RECORDS OF MEETINGS OF 1909 
323 
of incipient insanity in backward school pupils or in eccentric persons will 
be aided by the use of their tables and that possibly the study of normal 
mental development may also be aided. The results of the work on associa¬ 
tion in normal persons are being prepare for publication. 
Professor Woodworth said, in abstract: This work was undertaken with 
the cooperation of Dr. F. Lyman Wells, under a committee of the American 
Psychological Association. The object has been to make a careful selection 
of the material available for tests of controlled association where the measure¬ 
ment is to be in terms of time. Some of the tests selected, and others in 
process of selection, were presented. 
Dr. Wells presented a study of the time relations in the word list of Dr. 
Rosanoff and Miss Kent. The reason why free association time is longer 
than controlled association time is not an intellectual but a volitional one. 
The task of deciding on a suitable response is much greater in free than in 
controlled associations and through this the longer times of the former are 
essentially due. This difficulty of decision may be described as the product 
of striving for a response that will seem sufficiently dignified, or for one that 
shall not betray something which it is desired to hide, or as a product of 
distraction induced by special interest possessed by the stimulus word. 
Those individuals who decide on their responses promptly have short times 
and closely packed distributions; long times and variable distributions are 
seen in those who fumble with the experiment, and hesitate about which is 
the best response to give. In respect to this variability the fifteen women 
subjects fell into two species, eight being below and seven above the central 
tendency of the ten men subjects. The median times of the individual 
words in the last range from 7 to 20 fifths of a second. Out of the 2500 
associations, 90 were 10 seconds and over in length, the women giving pro¬ 
portionately three times of those as the men. The role of special “com¬ 
plexes’ in these reactions was probably a very subordinate one. What is 
measured by the free association time in the conventional psychological test 
is, in effect, the ability of the individual to make prompt choices and de¬ 
cisions under the experimental conditions imposed. The sex differences 
here observed are probably secondary to the special conditions of the experi¬ 
ment. 
The Section then adjourned. 
R. S. Woodworth, 
Secretary. 
