" "The
uncertainty
of the future.
Adorno-T-Authoritarian-Personality-Harper-Bros-1950
What experiences make you feel like sinking through the floor?
7? If you knew you had only six months to live, but could do just as you pleased during that period, how would you spend your time?
8. We get a feeling of awe when something seems to us wonderful, or im- pressive, or really important. What things would give you the greatest feeling of awe?
These items, considered as a technique, are similar in principle to the most intensive clinically used projective techniques such as the Thematic Apper- ception Test and the Rorschach, and to the various paper and pencil tech- niques. In general, all such techniques involve a standardized test situation uniform for all subjects, and a set of materials which (a) present a problem to be worked out, (b) are designed to bring out wide individual differences in response (that is, in the way the problem is worked out), and (c) elicit responses that are rich in meaning and in implications for deep-lying per- sonality dynamics. The Projective Questions are sometimes called "indirect questions" because the subject is seldom aware of the implications of his responses and because the interpretations do not take the answers at face value, but rather go beyond the literal meaning of the response to look for deeper dynamic sources. The justification for such interpretation lies in the very nature of the technique; when the many psychologically important aspects of the situation and the problem-material are held uniform for all . subjects, individual differences are attributed to characteristics in the subject, and the materials are so selected that the main difference-producing variables are likely to be personality trends of considerable importance in the indi- vidual's psychological functioning.
The various projective techniques differ in at least the following important respects: in the intensity of the relation of subject to tester, in the degree of structuring of the material as presented to the subject, and, as a result of these, in the interindividual variability of response and the intraindividual richness of response (expression of inner affect, impulses, deep-lying trends and con- flicts). In traditional psychoanalytic therapy which is, in a sense, the model for all projective techniques, the relation of subject to therapist is the most intense and plays the greatest role in eliciting emotionally significant behavior. In the psychoanalytic technique, furthermore, the materials are as unstruc- tured as possible; they include only the standardized situation and instruc- tions, designed to produce a maximum of spontaneity, and the person of the analyst, who might also be considered an unstructured material on whom the
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subject can project whatever he wishes. Since transference and resistance are so crucial in psychoanalysis, the course of therapy might be regarded as a series of manipulations of the therapist by the subject, in much the same way as other projective materials are manipulated.
The use of the standardized play situation as a therapeutic projective tech- nique probably comes closest to psychoanalysis with respect to the role of the therapist in eliciting and handling transference and resistance, and with respect to the range of self-expression stimulated by the relatively unstruc- tured but behavior-inducing materials. It is possible here not only to elicit but also to record many aspects of the verbal and motor behavior of the subject. The major projective techniques used clinically for diagnostic rather than for therapeutic purposes, such as the T. A. T. and Rorschach, are more limited with regard to the role of the tester and the range of expression ob- served and recorded, but they have been of considerable value in clinical practice and personality research.
While the Projective Question technique involves almost none of the "rela- tion between subject and tester" aspects of the therapeutic techniques, and while it is less intensive and more structured than the diagnostic clinical techniques, it has nevertheless a number of important advantages for large- scale sociopsychological research. The items are easily understood, they can be filled out quickly (8 items require only 10 to 15 minutes), and they require no "props" or detailed instructions. For these and other reasons they are ideally suited for questionnaire use.
One great value of the Projective Questions is that the variables derived from the scoring, as shown in the Scoring Manual which follows, are directly related to the variables expressed by many of the scale items in the question- naire, especially those in the F scale. Thus, this technique not only adds important material about the individual, but it also partially validates the scale results, since the undirected, spontaneously given responses to the Projective Questions reflect trends similar to those involved in the channel- ized, agree-disagree responses to the scale items.
The Projective Questions were included in each form of the questionnaire (see Chapter IV). They contributed to the study of relationships between personality and ethnocentrism, and they were an important source of ideas for F-scale items. The high and low quartiles on the E scale were the groups compared. (The middle scorers constitute an important group for future study; preliminary perusal of their responses suggests that their intermediate position is more a matter of conflicting high and low trends than of simple neutrality or indifference. ) The term "highs" or "high scorers" will be used to refer to the high quartile as measured on the Ethnocentrism scale, and conversely for the "lows," who constitute the low quartile on E.
As far as the writer is aware, this is the first attempt at systematic, "quan- titative" analysis of Projective Questions as a formal technique. They were
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used previously in a nonquantitative manner on the Harvard Growth Study of School Children (106), and their use in the present research was sug- gested by R. N. Sanford, a member of that Study. Some of the questions as used here are taken directly from the Harvard Growth Study of School Children. Some of them were used subsequently by the United States Office of Strategic Services in their assessment program (II6). 2 The content of the questions is, of course, hardly new; they have been asked, in one form or another, by clinical psychologists and others for some time.
B. QUANTIFICA TION BY MEANS OF SCORING CA TEGORIES
The problem of quantification has plagued everyone who works with projective tests, personal documents or other qualitative clinical material. Attempts at precise measurement and complex statistical treatment have usually resulted in quantification at the expense of meaning, in reliability without validity. Any quantitative mode of analysis, focusing as it does on aspects of response that occur with some frequency in larger groups, can hardly help but overlook those aspects which are more idiosyncratic, even though the latter may be crucial for understanding a given individual. More- over, the more subtle and abstract qualities of response are difficult to formu- late in a concrete, specific manner. These difficulties are particularly great when, as in the present case, one is interested in the primary psychological content of the response-in what the individual strives for or feels or values or expenences.
It seemed, however, that some middle ground between precise quantifica- tion and the total clinical gestalt might be found. The compromise chosen was scoring by means of qualitative categories. While each category is scored only in terms of present-absent-scoring in terms of quantitative degrees may yet be attempted-a measure of quantification is obtained by summing an individual's (or group's) scores on the several items. This method, while lacking a high degree of precision,3 can, at the least, attempt to meet neces- sary standards of rigorous definition, controlled scoring, and scoring re- liability. And, while neglecting much that the clinician may see intuitively in any single response, the categories can include numerous major trends
2 See also Sanford and Conrad (108, 109), and Franck, K. (29) for other uses of the Projective Questions. A similar technique is that of Incomplete Sentences, as described by Rohde (97), Rotter (10o) and Stein (114). For an example of the use of a slightly modified Projective Question technique in the study of antidemocratic personality trends -with results similar to those obtained here-see McGranahan (78).
3 By "precision" is meant merely "the number of significant figures" in a score, e. g. , the value 2. 3689 is more precise than 2. 4. However, a scoring system can be relatively impre- cise, e. g. , a wall clock as compared with a stop-watch, and yet be accurate and valid. Personality researchers may have to tolerate a low degree of precision until we are be- yond the initial stage where significance and validity present the greatest methodological problems.
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that define the dynamic framework within which further clinical differenti- ation is possible.
Thus the scoring of Projective Questions, like the scoring of interviews (see Chapter IX), requires a set of qualitative categories that meet various theoretical and technical standards. The categories should be carefully de- fined and illustrated to facilitate communication and interpretation. They should be literal enough to permit highly reliable scoring, yet sufficiently
interpretive to have clinical significance and theoretical implications. A limited number of categories per item, preferably between two and six, is desirable and a minimum of responses should be ambiguous (unscorable) in terms of these categories. The degree to which these standards have been met can better be judged at the end of this chapter. Since the main per- sonality trends of concern in the present research were those differentiating highs and lows on ethnocentrism, high categories and low categories were sought. The high categories incorporated those psychological qualities which were found to characterize the responses of the ethnocentric subjects, while the low categories appeared to characterize the anti-ethnocentric sub- jects.
