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OSMAJEO& tINIVERSnY UOKRART

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THE HUMAN FRONTIER

Roger
J.

Williams

(Continued from
ence
the science of

fro/if flap)

humamcs
beings.

v.^ich

will undertake a

comprehensive study

of individual

human

The

in-

been

its goal because it has the hands of specialists, each working within his own narrow field,

vestigation of fallen short of

in

man, he contends, has

and he believes that what

today will devote himself to
interest
is

is

needed

new

type of specialist

who

new
to

coordinated
the compre-

and attention

hensive study of actual individuals. Dr. Williams' book Introduction to

O) game Chemistry, published in 1927,

became
versities.

a best seller in
least

its field,

used in at

300 colleges

and is and unihis

In

brother,

R.

1942, jointly with R. Williams, he

was

awarded the Chandler Medal by Columbia University. A member of the

National

Academy
is

Williams

of Sciences, Dr. the Director of the Bio-

chemical Institute of the University of Texas, sponsored by the Clayton Foundation for Research.

The Human
^

Frontier

A new pathway for Science

better Understanding

toward a

of Ourselves

By

the

same author

WHAT TO DO ABOUT VITAMINS

INTRODUCTION TO ORGANIC CHEMISTRY

INTRODUCTION TO BIOCHEMISTRY

The Human
toward a
better

Frontier

A new pathway for Science

Understanding of Ourselves

ROGER

J.

WILLIAMS

New

York

HARCOURT, BRACE AND COMPANY

COPYRIGHT, 1946, BY HARCOURT, BRACE AND COMPANY, INC.

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form.

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

To
HAZEL, ROD, JAN AND ARNOLD

Acknowledgments
AM
INDEBTED to a host of writers for

much

of the material con-

tained in this volume.

Only a few of the studies consulted are

cited in the Bibliography.

In addition
tions,

wish to express

my

thanks for the valuable suggesreceived

encouragement and

criticism

during the

earlier

preparation of the manuscript from each member of my immediate family as well as from my brothers, Drs. Robert R. Williams and

Paul Williams, and

my

sister,

Mrs. Alice

W.

Linsley.

The same

kind of help was received from Messrs. Ernest Beerstecher, Robert Blake, Frank Cheavens, of Austin, Texas; Benjamin Clayton of Pasadena, California; Dale T. Wood, of Lompoc, California; Drs.

Martin Ettlinger, H. J. Sawin, Alfred Taylor of Austin, Texas; Warren Weaver, Robert R. Williams, Jr., of New York; Professors Hugh A. Blodgett, Albert P. Brogan of Austin, Texas; Robert E.

Hungate

of Pullman, Washington; William S. Krebs of St. Louis,

Missouri; Harry E. Moore; J. Richard Stockton; Wilson E. Stone of Austin, Texas; Floyd C. Wilcox of Redlands, California; Robert H.

Williams of Austin, Texas; and the Reverend Clay Palmer of Yankton, South Dakota.

acknowledged and at the same time they are individually and severally absolved from all blame with respect to mistakes and errors which may be present in the volume.
debt to these individuals
is

The

gratefully

enthusiastic help

wish especially to thank Dr. Paul de Kruif for his generous and and suggestions not only in connection with foralso in

warding the publication of the book but acceptance of the idea back of it.
vii

promoting the

VU1

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Special acknowledgments have been made in the form of footnotes for most of the copyright material, and I am also indebted to:

Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, Dean Willard C. Rappelye, M.D., for permission to quote from the Final Report of the Commission on Medical Education, 1932 Mead Johnson and Company, Evansville, for permission to quote from their advertisement appearing in the Journal of the American Medical

The magazine
ology of

Association, October 20, 1945 Science for permission to reproduce the excerpts from the article entitled The Importance of Cooperative Studies of the Bi-

Man

by Dr. Lee R. Dice

University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Medicine, Dean Robin C. Buerki, M.D., for permission to quote from the Report of the Commission on Graduate Medical Education, 1940

Contents
I.

Why

the Science of

Humankind?
as It Is Related to Char-

II.

Fundamental Metabolism
acter Traits

20 42 62
81

III.

Sense of Sight and Social Behavior

IV. Traits Based on Other Senses

V. Other Physiological Traits

VI. Endocrine Glands and Behavior
VII. Psychological Traits and Capacities
VIII.

103

125

Man and

Society

162

IX. Humanics

Tolerance

Mental Hygiene

Religion

175
185 198

X. Humanics and Education

XL

Marriage

XII. Criminology
XIII. Medicine

213

and Medical Research

226
251

XIV. Heredity and Environment

XV. Humanics and

Leadership

268 276 287

299
303

XVI. Humanics and Employment

XVII. International Relations
Epilogue
Bibliography

Index

309

The Human

Frontier

man's capable of understanding anything the ether vibrates and what's going on but how any other man can in the sun

how

blow

his

nose

differently

from him, that

he's incapable of understanding.

TURGENEV

I.

Why
/

the Science of

Humankind?

must first \now myself, as the Delphian inscription says; to be curious about that which is not concern, while 1 am still in ignorance of

my my own

self,

would be

ridiculous.

SOCRATES

book grew out of a conversation, about 1 twenty years ago, with a young colleague whose primary interest was in the social field. I asked him with admitted naivete, "What are the problems of social science?" The question had never
WRITING of
this

been put to him in

answer.
I

this

form before and he was unprepared

to

to

had in mind what seemed

me

the logical doctrine, taught to

me

by my mathematics professor in college, that a problem must first be formulated before it can be solved. This professor emphasized effectively, but almost ad nauseam to some, that if one didn't
have in mind what he was trying to accomplish, there was nothing to be gained by blundering around. While this dictum may not be
literally

true in a universal sense,

it

seemed to

me

that in the field

of social sciences the atmosphere would be greatly clarified if someone could outline broadly what the essential problems were, or at
least classify

them

in accordance with their fundamental natures.

have been engaged otherwise professional interests for a period of years, the recurrent question has been with me, of social science?" "What, in essence, are the

Although

my

problems complete answer to this unconventional seems to me now that one of the question has been forthcoming, it

While nothing
is

like a

essences

very clear.

Human

beings enter into every social problem,

3

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

how and why

they are to a considerable extent unknowns, and one of the basic problems of social science is to make human beings better known
to find out as completely as behave as they do.

may be

possible

they

The

full

cogency and power of

this idea

have never been seized

upon. Certainly society has made no all-out comprehensive attempt to use the potentialities of natural science in attempting to understand

have human beings and their functioning in society. talked and written about men, and have utilized an enormous ton-

We

nage of humid

air

and

printer's ink,

but in the light of

its

impor-

tance our scientific investigation of human beings has been puerile in comparison with the thoroughness with which we have studied
steel, concrete,

and uranium

235.

Those who have

tensively

have had

dealt with the scientific study of man most inlittle or no concern for the possible social impli-

cations of their investigation.

not in his entirety, and we work to the biological robot, man-in-the-abstract, that
is

has been studied in pieces and have been so devoted in our scientific

Man

much

of our

of very limited value from the social standpoint. Soknowledge ciety can by no means be dealt with as though it were made up of individuals who are all alike, and yet this scientifically untenable

conception
acting.
If

is

the basis of a large part of our social thinking and

we

lived in a primitive society with health

it

scientific

quately provided, information about ourselves. In our

would matter

little

whether or not

and plenty adewe had

trans-

modern world,

portation and communication have brought us

that in effect

close together so

we

live in

each other's back yards.

