In
contrast
to the lows, the highs give relatively few responses involving passivity.
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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. Omissions are recorded as Nb but are considered as H in the final scor- ing. The frequency of omissions was about 19 per cent-more than on any other item (see Table 2 (XV)). ?
QuEsTioN 3? WHAT GREAT PEOPLE no You ADMIRE MosT?
Low Categories
Once again the concept of achievement values provides a unifying con- text for understanding the low responses. The several low categories rep- resent various forms of expression of values for intellectual, aesthetic, and scientific achievement, for social contribution and -for democratic social change. Usually the responses contain specific names of individuals repre- senting these values. Occasionally, however-and this is more common in lows than in highs-a general abstract definition of admirable qualities is giVen.
Examples of general description: "Those people that I admire most are perhaps those that have at great personal risk and danger fought unstintingly against fascism -perfectly aware of all the implications of fascism. " "Men who have had the cour- age to stand up against public opinion in order that some good might come of their position. " "Those who have contributed most to the spiritual and social improve- ment of mankind. " "Musicians and artists, any person with real creativeness. " "I admire great writers, great thinkers, and people who really left mankind something of value. "
Specific names fall into the following broad categories:
I. The arts and philosophy. Artists included here are writers, musiCians, intellectuals, painters, architects, and so on. Examples: Shakespeare, Stein- beck, Robeson, Whitman, Pushkin, Beethoven, da Vinci, Bach, Voltaire. The writers tend to be liberal-radical and to write works of social and psychological significance, though this is not always so. There are a few high writers (see below).
The philosophers named include: Bertrand Russell, Comte, Mill, Dewey,
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Spencer, Socrates, Maimonides. The lows occasionally-the highs almost never-admire individuals who are members of various minority groups (Jewish, Negro, Chinese, etc. ). Certain religious figures are included in this category: Confucius, Buddha, St. Francis (see the neutral category below). Highs more than lows tend to mention Plato. Perhaps the reason for this is indicated by one high man who wrote: "Plato-the original personnel man. " There are, so to speak, both low and high aspects to Plato's philosophy. If his name is given with others, one scores by context; if given alone, it is scored H.
2. Physical and biological scientists. (This does not include inventors or applied scientists or technologists, most of whom are scored H. ) Sir William Osler, Newton, Washington Carver, Darwin, Einstein, Galileo, Pasteur, Madame Curie (particularly by men).
3? Social scientists, liberal-radical political figures. Jefferson, Marx, Tom Paine, Benjamin Franklin, Henry Wallace, Frances Perkins, Freud, P~stalozzi, Norman Thomas.
4? Active denial of admiration. For example: "I'm beholden to no man. " "No one person stands out. " However, omissions of this item are scored neutral.
Neutral Category. Several names seem to be given equally often by highs and lows; they may apparently be admired for high reasons or for low reasons.
The most common examples are Lincoln, F. D. Roosevelt, and Christ. (Roose- velt's popularity with highs was probably limited to the war period. ) Any of these names, alone or in combination with each other, are scored Na; if additional names are given, one scores by context. For example, the response, "Washington, Lincoln, F. D. R. " is scored H because of the context of patriotism (see below). The response, "Jefferson, Paine, Lincoln, Roosevelt" is scored L. Ernie Pyle is given mainly by highs, but without a context is scored Na. Will Rogers, Woodrow Wilson, and Willkie are N a.
Omissions are scored Neutral.
High Categories (Question 3)
The main trends underlying the high responses are ones which recur throughout the projective questions as well as in the several other tech- niques of the study: authoritarianism, anti-intraception, "toughness"-power, militarism, and ultraconservatism. These are exemplified in the following categories.
1. Power and control. Emphasis here is on the strong, rugged, masculine leader.
One favorite source is the military: Halsey, Patton, Marshall, Byrd, Doolittle, Rickenbacker, Bismarck, Caesar, MacArthur, Lindbergh, Napoleon. A corollary of the emphasis on strength is an emphasis on suffering: being vicitimized, martyred,
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alone in a cruel world. For example: "The boys who died in the war for people who do not even appreciate it, as they show many times; being an ex-serviceman myself. " Among the high women royalty and nobility, particularly from past centuries, are quite popular. Certain religious leaders such as the Pope and Mary Baker Eddy are given predominantly by highs. Churchill seemed to have captured the imagina- tion of many highs. A major source of names, particularly for the high men, is the area of practical invention, business, and technology, industrial giants being the
most popular. Examples: Ford, Carnegie, Edison, leading manufacturers.