The procedure in determining the specific categories for each item was as follows. The responses of the low scorers to that item were transposed by typing onto one or a few sheets, thus permitting easy inspection of group material; and similarly for the high scorers. Closer examination of the re- sponses of each quartile as a whole revealed a few major trends characteristic of each group and differentiating it from the other group. These trends were formalized into categories which seemed both empirically differentiating and theoretically meaningful. The final step involved the preparation of a Scoring Manual (see below) in which each category is defined, discussed briefly, and illustrated with examples from the groups on which the Manual is based. The Manual, formed through examination of the first few groups studied, and on the basis of our over-all theory and results, was used with only minor modifications on all subsequent groups.
It should be noted that the determination and use of categories is not a purely mechanical and atheoretical procedure. The importance of an over- all personality theory, especially as applied to the understanding of differ- ences between highs and lows, can hardly be overestimated as an aid in dealing with projective items. With regard to category determination, the general theory provides hypotheses before one sees the Projective Question material, and it is crucial in the selection of aspects of response which dif- ferentiate lows from highs. Furthermore, it gives the categories deeper and broader meaning by relating them to a larger theoretical frame and to results gained by other techniques. With regard to scoring, the general personality theory acts as a background factor making it easier for the scorer to decide
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55?
on the appropriate category for a given response; it also facilitates the scoring of some idiosyncratic responses which do not directly fit any of the scoring categories used but which express low or high personality trends. Finally, by means of the over-all personality theory the categories of several items can be integrated into a single pattern involving several trends, thus per- mitting a more complex description of the high or low groups or of any individual subject. It is therefore of great value for the scorer to be familiar with the general personality theory involved, as a basis for competent scoring as well as for contributions to new theory, categories, and procedures.
C. SCORING MANUAL: CA TEGORIES OF PROJECTIVE QUESTION RESPONSE
There are three types of scores: low (L), high (H), and neutral (N). A neutral score is given when the question is left blank (Nb),4 when the re- sponse is ambiguous with respect to the high and low categories (Na), or when high and low trends are present to equal degrees (Nhl). For the groups studied thus far there were relatively few Na and Nhl scores (8. 8 per cent); the presence of many Na scores in future groups would necessitate modi- fication or expansion of the present Manual. Each scorer assigns one of the above scores to each response. The scoring procedure will be discussed below
(Section D). We may turn now to the Scoring Manual. It should be noted that the Scoring Manual has not only a methodological function but also a descriptive function, since it presents and even helps to interpret the differ- ences between the responses of the ethnocentric and nonethnocentric groups.
QuESTION 1. WHAT Mooos ARE UNPLEASANT oR DisTURBING?
Low Categories
1. Conscious conflict and guilt. Feelings of self-criticism, depression, frus- tration, insecurity, inadequacy, hopelessness, despair, lack of s~lf-worth, re- morse. The main conflict or sense of remorse is over violation of values referring to achievement, love-giving (nurturance), understanding, friend- ship, self-expression, and social contribution. This system of values, which the lows express in various forms in several of the projective questions, will be called achievement values. Important underlying variables are intrapuni- tiveness (the tendency to blame oneself rather than the world when things go wrong) and a well-internalized set of ethical standards. There is an inner orientation, an emphasis on the needs, strivings, and inner state of the indi- vidual; related to this is an intraceptive approach, a concern with self-under- standing, and an acceptance of personal moral responsibility for one's actions.
4 As it turned out, omissions on certain items, while recorded as Nb, were converted to scores of H in the statistical treatment. This was based on the discovery that the highs made appreciably more omissions than the lows (see below, Section D).
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Examples: "Those times when I would like to give myself a swift kick in the pants. " "A feeling of futility and pessismism. " "When I don't do as well as I know I am capable of doing. " "So much to do, so little time. "
A response is scored here when external factors such as "lack of housing" or "lack of economic opportunity" are mentioned, as long as these external forces are represented as frustrating inner needs or achievement values. Thus, the lows refer to external difficulties as obstacles to self-expression and secu- rity, whereas the highs refer to external difficulties in themselves merely as a sign of general dissatisfaction, without indicating what inner needs or values are frustrated (see below).
2. Focal dependency and love-seeking. These responses reflect a desire for close personal relationships involving emotional warmth and exchange. The sense of lack of love and of focal relationships, often found in love (cf. Chapter XI), must be distinguished from the highs' feeling of aloneness and isolation in a generally barren world (see below). The loneliness of the highs represents, as it seems, underlying dependency which must remain ego-alien and which finds little or no positive, ego-satisfying expression.
Examples: "Moods where you feel like pouring out your soul to a person. " "To love someone and not be loved back. " "To feel alone when in the company of others; this can occur even after a period of congeniality. " Feelings of rejection are scored low: "to appear ridiculous"; "to love but not be loved"; "to be laughed at unjustly. " (However, a response is scored high if it involves a sense of active threat-rather than merely loss or lack of love-as well as extrapunitiveness and feelings of perse- cution. For example: "to be made a fool of"; "when a friend turns against me. ") The dependency, self-blame, and depressive affect in lows may also take a more "cosmic" form ( W eltschmerz): "When I feel what fools all we humans are. " The highs are disturbed by the supposed stupidity or immorality of others rather than by any ideas of these trends in themselves; nor do they have a "world-identification. "
3? Open hostility, by self or others, toward love objects. The lows are upset by feelings of hostility in themselves and by hostility and exploitiveness in others. The disturbing hostility may take two forms, ideological and inter- personal.
Ideologically, we find references to fa~lts in our social system and social authority: discrimination, exploitation, insecurity, violations of democratic values.
Examples: "Thinking of the rotten, ruthless practices that go on under the name of rugged individualism and unrestricted initiative in the U. S. A. " "Concern over the shortcomings of Americans and thus the nation. " "The slowness of social prog- ress; the stupidity of the powers that be. " "Unemployment and lack of security for the average man or veterans. "
In the sphere of interpersonal relations, hostile impulses or acts directed toward friends and love objects are a source of disturbing moods in low scorers.
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Examples: "When I feel I have hurt a friend. " "Envy, hatred, revenge, resent- ment. " "When I feel a general dislike towards friends and the world in general. " "Intolerance; cruelty to people. " "Resentment toward parents. " (It is characteris- tically low that ambivalence toward parents is more accessible to consciousness, though often conflict-producing. ) "Anger" when it is the total response is scored Na. In connection with the thesis, presented in earlier chapters, that psychological themes can be found in the specific content of the individual's ideology, it is inter- esting to note that similar psychological content characterizes both the "ideological" and the "interpersonal" responses to this question.
In summary, the main trends expressed in the above categories are: viola- tion of achievement values, resulting in conscious conflict, remorse, and self- criticism; intrapunitiveness; intraception; libidinized interpersonal relation- ships; focal, ego-assimilated dependency strivings; depressive affect focused on lack of achievement and on rejection by love objects; open ambivalence toward love objects and family members.
High Categories (Question z)
1. Violations of conventional values. This category is the high equivalent to the "conscious conflict and guilt" category for the lows. These values are concerned with activity, success, upward mobility, and rugged masculinity in men, and with "sweetness and light" femininity in women. They also involve certain behavior formulae regarding etiquette and interpersonal rela- tions, and an emphasis on conformity per se.
Examples: "Not making a success of life. " "Not advancing in life. " "Not doing something useful. " "Lack of purpose" (i. e. , not having aims, in contrast to the frus- tration of aims in lows). It is sometimes difficult to distinguish the high masculin- ity-status values, with their external criterion of success, from the low achievement values, with their inner orientation and their emphasis on self-expression. The dif- ference in the examples above is in the use of the word "advancing" rather than "accomplishing," or "useful" rather than "contributing to the welfare of others. " Another characteristic of certain high responses is their concern with externally imposed tasks or duties rather than with inner strivings. For example: "Not meeting expected requirements. " What is implied here is shame over being caught and social anxiety over nonconformity, rather than guilt over value violations (viola- tions that are felt internally whether 'Or not they are observed by others).