We

rub against

each other more often and complicated organization becomes essential to our existence. trade with the four corners of the world,

We

and one cannot make a

near or
far.

significant

move
science

that does not affect one's

which has made us citineighbors zens of a complex world must furnish us with the understanding of
each other that
is

The same

essential for

mutual adjustment.
science.

science of

human

beings

is essential in

an age of

WHY THE SCIENCE

What
is

OF

HUMANKIND?

needed

is

an

all-out effort to get to the

to understand ourselves, to find out

how

bottom of things, and why we tick. This is

a job for all of us, natural scientists and students of society alike, and the time has come when the public will demand concerted

we pool our efforts and seek seriously and in a pracfashion to solve our problems we may be all engulfed together in a ruin for which all of us like it or notare in a sense reaction. Unless
tical

sponsible.
its purpose imhumanics.* provement Only by learnits basic truths, to them our and ing teaching youth, by extending greatly the boundaries of our knowledge can we cope with numerous

This science of

human

beings (which has for

in social control)

we may

call

social

problems: education, marriage, health, employment, charlatanism in politics and elsewhere, crime, alcoholism, group bigotry

(whose name

is

legion),

and war.

The fundamental
justification

belief that science has

broad
this

potentialities

finds

and support in the pages of

book

a belief that

science will continue to light the

way

for

man and

not burn

itself

out like a candle. Through science we have learned to control our material environment to a remarkable degree. Now we may hope
to control ourselves.

Man
and we

has been observed and studied by capable minds for ages, should not minimize this vast heritage of ideas. But the

scientific

method
it

is

relatively

experience with

may be pardoned

of any apparent failures, that beings can help in the solution of numerous social problems.

new and those of us who have had if we confidently hope, in spite of human its application to the study

How,

*This
ster's

rarely used

word

is

defined as the "study of

human

nature" (Web-

New

International Dictionary),

and

is

parallel to mechanics, dynamics,

acoustics, statistics, etc.

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

except through science, can we hope to discover secret weapons which can be used in combating the evils of society? What is more
likely to set us free

than the truth about ourselves?

progress of civilization is a story of man's increasing control of the materials and forces in the world about him a story which

The

could not unfold

if it

were not for the

light that science has shed.

Knowledge about electricity had to accumulate before an electric motor could be constructed; familiarity with the elementary laws
governing the transmission of light had to precede the building of vast ocean of knowledge about atomic microscopes or telescopes.

structure accumulated before

ability to predict, control,

an atomic bomb could be

built.

Our

and use has always been conditioned upon

our understanding of the materials and forces concerned. While social institutions cannot be considered as machinery to

be dealt with in a mechanical way,

social institutions are built.

we may

by considering human beings as the raw

a parallel materials out of which

safely

draw

Our

success in building these institu-

upon our insight into the behavior and interactions pf the fundamental units ourselves and our neighbors, the
tions rests squarely

people who make up these institutions. Success in leadership depends to a high degree upon an understanding of the people who are to be led. When an institution falls of coapart it may be likened to the failure of a dam. The forces
hesion and the opposite ones, which tend to disrupt, have not been with properly gauged. Just as the engineer or those who co-operate

him must have an

reinforces a

intimate microscopic picture of the steel which

gauge its strength, so we need an intimate knowledge of human beings before we can predict how they

dam

in order to

will contribute to a social institution.

There

is

more

to the building of

a skyscraper or a suspension

bridge than a mere knowledge of the materials that enter into the engineering construction. In a parallel way we may venture that
the building of a world social order will involve much in addition to the knowledge of the human beings, the building blocks of sothe a, b, c's of social engineering, and ciety. But human beings are

WHY THE SCIENCE

OF

HUMANKIND?

the basic importance of understanding them is inescapable. All insight into the organization of human beings must rest upon a knowledge of the individual units involved.

The

basis of social engineering, in

which

art

we

are lagging,

must

be an understanding of human beings, for they are the source of our troubles, potential as well as actual. Our social problems have
to
tional activities,

do with man's individual and group man's cultures and their

conflicts,

man's organizainteractions, man's devel-

opmental progress.

We
force

from without

are not threatened by some superior race, nor by some giant that endangers us. Atomic energy, one of our

outstanding threats, is not dangerous unless we make it so. If we had a serious external enemy we would study and understand it,
since

knowing

one's

enemy

is

half of any battle. Because the threat-

ened disintegration of
selves, it

civilization has its source within

men

them-

seems obvious that

ourselves,

we

at our

command,

our

should study, with all the resources own worst enemy.

What sort we hope to

answer
book.

of information and insight do we lack and what can gain from a scientific study of human beings? The

to this

question will constitute a substantial portion of this

In

brief,

possible for us to provide a vastly better

understanding ourselves and our fellows will make it environment for our dephysically, psychologically,

velopment

and

socially.

Education

may

eventually be revolutionized so that we become developed in accordance with our diverse capabilities, resulting in tremendous salvage in the avoidance of criminality, psychological maiming and unnecessary frustrations. Instead of blundering our
as

way

most individuals must do,

we

may may

develop a basis for choosing our life vocations intelligently. be far more successful in the choice of our mates; homes can

We

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

new
basis

be strengthened and children can be reared with a

scientific basis

for tolerance

and good

will.

scientific

knowledge

of individuals raises their position to one of dignity and honor. Instead of being constantly deluded in professions, in business,

pose as being something that they are not, we may develop scientific ways of kjiowing what individual people are like. Followers and leaders in all walks of life can choose
politics

and in

by those

who

and be chosen

intelligently instead of

on a

basis of trial

and

error.
abil-

Only by development

of tolerance

based on science

and the

to choose leaders wisely, ity

can

we hope

to establish a

world gov-

ernment. This appears to be the necessary next step in the evolution of a world civilization, and if such a government is based upon an
inadequate knowledge of ourselves and the peoples of the world, need not expect it to stand.

we

Until the full potentialities of science are brought to bear on

understanding ourselves and this understanding is applied to social problems, we cannot say that science has failed; we can only say that we have failed to give it a thorough trial.

4
Where have we
tific

failed?

Where

has neglect occurred?

What

scien-

knowledge and insight can we gain that will help us in achievour objectives? Certainly, science has not been asleep. ing

large part of the extensive scientific investigation of

social
it

man

has,

however, fallen short so far as because of its nature and because

application

is

concerned,

has, almost of necessity, been

interests

done by

scientists

with narrow special

and

training.

The

general pattern for studying

man

scientifically

has been about

an anatomist, for example, is concerned with the structure of the human body and in his study he makes many measureas follows:

ments, carries out

slides,

ture.

many dissections, and produces many microscopic from which he can learn the intimate details of body strucIf he is to discover new information he must specialize* on

WHY THE SCIENCE

some
separately,
it

OF

HUMANKIND?
libraries

part of the body, on some organ, or on some specific type of tissue. By the labors of a large number of anatomists, each working

becomes possible

to

amass in

more and more

complete information about the intricate details of every tissue and

organ in the body.

Physiologists follow the

same

plan.

One

studies muscle physiology,

one

digestion, another becomes expert in the physiology of hearing, still another studies intensively some phase of the circulatory system. large number of individual specialists* amass information

about the functioning of the numerous organs and tissues. Biochemists try to push the curtain further back and try to determine what

going on chemically in each tissue and organ. Psychologists specialize on various phases of mental activity and, by their individual
is

efforts,

accumulate a vast fund of knowledge about diverse aspects

of the

human mind.
of this
is

The outcome
tific

method of

attack

is

that

no individual

scien-

investigator picture of man. The osteologists are interested and conversant with what is transpiring in the field of bone anatomy; the nerve physiologists

encouraged to

know

or care about the whole

know

the current ideas about

is

how

nerve impulses are propa-

familiar with the composition and the psychologist may specialize of functioning respiratory enzymes; on the problem of how learning takes place. And so on and on.

gated; the

enzyme biochemist

Whose
advise us
is

business

is

it,

to

know man
fits

how

man's nature

in his entirety? into the structure of society ?

