71 



TKSTS OF rilK K.MOTIOXS. 



Sii>.\KY T-. Pkksskv. Iiidiaii.i I iiivcrsity. 



'riic |).isl tlircc (II- I'diii' years have \vilncss<'(l an allowed her e\l ranrilinary 

 a(ti\ ily in work willi ■•mental (ests". As a cliief result, it is l.eiii- icali/.ed 

 that snch te<ts are hy no means as \aluahle as was once lli<Mii:lil. It has 

 t're(|uently heen slated that the niosi important sinirle cause i>[ deiin<|ueney 

 and crime was I'eehle-mindedness. I'.ut a very careful invest ii,'a tor has 

 recently imhlislaMl data (the most accurate of its kind so fari sliowini: 

 that the inmates of a cerraiii state ])eiiiteiitiary avora.u(' practically tlie 

 same in iiitolliiii-nce as the .uciioral adult population. It was once sui)iiosed 

 that most cases deixMideut upon charity showed a mental auc helow twelve 

 and were to be considered feehle-minded. We now know that a "mental 

 aye" of twelve is only very slii^hlly helow a\-era,i,'e in ineidal development. 

 I'he result is that feelik'-mindedness is heiui;- used much less than formerly 

 as an e\i>lanation of social dilliculties, and that research workers are turn- 

 iuLC uKU'e and moi'e toward emotional and environmental factors in seeking; 

 an exi>lanation for such social and economic mal-arljustment. And there is 

 really a j^reat deal heinjj done, in a ([uiet Avay. in the attempt to measure the 

 emotions. So I want you to think of the scale. coi>ies of which T have 

 pa.ssed out to you. as hy no means a hit of freak research, hut as simjily 

 one of a numher of efforts alon.i;- this line. 



The first test c(tnsists. as you will see. of twenty-live lists such as : 



dis^iust fear S(>x susi)icion aunt 

 roar divorce dislike sidewalk wisisle 

 naked snicker wonder spit fi^ht 

 failure home rottins snake lin.s; 

 prize jrutter thunder breast insult 



The subjects are told first to i^o Ihrouiih the lists and cross out everything 

 that is unpleasant to them. Then after they have done this, they are told 

 to ixo through the lists asaiii. and to draw a ciicle around the one word 

 in each list which is nioxf unjiR'asant to them. The words are arranged 

 according,' to a definite scheme: there are live sets of words, a sei-ies of 

 .lokers and words chosen as un]>leasant to foui- different types of morbid 

 personality. The selection of words has been nnide on the Itasis of ex- 

 tended exjierience in work with the insane and with delinquents . ]*>ack of 

 t!ie test is a lai-iiC body of t!ie(n-y with rei;ard to tlie neuroses; it is held 

 by many writers that in such morbid c(iiiditions there is a marked increase 

 in the tendency to emotionali/.e. and a tendency to transfer emotion from 

 usual to unusual or associate<l oiijects. The test is scored with these two 

 points in mind. Fiist. the total number of words crossed out is counteil. 

 Then tlie scorer counts the number of times the subject has chosen an 

 unusual word, in select ini; the most unpleasant tliinfi. 



The second test consists of twenty-live lists such as: 



BLOSSOM flame (lower paralyzed red sew 



LAMP poor headache match dogs light 



BATH naked clioke tree alone diuiger 



KING fa/her baseliall queen rights razor 



SLEEP grade ache friglit tongue worry 



