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
It is true that in the previous literature, under the head of
pathological liars, cases of epilepsy, insanity, and mental
defect have been cited, but that is misleading. A clear
terminology should be adopted. The pathological liar forms a
species by himself and as such does not necessarily belong to any
of these larger classes. It is, of course, scientifically
permissible, as well as practically valuable, to speak of the
epileptic or the otherwise abnormal person through his disease
engaging in pathological lying, but the main classification of an
individual should be decided by the main abnormal condition.
A good definition of pathological accusation follows the above
lines. It is false accusation indulged in apart from any obvious
purpose. Like the swindling of pathological liars, it appears
objectively more pernicious than the lying, but it is an
expression of the same tendency. The most striking form of this
type of conduct is, of course, self-accusation. Mendacious self-
impeachment seems especially convincing of abnormality. Such
falsification not infrequently is episodic.
The inclusion of swindling in our discussion is due to the
natural evolution of this type of conduct from pathological
lying. Swindling itself could hardly be called a pathological
phenomenon, since it is readily explicable by the fact that it is
entered into for reasons of tangible gain, but when it is the
product of the traits shown by a pathological liar it, just as
the lying itself, is a part of the pathological picture. It is
the most concrete expression of the individual's tendencies.
This has been agreed to by several writers, for all have found it
easy to trace the development of one form of behavior into the
other. As Wulffen says, ``Die Gabe zu Schwindeln ist eine `Lust
am Fabulieren.' '' Over and over again we have observed the
phenomenon as the pathological liar gradually developed the
tendency to swindle.
Notwithstanding the grave and sensational social issues which
arise out of pathological lying, accusation, and swindling, there
is very little acquaintance with the characteristics of cases
showing this type of behavior, even by the people most likely to
meet the problems presented. Lawyers, or other professional
specialists have slight knowledge of the subject. Perhaps this
is due to the fact that the pathological lying does not follow
the usual lines of abnormal human behavior, unless it be among
the insane where other symptoms proclaim the true nature of the
case. Another reason for the slight acquaintance with the
subject is the fact that almost nothing has been written on it in
English.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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