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
We asked him to analyze out for us a couple of moral situations,
one being about a man who stole to give to a starving family. He
tells us in one way the man did right and in another way wrong.
It never is right to steal, because if caught he would be sent to
the penitentiary and would have to pay more than the things are
worth, and, then, if he was not caught, a thief would never get
along in the world. The other was the story of Indians
surrounding a settlement who asked the captain of a village to
give up a man. Adolf thought if he were a chief he would say to
give battle if the man had done no wrong, but on further
consideration states that he would rather give up one man than
risk the lives of many, and if he were a captain he would surely
rather give this man up than put his own life in it. He thinks
certainly this is the way the question should be answered.
On our ``Aussage'' or Testimony Test Adolf gave volubly many
details, dramatically expressing himself and putting in
interpretations that were not warranted by the picture. Indeed,
he made the characters actually say things. On the other hand,
he did not recall at all one of the three persons present in the
picture. He accepted three out of six suggestions and was quite
willing to fill in imaginary details, besides perverting some of
the facts. This was unusually unreliable testimony.
Our impressions as dictated at this time state that we had to do
with a young man in good general physical condition, of unusually
flabby musculature, who showed a couple of signs that might
possibly be regarded as stigmata of inferiority. Mentally, the
main showing was irregularity of abilities; in some things he was
distinctly subnormal, in others mediocre, but in language ability
he was surprisingly good. No evidence of mental aberration was
discovered. The diagnosis could be made, in short, that the boy
was a subnormal verbalist. His character traits might be
enumerated in part by saying that he was aggressive,
unscrupulous, boastful, ambitious, and a continual and excessive
liar. In the exercise of these he was strikingly lacking in
foresight. This latter characteristic also was shown in his test
work. The abilities in which he was overbalanced gave him
special feelings of the possibility of his being a success and
led him to become a pathological liar. From the family history
the main suggestion of the causation of the mental abnormality is
in illness during developmental life, but neither ante-natal nor
hereditary conditions are quite free from suspicion.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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