Violations of conventional values (immorality) by others are included here. For example: "Seeing crude sexual behavior. " "Drinking, breaking the law. " "Anyone who displays bad habits publicly irritates all. " "Disgust over filth and smut. " "Disgust with human nature and people. " These responses reflect trends mentioned previously: moral punitiveness, cynicism, the tend- ency to seek out, and to find, immorality in the world (especially in out- groups) rather than in oneself.
Finally, we find responses in which hostility toward friends and morality figures (parents, relatives, social authority, and the like) is implied though not explicitly stated or recognized.
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Examples: "Little frictions with parents. " "When my husband doesn't act right toward me. " "Lack of harmony with friends. " The emphasis is on the behavior or the situation in itself, without reference to motives or specific affect. Compare these responses with those of lows: "Resentment toward parents"; "When I feel I have hurt a friend. " When an individual who is shown to be consistently high on other measures gives a response like "Worry over family members" or "Death of rela- tives" it is not difficult to infer that he or she feels hostility towards these people, hostility which is projected in the form of the idea that family members may be harmed by other people or by bad luck. Suffice it to say that responses of this sort are given predominantly by highs, and are scored H. The response "Fighting in Ger- many" is scored high because of its reference to motor aggression per se without specific psychological content (needs, affect, values); similarly in the case of "Long labor disputes. "
z. Threatening or nonsupporting environment: focus on external obstacles, lacks, and threats, with an (implied) unconscious sense of helplessness and dependency. Theoretical discussion must be deferred until later; however, in order clearly to differentiate the high and low categories the following theoretical point must be made. As we know from the interviews and the T. A. T. , highs and lows do not seem to differ in the amount of their under- lying dependency (or other deep trends); the difference lies, rather, in the way such impulses are handled and integrated in the personality. Dependency is implied in the responses of many lows and many highs, but the form of expression differs systematically in the two groups. The emotional intensity, active sorrow, and focal conflict of the lows, as well as the intellectual and ideological strivings and the search for close relationship, are not difficult to distinguish from the emotionally shallow, ego-alien loneliness, and objectless passivity of the highs. The responses in the high categories for this question reveal an inner poverty, an external orientation, and a nonfocalized de- pendency on the outer world; these individuals are, so to say, glad when the world supports them and sad when their supports leave, with a minimum of self-determination and self-awareness.
One common type of response among the highs involves feelings of doubt, uncertainty, and momentary lack of self-confidence. These individuals are in doubt as to which is the more correct<or success-producing act, whereas the lows feel intense inner conflicts between two impulses or between an
impulse, e. g. , hostility, and inner moral standards. The focus in the high re- sponses is on the act itself or on the undependability of the environment. Interp-retively, the lack of self-confidence seems primarily to be anxiety in a social situation which is unconsciously apperceived as threatening.
Examples: "The feeling that regardless of prearranged plans and ideas it is never possible to be sure of what a new day will bring.
" "The uncertainty of the future. " "The feeling of people and places having changed so much that one feels lonely and loses self-confidence. " "Unsure of taking the right step in business. "
The highs are most disturbed by lack of support rather than lack of love,
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by isolation or threat rather than rejection. Their frustrations in regard to interpersonal relations seem to be experienced as a sort of undifferentiated "aloneness" without an aspect of active affection-seeking or focal relation- ship.
Examples: "To feel that I am not liked or wanted where I am. " "To feel out of place in the company I am in and not be sure of my next move. " "Being alone with- out company" (fear of solitude in this context is high). "When I feel alone and no one to turn to. " These responses may also involve a sense of being persecuted or victimized, as well as a marked extrapunitive quality and feelings of self-pity. For example: "To feel cast aside. " "The 'don't give a darn' feeling when,you think no- body cares what happens to you. " "When a friend turns against you. " "Someone convicts you of something you never did. " "Feeling the world is against me. "
The affect of the highs is less clear-cut and focalized than that of the lows. It often takes the form of vague, undifferentiated worry, or of gen- eralized dissatisfaction.
Examples: "W orry about the future. " "Realization of impending danger. " "Emo- tional moods. " "When everything goes wrong. " The single word "worry" is com-. monly given by highs. "Feeling absolutely lost. " Responses such as "worry about the future" and "lack of money" are clearly high. However, the response "financial insecurity," with no clarifying context, should be scored Na, since its external orien- tation seems high, while its reference to insecurity as an inner state is low; not fre- quently given, it occurs almost equally in highs and lows.
While fear is implied by a number of the responses above, it is almost never given explicitly by highs, and evidence from other chapters suggests that they do not recognize these as fear experiences. Responses such as "fear" and "apprehension," though rare, are usually given by lows and should be scored L.
3? "Rumblings from below. " These responses refer to situations or bodily conditions which, by inference though not explicitly, tend to bring out ego-alien trends such as passivity, anxiety, and hostility.
Examples: ''Quietness, boredom, inactivity. " "When at a party everything is quiet and dead as a morgue. " "Lack of work or anything to do, causing restlessness and lack of self-confidence. " The reference to lack of work is interesting in connec- tion with the compulsive value for work commonly found in highs; work and "keeping busy" would appear, for some individuals at least, to have the psycho- logical function of reducing anxiety and of aiding in the inhibition of unaccepted impulses. Perhaps this is the dynamic meaning of the slogan, "Keeping busy is the best way of staying out of mischief"; the mischievous impulses are conceived as "rumblings from below," as waiting only for an idle moment to force themselves through. Also evident in these responses are the anti-intraceprion and the opposition to leisure discussed in earlier chapters.
Another common source of disturbance is poor bodily condition: fatigue, hangover, sickness, headache, and the like. There may also be references to strain, external pressure, and overwork, that is, conditions which threaten
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the mind by harming the body. Once again there is no reference to inner needs, values, or emotions as such, but only a vague sense of threat, restless- ness, or dissatisfaction. The underlying but unrecognized fear of body harm seems to be a major cause of anxiety. In addition, being "fatigued" or over- worked is a condition in which defenses are lowered and unaccepted trends may break through. The person then has a "nervous breakdown"-some- thing conceived as having a physiological rather than a psychological origin. It is of some interest that the highs are threatened by both lack of work and overwork; inactivity will turn one's mind to the wrong things, but over- activity-being too good for too long, so to speak-may intensify the bad impulses and weaken the defenses beyond the threshold of control. Work appears, therefore, to be a form of punishment as well as a value and a defense for these individuals.
4? Omissions are recorded as Nb but are considered as H in computing individual or group scores (agreement with E). While the total number of omissions is small (about 8 per cent), most of the omitters were highs; this is consistent with the greater anti-intracepti~n and fear of "prying" in highs.
QuESTION 2. WHAT DESIRES ARE MosT DIFFICULT TO CoNTROL?
Low Categories
All low categories for this question are bound up with violations of achievement values by oneself or others.
1. Focal (usually verbal) hostility directed against violators of achieve- ment values. In the ideological sphere we find opposition to fascism, mili- tarism, discrimination, suppression, exploitation, autocracy, and the like. In the sphere of interpersonal relations similar basic values are expressed in the form of opposition to hypocrisy, intellectual dishonesty, pompous- ness, narrowness, unfairness, and the like.
Examples: "To lash out at those people who voice an attitude of racial discrimi- nation or an attitude of a dishonest intellect. " "Getting mad at native fascists. " "To walk out on people who are unmitigated boors or fools-usually I'm too curious to see everyone else's reaction to do so" (note also the psychological curiosity). "Up- braiding individuals having a 'don't give a damn' attitude in matters that are impor- tant; and those that fail to consider relative values. " "The desire to devaluate men"
(this is scored low for the focal hostility and competition with men). "The desire to deflate pompous, loud-mouthed people. "
The response may also involve inner conflict over being hostile and rebel- lious (against oppressive convention or authority) as opposed to being tact- ful or submissive.
