THE INDIVIDUAL DELINQUENT. By William Healy, A. B., M. D. (Little, Brown &
Co., Boston, 1915.)
It is a rare and pleasant experience to meet a book on such a general topic
as delinquency, which has not as its raison d'etre the exploitation of some
over-worked hypothesis. The Director of the Psychopathic Institute of the
Juvenile Court in Chicago has, however, not only avoided this danger but has
given psychologists, jurists, and penologists such a report of his five
years work as not one of them can afford to overlook. As the title of the
work implies, the material is drawn from the individual study of the
delinquent. He presents the results of the unbiased investigation of the
discoverable factors in the production of criminality in 1000 recidivists,
who were mostly, though far from exclusively, adolescents-- the period when
factors, both internal and external, are most easily determined and
modified.
A careful perusal of the introductory chapter on methods reveals both the
thoroughness and open-mindedness of the author. He demonstrates that no
satisfaction was gained by the finding of any special mental or physical
abnormality, unless a more direct relation could be shown with the crime
committed than is established by mere coincidence. It is particularly
satisfying to note the precautions taken in the application of set tests,
how careful Dr. Healy and his assistants have been to determine the
completeness of cooperation on the part of the subject and to weigh this
factor in evaluating the results. One soon reaches the conclusion that the
author's own series of tests are much more likely to lead to reliable
diagnosis than the series of Binet, which demands so much of the rather
specialized capacity of abstract formulation. Healy's tests, on the other
hand, deal fairly with the primitive, untaught mind and that which has an
unequal and deceptive development of language ability. In connection with
these tests, it is interesting to note, by the way, that he finds
irregularity in results (or cooperation) to be so often associated with
epilepsy and depletion from sex over-indulgence that it may be taken as a
suggestive diagnostic feature.
The value for the reader in discovering the eclectic view-point and critical
conservatism of an investigator lies in the confidence which these qualities
beget in the reliability of results. One can read most of "The Individual
Delinquent" to learn facts without the distraction of critical uncertainty.
With this in mind, therefore, a few of his conclusions, picked mostly at
random, may be quoted. An important factor in the production of delinquency
he finds to lie in the premature appearance of adult sex development--a
precocity which he regards as dangerous because it seems to be correlated
with a stimulation of sex instinct before adult inhibitions appear. In girls
(not in boys) he finds a distinct tendency to general physical
over-development as compared with the norm of the same age. In this
connection it is striking to find how many of his cases, which seem to
exhibit ingrained criminal tendencies, are delinquents only during the
period of adolescent instability. The various statistics are naturally also
of extreme interest, particularly since they are the result of examination
of 1,000 cases, chosen for this purpose only when there were sufficient data
secured to make the individual study relatively complete, and since they are
so at variance with the publications of others who have approached criminal
statistics to prove a theory rather than to learn facts. He finds alcoholism
in one or both parents in 311 cases. He cannot determine any direct
inheritance of criminal tendencies as such, but regards them as indirectly
of great importance as there were 61% who showed distinct defects in the
family antecedents. He thinks that stigmata of degeneration are probably
better correlated with mental defect and also with nutritional or
environmental conditions than with criminalism as such. Followers of
Lombroso will be disappointed to read that he found only 83 epileptics, or
possible epileptics, among his 1,000 cases. A full two-thirds of the cases
presented no symptoms of mental abnormality while only one tenth were
definitely feeble-minded. These are but scattered data; no digest, which
might be taken as substitute for the book itself, would be advisable.
It is to be expected, of course, that psychologists (and particularly those
interested in dynamic psychology) will find mixed pleasure in reading this
work. The section on "Mental Conflicts" must appeal to all with its
practical demonstration of what can be done by psychological analysis to
abolish anti-social tendencies in many puzzling cases. There will
undoubtedly be disappointment in his failure to make general psychological
formulations, but, as the critics would differ amongst themselves as to what
these formulations should be, Dr. Healy's silence is here probably a wise
conservatism. At the same time there is certainly exhibited a tendency to be
rather too individual and give too few generalizations. This is evidenced by
his failure to regard as a factor in one case what has been admitted as such
in a slightly more obvious instance. To cite one example: On page 192, he
speaks of the inheritance of hypersexual tendencies; on page 166, we find:
". . . immodest behavior and use of obscene language on the part of a
parent, which we have so frequently found to be one of the main causes of a
girl going wrong . . . " Somewhat similar results are thus ascribed once to
heredity and again to environment. At this stage of our knowledge it would,
of course, be foolish to eliminate any specific inheritance as a factor, but
it is surprising that in the former case he does not consider environment as
a factor, although he elsewhere gives striking evidence of unconscious
influence proceeding from one individual to another via sex initiation.