Who

can

there co-ordinative expertness with respect to

Where man? One may

answer that anatomists,

etc.,

physiologists, biochemists, and psychologists, are not always narrowly trained. They are all citizens and have

their social responsibilities. In practice, however,

what

is

everybody's

business
scientific

is

nobody's business,

and the

responsibility for the

broad

exactly in that category. In a few isolated instances investigators have taken the problem of man seriously and in spite of limited faciliof the scientific

study of

man

falls

study

ties

Sheldon and Stevens they have made some substantial progress. in their Varieties of Temperament (Harper, 1942) describe such a

10

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

society's

work. But

contribution has been piddlingly small and

at all

provision for such

work has not been

commensurate with

its

importance. Earnest Hooton, famous anthropologist at Harvard, speaking of deans, tutors, and headmasters who have human prob-

lems

dumped

in their laps, says,

"They use

their experience, their

common
upon a

sense

and

their

science of

man

humanitarianism, but they do not draw 9 because there is no such thing!

must find some way to pull themcan focus on the science of human that so selves together they be difficult, but I believe that when the public is beings. This may will be it informed, strongly for it, and will not be inclined to take

The

scholars in various fields

no

for

an answer, principally because

this type of study offers

hope

for future progress in the field of human relations, and in the solution of the giant problem of social control which confronts us in

must have our specialized sciences, yes; they the Atomic Age. are the basis for all investigation and progress. But the time is now come when the public will demand that natural scientists and students of society alike face in a practical
society

We

manner the problems of

and man's

relation to them.

A
and

second defect of our

its social

scientific

point of
is

utility is
is

study of man from the standnot unrelated to the one just discussed

fully as serious. It

our preoccupation with man-in-the-ab-

stract.
It has developed, as we have noted, that our science does not provide for any experts who are conversant with man as a whole. Not only that, but our science has not provided for the thorough

study, under

any circumstances whatever, of any individual human

beings. A study to qualify as thorough would have to be made from

1

Corresponding to such reference numbers as

this one, there will

in the Bibliography
sion.

citations pertinent to the subject

be found matter under discus-

WHY THE SCIENCE

OF

HUMANKIND?

II

the standpoint of various branches of science. To a degree the searchlight of science has been turned upon man-in-the-abstract, and one

can find out a vast amount about him

and journals
has never in
or dead.

in

if he consults enough books the But full searchlight of science enough any instance been turned on a real individual, living

libraries.

A consideration of the scope of a recent collaborative study of 258

normal young men at Harvard University should convince the reader that I have not been guilty of exaggeration. While this study
is

probably

ical

more comprehensive than any other, special psychologcapacities and various types of important aptitudes were not
of the study was of a subjective nature. the late war various government agencies carried

considered.

Much

During merous scientific

on nu-

investigations with conscientious objectors and

others as subjects.
reports,
tion.

The

writer

is

which were issued

as restricted

in possession of a number of the and not available for quota-

Some

of these studies were relatively intensive especially

on

the physiological side, but they were not in any sense comprehensive.

The
failure.

people

who make up

society are certainly not all alike,

and

any attempt to deal with them as if they were is foredoomed to Obviously the world which we inhabit would be wholly

every individual were an exact replica of every other individual. It seems equally clear that the roots of many conflicts and problems lie in the differences in appearance,
different
it is if

from what

differences in opinions, differences in attitudes,

and

differences in

behavior on the part of members of the human family. Scientific study which has for its purpose the improvement of social behavior

must understand

these differences, seek out their origins,

and

finally

develop the means whereby we can adjust ourselves to them. For the practical purposes of social engineering we must turn our
attention

away from the

biological robot, statistical

man, and

de-

vote it to actual human beings. Instead of being concerned primarily with man's digestion, we will need to think of men's digestions; instead of concentrating

upon the education

of

man, we

will

be

in-

12

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

terested in educating men; what men see will be more important than man's eyesight. The hypothetical concept of human nature will give way to a serious study of men's natures.

The

failure to

pay attention

to individual

men

is

either serious

or inconsequential depending on whether individuals are very much alike or whether they differ markedly one from another. If each
individual
is

approximately like every other individual, then

when

we know

one,

of Mr. Average

we know them all; when we know the Man we know enough so that we

characteristics

won't go far

wrong in assuming that everyone else is like him. But if, as we shall show in the main portion of this book, individuals show wide
fundamental
variability,

up

of replicas of Mr. Average

then our assumption that society is made Man may be so far from the truth

I believe, has actually happened. In our thinking about social problems, in our education of citizens, in our social planning, in our social legislation, we proceed

that

we

are led astray. This,

on the assumption

who

of average individuals, have the characteristics of the man-in-the-abstract, that our

that society
is

made up

natural sciences have investigated. If this supposition is correct or approximately so, well and good. Actually, however, such an

assumption
illustrated

is

indefensible.

The danger

of becoming statistically

minded on

all

occasions

is

by a story that is told of an elderly Scotch judge who was reminiscing over his very long record on the bench. He admitted
that in his day he

and
cent

that likewise

men

to

had probably freed a good many guilty people, he had probably sent a goodly number of innothe gallows but he consoled himself with the thought
His
errors

that the over-all average of his record looked excellent.

of severity were counterbalanced by his errors of leniency!

There

is

an acute need for

scientific

study of

rected along the lines suggested in the

body

human beings diof this book. This study

WHY THE SCIENCE

will

OF

HUMANKIND?
its

13

be of a practical nature and have as

possible information

purpose the development

of

all

and

insights that will

make

social control

possible.

not the time for society to locate the blame for our present predicament. To attempt this now would be something like boating
is

This

companions whose boat has suffered a mishap and who are perilously floundering far from shore, attempting to settle the question
as to

who
it

overturned the boat.

tell

When

civilization

is safe,

historians

can look back and

their
it

contemporaries in an impartial fashion

didn't

how

became

so,

or

why

happen sooner.

ultimate goal of our efforts is social welfare. This is accomplished when the physical and social environment is adjusted for the maximum development of every individual. Since, as science

The

demonstrates, people

show wide

variability in every respect, the en-

vironment which
Society

is

suitable for

one

will not be suitable for

it

all.

must accommodate

itself to

individual needs. Since

would

seem impossible
methods of
individuals

to adjust separately to all of the idiosyncrasies of each individual, the logical way to proceed is for science to develop
classification

which can be used

as a basis for giving

who

are nearly alike in a particular respect a similar

their

environment in connection with that particular item of

existence.

Once we know what

be
classified

the differences are, and

how human

beings

with respect to them, the individual problems may which will confront us will be essentially like that of fitting a hu-

man

population with shoes. There are no two pairs of feet in America that are precisely alike, toe prints and all, and offhand it might seem impossible to use large-scale methods and at the same time fit
it is

everyone with comfortable shoes. Actually

not so

difficult.

The

if their shoes are majority of people get along very satisfactorily are built according to and and width the right length approximately a standard last. Some feet require special attention for maximum

comfort.

Our attempted
that they

social adjustments, however, are often so crude be might compared to furnishing an entire army with

14

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

For purposes of calculating the amount of to put shoes on an army it would be valuable

average-sized shoes.
leather required to

know
would

the average size of the soldiers' feet, but this information be of no value in ordering the sizes to be made. An average-

sized shoe

would

fit

very few individuals.

Naturally in our scientific study of

observed differences in

ested in the fundamentally practical question as to

humankind we shall be interwhat extent the

beings are based upon hereditary factors. This is not always easy to decide as will be emphasized in a later chapter. Regardless of their origin, however, the differences need to be recognized and understood as well as possible. Whether

human

we

are color-blind or not depends

upon our

heredity; whether

we

enjoy reading or not has a hereditary basis, but there is a superposition of highly important environmental factors; whether we do

our reading in English or in French depends entirely upon the culture in

which

we

are reared. Scientific

knowledge and

scientific

versatility can be depended on, when they are applied, to light the way in any case so that the origin of differences may be under-

stood.

When
are faced

individual differences, which appear wholly troublesome, and better understood they should turn up on the credit

rather than the debit side of humanity's ledger. Biologically, in fact, differences are fundamental to all progress.