For example: "To express an opinion when it is more tactful to remain subordi- nate, as in the navy when you feel anything but subordinate; to accept militarism. " "To disregard conventions and speak out of turn when I encounter hypocrisy. " "Telling people about fallacies in our economic system and the impossibility of
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returning to prewar times; not to carry out the patriotic ballyhoo thrust on service men. " "To express my feelings with people who wouldn't understand. " (The last response should be distinguished from the high response, "Talk about my emo- tions"; in the latter there is a generalized, objectless need and inhibition, whereas in the former we find the desire for personal relationship as the basis for sharing of emotions. )
2. The tendency to violate achievement values oneself. These responses are concerned with interpersonal relations rather than ideology. They usually involve some degree of inner conflict between achievement values and pleasurable impulses (play, ego-satisfying passivity, intellectuality, sensual- ity). The main values involved are for nurturance and love-giving, as when one fails to realize an accepted obligation toward a friend, or for achieve- ment, as when the individual does not actively strive toward serious goals but rather allows himself to be side-tracked into immediately pleasurable pursuits. That this is an inner conflict must be stressed: the conflict involves moral standards or obligations which the individual accepts as his own and which take the form of promptings from within, in contrast to the highs' reference to externally imposed. tasks and duties. A further difference is that the passivity is ego-assimilated and satisfying for the lows, diffuse and ego- alien for the high scorers (see below).
Examples: "The desire to listen to music when I have work to do. " "Self-indul- gence" (note also the explicit self-criticism). "Being true to myself. " "An impulse to procrastinate; to take the obvious easy course when a more direct facing of ob- stacles could enable me to obtain what I desire. " "The wanderlust to see what the other pan of the country is doing, or on a nice day, the desire to be enjoying it by fishing or hunting. " "To be indifferent. " "Be lazy and sleep. " "Running away from trouble" (this is not the same as "forget my troubles," which is repressive rather than escapist and is scored H). Also scored here are responses involving guilt as a consequence of hurting others (emphatic focus on their feelings) or of violating other values. For example: "To blame rather than to understand. " "Use the wrong means to achieve desirable aims. "
3? Miscellaneous. Several relatively infrequent responses may be consid- ered here. "Fear" is, as on Question I, a low response. Most sex responses by men are scored H (see below). They are scored L when they are more per- sonalized and subtle, or when they show some signs of surface inhibition. For example: "In my admiration of feminine beauty I find it hard at times to keep from staring. " For women, however, most sex references are scored L, even when only the single word is given. Example: "Being too affectionate with the 'man in my life. '" "Amorous desires. " "Falling in love. " Conven- tionalized sex responses by women, e. g. , "Going out on too many dates," are scored H.
Denial of hard-to-control impulses, e. g. , the response "None," is more common in lows than in highs and is scored L. This empirical result was not anticipated; it is consistent with the apparently greater impulsivity of lows
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and their emphasis on independence and self-expression. (If high contextual features, e. g. , anti-intraception, are present, a score of H is given. )
High Categories (Question 2)
1. Nonfocal and/or motor aggression. One of the most unequivocally high forms of response involves concrete, impersona~ aggressive acts, usually di- rected against "irritating" people.
Examples: "Spanking a very fresh or mean child. " "Deliberately smashing into a foolish driver, the majority being women" (this response by a man who on other items shows a surface idealization of women). "The desire to slug the guy that talks for hours about the rough time he had in the service when you know he has been a U. S. O. Commando most of the time. "
The high aggressive impulse tends to be cognitively blind and undiffer- entiated, and to have a symptomatic quality.
Examples: "The desire to beat my way out of a crowded place just to see how many persons I could overcome before I would be stopped. " "The desire to keep moving so as not to slug somebody. " "Temper. " "The desire to blow my top when I get angry. "
Verbal aggression in a context of low values is, as noted above, scored L. However, undifferentiated verbal aggression, without reference to values or to the nature of the object, is scored H.
For example: "Speaking my mind. " "Tell people what I think of them. " "Telling people off. " Aggression against unconventional people or against liberal ideas may be included here; e. g. , "To rebel against unionism. " There is often an extrapunitive and projective element in the aggression of the highs; the idea of "being taken advan- tage of" is sometimes used to justify the hostile impulses. Neutral scores (Na): verbal aggression in which the values or context are unclear; "anger" alone without a qualifying context.
Responses which seem to represent more disguised forms of hostility, par- ticularly in high women, may be mentioned here. These refer mainly to "im- patience," to "stubbornness," or to domineering tendencies, usually without further qualification. They are occasionally given in a low context; for ex- ample: "The desire to 'lecture' and be too sure I am right. " This is scored L because of the implicit self-criticism, the recognition of her own fallibility, and the recognition that the desire to help or teach may be tied up with dominance.
2. Ego-alien passivity. In contrast to the lows, the highs give relatively few responses involving passivity. Moreover, these responses do not refer to escapist enjoyment or to self-criticism and inner conflict. High passivity seems, rather, to involve mainly the idea of. task;_avoidance, of shirking an externally imposed duty (cf. also Chapter XIII).
Examples: "To procrastinate. " "Not carry out what is expected of me. " (Score
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Na when the response involves the idea of running away from responsibilities and there is no indication as to whether the responsibilities have an internal or external origin. )
What seems also to express a primitive passive trend is the desire to "forget everything," to blot out the world and focus on cheerful things (as in Item 9, F scale, Form 45). Again we find a sense of threat from an overwhelming environment and an external orientation rather than an inner conflict and a conscious moral dilemma.
Examples: "Forgetting everything and traveling and looking for something more interesting. " "The urge to run away and forget everything. " "Going out on a real high bender and forget my troubles. " (Note: "drink to forget" is high but "drink" alone is neutral. )
3? Impersonal sex. As noted above, most sex responses (even relatively crude ones) by women are scored L. More conventionalized responses, e. g. , "Going out on dates," "Flirting," or "Getting married" are scored H. In men, on the other hand, most sex responses are given by highs. The most common response is simply "Sex" or "Sex matters. " There is also a tendency to assume that sex impulses would "naturally" cause the most difficulty, e. g. , "Desires relating to sex, of course. " It would appear that some high men emphasize
sex as part of their general emphasis on rugged masculinity, while some low women bring in sex as part of their rebellion against traditional nonsensual femininity. The sex responses of the high men have an impersonal, undif- ferentiated quality similar to that found in their aggression responses. For example: "Keeping my emotions in check when out with a beautiful blonde. " "The desire to accompany women of the world. " The lows tend to refer either to a love object with whom there is some psychological relationship, or to a love affair involving ego-accepted sensuality. It is certainly of theoretical interest that the latter form of response is more common in unprejudiced women than in unprejudiced men.
4? Incidental pleasures and violations of conventional values. The main qualicies of these responses are their emotional diluteness, their lack of strong object-relationship, their concreteness (reference to specific acts), and their concern with minor conventions.
Examples: "Sweet tooth. " "Overeating. " "Use slang. " "Travel. " "Talking at the wrong time. " "Break light bulbs in church. " "Scream in church; scream when annoyed. " "Have too much fun. " References to "Too much activity" or to "Over- indulging in sports" are sometimes given by high men; these desires appear to be related to concern with masculinity and may in some cases represent a defense against underlying passive impulses-impulses which find indirect expression on other items or techniques.
One of the more common forms of response in this category involves concern with money, particularly with spending it too freely rather than retaining it.
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Examples: "Be extravagant. "'"Spending money wantonly and spending time wan- tonly. " "Gambling. " "I like to buy novels but I try not to as it costs so much money. " There is sometimes self-idealization and/or self-pity. For example: "Desire to spend for others' benefits. " "Help others at own expense. " The highs' concern with money may well be related to their accusations of "money-mindedness" in outgroups.
There are several responses which are marginal to this category. While simple denial is scored L, denial in a context of "will power" or of anti-intra- ception is H. For example: "I don't have any difficulty controlling any desire if I make up my mind to a thing. " Emphasis on will power is seen in the re- sponse, "Walking straight ahead when passing a cocktail bar. " The idea of not planning or giving thought to decisions is also H; for example: "Jump- ing into something new without thinking of the consequences before- hand. "
5.