It is possible that this lack of a broad psychological view point-- this
example chosen is far from isolated--is connected with a specific, and most
definitely serious, defect in the book. The treatment of the psychoses is
distinctly unsatisfactory. Apparently the author has had to rely on the
literature for his preparatory experience and has been fortunate only in
some cases, if we may judge by his references. The most satisfactory group
he describes is that of the traumatic psychoses and there he follows Meyer's
admirable study. On the other hand, in introducing the Dementia praecox
group, he makes no specific mention of any one of the cardinal symptoms of
disassociation or shallowness of affect, scattering of thought, and
delusions or hallucinations. His nearest approach is when he says:
"Variations in the way of excitement, with dullness and paranoidal
excitement are seen during the course of the disease." This is followed by
the description of a case which he says contains the symptoms typical of the
psychosis but in which no pathognomic abnormality is mentioned except
negativism-- a vague term whose meaning varies with the observer.
Not unnaturally with such unfamiliarity, the psychosis is a "dispensation of
Providence." There is no evidence that to him psychiatry is as much a
problem of every day life as it is of institutional care of the insane. We
can, therefore, find such a statement as this:
"The mental findings and the conduct determined the fact of aberration and
that is all that should be necessary for immediate court purposes. Further
business of diagnosis should be left to a psychopathic hospital."
It is true that responsibility may and should be evaded when the psychosis
is full-blown; but how about the innumerable cases of incipient psychotic
disturbance which grade over into the "mental conflicts?"
In harmony with this diffidence is the repeated hope for aid from the
Abderhalden. or some similar reaction. For instance:
"The newer methods of diagnosis of Dementia praecox we look forward to for
help in one place where discrimination is important."
But surely a psychologist cannot hope to predict conduct by physical
findings! If Dementia praecox postulated criminality, the situation might
be different, but, as it stands, the reaction would only be of value in the
doubtful cases-- cases which are so many of them non-institutional.
With this vague conception of the psychoses it is not surprising to find
that diagnosis used faute de mieux. For instance, in describing Case 169,
of "pathological lying," he says:
"We could not in any way find evidence of mental peculiarity but we did
question his story because of intrinsic improbability." Rather conflicting
statements! Later on, he explains, the case was diagnosed as one of
"epileptic psychosis" because the subject developed convulsions, although
there is no evidence, or even claim, presented that the lying was an
equivalent, or in any way correlated with the epilepsy except as a
coincidence!
Such faults in a book of this sort are serious but only in so far as the
work is theoretical. The main object of the book is to present facts in an
unbiased way and for the first time we have them in anything like
completeness. The importance of Dr. Healy's labors cannot, then, be
overestimated. His publication will be eagerly welcomed by the army of
workers who see a few cases at various stages of delinquency and who long to
know authoritatively what the types are, how they develop, what the outlook
is, and how that may be modified by appropriate treatment. We owe him much.
JOHN T. MACCURDY.
HUMAN MOTIVES. By James Jackson Putnam, M. D. Professor Emeritus, Diseases
of the Nervous System, Harvard University. Boston. Little, Brown & Co.,
1915; 12mo. Price $1.
According to the publishers' announcement this is a study in the psychology
and philosophy of human conduct, based largely on the author's use of the
Freudian psychoanalytic method of mental diagnosis. The editorial
introduction by Dr. Bruce consists in a brief outline of the subconscious
mind. The author's preface, aside from anticipating the main features of the
book, makes the announcement that the latter is based very largely on the
personal experience of the last two years. The author gives one the
impression that this period represents to him one in which he has to his own
satisfaction mastered the relationship between psychoanalysis on the one
hand and our current conception of moral philosophy, ethics and religion on
the other. During this period he has "studied motives at close range."
The work consists of six chapters and of these the first two deal with the
philosophic method of viewing man, while the others are devoted to
psychoanalysis. In the last chapter the author makes suggestions as to the
possibility of synthesizing the two methods.
Human motives are either constructive or adaptive. The former are
associated with conscious reasoning and will, the latter with emotional
repressions. The former represent aspirations and are much higher than they
seem, since every man has an ideal--"getting out the best that is in
himself." He is a "lover of the best" and will die for and live for mere
ideas and abstractions like patriotism. He is assumed to be free because he
voluntarily creates, and is as free as anything in the Universe; and he is
free because he can choose. But where there is freedom there must be
clashing and compromise and repression. Among repressed subjects are
prejudices and superstitions, which, while irrational, unconsciously affect
our conscious motives.
Man has feelings of humanity and brotherhood but has also the feeling of
separate individuality which comes from the egoism of the young child. The
instincts also come into play in the conflict between duty to others and
love of self. No one, however good, can escape this conflict.
The old teaching as exemplified in philosophy and religion is based on a
study of man at his best, man in the abstract. This is incomplete because it
cannot promote such feelings as sympathy and understanding among men.