Because

men

are exceedingly

complex and our knowledge of

them must
bring. If

necessarily be incomplete,
possibilities

we

should not be discouraged

will

with the practical

which increased knowledge

we

consider the contents of the several thousand scientific

periodicals that are published regularly all over the civilized world we cannot standing in awe of what man has accomplished in

help the field of science.

An examination

of the

same sources of informais

tion will convince us also that scientific

knowledge

by no means

WHY THE SCIENCE

complete in any
idea that
field.

OF

HUMANKIND?

*5

No scientist would entertain for a moment the

about
electricity

we know

all

phenomena which have been subjected

or light or any of the other to scientific study for many

decades. Complete knowledge does not precede application. Even though we have not, from the social standpoint, taken the science

of

mankind

seriously,

our increased knowledge in recent decades

fruit.

has already borne

tract

much

Our emphasizing

practicalities

does not indicate a desire to de-

exercises his curiosity

from the value of purely scientific study. When the scientist and delves into the secrets of nature for their
it

appear useless, but actually he is laying by a store for future generations. Galvani in curiosity studied the effects of
sake

own

may

metals on the twitchings of a frog's leg, and at the same time unwittingly laid the foundation for modern electrical science which

and become useful in the following centuries. No one can guess when or how or where the knowledge that the scientist uncovers will bear fruit and no one can deny that the secrets of

was

to arise

nature are of absorbing interest regardless of their immediate, practical

import.

An

work generously because

enlightened society will not only support purely scientific it is the spring from which insight arises,
its scientific

findings continuously to It will never allow useful information to all practical operations. lie dormant and undeveloped. The time has now come 'for us to
extract

but also will contrive to apply

from the

available scientific information every possible

ounce

of help, in order that society can thrive and progress.

We

must not conclude

that because society's half-hearted, partial

or superficial study of mankind has failed to yield the answers most desired, a thorough study will also fail. In the natural sciences we

go

to what the layman would regard unbelievable lengths to find out about the materials and phenomena that we wish to use. No

l6
device or

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

method of approach is too exacting or too laborious if it throws light on the behavior of the material studied. In our present

we should not take the study of man less seriously. To use plight all the resources of biology, psychology, chemistry, and the other
show evident promise, supporting sciences, especially when they our obvious opportunity. Surely the stakes are high enough!
It
is

would indeed be a shortsighted mistake to limit the study of human beings in a manner to fit in with our preconceived notions.

We

should accept the broad

scientific

be studied, every phase of his life will be

point of view. If man is to worthy of attention. It

to leave out any part of man's existence, because the very thing omitted might be an important key to his behavior. Music, poetry, art, religion, and emotion are facts of life just as

would be hazardous

real

and compelling

as

any other

facts,

and no one who

strives for

a thorough understanding of

men

While the appreciation of music or

result of scientific study, yet a

art does

could close his eyes to them. not usually come as a

scientific attitude recog-

thoroughly

nizes art

and music

as important factors that enter into the life of

men.
If it is true, as

many

sociologists hold, that

men

cannot properly

be considered to

exist except as

members of a

society, the facts

must be faced
tion to

realistically.

scientific attitude involves

no

disposi-

dodge
all

anything that is true. Science has in its

day enterfacts

tained

sorts of hypotheses,

and no type of objective

or

evidence need remain outside scientific consideration.

If man's position and status can be grasped only by a study of the developmental history of himself and his biological colleagues, this fact does not lie outside of science. If heredity plays a larger or smaller role in our lives that we are wont to consider, the methods

of science alone can demonstrate the facts

and

offer us the indis-

putable proof that

may

serve as a basis for further extension of our

knowledge.
his

If,

as

some would

hold, man's troubles are mostly in

mind, and psychological factors outweigh all others, this is something that we need to be sure of and to know more about. Only

WHY THE SCIENCE

scientific

OF

HUMANKIND?
way
to

I?

study can

make

us sure and point the

whatever

remedies

may

exist.

In short, science encompasses many fields of knowledge. In the broadest sense any kind of investigation which has for its purpose
the discovery of truth
is scientific.

It is beyond the scope of this book to deal philosophically with man's nature. Our interest is more in the practical work-a-day characteristics of human beings. It will be logically necessary, however,

problems on the basis of the acceptance of certain or premises postulates. Euclid postulated that a straight line is the shortest distance between two points and founded his geometry on this assumption. If anyone wishes to deny this postulate, he elimto

discuss

inates himself thereby

must use

postulates as the basis of

from a study of Euclidian geometry. our discussion, but we must

We
also

of disagreement with these postulates. In the possibility event that the postulates are not acceptable, subsequent discussions cannot be satisfactory.

admit the

First, we must, in common with all scientists, accept the general idea of the uniformity of nature. Nature is governed by laws and scientists have learned to depend on nature's behaving in a consistent fashion. This does not mean that the minute details of every

physical or chemical event are in themselves determined and predictable, but that over-all processes are law-abiding and consistent.

truly scientific attitude

facing of the fact not yet acquainted with

one of humility. There is a realistic that whereas the universe is law-abiding, we are
is

all

of the laws.

A know-it-all

attitude is in-

compatible with the

scientific

method.
pracrigid

We
tical

must -accept the postulate that human beings are in a sense free agents. A common-sense view of life excludes
all efforts

determinism; otherwise

to

modify our environment, our-

selves or society are utterly futile

and meaningless.

We

must

also

l8
accept,

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

however, the idea that man's freedom is limited and not an important way into later discomplete. This point will enter in
cussions.

Until forced to do otherwise

fearless attitude.

we

shall

In the
I

modern age we have

adopt an optimistic and fortunately banished

many
minds

fears

but
if

think there remains a lurking fear in

that

we

attempt to pick

man

to pieces scientifically,

many we

may

spoil

him. Experience points in the opposite direction. While

may appear superficially to depreciate the things it studies, in the long run it always enriches them. Man appears most remarkable not to the person who is most ignorant, but to the scientist who knows a great deal about his intricacies and sees in him
science

wonders not even vaguely imagined by the non-scientific observer. We should have no fear in following the truth wherever it may
lead.

More complete understanding

our

one direction
I believe that

of ourselves can lead only in toward better adjustments to life and to each other.
later discussions will

make

it

clear

how

knowl-

edge of ourselves, regardless of our capabilities, will have the effect of increasing our morale and our satisfaction with life. Errors in
understanding of ourselves and others can lead only to trouble.

10

Above all we must see the urgency of the task; a new science must be developed one which will concentrate on the comprehensive scientific study and understanding of actual human beings,
such as those represented by ourselves, our neighbors, associates, friends, and enemies. It should be of the nature of an applied science

one that

is

developed because of the practical service

it

will render

in the field of social relations.

and often highly

we shall bring together from diverse a fund of information and insources specialized this difficult but crucially important in an to outline sight attempt shall indicate how this information which is already science.
In the chapters which follow

We

WHY THE SCIENCE

available

OF

HUMANKIND?

19

is socially important, and how the wide dissemination of what we already know will go far in promoting morale, tolerance and mental health. Only by extending this knowledge and giving it

we find a basis for solving a multitude of social In the later chapters a number of these specific problems problems. will be discussed in the light of what human exploration can do.
to our youth can

II.

Fundamental Metabolism

as It Is

Related

to Character Traits

The proper study

of

mankind

is man. ALEXANDER POPE

OUR CONSIDERATION of what

science can teach us about

human

INbeings
quate

and

how

this

social control, let

first

us not be content with

knowledge can aid us in obtaining adeLet superficialities.

the basic facts about the workings of our
actually

us consider
bodies,

some of

and how we derive our physical energy, because

an

insight into the nature of these processes is essential to an understanding of how we human beings tick how we are alike and how

we may

differ

one from another.