7? If you knew you had only six months to live, but could do just as you pleased during that period, how would you spend your time?
8. We get a feeling of awe when something seems to us wonderful, or im- pressive, or really important. What things would give you the greatest feeling of awe?
These items, considered as a technique, are similar in principle to the most intensive clinically used projective techniques such as the Thematic Apper- ception Test and the Rorschach, and to the various paper and pencil tech- niques. In general, all such techniques involve a standardized test situation uniform for all subjects, and a set of materials which (a) present a problem to be worked out, (b) are designed to bring out wide individual differences in response (that is, in the way the problem is worked out), and (c) elicit responses that are rich in meaning and in implications for deep-lying per- sonality dynamics. The Projective Questions are sometimes called "indirect questions" because the subject is seldom aware of the implications of his responses and because the interpretations do not take the answers at face value, but rather go beyond the literal meaning of the response to look for deeper dynamic sources. The justification for such interpretation lies in the very nature of the technique; when the many psychologically important aspects of the situation and the problem-material are held uniform for all . subjects, individual differences are attributed to characteristics in the subject, and the materials are so selected that the main difference-producing variables are likely to be personality trends of considerable importance in the indi- vidual's psychological functioning.
The various projective techniques differ in at least the following important respects: in the intensity of the relation of subject to tester, in the degree of structuring of the material as presented to the subject, and, as a result of these, in the interindividual variability of response and the intraindividual richness of response (expression of inner affect, impulses, deep-lying trends and con- flicts). In traditional psychoanalytic therapy which is, in a sense, the model for all projective techniques, the relation of subject to therapist is the most intense and plays the greatest role in eliciting emotionally significant behavior. In the psychoanalytic technique, furthermore, the materials are as unstruc- tured as possible; they include only the standardized situation and instruc- tions, designed to produce a maximum of spontaneity, and the person of the analyst, who might also be considered an unstructured material on whom the
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subject can project whatever he wishes. Since transference and resistance are so crucial in psychoanalysis, the course of therapy might be regarded as a series of manipulations of the therapist by the subject, in much the same way as other projective materials are manipulated.
The use of the standardized play situation as a therapeutic projective tech- nique probably comes closest to psychoanalysis with respect to the role of the therapist in eliciting and handling transference and resistance, and with respect to the range of self-expression stimulated by the relatively unstruc- tured but behavior-inducing materials. It is possible here not only to elicit but also to record many aspects of the verbal and motor behavior of the subject. The major projective techniques used clinically for diagnostic rather than for therapeutic purposes, such as the T. A. T. and Rorschach, are more limited with regard to the role of the tester and the range of expression ob- served and recorded, but they have been of considerable value in clinical practice and personality research.
While the Projective Question technique involves almost none of the "rela- tion between subject and tester" aspects of the therapeutic techniques, and while it is less intensive and more structured than the diagnostic clinical techniques, it has nevertheless a number of important advantages for large- scale sociopsychological research. The items are easily understood, they can be filled out quickly (8 items require only 10 to 15 minutes), and they require no "props" or detailed instructions. For these and other reasons they are ideally suited for questionnaire use.
One great value of the Projective Questions is that the variables derived from the scoring, as shown in the Scoring Manual which follows, are directly related to the variables expressed by many of the scale items in the question- naire, especially those in the F scale. Thus, this technique not only adds important material about the individual, but it also partially validates the scale results, since the undirected, spontaneously given responses to the Projective Questions reflect trends similar to those involved in the channel- ized, agree-disagree responses to the scale items.
The Projective Questions were included in each form of the questionnaire (see Chapter IV). They contributed to the study of relationships between personality and ethnocentrism, and they were an important source of ideas for F-scale items. The high and low quartiles on the E scale were the groups compared. (The middle scorers constitute an important group for future study; preliminary perusal of their responses suggests that their intermediate position is more a matter of conflicting high and low trends than of simple neutrality or indifference. ) The term "highs" or "high scorers" will be used to refer to the high quartile as measured on the Ethnocentrism scale, and conversely for the "lows," who constitute the low quartile on E.
As far as the writer is aware, this is the first attempt at systematic, "quan- titative" analysis of Projective Questions as a formal technique. They were
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used previously in a nonquantitative manner on the Harvard Growth Study of School Children (106), and their use in the present research was sug- gested by R. N. Sanford, a member of that Study. Some of the questions as used here are taken directly from the Harvard Growth Study of School Children. Some of them were used subsequently by the United States Office of Strategic Services in their assessment program (II6). 2 The content of the questions is, of course, hardly new; they have been asked, in one form or another, by clinical psychologists and others for some time.
B. QUANTIFICA TION BY MEANS OF SCORING CA TEGORIES
The problem of quantification has plagued everyone who works with projective tests, personal documents or other qualitative clinical material. Attempts at precise measurement and complex statistical treatment have usually resulted in quantification at the expense of meaning, in reliability without validity. Any quantitative mode of analysis, focusing as it does on aspects of response that occur with some frequency in larger groups, can hardly help but overlook those aspects which are more idiosyncratic, even though the latter may be crucial for understanding a given individual. More- over, the more subtle and abstract qualities of response are difficult to formu- late in a concrete, specific manner. These difficulties are particularly great when, as in the present case, one is interested in the primary psychological content of the response-in what the individual strives for or feels or values or expenences.
It seemed, however, that some middle ground between precise quantifica- tion and the total clinical gestalt might be found. The compromise chosen was scoring by means of qualitative categories. While each category is scored only in terms of present-absent-scoring in terms of quantitative degrees may yet be attempted-a measure of quantification is obtained by summing an individual's (or group's) scores on the several items. This method, while lacking a high degree of precision,3 can, at the least, attempt to meet neces- sary standards of rigorous definition, controlled scoring, and scoring re- liability. And, while neglecting much that the clinician may see intuitively in any single response, the categories can include numerous major trends
2 See also Sanford and Conrad (108, 109), and Franck, K. (29) for other uses of the Projective Questions. A similar technique is that of Incomplete Sentences, as described by Rohde (97), Rotter (10o) and Stein (114). For an example of the use of a slightly modified Projective Question technique in the study of antidemocratic personality trends -with results similar to those obtained here-see McGranahan (78).
3 By "precision" is meant merely "the number of significant figures" in a score, e. g. , the value 2. 3689 is more precise than 2. 4. However, a scoring system can be relatively impre- cise, e. g. , a wall clock as compared with a stop-watch, and yet be accurate and valid. Personality researchers may have to tolerate a low degree of precision until we are be- yond the initial stage where significance and validity present the greatest methodological problems.
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that define the dynamic framework within which further clinical differenti- ation is possible.
Thus the scoring of Projective Questions, like the scoring of interviews (see Chapter IX), requires a set of qualitative categories that meet various theoretical and technical standards. The categories should be carefully de- fined and illustrated to facilitate communication and interpretation. They should be literal enough to permit highly reliable scoring, yet sufficiently
interpretive to have clinical significance and theoretical implications. A limited number of categories per item, preferably between two and six, is desirable and a minimum of responses should be ambiguous (unscorable) in terms of these categories. The degree to which these standards have been met can better be judged at the end of this chapter. Since the main per- sonality trends of concern in the present research were those differentiating highs and lows on ethnocentrism, high categories and low categories were sought. The high categories incorporated those psychological qualities which were found to characterize the responses of the ethnocentric subjects, while the low categories appeared to characterize the anti-ethnocentric sub- jects.
The procedure in determining the specific categories for each item was as follows. The responses of the low scorers to that item were transposed by typing onto one or a few sheets, thus permitting easy inspection of group material; and similarly for the high scorers. Closer examination of the re- sponses of each quartile as a whole revealed a few major trends characteristic of each group and differentiating it from the other group. These trends were formalized into categories which seemed both empirically differentiating and theoretically meaningful. The final step involved the preparation of a Scoring Manual (see below) in which each category is defined, discussed briefly, and illustrated with examples from the groups on which the Manual is based. The Manual, formed through examination of the first few groups studied, and on the basis of our over-all theory and results, was used with only minor modifications on all subsequent groups.
