A Study of Association in InsanityKent, Grace Helen
Science
A Study of Association in Insanity
Kent, Grace Helen
Association of ideas; Psychology, Pathological
_Window--red_ is an individual reaction; _red--flowers_ is
found in the frequency tables; therefore, _red_ is classed as an
association to preceding reaction.
In cases in which neither the reaction in question nor the preceding
reaction happens to be one of our stimulus words, but a relationship
between them may be judged to exist without considerable doubt, the
reaction in question is also classed here. Example:
_priest--father_
_ocean--mother_
_Ocean--mother_ is an individual reaction; neither the word
_father_ nor the word _mother_ is among our stimulus words;
but the association between the words _father_ and _mother_
may be judged to exist without considerable doubt; therefore, in this
case _mother_ is classed as an association to preceding reaction.
In such cases as this personal equation must necessarily come into
play; comparative uniformity of judgment may, however, be attained by
systematically excluding any reaction the relationship of which to the
preceding reaction is subject to any considerable doubt and by placing
any such reaction in the unclassified group.
*Repetition of Previous Stimulus.*--Here we place any reaction
which is a repetition of any previous stimulus from amongst the ten
next preceding, at the same time placing *repetition of preceding
stimulus* under a separate heading.
*Neologisms.*--Here we place the newly coined words, so commonly
given by the insane, excepting such as possess a sound relationship to
the stimulus word, for which, as already stated, a special place in
the classification has been provided.
Neologisms might be divided into three types, as follows: (1) those
which arise from ignorance of language (_comfort--uncomfort,
short--diminiature_); (2) distortions of actual words, apparently
of pathological origin and not due to ignorance (_hungry--foodation,
thief--dissteal_); and (3) those which seem to be without any
meaning whatever (_scack, gehimper, hanrow, dicut_). It is,
however, impossible to draw clear-cut distinctions between these
types, and for this reason we have made no provision in our
classification for such division.
*Unclassified Reactions.*--This group is important, in the first
place, because it is numerically a large one, and in the second place,
because it contains certain fairly definite types of reactions which
are placed here for the sole reason that we have not been able to find
strictly objective criteria for their differentiation from other
types.
It has already been stated that the frequency tables, even together
with the appendix, fail to exhaust all normal possibilities of
association, so that a certain small number of perfectly normal
reactions must fall into the unclassified group. We submit the
following examples:
_music--listen_
_smooth--suave_
_sour--curdled_
_earth--mound_
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