2. Conservative Americana. Men whose main distinction comes from being strong national leaders, usually in a military or politically conservative con- text. This category overlaps somewhat with the first.
Examples: Washington, Teddy Roosevelt, Herbert Hoover, Edgar Hoover, John Paul Jones, Dewey, "True Americans. "
3? Parents and relatives. It is not uncommon for highs to list several family members, in addition to other individuals, in response to this question.
Example: "My mother who, although isn't famous or seemingly different from any other person, I think is one of the greatest persons alive today; you may think me prejudiced and childish, but I do have my reasons. " It happens, though rarely, that a low mentions the parent of the opposite sex; this is scored L if the context is clearly low: "My Parents. "
4? Miscellaneous. Responses expressing high trends but not in the above categories.
High women often mention actresses and movie stars, e. g. Kate Smith, Bing Crosby. Sabatini is a writer preferred by highs; best-seller authors are also included here for the most part. An example of a descriptive high response is: "My girl friends who live happily without any worry. " (Superficial, anti-intraceptive. )
Scoring Procedure. Most subjects list several names in response to this question; the names may fall into more than one category, but they are usually uniformly high or uniformly low. In some cases, however, both H and L categories are represented. These cases are scored H, L, or Nhl according to the predominant trend.
Thus the response, "da Vinci, Ely Culbertson, Henry Ford" is scored H, while "Einstein, Edison, Carver" is scored L. One man gave a list of some I 5 names repre- senting most of the high and low categories above, with no apparent unifying theme or predominant trend; his response was scored Nhl. Clinically, he was a "conflicted low" who seemed to be struggling with opposing high and low trends, so that his score on this item was very meaningful.
QuEsTioN 4? WHAT MIGHT DRIVE A PERSON NuTs?
Low Categories
Both low and high categories for this question are similar to those for Question 1 (Moods). The lows tend to respond mainly in terms of psycho-
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logical conflict and frustration. They have an intraceptive orientation and they emphasize the role of the individual himself in the neurosis. Once again we find a context of achievement values and active striving-striving which is made difficult by inner problems or by external blocks.
1. Inner psychological states. The main concepts here are focal conflict and anxiety. There is often a strong sense of failure, of self-blame, of helpless- ness or impotence.
Examples: "Inability to cope with problems; frustration. " "Hardly anything that would make them express the above opinion (see the full statement of this ques- tion); sometimes complete suppression of a person's feelings, emotions, energies would do it. " "Self-condemnation. " "His own failure to put an end to the situation causing the disturbance or to stop thinking about it. " "Despair caused by inability to cope with distressing situations; continual criticism without constructive sugges- tions. " "Frustrations, pointlessness of existence, morbidity, sorrow, violation of one's ego. " "Insecurity. " "Tension without release. " "Being dishonest with oneself; wrong attitude toward life's problems. " References to fear are low.
While undifferentiated "worry" or "brooding" are high, there is a kind of focal, differentiated worry? or anxiety which is scored L. By this is meant not a vague anxiety in the face of a generally threatening world, but concern over specified personal frustrations.
Examples: "Continual worry about family problems, continual striving to earn a living. " "Worry, emotional or economic. " "Severe emotional strain, especially if combined with physical hardships or pain. " (The highs often refer to physical hard- ships per se, but they seldom refer to the actual experience of emotion or pain. )
The inner life of the lows, while apparently relatively rich and satisfying in many ways, seems often to be stormy and conflictful. The sense of going too far, of being carried away by emotion, of having too much inner life, so to speak, may be expressed in responses to this item.
Examples: "Letting our emotional states wear us down. " "Exaggerating one's per- sonal problems. " Obsessional trends are sometimes exhibited: "The man's mind is in a groove or rut; unless he has a varied interest, he will go insane from worry and thinking of one thing. " "A person might become insane over too much interest in religion, love, money, etc. ; any obsession carried too far might do it. " The lows' references to inner life can be distinguished from those of the highs on the basis of their greater awareness, and acceptance, of emotion and of their more differentiated introspective experience. Compare the responses above with the high responses: "Worry" or "constant worry of a particular thing. " Or compare the low response, "Too much self-analysis" with the high, "Talk oneself into it. " (See high category z, below. ) In general, responses indicating rejection of inner life are more common in highs than lows.
2. Dominating, blocking, rejecting environment. These responses may take an "interpersonal" or an ideological form. In the former case, the individual is in a disturbing situation from which he cannot extricate himself, in part for inner reasons (explicit or implicit).