It should be noted that the determination and use of categories is not a purely mechanical and atheoretical procedure. The importance of an over- all personality theory, especially as applied to the understanding of differ- ences between highs and lows, can hardly be overestimated as an aid in dealing with projective items. With regard to category determination, the general theory provides hypotheses before one sees the Projective Question material, and it is crucial in the selection of aspects of response which dif- ferentiate lows from highs. Furthermore, it gives the categories deeper and broader meaning by relating them to a larger theoretical frame and to results gained by other techniques. With regard to scoring, the general personality theory acts as a background factor making it easier for the scorer to decide
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55?
on the appropriate category for a given response; it also facilitates the scoring of some idiosyncratic responses which do not directly fit any of the scoring categories used but which express low or high personality trends. Finally, by means of the over-all personality theory the categories of several items can be integrated into a single pattern involving several trends, thus per- mitting a more complex description of the high or low groups or of any individual subject. It is therefore of great value for the scorer to be familiar with the general personality theory involved, as a basis for competent scoring as well as for contributions to new theory, categories, and procedures.
C. SCORING MANUAL: CA TEGORIES OF PROJECTIVE QUESTION RESPONSE
There are three types of scores: low (L), high (H), and neutral (N). A neutral score is given when the question is left blank (Nb),4 when the re- sponse is ambiguous with respect to the high and low categories (Na), or when high and low trends are present to equal degrees (Nhl). For the groups studied thus far there were relatively few Na and Nhl scores (8. 8 per cent); the presence of many Na scores in future groups would necessitate modi- fication or expansion of the present Manual. Each scorer assigns one of the above scores to each response. The scoring procedure will be discussed below
(Section D). We may turn now to the Scoring Manual. It should be noted that the Scoring Manual has not only a methodological function but also a descriptive function, since it presents and even helps to interpret the differ- ences between the responses of the ethnocentric and nonethnocentric groups.
QuESTION 1. WHAT Mooos ARE UNPLEASANT oR DisTURBING?
Low Categories
1. Conscious conflict and guilt. Feelings of self-criticism, depression, frus- tration, insecurity, inadequacy, hopelessness, despair, lack of s~lf-worth, re- morse. The main conflict or sense of remorse is over violation of values referring to achievement, love-giving (nurturance), understanding, friend- ship, self-expression, and social contribution. This system of values, which the lows express in various forms in several of the projective questions, will be called achievement values. Important underlying variables are intrapuni- tiveness (the tendency to blame oneself rather than the world when things go wrong) and a well-internalized set of ethical standards. There is an inner orientation, an emphasis on the needs, strivings, and inner state of the indi- vidual; related to this is an intraceptive approach, a concern with self-under- standing, and an acceptance of personal moral responsibility for one's actions.
4 As it turned out, omissions on certain items, while recorded as Nb, were converted to scores of H in the statistical treatment. This was based on the discovery that the highs made appreciably more omissions than the lows (see below, Section D).
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Examples: "Those times when I would like to give myself a swift kick in the pants. " "A feeling of futility and pessismism. " "When I don't do as well as I know I am capable of doing. " "So much to do, so little time. "
A response is scored here when external factors such as "lack of housing" or "lack of economic opportunity" are mentioned, as long as these external forces are represented as frustrating inner needs or achievement values. Thus, the lows refer to external difficulties as obstacles to self-expression and secu- rity, whereas the highs refer to external difficulties in themselves merely as a sign of general dissatisfaction, without indicating what inner needs or values are frustrated (see below).
2. Focal dependency and love-seeking. These responses reflect a desire for close personal relationships involving emotional warmth and exchange. The sense of lack of love and of focal relationships, often found in love (cf. Chapter XI), must be distinguished from the highs' feeling of aloneness and isolation in a generally barren world (see below). The loneliness of the highs represents, as it seems, underlying dependency which must remain ego-alien and which finds little or no positive, ego-satisfying expression.
Examples: "Moods where you feel like pouring out your soul to a person. " "To love someone and not be loved back. " "To feel alone when in the company of others; this can occur even after a period of congeniality. " Feelings of rejection are scored low: "to appear ridiculous"; "to love but not be loved"; "to be laughed at unjustly. " (However, a response is scored high if it involves a sense of active threat-rather than merely loss or lack of love-as well as extrapunitiveness and feelings of perse- cution. For example: "to be made a fool of"; "when a friend turns against me. ") The dependency, self-blame, and depressive affect in lows may also take a more "cosmic" form ( W eltschmerz): "When I feel what fools all we humans are. " The highs are disturbed by the supposed stupidity or immorality of others rather than by any ideas of these trends in themselves; nor do they have a "world-identification. "
3? Open hostility, by self or others, toward love objects. The lows are upset by feelings of hostility in themselves and by hostility and exploitiveness in others. The disturbing hostility may take two forms, ideological and inter- personal.
Ideologically, we find references to fa~lts in our social system and social authority: discrimination, exploitation, insecurity, violations of democratic values.
Examples: "Thinking of the rotten, ruthless practices that go on under the name of rugged individualism and unrestricted initiative in the U. S. A. " "Concern over the shortcomings of Americans and thus the nation. " "The slowness of social prog- ress; the stupidity of the powers that be. " "Unemployment and lack of security for the average man or veterans. "
In the sphere of interpersonal relations, hostile impulses or acts directed toward friends and love objects are a source of disturbing moods in low scorers.
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Examples: "When I feel I have hurt a friend. " "Envy, hatred, revenge, resent- ment. " "When I feel a general dislike towards friends and the world in general. " "Intolerance; cruelty to people. " "Resentment toward parents. " (It is characteris- tically low that ambivalence toward parents is more accessible to consciousness, though often conflict-producing. ) "Anger" when it is the total response is scored Na. In connection with the thesis, presented in earlier chapters, that psychological themes can be found in the specific content of the individual's ideology, it is inter- esting to note that similar psychological content characterizes both the "ideological" and the "interpersonal" responses to this question.
In summary, the main trends expressed in the above categories are: viola- tion of achievement values, resulting in conscious conflict, remorse, and self- criticism; intrapunitiveness; intraception; libidinized interpersonal relation- ships; focal, ego-assimilated dependency strivings; depressive affect focused on lack of achievement and on rejection by love objects; open ambivalence toward love objects and family members.
High Categories (Question z)
1. Violations of conventional values. This category is the high equivalent to the "conscious conflict and guilt" category for the lows. These values are concerned with activity, success, upward mobility, and rugged masculinity in men, and with "sweetness and light" femininity in women. They also involve certain behavior formulae regarding etiquette and interpersonal rela- tions, and an emphasis on conformity per se.
Examples: "Not making a success of life. " "Not advancing in life. " "Not doing something useful. " "Lack of purpose" (i. e. , not having aims, in contrast to the frus- tration of aims in lows). It is sometimes difficult to distinguish the high masculin- ity-status values, with their external criterion of success, from the low achievement values, with their inner orientation and their emphasis on self-expression. The dif- ference in the examples above is in the use of the word "advancing" rather than "accomplishing," or "useful" rather than "contributing to the welfare of others. " Another characteristic of certain high responses is their concern with externally imposed tasks or duties rather than with inner strivings. For example: "Not meeting expected requirements. " What is implied here is shame over being caught and social anxiety over nonconformity, rather than guilt over value violations (viola- tions that are felt internally whether 'Or not they are observed by others).
Violations of conventional values (immorality) by others are included here. For example: "Seeing crude sexual behavior. " "Drinking, breaking the law. " "Anyone who displays bad habits publicly irritates all. " "Disgust over filth and smut. " "Disgust with human nature and people. " These responses reflect trends mentioned previously: moral punitiveness, cynicism, the tend- ency to seek out, and to find, immorality in the world (especially in out- groups) rather than in oneself.