In order to carry on the numerous and intricate affairs that make up our physical existence, we must obtain energy from the combustion of fuels and in order to keep this process going and maintain the body machinery in working order, many complex chemical

changes must take place continuously. This slow combustion or burning of fuels, along with the multitude of accompanying reactions which take place in the what we call metabolism.
billions of cells of

our bodies,

is

are general features of the over-all process of metabolism consume for higher animals. men and for same the essentially

The

We

same types of fuel principally carbohydrates, fats and proteins and the processes of digestion and metabolism which ensue are in their broad outlines the same. Our bodies and those of animals
the

produce

automatically as far as any conscious desire

20

is

concerned

FUNDAMENTAL METABOLISM
and

21

a host of special catalysts called enzymes which make possible lubricate specific types of chemical reactions that need to take

place in the burning process. These numerous catalysts are built into the tissues where they are needed and their activities are controlled in a most intricate fashion.
process as it occurs in our bodies is far more complex than the burning of gasoline in our automobile cylinders. Lead tetraethyl is something like a catalyst and is put into gasoline to

The burning

make

combustion take place more smoothly. However, cars ran long before its use was discovered, so it is not essential. The burning which takes place in our bodies, on the other hand, involves
its

many

different fuels,

many
whole

intricate intermediate steps,

and many

special catalysts which, unlike lead tetraethyl, are individually absolutely essential to the
It

process.

has long been recognized that

in anatomy and
this
is

similar

man and higher animals are often cited as evidence of kinship.

Fully as important is the fact that metabolism in man and higher animals has many resemblances. The machinery in each case is
similar not only in gross construction, but many of the intricate details of its operation are approximately the same. Science has dis-

covered

much

about the laws that govern the inheritance by

man

or animals of their anatomical machinery.

definite

We are beginning to have

and striking proof that this heritable machinery includes the specialized enzymes or the ability to produce them as clarified by Beadle and his co-workers, and that it is for this reason that our
metabolism follows a pattern derived from those of our forebears. Two animals which inherit identical anatomical structures have the

machinery for carrying on metabolism in exactly the same way, but if there are differences in their anatomies (including microscopic

and sub-microscopic
responding

details)
1

then their metabolisms will show cor-

variations.

look closely into the details of the process of metabolism, it becomes evident that not only do different species of animals differ in the details of the process and not only do men differ

When we

from animals in

this

respect,

but each

human

being has a metabolic

22

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

fact is

some respects from that of all his fellows. it is for probably upon these fundamental important metabolic differences that our observable individual differences rest.
pattern which differs in

This

If

we

tures even

could imagine two individuals whose various bodily strucdown to the minutest details were the same, then the

metabolism in their various internal organs, in their glands and in the nerve cells throughout their bodies and in their brains would
be the same and
vidual differences.
identical twins in

we would have duplicate individuals without The nearest approach to this in actuality

indiis

in

may

about the only differences are those which result from environmental influences that operate after birth
lie

whom

or even before birth while the fetuses

together in the mother's

womb.

concrete

and

differ in their

metabolisms

readily observed demonstration that individuals may be witnessed in the case of two

children of the

same household

one lean and one

fat.

Both have

access to exactly the

ferent.
if

we

same food and yet the results are quite diftends to deposit much fat, the other very little. Even account for the difference by the fact that one child eats more

One

than the other,

this

has a metabolic basis because desire for food

if one person consistently has more appetite conclusive evidence of a difference in internal

comes from within and

than another, this
metabolism.
is

As another homely evidence of differences in metabolism among normal people we may cite the old nursery rhyme about Jack Sprat and his wife. It is commonly recognized that individuals do not
utilize equally well every

kind of

fuel.
is

Some can

utilize fat

with

relative ease; others cannot.

This

related to another fact recog-

nized by biochemists that in fat metabolism some individuals have a greater tendency to ketosis (formation and excretion of acetone and related substances) than do other individuals.

One need go no

further than popular impressions to find indica-

FUNDAMENTAL METABOLISM
tions that the metabolic differences just

23

mentioned are important

in connection with people's behavior. Is there not a common belief that obese people tend to be jolly and good-natured while lean

people by comparison tend to be cranky and quarrelsome? Such observations, unfortunately, are not on a scientific basis. It
is

not have scientific knowledge about the relationship between the general metabolism of individuals and their dispositions. It is common medical knowledge that those indiregrettable that

we do

viduals

who have

nervous, excitable
esses are very

and

a very high rate of metabolism are liable to be fidgety, whereas those whose burning procscanty and inexact.
to the

slow tend to be sluggish, but altogether our informais

tion

on such matters

The

basic questions

relationship

which we have been propounding as of disposition to metabolism would, if they were

in the

realm of physical science, be considered elementary. If one asks a metallurgist whether the presence of carbon has an influence on
the strength of steel, he has enough exact information on the subcan we ask about the relationship between ject to fill a book. metabolism and disposition? The physiologist or biochemist who is

Whom

competent to study metabolism is not concerned with people's dispositions, and psychologists who might be interested in people's dispositions are not students of metabolism. It will be one of the
exploration to study such relationships as these to cut across the artificial borders that separate the branches of
tasks of
science

human

from one another and

to

study

human

beings by every

available means.

Our

differences in metabolism are not limited to the

broad char-

distinguishing personal features which we as individuals possess are clear reflections of metabolic differences. When we say that one has inherited black hair, for example, we are speaking inaccurately because what
is

acteristics

already outlined.

Some

of the

common

inherited

is

not the black hair, but the specific catalytic systems

24

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

black.

which are capable of producing the pigment which colors hair The intricate and submicroscopic mechanisms for producing

pigments which color the hair and the skin vary from individual
to individual.

The

of which

come from
their

production of these pigments (the raw materials the food) is a part of metabolism, and the
production are inherited.

mechanisms for

Albinos are relatively rare individuals

who have

failed to inherit

a workable mechanism for the production of skin, hair and eye pigments. Some part of the necessary machinery is left out of their
heritable metabolic conditions

make-up. In addition to albinism there are at least seven other which are known to biochemists:
cystinuria,

alcaptonuria,

pentosuria,

porphyrinuria,

steatorrhea,

phenyl ketonuria and tyrosinosis. metabolic traits would be out of place

detailed discussion of these

each condition arises in some

of the numerous body tissues and results in the excretion of specific identifiable products. Alcaptonuria is the easiest of the group to
recognize, because the urine of individuals inheriting this metabolic

on standing. chemical product homois in acid the urine of such individuals from birth gentisic present because the inherited catalytic systems yield it as a product of partial 2 oxidation.
characteristic turns black

other metabolic peculiarities listed above are for the most part recognizable only as the result of chemical examinations. They have been discovered, often by physicians, as a result of a more or
less

The

chance

observation

of

patients.

Exhaustive

or

searches for such metabolic traits have never been

made and

systematic a num-

ber of those mentioned have been studied in only a limited way. In addition other identifiable but unusual products of metabolism

have been found in urine occasionally and there seems little doubt that many metabolic traits which might be recognized by study

who

directed to this purpose, have so far been overlooked. Individuals excrete an unusual metabolic product may do so to different

extents, so that conditions not only differ in

kind but in different

degrees.

In only a few of these recognized metabolic

traits are

there

known

FUNDAMENTAL METABOLISM
correlations with

25

any other easily recognized trait. Associated with a deficiency in the sense of smell (anosmia). In the case of phenyl ketonuria the accompanying condition is serious feeblemindedness. Evidently the peculiarity in the inherited catalytic sysalbinism
is

tem which makes impossible the burning up of phenyl pyruvic acid also makes impossible high-grade mental activity. While all individuals
are

who

excrete phenyl pyruvic acid are feeble-minded, there

numerous feeble-minded whose difficulty lies in some other quarter, because no sign of this particular substance is found in the

No extensive psychological studies have been made of phenyl ketonurics to ascertain exactly what type or types of mental deurine.
ficiencies exist.