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. Omissions are recorded as Nb but are considered as H in the final scor- ing. The frequency of omissions was about 19 per cent-more than on any other item (see Table 2 (XV)). ?
QuEsTioN 3? WHAT GREAT PEOPLE no You ADMIRE MosT?
Low Categories
Once again the concept of achievement values provides a unifying con- text for understanding the low responses. The several low categories rep- resent various forms of expression of values for intellectual, aesthetic, and scientific achievement, for social contribution and -for democratic social change. Usually the responses contain specific names of individuals repre- senting these values. Occasionally, however-and this is more common in lows than in highs-a general abstract definition of admirable qualities is giVen.
Examples of general description: "Those people that I admire most are perhaps those that have at great personal risk and danger fought unstintingly against fascism -perfectly aware of all the implications of fascism. " "Men who have had the cour- age to stand up against public opinion in order that some good might come of their position. " "Those who have contributed most to the spiritual and social improve- ment of mankind. " "Musicians and artists, any person with real creativeness. " "I admire great writers, great thinkers, and people who really left mankind something of value. "
Specific names fall into the following broad categories:
I. The arts and philosophy. Artists included here are writers, musiCians, intellectuals, painters, architects, and so on. Examples: Shakespeare, Stein- beck, Robeson, Whitman, Pushkin, Beethoven, da Vinci, Bach, Voltaire. The writers tend to be liberal-radical and to write works of social and psychological significance, though this is not always so. There are a few high writers (see below).
The philosophers named include: Bertrand Russell, Comte, Mill, Dewey,
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Spencer, Socrates, Maimonides. The lows occasionally-the highs almost never-admire individuals who are members of various minority groups (Jewish, Negro, Chinese, etc. ). Certain religious figures are included in this category: Confucius, Buddha, St. Francis (see the neutral category below). Highs more than lows tend to mention Plato. Perhaps the reason for this is indicated by one high man who wrote: "Plato-the original personnel man. " There are, so to speak, both low and high aspects to Plato's philosophy. If his name is given with others, one scores by context; if given alone, it is scored H.
2. Physical and biological scientists. (This does not include inventors or applied scientists or technologists, most of whom are scored H. ) Sir William Osler, Newton, Washington Carver, Darwin, Einstein, Galileo, Pasteur, Madame Curie (particularly by men).
3? Social scientists, liberal-radical political figures. Jefferson, Marx, Tom Paine, Benjamin Franklin, Henry Wallace, Frances Perkins, Freud, P~stalozzi, Norman Thomas.
4? Active denial of admiration. For example: "I'm beholden to no man. " "No one person stands out. " However, omissions of this item are scored neutral.
Neutral Category. Several names seem to be given equally often by highs and lows; they may apparently be admired for high reasons or for low reasons.
The most common examples are Lincoln, F. D. Roosevelt, and Christ. (Roose- velt's popularity with highs was probably limited to the war period. ) Any of these names, alone or in combination with each other, are scored Na; if additional names are given, one scores by context. For example, the response, "Washington, Lincoln, F. D. R. " is scored H because of the context of patriotism (see below). The response, "Jefferson, Paine, Lincoln, Roosevelt" is scored L. Ernie Pyle is given mainly by highs, but without a context is scored Na. Will Rogers, Woodrow Wilson, and Willkie are N a.
Omissions are scored Neutral.
High Categories (Question 3)
The main trends underlying the high responses are ones which recur throughout the projective questions as well as in the several other tech- niques of the study: authoritarianism, anti-intraception, "toughness"-power, militarism, and ultraconservatism. These are exemplified in the following categories.
1. Power and control. Emphasis here is on the strong, rugged, masculine leader.
One favorite source is the military: Halsey, Patton, Marshall, Byrd, Doolittle, Rickenbacker, Bismarck, Caesar, MacArthur, Lindbergh, Napoleon. A corollary of the emphasis on strength is an emphasis on suffering: being vicitimized, martyred,
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alone in a cruel world. For example: "The boys who died in the war for people who do not even appreciate it, as they show many times; being an ex-serviceman myself. " Among the high women royalty and nobility, particularly from past centuries, are quite popular. Certain religious leaders such as the Pope and Mary Baker Eddy are given predominantly by highs. Churchill seemed to have captured the imagina- tion of many highs. A major source of names, particularly for the high men, is the area of practical invention, business, and technology, industrial giants being the
most popular. Examples: Ford, Carnegie, Edison, leading manufacturers.