Finally, we find responses in which hostility toward friends and morality figures (parents, relatives, social authority, and the like) is implied though not explicitly stated or recognized.
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Examples: "Little frictions with parents. " "When my husband doesn't act right toward me. " "Lack of harmony with friends. " The emphasis is on the behavior or the situation in itself, without reference to motives or specific affect. Compare these responses with those of lows: "Resentment toward parents"; "When I feel I have hurt a friend. " When an individual who is shown to be consistently high on other measures gives a response like "Worry over family members" or "Death of rela- tives" it is not difficult to infer that he or she feels hostility towards these people, hostility which is projected in the form of the idea that family members may be harmed by other people or by bad luck. Suffice it to say that responses of this sort are given predominantly by highs, and are scored H. The response "Fighting in Ger- many" is scored high because of its reference to motor aggression per se without specific psychological content (needs, affect, values); similarly in the case of "Long labor disputes. "
z. Threatening or nonsupporting environment: focus on external obstacles, lacks, and threats, with an (implied) unconscious sense of helplessness and dependency. Theoretical discussion must be deferred until later; however, in order clearly to differentiate the high and low categories the following theoretical point must be made. As we know from the interviews and the T. A. T. , highs and lows do not seem to differ in the amount of their under- lying dependency (or other deep trends); the difference lies, rather, in the way such impulses are handled and integrated in the personality. Dependency is implied in the responses of many lows and many highs, but the form of expression differs systematically in the two groups. The emotional intensity, active sorrow, and focal conflict of the lows, as well as the intellectual and ideological strivings and the search for close relationship, are not difficult to distinguish from the emotionally shallow, ego-alien loneliness, and objectless passivity of the highs. The responses in the high categories for this question reveal an inner poverty, an external orientation, and a nonfocalized de- pendency on the outer world; these individuals are, so to say, glad when the world supports them and sad when their supports leave, with a minimum of self-determination and self-awareness.
One common type of response among the highs involves feelings of doubt, uncertainty, and momentary lack of self-confidence. These individuals are in doubt as to which is the more correct<or success-producing act, whereas the lows feel intense inner conflicts between two impulses or between an
impulse, e. g. , hostility, and inner moral standards. The focus in the high re- sponses is on the act itself or on the undependability of the environment. Interp-retively, the lack of self-confidence seems primarily to be anxiety in a social situation which is unconsciously apperceived as threatening.
Examples: "The feeling that regardless of prearranged plans and ideas it is never possible to be sure of what a new day will bring.
" "The uncertainty of the future. " "The feeling of people and places having changed so much that one feels lonely and loses self-confidence. " "Unsure of taking the right step in business. "
The highs are most disturbed by lack of support rather than lack of love,
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by isolation or threat rather than rejection. Their frustrations in regard to interpersonal relations seem to be experienced as a sort of undifferentiated "aloneness" without an aspect of active affection-seeking or focal relation- ship.
Examples: "To feel that I am not liked or wanted where I am. " "To feel out of place in the company I am in and not be sure of my next move. " "Being alone with- out company" (fear of solitude in this context is high). "When I feel alone and no one to turn to. " These responses may also involve a sense of being persecuted or victimized, as well as a marked extrapunitive quality and feelings of self-pity. For example: "To feel cast aside. " "The 'don't give a darn' feeling when,you think no- body cares what happens to you. " "When a friend turns against you. " "Someone convicts you of something you never did. " "Feeling the world is against me. "
The affect of the highs is less clear-cut and focalized than that of the lows. It often takes the form of vague, undifferentiated worry, or of gen- eralized dissatisfaction.
Examples: "W orry about the future. " "Realization of impending danger. " "Emo- tional moods. " "When everything goes wrong. " The single word "worry" is com-. monly given by highs. "Feeling absolutely lost. " Responses such as "worry about the future" and "lack of money" are clearly high. However, the response "financial insecurity," with no clarifying context, should be scored Na, since its external orien- tation seems high, while its reference to insecurity as an inner state is low; not fre- quently given, it occurs almost equally in highs and lows.
While fear is implied by a number of the responses above, it is almost never given explicitly by highs, and evidence from other chapters suggests that they do not recognize these as fear experiences. Responses such as "fear" and "apprehension," though rare, are usually given by lows and should be scored L.
3? "Rumblings from below. " These responses refer to situations or bodily conditions which, by inference though not explicitly, tend to bring out ego-alien trends such as passivity, anxiety, and hostility.
Examples: ''Quietness, boredom, inactivity. " "When at a party everything is quiet and dead as a morgue. " "Lack of work or anything to do, causing restlessness and lack of self-confidence. " The reference to lack of work is interesting in connec- tion with the compulsive value for work commonly found in highs; work and "keeping busy" would appear, for some individuals at least, to have the psycho- logical function of reducing anxiety and of aiding in the inhibition of unaccepted impulses. Perhaps this is the dynamic meaning of the slogan, "Keeping busy is the best way of staying out of mischief"; the mischievous impulses are conceived as "rumblings from below," as waiting only for an idle moment to force themselves through. Also evident in these responses are the anti-intraceprion and the opposition to leisure discussed in earlier chapters.
Another common source of disturbance is poor bodily condition: fatigue, hangover, sickness, headache, and the like. There may also be references to strain, external pressure, and overwork, that is, conditions which threaten
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the mind by harming the body. Once again there is no reference to inner needs, values, or emotions as such, but only a vague sense of threat, restless- ness, or dissatisfaction. The underlying but unrecognized fear of body harm seems to be a major cause of anxiety. In addition, being "fatigued" or over- worked is a condition in which defenses are lowered and unaccepted trends may break through. The person then has a "nervous breakdown"-some- thing conceived as having a physiological rather than a psychological origin. It is of some interest that the highs are threatened by both lack of work and overwork; inactivity will turn one's mind to the wrong things, but over- activity-being too good for too long, so to speak-may intensify the bad impulses and weaken the defenses beyond the threshold of control. Work appears, therefore, to be a form of punishment as well as a value and a defense for these individuals.
4? Omissions are recorded as Nb but are considered as H in computing individual or group scores (agreement with E). While the total number of omissions is small (about 8 per cent), most of the omitters were highs; this is consistent with the greater anti-intracepti~n and fear of "prying" in highs.
QuESTION 2. WHAT DESIRES ARE MosT DIFFICULT TO CoNTROL?
Low Categories
All low categories for this question are bound up with violations of achievement values by oneself or others.
1. Focal (usually verbal) hostility directed against violators of achieve- ment values. In the ideological sphere we find opposition to fascism, mili- tarism, discrimination, suppression, exploitation, autocracy, and the like. In the sphere of interpersonal relations similar basic values are expressed in the form of opposition to hypocrisy, intellectual dishonesty, pompous- ness, narrowness, unfairness, and the like.
Examples: "To lash out at those people who voice an attitude of racial discrimi- nation or an attitude of a dishonest intellect. " "Getting mad at native fascists. " "To walk out on people who are unmitigated boors or fools-usually I'm too curious to see everyone else's reaction to do so" (note also the psychological curiosity). "Up- braiding individuals having a 'don't give a damn' attitude in matters that are impor- tant; and those that fail to consider relative values. " "The desire to devaluate men"
(this is scored low for the focal hostility and competition with men). "The desire to deflate pompous, loud-mouthed people. "
The response may also involve inner conflict over being hostile and rebel- lious (against oppressive convention or authority) as opposed to being tact- ful or submissive.