The
by no

possession of distinctive metabolic traits or trait-patterns is means limited to freaks or to unusual individuals. Perhaps

the most direct proof of the existence of a distinctive metabolism for each of us lies in the fact that animals with a keen sense of
smell can distinguish one individual from another. The odors are due to metabolic products mixtures of chemical substances which

minute amounts and may adhere to the skin or clothing. Even though two individuals consume the same food, their differences in metabolism are sufficiently great so that a bloodare released in

hound, for example, can distinguish the "blend" of each, even by following a trail that is hours old.

biological evidences can be cited to show that our body have individuality. For example, extensive grafting and transplantation experiments on animals, described by Leo Loeb, have shown that when a piece of tissue is transplanted from one

Many

tissues

when the transplantation is to a different animal. If the animals in question are closely inbred and have a very similar inheritance, then transplantation to a different

position to another on the different from those obtained

same animal, the

results

are quite

26
individual

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

may
cause relatively
little

disturbance; in fact, for

months

the transplantation

may behave

like

one from the same animal,

although eventually differences appear. If a tissue is grafted to an 8 unrelated animal of the same species, the reaction may be severe.
scale, the more and the more show difficult it becomes to transindividuality they plant certain tissues from one individual to another. The various tissues of the body differ in their behavior on transplantation. Fortunately some tissues in the eye for example do not show individuality and can be transplanted readily. Skin can be grafted from one part of a person's body to another part with success. Skin from

The

higher the animals are in the evolutionary

a close

relative

sometimes can and sometimes cannot be success-

fully transplanted. If the transplanted skin

comes from an unre-

(who has many differences in his inheritance) the transplant usually does not "take." The existence of four principal blood groups, O, A, B, and AB,
lated individual

which must be recognized in connection with blood

is

transfusions,

based upon the presence or absence in the blood of different individuals of antigenic substances and B. Those in group possess

neither

A nor
B

B; those in group

possess

only;

O A in group those only; possess those in group AB possess both A and B. These
A

blood differences, which are inherited, exemplify of our bodies differ.

how the chemistries

While the four

listed

above comprise the more important blood

groups, there are other significant and distinctive substances which may or may not be present in the blood of individuals. These are
the
is

M and N factors and the recently discovered Rh factor which

fetal

connected with

anemia and death. These are inherited inde-

and B. Taking these into account there are twentypendently of four types of blood which people may possess. Actually, however,
a considerable number of subgroups
exist, related for

example to

the possession of modified A's and Rh's. These multiply the number of distinguishable blood types to several times twenty-four. If one

wished to push the

limit, the

number

classification of blood types to the scientific of types would be very large. Whether this is

FUNDAMENTAL METABOLISM
desirable or useful

27

from the practical standpoint is a question which not discuss. Regardless of this, we find in the study of blood types ample evidence that our internal chemistries differ one

we need

from

another.

The

chemical differences between individuals which become

apparent in transplantation experiments and blood groups probably have to do with subtle differences in the proteins present. Differences

by ordinary For example, in a, group of ten individuals studied over a period of months it was found that each tended to have characteristic amounts of lipid (fatty) materials in
analysis, also reveal individuality.

in other types of tissue constituents, as determined

the blood regardless of ordinary changes in the diet.

four men,

only 60
cent as

One of the who was in good physical condition, consistently had per cent as much cholesterol as the maximum, and 64 per much fatty acids. In another study involving 300 women,

one individual had a blood phospholipid content only 37.5 per cent of the maximum. These consistent differences offer concrete evidence that the metabolic machinery
ual to individual.
differs

somewhat from

individ-

An

also indicates that every entirely different line of evidence

being has distinctive metabolic traits which form the basis for individuality, a conclusion of first importance in understanding
the
the body is due to an interaction, often some portion of the metabolic maand the between obscure, drug
chinery.

human

human species. The effect of a drug upon

Drug
action
is

often difficult to study, not because of the

because complex chemistry of the drug itself, but more particularly or interferes it of the complexity of the mechanism with which

which
If

it

influences.

this

drugs had precisely the same effect on different could be taken as evidence that the metabolic mechanisms are

individuals

28

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

and the
facts indicate that

identical. Actually the opposite is true,

the metabolic mechanisms are distinctive.

Drugs
tively

that have

come

to be

uniform in

their action.

depended on are those that are Those drugs which are highly

relairre-

gular in their action, whether of synthetic or natural origin, have been discarded because unless a drug can be counted on to have approximately the same action upon a large majority of individuals
it is useless.

Even

those drugs which have

come

to be

depended on and are

useful for most individuals are not always effective in the same doses. In the use of barbiturates for inducing sleep or in the administration of thyroid tissue or of sex

hormones,

it is

found that

indi-

viduals vary greatly in the amount required to give the desired effect. The physician often experiments in the administration of drugs giving first small doses and then larger and larger until the
desired results are obtained.

Sometimes

differences

in

the susceptibility of individuals are

interpretations.

marked, and have given some individuals respond

rise to false

For example,

to the subcutaneous injection of adrenaline

by an extraordinary rise in blood pressure and pulse rate. At one time it was thought that this was indicative of exophthalmic goiter
(Graves' disease) but
it is

not.

Some

people wholly without Graves'

disease respond in this manner due, as we must conclude, to definite metabolic differences which are as yet unknown.

study of drugs and drug action is highly complicated without paying attention to individual responses, and pharmacologists have
usually treated these individual differences in an offhand manner. It is well known that in order to test a drug adequately it must be
tried out

The

upon a number of animals (which do not necessarily respond alike) and that tests involving a single animal are unreliable. It is also well

recognized that different species of animals

for instance,

morphine excites cats but depresses dogs and most other animals and that for testing a drug an appropriate animal must be used.
respond differently to drugs

Even

those drugs which have

come

to be recognized as standard

FUNDAMENTAL METABOLISM
respond quite differently. His mind

29

have unusual actions upon some individuals. Morphine, for example, puts most individuals to sleep, but an occasional individual may

may

be stimulated in such a

manner
distress.

that thoughts race through it pell-mell, causing great mental This indicates that the chemistry of the nervous system or

the approaches to it are not identical in the two types of individuals. Novocaine is another important drug which fails to act uniformly; in some individuals it does not cause anesthesia when administered
in the usual doses.

A student who worked

in the author's laboratory

found out by experience in the dentist's office that novocaine was not effective for him. Later he found it out all over again and under-

went a tonsilectomy without

effective anesthesia, because

novocaine

was the drug used. A drug is usually considered satisfactory if it is effective in a large proportion of the cases in which it is tried. For example, a recently
developed anesthetic technique for childbirth was tried upon 10,000 cases; it was completely effective in 81 per cent of the cases, but
there

were 1200 who had

slight

pain and 700 more for

whom

the

anesthetic didn't

work

at all. Similarly, in testing a

be

effective in preventing air sickness in flying

drug found to cadets it was found

facts,

to be effective in eleven cases out of twelve.

These

coupled

drugs are selected to act as uniformly as possible, bear out the conclusion that our internal chemistries are not the
fact that

with the

same.

Even
sults.

The

the most widely used drugs occasionally yield unusual resulfa drugs cause extreme nausea much more readily in
in others; aspirin sometimes excites individuals
cases disturbs the heart; the old stand-by heart

some people than and in some rare

remedy,
digitalis,

in rare

and anomalous

cases induces a synchronized

heart rhythm in addition to slowing the ventricular rate; cinchophen was used in the treatment of gout for many years before it was

found that

it

may

cause fatal toxic hepatitis; penicillin in rare cases

may produce a violent reaction. Measures which are usually highly advantageous, such as giving diphtheria shots, may occasionally
yield serious results.

