Guilford, J. P.

Weber, C. O.

English

Northwestern University Illinois, School of Law: Scholarly Commons

Journal of Criminal Law and CriminologyVolume 16 | Issue 4 Article 121926Character-Trends versus Mental Deficiency in theProblem of DelinquencyC. O. WeberJ. P. GuilfordFollow this and additional works at: https://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/jclcPart of the Criminal Law Commons, Criminology Commons, and the Criminology and CriminalJustice CommonsThis Article is brought to you for free and open access by Northwestern University School of Law Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted forinclusion in Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology by an authorized editor of Northwestern University School of Law Scholarly Commons.Recommended CitationC. O. Weber, J. P. Guilford, Character-Trends versus Mental Deficiency in the Problem of Delinquency, 16 J. Am. Inst. Crim. L. &Criminology 610 (May 1925 to February 1926)CHARACTER-TRENDS VERSUS MENTAL DEFI-CIENCY IN THE PROBLEM OF DELINQUENCYC. 0. WEBER' AND J. P. GuILFORDThe army intelligence test (form 7) was given to 90 white prison-ers at the men's reformatory at Lincoln, Nebraska. Four of these hadlanguage difficulties, and their records were excluded- from the finalcomputations, which consist accordingly of 86 cases. This institutionis an extension of the state prison, and houses the younger offenders,especially those whose conduct demands less rigid supervision than isthe case with the regular prison inmates. Their average age is 21 yearsand 9 months. This average was not computed "to the nearest birth-day": years and months were averaged as given, but a difference of16 days or more was considered a month. The subjects were askedto report the highest grade reached in school. Only 33 responded tothis request, and the grades reported vary from the first to the twelfthgrade, the average being the seventh grade.The test results were as follows: The average score secured was77.47 points. This means that this group ranks above average in intel-ligence, if we take the army standards as basis for comparison. Thefollowing table gives a comparison between the letter ratings of fhesecases and that of the white draft of the army.Per Cent Per Cent CasesLetter White Reformatory ReformatoryRating Draft Inmates InmatesA ........................... 4.1 9.3 8B ........................... 8.0 16.3 14C-Plus .................. 15.2 24.4 21C ........................... 25.0 30.2 26C- . ........................ 23.8 12.8 11D ........................... 17.0 4.7 4D - . ........................ 7.1 2.3 2Total ................... 100.2 100.0 86The supposed relation of mental deficiency to delinquency is moreand more becoming an object of doubt. At the Cambridge meetingof the Psychological Association in 1922, Walter F. Dearborn andWilliam Healy expressed their decided doubt about the importance ofthis factor in delinquency. Tests given to prison inmates in a half-'Wells College, Aurora, N. Y.CHARACTER TRENDS 611dozen important prisons2 seems to indicate that about 27.5 per centof all inmates are mentally deficient. But, perhaps, as Dearborn andCyril Burt contefid, the standard of normality previously adopted bypsychologists is far too high, that it should be nearer an intelligencequotient of .50 rather than .70 or above. The use of the army tests espe-cially supports this view. It is known that the army tests are notstrictly tests of intelligence (at least, in the current acceptation of thisterm); but they are at least based on what the average man can do.Psychological data from the army indicates that the relation of intelli-gence to delinquency is by no means clear. 3 A brief report of this datawill serve as a verification of our findings:Disciplinary cases of the army whose intelligence ratings were securedconsist of 939 whites and 484 negroes from Camp Dix, 65 cases fromCamp McClellan, 597 cases from Camp Cody, and some 3,300 records fromthe disciplinary barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. The white casesfrom Camp Dix may be averaged with the 65 cases from Camp McClellan.When this is done we find that 30.4 per cent of them got E, 12.3 per centgot C (normal), and 1.8 per cent got A. Normally, about 4 per cent wouldget A, 25 per cent would get C, and 7 per cent would get E or D. Thus,these cases show a positive relation between delinquency and mentaldeficiency, but it is not at all marked. The Cody cases deserve to beignored since they comprise only 25 per cent of the cases of delinquencyin that camp. The other 75 per cent were removed before mental testscould be given. The 484 negroes tried at Camp Dix seem to show anexcess of mental deficiency, but it is not at all marked in view of the factthat 39 per cent of all negroes rated E, and none of them got A. Of thisgroup of delinquent negroes, 39 per cent rated above E. As for theLeavenworth cases, they are average, in fact, slightly above the averagein intelligence. What is most remarkable, is that the Leavenworth casesrepresent the serious offenders.It would seem that mental deficiency can become a cause of de-linquency only when combined with certain 'character trends.' At least,psychology and common opinion are agreed that instinct, habit, emo-tion and sentiment are the true forces that determine conduct. Weare having our first successes in measuring such factors, and in an agewhen problems of delinquency are so harrowing, every endeavor shouldbe made to perfect such tests and to employ them in studying thebaffling problem of the psychology of misconduct.Animated by this interest, the authors administered to the above2Anderson, V. V., "Mental Disease and Delinquency," Mllental Hygiene, Vol.III, No. 2, April, 1919.3Menoirs of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. XV, 1921, pp. 799 ff.C. 0. WEBER AND J. P. GUILFORDgroup of men, the well-known "Pressey X-O Test."14 The papers ofsubjects who exhibited a lack of comprehension as to the nature of thetest were carefully excluded. The remaining papers show significantresults, which we may indicate under four headings:1. The "total affectivity" of these cases (47 reports) shows that,on the whole, they are less affected by experiences than normals.However, they are more subject to unpleasant affectivity. They showa strong tendency to be affected unpleasantly by words which suggestfear or self-reference. They are less affected by words which referto the disgusting or to sex. The normal person is most strongly affectedby disgusting terms.2. Their average "idiosyncrasy" (their deviation from the normalas regards individual words) is more marked than that of the normal.This substantiates the impression of "queerness" that is so often theatmosphere of the chronic delinquent.3. They differ widely from the normal in their moral ideas. Theyhave peculiar notions concerning blameworthy acts. They show a ten-dency to blame others for wrong actions (projection) ; and exhibit atendency towards ideas of persecution.4. They show a decided tendency towards hypochondria.The ideas of persecution and the tendency to fear complexes, andthe hypochondria might be the result of court and prison experiences,and not due to the original nature of the criminal. The characteristicswhich probably exist before- their incarceration are the tendency tounpleasant affectivity, and to peculiar individual associations of ideas.The former may be a sign of general weakness of character, and theinability to face disagreeable realities, and the latter to warped habitsof thinking. While they realize that human action is subject to moraljudgment, they show a warped perspective concerning the relative seri-ousness of wrongs.4This test consists of four lists of words. Each list consists of 25 lines offive words each. The words are of four classes-disgust, fear, sex, and self-feeling words. The subjects are instructed to underline every word which im-presses them as unpleasant, those which are assoc'ated with given words, thosewhich suggest wrong to them, those which have caused them some worry.

Character-Trends versus Mental Deficiency in the Problem of Delinquency

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Character-Trends versus Mental Deficiency in the Problem of Delinquency

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