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
There are 8 living children in the family; one died in infancy.
There has never been much illness among them. Most of them did
well in school. The family physician says the boys show a
``queer streak,'' but nothing, evidently, at all well defined as
compared with the career of Emma, whom he characterizes as a
``moral pervert.'' The mother is a well-meaning, hard-working,
moderately intelligent woman of about 45. She is said to be
somewhat slack in her household, but perfectly honest. The
father is desperately alcoholic and peculiar at times. It is not
known that his aberrations are ever shown apart from his
drinking. Years ago he was in a hospital for the insane for
several months as an alcoholic patient. The trouble with this
girl is said to have led him to drink again. Both parents were
from immigrant families. It is positively denied that there are
any cases of insanity, feeblemindedness, or epilepsy on either
side. Some other members of the family are known to have better
homes.
On the physical side we found a small child for her age; weight
81 lbs., height 4 ft. 9 in. Nutrition and color fairly good.
Vision about 20/80 R. and 20/60 L.; never had glasses. Crowded
teeth. High Gothic palate. Regular features. Expression
peculiarly stiff with eyes wide open. Flushes readily. With
encouragement smiles occasionally. Other examination negative.
Tonsils, and probably adenoids, removed three years previously;
formerly had trouble with breathing through the nose. Complains
much of frequent frontal headaches. Says she gets dizzy often in
the schoolroom.
Our ``psychological impressions,'' dictated by Dr. Bronner, state
that at first we found Emma very quiet and diffident, possibly
somewhat shy and timid. At best she did not talk freely, only in
monosyllables as a rule. She appears rather nervous. She says
she thinks of lots of things she does not speak of. Emma smiles
in friendly enough fashion, and later became more at ease, and
more talkative. She was rather deliberate in work with tests.
With concrete material she did better than with tasks more purely
mental. She succeeds eventually with nearly everything, but is
slow. She seems anxious to do well, but acts as if unable to
rouse herself to any great effort. She is quite inaccurate in
arithmetic, and only fair in other school studies. Emotions
normal. In many ways appears normally childish. Her interest in
fairy tales and in the type of make-believe plays in which she
engages with her younger sisters seems mixed with her wonderment
in regard to sex life. There is a distinct tendency to
day-dreaming.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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