Pathology of Lying, Accusation, and Swindling: A Study in Forensic PsychologyHealy, William
Science
Pathology of Lying, Accusation, and Swindling: A Study in Forensic Psychology
Healy, William
Criminal psychology; Swindlers and swindling
Our acquaintance with this boy on the intellectual side proved to
be a great treat. He was only in the 4th grade. His retardation
was the result of having been changed back and forth from
foreign-speaking to English schools and having been sent away to
an institution for truancy. In spite of his backwardness Robert
had a fund of remarkably accurate scientific and other
information which a mature person might envy. We found our
regular series of tests were all done unusually well, except
those which called for foresight and planfulness. It was
interesting to note that when a problem in concrete material was
given that required continuous thoughtful effort he proceeded by
a rapid trial and error method and without the application of the
foresight that many a slower individual would show. He
consequently did not always make a good record.
It seems an important fact that on the ``Aussage'' Test this
exceedingly bright lad gave a fairly good detailed narrative
account of the picture and proved himself not in the least
suggestible, but he added a number of items which were not seen.
It was in the field of general information, obtained from a
really wide range of reading, that this young boy shone. We
found that he remembered an unusual amount of history he had
read, that he had a lot of knowledge picked up from the
newspapers, and that he had digested considerable portions of
scientific works. He described correctly the main principles
involved in the use of telescopic and other lenses, he knew well
the first principles of electricity, and he could draw correctly
diagrams of dynamos, locomotives, switchboards, etc. We noted he
had read books on physiology, astronomy, physics, mechanics, etc.
It seems that neither his school nor his home offering him much
intellectual satisfaction, he had frequented the public library,
sometimes being there when he was truant from school, and staying
there in the evening when his mother supposed he was out in a
street gang. In regard to his selection of reading: he had
perused novels and books on adventure, but ``I wanted to read
something that tells something so that when I got through I would
know something.'' He copied plans and directions, and with a
hatchet, hammer and saw attempted at home to make little things,
some of which were said to have been broken up by the parents.
The boy had much in mind the career of great men who had
succeeded from small beginnings, and he spoke often of Benjamin
Franklin, Morse, and Bell, all of whom had started in the small
way he had read of in their biographies. Robert had not been
content with book knowledge alone, but had sought power-houses
and other places where he could see machinery in actual
operation.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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