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

Three physiologically
active substances that enter into the everycaffeine, nicotine
life

day

of

many

people

and alcohol

are variable
it

in their action,

and

since these are so

briefly.

commonly used

will

be

worth our while to discuss them

Caffeine
tablet
sleep.
is

form

the active ingredient of tea and coffee; it is sold in and found to be effective in most cases in preventing
different individuals vary greatly in their response

However,

to this substance.

Some can sleep soundly after having drunk several of cups strong coffee, while others may be kept awake for hours by a portion of a cup. Caffeine is caffeine wherever you find it, but when it gets into the human body its effects may differ widely de-

pending upon the exact make-up of the individual that takes it. Nicotine is another commonly used drug which does not affect
every individual in the same way. One important factor in this case the ability which at least some people possess of becoming adapted so that they become less responsive to it. It is well known, for
is

example, that a youngster's first cigar may make him deathly ill, but that some men, by dosing themselves mildly over a period of years, are able to smoke one cigar after another all day long with-

out becoming

ill.

Pharmacologists say that some people never can

is so, it is

get adapted fact in connection with our later discussion.

to the free use of tobacco. If this

an important

There are two

diseases

which are recognized by the medical pro-

fession as being associated almost invariably with the use of tobacco. The diseases are rare and most people who smoke never suffer from

them

at

all.

Those who do

are affected,

we must

conclude, because

of unusual metabolic susceptibility to the action of tobacco. The diseases are tobacco ambylopia, which results in optic atrophy and
blind areas being produced

on the

retina,

and Buerger's

disease

and induces gangrene,

rare.

(thrombo-angiitis obliterans) which causes severe vascular spasms necessitating amputation. These diseases are

Wide

variability

of response to nicotine

is

the rule rather than the

exception. People react differently toward the habit-forming effects of tobacco. Some smokers are apparently able to stop and start at

FUNDAMENTAL METABOLISM
will while others are

31

much more
basis.

closely tied to the habit.

This probis

ably has a physiological

Pharmacologically nicotine

very

complex Dr. Raymond

in this

in

its

action.
Pearl's classical study, involving 6,813

effects of tobacco

men, on the on longevity revealed some interesting information connection which was a by-product of his study and the
which was possibly not
group of
three
into
4

significance of

fully grasped.

He

classified the large

men

(white),
(i)

on the

basis of

reliable

information,

groups:
tobacco.

non-smokers,
of the

(2)

moderate smokers, (3) heavy smokers.

for the statistical analysis

None

men

selected

chewed

half of the heavy smokers in the group were dead 17^2 after the starting age (30); it was, however, 26 years before years

One

one half of the moderate smokers had

that
one's

died,

and 28 years before

indicates strongly
statistically

one half of the non-smokers were dead. This

smoking
life

especially

heavy

smoking

decreases

expectancy at 30 years of age, by a number of years. However, when the death rates of the three groups were com-

pared after the survivors had reached the age of 70, the statistical advantage of the non-smokers practically disappeared even when
they were compared with the heavy smokers. Dr. Pearl explained this on the basis that those "who survive to 70 or thereabouts are

such tough and resistant specimens that thereafter tobacco does them no further measurable harm as a group." The findings of Dr. Pearl may be reasonably interpreted if we

make

the justifiable assumption that individuals differ in suscepinheritance. Some inherit a metabolic pattern that is tibility by
the chronic effects of nicotine, others possess metabolic susceptible to are resistant to it. By the age of 70 practically all those that set-ups

who
and

are susceptible are weeded out (often by coronary thrombosis), the remainder about one third of the heavy smokers live on

unmolested by the effects of nicotine. not offer It has been pointed out that Dr. Pearl's studies do

in-

An alternate exdisputable proof that tobacco decreases longevity. is that those who are by inheritance short-lived are for planation

S2

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

to

some reason predisposed

the tobacco
is

become tobacco

users,

and that actually

not a responsible agent. This explanation is not untenable on the basis of present information but it seems that there
is

no independent evidence
it

in favor of

it,

and

that such a

view

would not be embraced

wishing
to be valid.
all

unless one

had some strong reason for

the facts into consideration it seems very likely that Taking some people have their lives materially shortened by tobacco, but
this basis it seems that others are practically unaffected. entirely some individuals should live to ripe old age even though they use tobacco all their lives. The fact that someone's

On

reasonable that

grandfather smoked incessantly and lived to be 92 does not prove that smoking is harmless for everyone else.

The

facts

with respect

to the effects of tobacco are

eminently

worth knowing and their clients

from the standpoint of life insurance companies but due to our over-absorpif for no other reason

tion in man-in-the-abstract
gently. If studies

we have

never sought the answer

it

dili-

were directed

to this end,

would probably be
is

in possible to determine

advance whether an individual

slightly,

moderately or highly susceptible to the harmful effects of tobacco. If one is a heavy smoker and lives past 70, this is a pretty good

time to wait for the answer

indication that he belongs in the resistant group, but this is a long too long in fact to derive any benefit.

With

respect to the use of alcohol,

to
its

it is

common knowledge
way
as they

that

people become adapted

effected by a given
It

use in the same

do

to the

use of tobacco. Persons

who

amount

are accustomed to drinking are less of liquor than are the uninitiated.

likely, however, that the same situation exists with realcohol as has been described in connection with nicotine to spect probably people have variable reactions to its chronic effects and

seems

regardless of temporary adaptations some are be damaged by its continued use than others.

much more

liable to

fact

Variability in individual responses to alcohol is indicated by the some persons show intoxication when the alcohol content of the
is

blood

comparatively very low. In most cases of intoxication the

FUNDAMENTAL METABOLISM
alcohol content of the blood
cent.
is

33
0.30 per
in-

between

0.15 per cent

and

in studying this problem, it was stance that four out of 38 persons (10.5 per cent)

However,

found in one

showed

intoxica-

tion

when

the alcoholic content of their blood

was

0.05 per cent,

and

that 10 per cent of a larger

group

failed to

show

intoxication

the alcohol content of the blood was five times this high, namely, 0.25 per cent. very high percentage of persons (but not

when
all)

show

intoxication

when

the alcohol in the blood rises to 0.30

per cent.
addiction are by no means uniform. Some develop psychoses; others do not, and the psychoses that develop are of diverse types. In addition to the effects of alco-

Furthermore the

effects of alcohol

hol addiction there develop in relatively rare cases conditions which are described as "pathological intoxication." This may result from
the imbibition of a relatively small amount of alcoholic liquor and neither constant users of alcohol nor infrequent users are immune. The individual in such a case often becomes berserk and commits

depredations and crimes of which later after a long sleep he has

no memory. This acute and temporary type of condition accounts

for 8 to 9 per cent of all first admissions for alcoholic psychoses in

State hospitals. are unusually susceptible to alcohol and two leading Epileptics authorities on pharmacology indicate the existence of a highly susmore normal individuals when they say ceptible group among alcohol should be forbidden to patients who may easily become

the

New

York

addicted to

it.

They

also indicate that alcoholic patients are often

hereditary defectives. It is estimated that there are about 600,000

this

men and women

in

country medical help.

who

are so seriously addicted to alcohol that they need This is about 1.3 per cent of the total number who

make some
all social,

use of alcoholic beverages. These inebriates come from educational and economic levels the well-to-do furnish-

ing a larger than proportional number.

that these particular individuals have been subjected to and that these conditions alone are peculiar psychological stresses
It

may be

34

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

responsible for their unfortunate state. On the other hand, a number of facts in addition to those already cited indicate that addiction to
alcohol has
its

basis in the

fundamental metabolism of the individual

is

which in turn has a hereditary background. This psychological stresses remain outside the picture.
It

not to say that

appears to be well established that some individuals can remain moderate drinkers throughout life without effort, but that others

develop a strong craving which can be overcome,

greatest difficulty.

if at all,

with the

For them

total abstinence is the

only alternative;

they appear to be wholly unable to drink moderately. It is estimated that there are about seven times as many drunkards

among men

as

among women. This

is

no doubt due in part

but sex differences with respect to metabolism are well recognized and it could be that the metabolic machinery in women is such that they have less tendency toward alcoholic addicto social custom,
tion.