For example: "To express an opinion when it is more tactful to remain subordi- nate, as in the navy when you feel anything but subordinate; to accept militarism. " "To disregard conventions and speak out of turn when I encounter hypocrisy. " "Telling people about fallacies in our economic system and the impossibility of
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returning to prewar times; not to carry out the patriotic ballyhoo thrust on service men. " "To express my feelings with people who wouldn't understand. " (The last response should be distinguished from the high response, "Talk about my emo- tions"; in the latter there is a generalized, objectless need and inhibition, whereas in the former we find the desire for personal relationship as the basis for sharing of emotions. )
2. The tendency to violate achievement values oneself. These responses are concerned with interpersonal relations rather than ideology. They usually involve some degree of inner conflict between achievement values and pleasurable impulses (play, ego-satisfying passivity, intellectuality, sensual- ity). The main values involved are for nurturance and love-giving, as when one fails to realize an accepted obligation toward a friend, or for achieve- ment, as when the individual does not actively strive toward serious goals but rather allows himself to be side-tracked into immediately pleasurable pursuits. That this is an inner conflict must be stressed: the conflict involves moral standards or obligations which the individual accepts as his own and which take the form of promptings from within, in contrast to the highs' reference to externally imposed. tasks and duties. A further difference is that the passivity is ego-assimilated and satisfying for the lows, diffuse and ego- alien for the high scorers (see below).
Examples: "The desire to listen to music when I have work to do. " "Self-indul- gence" (note also the explicit self-criticism). "Being true to myself. " "An impulse to procrastinate; to take the obvious easy course when a more direct facing of ob- stacles could enable me to obtain what I desire. " "The wanderlust to see what the other pan of the country is doing, or on a nice day, the desire to be enjoying it by fishing or hunting. " "To be indifferent. " "Be lazy and sleep. " "Running away from trouble" (this is not the same as "forget my troubles," which is repressive rather than escapist and is scored H). Also scored here are responses involving guilt as a consequence of hurting others (emphatic focus on their feelings) or of violating other values. For example: "To blame rather than to understand. " "Use the wrong means to achieve desirable aims. "
3? Miscellaneous. Several relatively infrequent responses may be consid- ered here. "Fear" is, as on Question I, a low response. Most sex responses by men are scored H (see below). They are scored L when they are more per- sonalized and subtle, or when they show some signs of surface inhibition. For example: "In my admiration of feminine beauty I find it hard at times to keep from staring. " For women, however, most sex references are scored L, even when only the single word is given. Example: "Being too affectionate with the 'man in my life. '" "Amorous desires. " "Falling in love. " Conven- tionalized sex responses by women, e. g. , "Going out on too many dates," are scored H.
Denial of hard-to-control impulses, e. g. , the response "None," is more common in lows than in highs and is scored L. This empirical result was not anticipated; it is consistent with the apparently greater impulsivity of lows
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and their emphasis on independence and self-expression. (If high contextual features, e. g. , anti-intraception, are present, a score of H is given. )
High Categories (Question 2)
1. Nonfocal and/or motor aggression. One of the most unequivocally high forms of response involves concrete, impersona~ aggressive acts, usually di- rected against "irritating" people.
Examples: "Spanking a very fresh or mean child. " "Deliberately smashing into a foolish driver, the majority being women" (this response by a man who on other items shows a surface idealization of women). "The desire to slug the guy that talks for hours about the rough time he had in the service when you know he has been a U. S. O. Commando most of the time. "
The high aggressive impulse tends to be cognitively blind and undiffer- entiated, and to have a symptomatic quality.
Examples: "The desire to beat my way out of a crowded place just to see how many persons I could overcome before I would be stopped. " "The desire to keep moving so as not to slug somebody. " "Temper. " "The desire to blow my top when I get angry. "
Verbal aggression in a context of low values is, as noted above, scored L. However, undifferentiated verbal aggression, without reference to values or to the nature of the object, is scored H.
For example: "Speaking my mind. " "Tell people what I think of them. " "Telling people off. " Aggression against unconventional people or against liberal ideas may be included here; e. g. , "To rebel against unionism. " There is often an extrapunitive and projective element in the aggression of the highs; the idea of "being taken advan- tage of" is sometimes used to justify the hostile impulses. Neutral scores (Na): verbal aggression in which the values or context are unclear; "anger" alone without a qualifying context.
Responses which seem to represent more disguised forms of hostility, par- ticularly in high women, may be mentioned here. These refer mainly to "im- patience," to "stubbornness," or to domineering tendencies, usually without further qualification. They are occasionally given in a low context; for ex- ample: "The desire to 'lecture' and be too sure I am right. " This is scored L because of the implicit self-criticism, the recognition of her own fallibility, and the recognition that the desire to help or teach may be tied up with dominance.
2. Ego-alien passivity. In contrast to the lows, the highs give relatively few responses involving passivity. Moreover, these responses do not refer to escapist enjoyment or to self-criticism and inner conflict. High passivity seems, rather, to involve mainly the idea of. task;_avoidance, of shirking an externally imposed duty (cf. also Chapter XIII).
Examples: "To procrastinate. " "Not carry out what is expected of me. " (Score
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Na when the response involves the idea of running away from responsibilities and there is no indication as to whether the responsibilities have an internal or external origin. )
What seems also to express a primitive passive trend is the desire to "forget everything," to blot out the world and focus on cheerful things (as in Item 9, F scale, Form 45). Again we find a sense of threat from an overwhelming environment and an external orientation rather than an inner conflict and a conscious moral dilemma.
Examples: "Forgetting everything and traveling and looking for something more interesting. " "The urge to run away and forget everything. " "Going out on a real high bender and forget my troubles. " (Note: "drink to forget" is high but "drink" alone is neutral. )
3? Impersonal sex. As noted above, most sex responses (even relatively crude ones) by women are scored L. More conventionalized responses, e. g. , "Going out on dates," "Flirting," or "Getting married" are scored H. In men, on the other hand, most sex responses are given by highs. The most common response is simply "Sex" or "Sex matters. " There is also a tendency to assume that sex impulses would "naturally" cause the most difficulty, e. g. , "Desires relating to sex, of course. " It would appear that some high men emphasize
sex as part of their general emphasis on rugged masculinity, while some low women bring in sex as part of their rebellion against traditional nonsensual femininity. The sex responses of the high men have an impersonal, undif- ferentiated quality similar to that found in their aggression responses. For example: "Keeping my emotions in check when out with a beautiful blonde. " "The desire to accompany women of the world. " The lows tend to refer either to a love object with whom there is some psychological relationship, or to a love affair involving ego-accepted sensuality. It is certainly of theoretical interest that the latter form of response is more common in unprejudiced women than in unprejudiced men.
4? Incidental pleasures and violations of conventional values. The main qualicies of these responses are their emotional diluteness, their lack of strong object-relationship, their concreteness (reference to specific acts), and their concern with minor conventions.
Examples: "Sweet tooth. " "Overeating. " "Use slang. " "Travel. " "Talking at the wrong time. " "Break light bulbs in church. " "Scream in church; scream when annoyed. " "Have too much fun. " References to "Too much activity" or to "Over- indulging in sports" are sometimes given by high men; these desires appear to be related to concern with masculinity and may in some cases represent a defense against underlying passive impulses-impulses which find indirect expression on other items or techniques.
One of the more common forms of response in this category involves concern with money, particularly with spending it too freely rather than retaining it.
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Examples: "Be extravagant. "'"Spending money wantonly and spending time wan- tonly. " "Gambling. " "I like to buy novels but I try not to as it costs so much money. " There is sometimes self-idealization and/or self-pity. For example: "Desire to spend for others' benefits. " "Help others at own expense. " The highs' concern with money may well be related to their accusations of "money-mindedness" in outgroups.
There are several responses which are marginal to this category. While simple denial is scored L, denial in a context of "will power" or of anti-intra- ception is H. For example: "I don't have any difficulty controlling any desire if I make up my mind to a thing. " Emphasis on will power is seen in the re- sponse, "Walking straight ahead when passing a cocktail bar. " The idea of not planning or giving thought to decisions is also H; for example: "Jump- ing into something new without thinking of the consequences before- hand. "
5.
