and influence can be used to examine
an environment.

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References
Beck, A. T., & Haigh, E. A. (2014). Advances in cognitive theory and therapy: The generic
cognitive model. Annual review of clinical psychology, 10, 1-24.
Freeman, H. (2014). Oscar Pistorius and Reeva Steenkamp’s relationship was far from ‘normal’ |
Hadley Freeman. Retrieved 31 March 2020, from
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/sep/12/oscar-pistorius-reeva-
steenkamp-murder-normal-relationship
Pereira Dias, G., Palmer, S., & Nardi, A. E. (2017). Integrating positive psychology and the
solution-focused approach with Cognitive-Behavioural coaching: the integrative
Cognitive-Behavioural Coaching Model. European Journal of Applied Positive
Psychology, 1, 1-8.
Smith, D. (2013). Oscar Pistorius to face murder charge over girlfriend's shooting. Retrieved 31
March 2020, from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/feb/14/oscar-pistorius-
murder-girlfriends-shooting
Wood, S. (2017). The World of Psychology. North York, ON: Pearson Canada Inc.