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
The result on the Binet tests are most interesting. From years
of experience with them we ourselves have no faith in their
offering sound criteria for age levels above 10 years. Adolf
goes up through all of the 12-year tests (1911 series) except the
first, where he shows suggestibility in his judgment of the
lengths of lines. In the 15-year tests he fails on the first,
but does the three following ones correctly. Two out of the
adult series are done well--those where the definition of a word
is required and the statement of political ideas. Two or three
of his specific answers are worth noting: ``Honor is when a
person is very honest. It means he will never do what is wrong
even if he can make money by it.'' ``Pleasure is when everything
is pleasant, when you are enjoying yourself.'' Adolf tells us
that the king is head of a monarchy, he has not the power to
veto, and he acquires his position by royal birth. In contrast
to this he says the president is the presiding executive of a
republic, he has the power to veto, and he gains his position by
election. It is perfectly clear in this case, as in many others,
that the Binet tests show very little wherein lies the nature of
a special defect or ability. Adolf's capacity for handling
language has grown steadily. He has been reading law and knows
by heart a great deal of its terminology. In a short
conversation he talks well and is coherent. The aggressiveness
which is ever with him leads him to stick to the point. He has
had very little instruction, his pronunciation is often defective
and he does not know the meaning of many of the longer terms with
which any lawyer should be acquainted. He speaks fluently and
has now long posed, among other things, as an interpreter.
Our final diagnosis after all these mental tests is, that while
he could by no means be called a feebleminded person, still Adolf
is essentially subnormal in many abilities--we still regard him
as a subnormal verbalist. Probably what he lacks in powers of
mental analysis has much relation to the lack of foresight which
he continually shows in his social career. His lying and
swindling have led him almost nowhere except into difficulties.
Adolf has been steadily gaining weight, although he has grown
only an inch and a half in these years. He is stout and
sleek-looking and as flabby as ever. He has not been seriously
ill during this time. Whereas before he used to be untidy in
dress he now gets himself up more carefully.
The following are examples of Adolf's conversation and show many
of his characteristics: (Soon after he came to Chicago we spoke
to him of his progress.)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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