2. Conservative Americana. Men whose main distinction comes from being strong national leaders, usually in a military or politically conservative con- text. This category overlaps somewhat with the first.
Examples: Washington, Teddy Roosevelt, Herbert Hoover, Edgar Hoover, John Paul Jones, Dewey, "True Americans. "
3? Parents and relatives. It is not uncommon for highs to list several family members, in addition to other individuals, in response to this question.
Example: "My mother who, although isn't famous or seemingly different from any other person, I think is one of the greatest persons alive today; you may think me prejudiced and childish, but I do have my reasons. " It happens, though rarely, that a low mentions the parent of the opposite sex; this is scored L if the context is clearly low: "My Parents. "
4? Miscellaneous. Responses expressing high trends but not in the above categories.
High women often mention actresses and movie stars, e. g. Kate Smith, Bing Crosby. Sabatini is a writer preferred by highs; best-seller authors are also included here for the most part. An example of a descriptive high response is: "My girl friends who live happily without any worry. " (Superficial, anti-intraceptive. )
Scoring Procedure. Most subjects list several names in response to this question; the names may fall into more than one category, but they are usually uniformly high or uniformly low. In some cases, however, both H and L categories are represented. These cases are scored H, L, or Nhl according to the predominant trend.
Thus the response, "da Vinci, Ely Culbertson, Henry Ford" is scored H, while "Einstein, Edison, Carver" is scored L. One man gave a list of some I 5 names repre- senting most of the high and low categories above, with no apparent unifying theme or predominant trend; his response was scored Nhl. Clinically, he was a "conflicted low" who seemed to be struggling with opposing high and low trends, so that his score on this item was very meaningful.
QuEsTioN 4? WHAT MIGHT DRIVE A PERSON NuTs?
Low Categories
Both low and high categories for this question are similar to those for Question 1 (Moods). The lows tend to respond mainly in terms of psycho-
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logical conflict and frustration. They have an intraceptive orientation and they emphasize the role of the individual himself in the neurosis. Once again we find a context of achievement values and active striving-striving which is made difficult by inner problems or by external blocks.
1. Inner psychological states. The main concepts here are focal conflict and anxiety. There is often a strong sense of failure, of self-blame, of helpless- ness or impotence.
Examples: "Inability to cope with problems; frustration. " "Hardly anything that would make them express the above opinion (see the full statement of this ques- tion); sometimes complete suppression of a person's feelings, emotions, energies would do it. " "Self-condemnation. " "His own failure to put an end to the situation causing the disturbance or to stop thinking about it. " "Despair caused by inability to cope with distressing situations; continual criticism without constructive sugges- tions. " "Frustrations, pointlessness of existence, morbidity, sorrow, violation of one's ego. " "Insecurity. " "Tension without release. " "Being dishonest with oneself; wrong attitude toward life's problems. " References to fear are low.
While undifferentiated "worry" or "brooding" are high, there is a kind of focal, differentiated worry? or anxiety which is scored L. By this is meant not a vague anxiety in the face of a generally threatening world, but concern over specified personal frustrations.
Examples: "Continual worry about family problems, continual striving to earn a living. " "Worry, emotional or economic. " "Severe emotional strain, especially if combined with physical hardships or pain. " (The highs often refer to physical hard- ships per se, but they seldom refer to the actual experience of emotion or pain. )
The inner life of the lows, while apparently relatively rich and satisfying in many ways, seems often to be stormy and conflictful. The sense of going too far, of being carried away by emotion, of having too much inner life, so to speak, may be expressed in responses to this item.
Examples: "Letting our emotional states wear us down. " "Exaggerating one's per- sonal problems. " Obsessional trends are sometimes exhibited: "The man's mind is in a groove or rut; unless he has a varied interest, he will go insane from worry and thinking of one thing. " "A person might become insane over too much interest in religion, love, money, etc. ; any obsession carried too far might do it. " The lows' references to inner life can be distinguished from those of the highs on the basis of their greater awareness, and acceptance, of emotion and of their more differentiated introspective experience. Compare the responses above with the high responses: "Worry" or "constant worry of a particular thing. " Or compare the low response, "Too much self-analysis" with the high, "Talk oneself into it. " (See high category z, below. ) In general, responses indicating rejection of inner life are more common in highs than lows.
2. Dominating, blocking, rejecting environment. These responses may take an "interpersonal" or an ideological form. In the former case, the individual is in a disturbing situation from which he cannot extricate himself, in part for inner reasons (explicit or implicit).