Something has always been needed to supplement it and this is found in
psychoanalysis in which conditions are reversed.
Religion the author regards as an existence which is in harmony with that of
the "universe-personality." If we have the attributes we give to the Deity
as reason, love (disinterested) and will, we should seek this harmony. The
"world of sense" is antagonistic to this conception, in that it leads us to
reject all other than sense knowledge. Our notions of love, honor, power,
justice cannot spring from the sense-world. We must look beyond the
latter--a mere illusion--to find the true, immutable. Mind cannot be
evolved from life but must pre-exist. God and man must be conceived in the
same way--both represent a totality of expressions of world will, both
create and persist in their creations. Man must be regarded as creating his
thoughts and acts, even his own body. Every portion of the universe is
responsible for every other portion. Man, though ever changing, represents a
"self consciously unified person" and therefore feels responsible for all he
has ever done or ever will do. Freud himself, as the author states, never
cared to generalize on the subject of psychoanalysis.
The book proceeds with a general outline of psychoanalysis which need not be
reproduced here. The subject of sexual repression, so far from being
exaggerated by Freud, is completely borne out by centuries of teaching by
the Church that all sexual matters must be repressed, because they proceed
solely from the flesh, the material world. As we have seen, however, the
author with others--both Freudians and non-Freudians--makes the libido a
form of creative energy, which attitude lifts it above the purely material
plane. Complete suppression of anything which will not down is regarded as
unwise hygiene of the soul, and the results of psychoanalysis, both as to
cause and cure of neurotic disturbances, amply sustain this view. A man's
unbidden thoughts are part of him and must be acknowledged.
Psychoanalysis cannot be employed upon a number of subjects at once. It lies
between physician and patient, teacher and pupil. The unconscious but active
motive must be brought under the conscious will. The fantastic world of
childhood must be re-created. The teacher, dealing with childhood has an
advantage over the physician who applies his analysis to adults.
The child should be encouraged to show all that is in him, and at the same
time must learn to regard himself less as an individual and more as a social
unit. He should do things which divert him from himself.
In psychoanalysis an act is nothing, a tendency everything. The latter must
be changed. In analysis of one's self one must avoid all tendency to self
depreciation, since all must make mistakes. One should also distrust in
himself whatever savors of emotional excess.
There is no radical difference between the neurotic and sound subject in
respect to the presence of unreasonable fears, compulsions and obsessions.
Stress of circumstances causes even the normal man to show objectionable
traits. Mental disease-phenomena, like physical, indicate natural
reactions, or "attempts at repair" such as are found in the organic and even
inorganic worlds.
Treatment by psychoanalysis represents an education--the removal of
inhibitions which are fixations or arrests.
The fifth chapter is in a way a resume of what the author had previously
said. He also seeks to reduce his teachings to a tabulation. The
rationalisation or adaptation of life progresses in proportion as the
individual is mature, but here maturity is by no means equivalent to age.
The process also is active in the immature child.
A subject is usually quite unaware of his fixations and explains the results
of his internal conflicts by false reasoning. Rationalisation in this
connection becomes a bad habit.
All motives are creative. The act is not the result of the immediate motive
but of all those which preceded it. The final act throws no light on the
original motives.
In speaking of certain adults as children who never grew up, we are
referring to a much larger class than is commonly understood. All who attain
mature years with fixations are to be regarded as children. All
individualists belong here unless their individualism is merely a stepping
stone to altruism. Indeed, we see in all men a desire to place themselves
on a pinnacle. This craving seeks expression in a thousand acts. Even if
outgrown it may assert itself in times of stress. It is of benefit at times
when individuals espouse just but unpopular causes. What we ordinarily call
courage involves self assertion but a higher courage is involved in
refraining from certain things.
All individuals also have occasional cravings to get away from
responsibility and back to rest and pleasure. We long to get back to a
theoretical state of childhood, as the infant longs to return to his
mother's body.
For a number of reasons this not a work to be criticized. The author does
not mean to be dogmatic. His dicta, while they may have the ipse dixit
flavor, are not meant to be axioms. The creative energy of the mind can
formulate these dicta and they must clash with the convictions of others. It
is easy to deride the method as a method, but we must judge it by its
results. In Emerson's hands it became a profound stimulus to thought to
people of quite dissimilar mental makeup. In like manner the author's work
will prove of the highest suggestive value to the reader, and especially the
materialistic reader. But aside from the general character of the book we
must not forget that it has a very definite object, to wit, to elevate
psychoanalysis to the highest planes of philosophical speculation and to
remove the prejudices of those who profess to go to the other extreme and
see in it only the slime of the pit. The author's attempt to bring it in
unison with the eternal verities is deserving of the highest commendation
and illustrates his deep faith in the nobility of this new resource for
understanding the spiritual side of man. L. PIERCE CLARK, M. D.
EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY: VOL. I, THE ORIGINAL NATURE OF MAN VOL. II, THE
PSYCHOLOGY OF LEARNING. By Edward L. Thorndike. Published by Teachers
College, Columbia University, New York, 1913.
In the first three chapters of Vol. I Professor Thorndike introduces what he
calls the 'original tendencies' of man. These are the simpler and what have
often been called the 'instinctive', or 'innate' forms of behaviour. And
they are here taken as innate, in contradistinction to learned; as the
inherited dispositions on which the character of the adult is built. In
Chapters IV to X, inclusive, these original tendencies are enumerated and
described. This is a valuable, although somewhat unordered, inventory of
the more elementary human activities. A wholesome step is taken in
replacing the terms 'pleasure' and 'pain' (subjective categories supposed
from time immemorial to account for many sorts of reaction and to be the
basis of the learning process) by the more objective terms 'satisfiers' and
'annoyers'. The author inclines away from the common idea that very young
individuals exhibit random or diffuse activities
A curiously baffling and admirably sceptical chapter on the Emotions (XI) is
followed by a largely destructive chapter on Consciousness, Learning, and
Remembering, in which Prof. Thorndike is in point of literary style almost
at his worst; and in some cases incoherent (e.g. p. 185, middle). The
chapters on the Anatomy and Physiology, on the Source, on the Order and
Dates of Appearance and Disappearance, and on the Value and Use of Original
Tendencies seem to the reviewer inconclusive and uninspired. There are
shrewd and interesting remarks here and there, particularly those of a
destructive intent, which the older reader will appreciate; while on the
whole he will wonder whether the author has, in these last four chapters,
any other than the whimsical aim of producing bedlam in the minds of his
younger readers.
Vol. II is a long treatise of 452 pages on the faculty of Learning. The
author would probably reject the suggestion that he is dealing with his
subject in the spirit of the faculty psychology. Learning, he would say, is
an empirical fact, which he is simply describing. So also, however, the
'faculties' are empirical phenomena--attention, memory, and all the rest.
The question is, do Prof. Thorndike and others like minded analyze the
phenomena in a way that reveals their mechanism, or in the unfruitful manner
of the faculty psychology? Is, for instance, the mind an aggregate of the
following "functions that have been, or might be, studied:--Ability to spell
cat, ability to spell, knowledge that Rt 289 equals 17, ability to read
English, knowledge of telegraphy,. . . . ability to give the opposites of
good, up, day, and night, . . . . fear and avoidance of snakes, misery at
being scorned," etc., etc. (p. 59)? To the reviewer it appears that these
'functions' are cross-sections of the mental life which reveal NOTHING of
the mind's real mechanism. This way, surely, lie the maximum of pedantry
and the minimum of scientific insight. The volume as a whole may be
recommended to those who wish to ascertain to what extent academic
psychology of to-day is still dominated by the spirit of faculty psychology.
E. B. HOLT.
SLEEP AND SLEEPLESSNESS. By H. Addington Bruce. Little, Brown & Co.
Boston, 1915. Pp. vii, 219.
This book constitutes the third volume of the "Mind and Health" Series. In
it the author has given an admirable and clear summary of the recent
psycho-pathological work on sleep and sleeplessness. He begins by a
discussion of the nature of sleep and considering the difficulties involved
in making such a discussion clear to the average reader, the author has done
remarkably well in summarizing the technical work along this line. He then
passes to the problem of dreams and the part played by the unconscious
mechanism involved in dreaming, laying particular and justifiable stress
upon the point, that when problems are solved or adjusted in dreams, they
have always been previously solved by a kind of unconscious incubation
during the waking moments. The chapters on the disorders of sleep and the
causes of sleeplessness are brief but comprehensive, while in the discussion
of sleeplessness important stress is laid on the mental elements involved in
every case of insomnia. A strong plea is made for the psycho-therapeutic
rather than the pharmacologica, treatment of the disorders of sleep. On the
whole the book is clearly written and can be recommended to those who wish a
brief and at the same time comprehensive account of the modern theories of
sleep and its disorders. ISADOR H. CORIAT.
A CORRECTION.
To the Editor of the Journal of Abnormal Psychology.
I wish to call your attention to the fact that the quotation attributed to
me on p. 135 in the June-July issue of your Journal is a misrepresentation
of what I actually said. Due to an oversight on the part of the publishers
of the A. M. A. Journal, the stenographer's notes of the A. M. A. meeting
were not submitted to the members of the Section for examination and
correction. The Editor of the A. M. A Journal regretted this fact and the
discussion of my paper "The Conception of Homosexuality," from which this
quotation was taken, was published in corrected form in the Transactions of
the Section of Nervous and Mental Diseases (1913) of the A. M. A. A. A.
BRILL