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
Physically we found Marie to be a decidedly good specimen. She
weighed about 140 lbs. Strong and firm in carriage. Vivacious
in expression. The physical examination at the university had
shown her to be without notable defect of any kind. We can
summarize Marie's characteristics by stating that from the
earliest age of which we can get satisfactory record, when she
was about 10 years old, she has been persistently addicted to
falsehoods. Even then she made up, without any basis, stories
which puzzled many people. It is much to the point that she has
been a great loser on account of this tendency; it has injured
her reputation on numerous occasions and destroyed many of her
good chances. When she was about 15 it was noticed that she was
a great day-dreamer. She thought she could write stories and
once began a novel. Much more peculiar than this was the fact
that she repeatedly wrote letters to her friends which were
simply a mass of fabrications, describing such things as
imaginary excursions.
Tests for mental ability were not given in this case, there was
no need for it. Her marks in the preparatory course were just
fair. It had been noted by her teachers, as well as by her
foster parents, that she was prone to have periods when attention
to her work seemed difficult. Aside from her peculiarities,
which showed themselves entirely in her fabricating tendency and
her assumed illnesses, nothing much out of the way in her mental
life had ever been noted. On several occasions she had taken to
her bed, but when a physician was called, a diagnosis was given
of simulation, or hysteria. Nothing like major hysterical
attacks at any time occurred,
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