The Unstable Child
- Type:
Book Reviews.
- Author:
Florence
: An Interpretation of Psychopathy as a. Source of Unbal- anced Behaviour in Abnormal and Troublesome Children.
IViateer, A.M., rh.D. D. Appleton and Company. New York and London : 1924. 10s. 6d. net.
It is claimed in the publisher’s notice that ” this is the first book to explain the source of the unbalanced behaviour of the problem- child.” The explanation, we are told, is “psychopathy.” Ten years ago American enthusiasts declared that the misconducted child was, in a majority of cases, mentally defective; to-day, with the same sweeping enthusiasm, he is said to be psychopathic. To interpret more precisely what is meant by this new term, is the chief aim of Dr Mateer’s able and instructive work.
The book itself is the outcome of careful psychological studies at the Ohio Bureau for Juvenile Research. A year or two ago, Dr. Goddard, who at Vineland had previously done so much to emphasize the importance of mental deficiency, published, in his book on Juvenile Delinquency, a short account of the research department at Ohio. Dr Mateer’s volume may be taken as the sequel.
It is divided into two parts, a theoretical and a practical. The theoretical chapters describe the origin, development, and outlook of clinical psychology, and briefly survey its methods and achievements. The second part, termed somewhat ambiguously ” the practice of psychopathy,” deals with the practical study of delinquents; and contains chapters upon psychopathic children grouped according to their mental level.
What is psychopathy ? And who are psycho- pathic? Dr Mateer’s definition rests upon the distinction between mental level and mental function. The study of mental level decides whether the child is ” bright, back- ward, or mentally defective.” The study of mental functioning indicates whether his mind is ” reliable or unreliable,” no matter what his mental level may be. The former is quantitative; the latter qualitative. The former relies merely upon tests for mental age. The latter applies ten empirical criteria, which Dr Mateer expounds in detail. Of these criteria, the first and simplest are the quality of the child’s replies and the distribution of his failures and successes in the ordinary Binet-Simon tests; the unevenness of his mental level as judged respectively by the Binet tests, by performance tests of intellig- ence, and by standardised tests of educational ability, is almost equally significant; the in- trinsic nature and the unusual character ot his replies in the Kent-Rosanoff tests of asso- ciative reactions are also to be considered; most important of all are the young patient’s own story, his behaviour during the examina- tion, and his general orientation as an indi- vidual.
In England, the theoretical distinctions that Dr Mateer draws, the stress she lays upon mental qualities other than those of mere in- telligence, the importance of supplementary criteria such as she here enumerates, are already commonplaces among those engaged in the practice and teaching of individual psychology. The English psychologist, therefore, is not a little surprised to find Dr. Mateer’s line of approach acclaimed as “a new angle.” But America, unlike Great Britain, has suffered much from the narrow work of the half-trained Binet-tester; and, no doubt, the American public needs to be re- minded that, in modern psychology, Binet- testing is not the sole method or the last word.
To note defects of intelligence alone is avowedly inadequate. But to put all other defects into one comprehensive category, and dub them psychopathic, exhibits a dangerous principle. It is a principle constantly revived by students of the abnormal; and the only difference in each revival is that a new key- word is offered by each new advocate. De- generacy, moral deficiency, constitutional in- feriority, the presence of complexes, the absence of a moral sense, these conceptions have all been advanced as the sole or chief explanations of disordered conduct.
British psychologists in general have accepted McDougall’s account of human con- duct : the foundations of social behaviour are the common human emotions. Hence, dis- orders of conduct arise largely from emotions that are excessive or defective. If this account be orthodox, then Dr Mateer’s antithesis can be easily re-stated. The contrast she means to emphasize lies between the intellectual and the emotional aspects of the mind, between intelligence on the one hand and temperament on the other, not between level and function- ing. Ihere are levels of emotionality, just as there are levels of intelligence; and intellig- ence is a matter of function quite as much as is conduct.
Dr Mateer’s own key-word ” psycho- pathy ” is itself a word with a history. Its primary and its proper use has been to cover those borderline cases which cannot be desig- nated as definitely insane, but yet show tendencies towards one or the other of the well-defined psychoses. This seems to be the only legitimate meaning of the word. To extend it to cover all forms of ” mal-function- mg ” is to blur essential distinctions.
English psychologists believe, it is true, in the existence of a general factor underlying many disorders of conduct. But they ground their belief upon no mere a priori argument or dogmatic simplification. Like the general factor which they term intelligence, the general emotional factor is disclosed by the statistical analysis of ascertained correlations. The child who suffers from an excess of this general emotionality has in England long been known as the ” unstable child.” This phrase, taken by Dr Mateer for the title of her book, seems far preferable to the mis- leading word ” psychopathy.” Just as mental deficiency in most instances is simply an extreme deviation from the normal average of ‘intelligence, so instability as thus defined orms simply an extreme degree of deviation in all the common instincts and emotions. And again, just as a few cases of mental defect are pathological, so a small proportion of unstable children show pathological tendencies. But to imply that a pathological tendency is c laracteristic of the whole group is scarcely justifiable. We need to discriminate rather t an to generalize; and the unbalanced child, w lose improper mental functioning is due mere y to an excess of emotionality, should be c ear y distinguished from the child who shows a atent tendency to a definite psychosis.
n^?iTta^e ?ne example ? 27 per cent, oi r” l^teer s cases were found to suffer fron congenital ^ syphilis. Congenital syphilis erefore, is said to ” cause psychopathy.’ et it may equally well cause a definite psy c iosis on the one hand, or mental defect or the other; and there seems no advantage in inventing a single wholesale category which shall class together both those suffering from post-syphilitic derangement and those who are merely unstable in a relatively normal way.
These criticisms, however, refer mainly to the use of terms. With the general attitude which Dr Mateer has adopted every English psychologist will find himself in sympathy. Her book, though it suffers a little from over- repetition, is readable, stimulating, and sug- gestive, and forms a valuable contribution to the psychology of the unstable mind. C. B.
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