Personality and Behavior Disorders
A Hand-book tiased on Experimental and Clinical Research. :Author: J. McV. Hunt, Assistant Professor of Psychology, Brown University. 2 Volumes, published by the Ronald Press Company, in New York. Approximately 2,000 pages. $10.00.
As the title implies, the book is a compilation covering the field of normal personality and the behaviour disorders, from the point of view of experimental and finical research. The first volume deals with the Methods of assessing various aspects of normal personalty and with the definition of personality itself. As there are fifty different definitions, the reader is permitted to take his choice. The various writers describe methods ?f assessment of aspects of personality, ranging from general intelligence to ” aspiration level “. It must be Emitted that they vary widely in value and most of them ^ould appear to be very far from scientifically accurate. However, at this stage in our knowledge of dynamic Psychology, experiment is the only means of increasing knowledge, and even negative and inconclusive findings of value. The danger is that too much weight may be given to these very tentative conclusions and that they may be accepted in an uncritical spirit as truths, ^hen in fact they are merely attempts at exploration. The first part of the second volume deals with the aeteiTninants of personality from the sociological angle ar>d includes a study of the interaction or environmental ‘actors with innate temperamental trends in infancy, childhood and adolescence. The next part deals with the outstanding patterns of behaviour disorders, including ?ehaviour disorders in children, delinquent criminal Personalities, unfit personalities in the military service, Psychoneuroses, the functional psychoses, the concept j Psychopathic personality and seizure states. There .s also a chapter on electro-encephalography and there ^ a brief section on therapy and the prevention of ehaviour disorders.
Unfortunately the book suffers from the inevitable
J*.u’t 0f au compilations, namely, that it is episodic and !thout a central theme, so that the effect is rather Crappy, but it is a valuable contribution to the subject nd will provide food for thought, and, one hopes, will ct as an incentive to further experimentation in this ast and important field. D.M.O.
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