Women

are men, and would think that the

are undoubtedly subject to psychological stresses as if this were the main basis for alcoholic addiction one
distribution

between the sexes would be more

even.

In discussing alcohol as a psychiatric problem, Dr. Adolf Meyer has pointed out one of the strong evidences that a tendency toward alcoholic addiction may have a metabolic basis and may be inherited.

He

says in connection with his

Massachusetts, State Hospital, that there formity in the action of alcohol within racial groups, but that different racial groups often showed wide contrasts. In the case of

work at the Worcester, was a remarkable uni-

were

those of Irish descent, for example, 37 per cent of the psychoses alcoholic, whereas among the Jewish patients only 0.5 per cent

of the psychoses were alcoholic; Germans, native Americans, English and Scotch were consistently between these extremes. Very
similar results
pital in

were

also

reported

from the Manhattan

State

Hos-

New York.6
all

In view of

ferences in metabolism

the other available facts regarding individual difthink that in it seems entirely reasonable to
is

each

racial

group there

a certain percentage (which, however,

FUNDAMENTAL METABOLISM
varies

35

with the group) of those who have metabolic traits that predispose toward alcoholic addiction, and that the inebriates come

from

this percentage.

This question merits

much more

study than

it

has received in

view of

approalcohol of becomes problem defined in terms of this assumption. However, the problem takes on an entirely different complexion if, because of metabolic differpriate frustrations, etc., then the social

importance as a social problem. If we make the tacit assumption (which is a common one) that potentially people are all alike and would become drunkards if encountered
its

they

ences, only a small percentage are unusually susceptible and are liable to become drunkards. It is important for society to know which of these alternatives to accept.

who are unusually susceptible to the for to its and craving liquor habit-forming effects, it should be possible by intensive study directed to this end to learn how to distinguish such individuals. It should be expected that there would
If

there are individuals

be no sharp lines; all degrees of susceptibility would be expected and even persons with rather moderate susceptibility might, under
probable that susin a ceptibilities such as these are inherited, but not necessarily
inebriates. It
is

most trying conditions, become

simple manner.

variable tendencies toward allergies is another evidence of differences in the fundamental chemistries of individuals, as is also

The

the fact that

when

different people react to

an allergen they do so

in variable ways.

Different species of animals tend to react differently toward

allergy. Guinea pigs when made allergic characteristically reaction similar to asthma, dogs develop gastro-intestinal

show a
hemor-

rhages, while horses characteristically

show

urticaria (hives).

Hu-

man

beings

when

they develop allergies tend to react in one of the

three ways, with

some

variations.

36

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

Many people have no tendency to become allergic to anything. Some become allergic to a certain few items and not to others. Some unfortunate people have a strong tendency to become allergic
and
react to

many

different articles of food, in

which case
is

their

proper nutrition becomes a serious problem. There the tendency toward allergy is inherited.

evidence that

An

allergic

tendency
if

may

be considered an abnormal diseased

condition

and

we

enlarge our discussion to include diseased con-

ditions in general, many more examples of innate metabolic differconsiderable percentage of children are not ences come to light.

susceptible to infection

with

scarlet fever

due apparently to an

in-

herited metabolic difference

tively

which

persists.

Negro

children are rela-

immune. There
is

is also

evidence that susceptibility to diphtuberculosis

theria, infantile paralysis

and

may be

inherited.

The

same

true of cancer.

Diabetes, sickle-cell anemia, pernicious anemia, hemophilia and epilepsy are among the numerous diseases related to metabolism

which are
lisms

heritable.

Their existence shows that individual metabo-

may

vary not only within the normal, but

may

extend into

the pathological range.

Investigation with respect to vitamins also throws light problem of variability in our fundamental metabolism.

on the

In

common

we

require in our food not only fuel to

with other organisms, even including lowly bacteria, burn but other food conthis

stituents

which make
built

burning

which we have mentioned

possible. The numerous catalysts as being concerned with metabolism

must be

up

in the body.

Often they are

built

by using

as

raw

materials specific vitamins and minerals, which must be in the food. If these are present in too small amounts the body suffers from

malnutrition and various metabolic processes are impaired. One of the ways of finding out about the intricacies of metabolism
is

to investigate the vitamins

and how they work.

If

we

can identify

FUNDAMENTAL METABOLISM
vitamin does
its

37

a specific vitamin which is required by the body, there remains the problem of how it functions. If we could learn in detail how every

work we should have gone a long way toward

gaining a complete picture of metabolism. The first vitamins were discovered by using experimental animals, often white rats, as "guinea animals with pigs." Pure inbred strains of
a

common

inheritance have been used so that their growth rates

and responses

to particular food combinations would be as uniform as possible. In order to make valid comparisons between diets it is

necessary to have several animals in each group

responses.

and average

their

Tens of thousands of experiments of this kind have been carried out and a mass of information with regard to the nutritional requirements of the animals studied has accumulated. As knowledge has increased experiments have been extended to other animals:
fowl, guinea pigs, mice, dogs, hogs, monkeys, etc. It is found that while the fundamental requirements are alike, they are by no means the same; each species has its own characteristics both with respect
to the vitamins required

produce their own quire no unusual raw material for their production. Human beings, however, can produce neither and are wholly dependent upon an
outside supply.

and the amounts. Rats, for example, can ascorbic acid (vitamin C) and niacin and re-

Even within a single species of animals there are significant differences in requirements. On certain diets rats will usually develop rickets, but some rats are resistant and do not exhibit the symptoms.

Even when

have a heritage which

the animals are inbred for generations and therefore is very much alike, this does not insure that

the vitamin requirements of the individuals will be identical. It is that the average response of several animals partly for this reason must be used in any vitamin testing experiment.

Furthermore

it

has been possible, by breeding, to

isolate

from an

inbred strain of rats two substrains of rats one of which has a

higher thiamin requirement than the other. In other experiments selective breeding has isolated two substrains of rats one of which

38

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

choline as the other. Similar experiments with highly inbred white leghorn chickens. Subisolated

required twice as

much

have been done

strains
7

have been

which have

different requirements for

riboflavin.

limited

Vitamin experimentation on human beings has been relatively due not only to the expense and inconvenience involved but

also because of the natural reaction against

human

experiments

which might injure the subjects. Because of this and other difficulties, exact and dependable information regarding the amounts of the various vitamins which are required by human beings is scanty.
In dealing with a human population the problem is much more complex than in an animal colony, because inbred strains of ani-

mals have practically the same heritage, whereas

are extremely

mixed up

in their inheritance.

On

human beings the basis of what

safe to

we know about
that individual

the requirements of animals

it is

assume
in

human

beings differ

widely from one another

the

amounts of

different vitamins that they require. It is not at all

improbable that specific individuals

certain vitamins

may have

requirements for

which are

several times those of their associates.

These differences may be due

late,

to relative failure to digest or assimi-

increased tendency to excrete, a failure in the ability to build

the vitamins into the tissues, or to other reasons.

information on variation in vitamin requirements is largely lacking; those who have been investigating vitamins in nutrition have not been interested in possible individual differences
I

As

have

said,

but have been pleased if they could get information about the average man and have been content to neglect the exceptional individual whose performances are out of line. Even information regarding the average man has been difficult to obtain.

Casual information suggesting individual variability in vitamin

requirements
is readily available. Probably every doctor who deals in his practice with vitamin requirements could cite cases of unusual benefits from vitamins, or cases in which administration of a vita-

min was effective in one case and wholly ineffective in another. One of the most unusual cases which I know of is that of a woman

FUNDAMENTAL METABOLISM
A
Lack

39

physician who found that to overcome eyestrain in herself she had to take and thiamin. continuously large doses of both vitamin
of the latter vitamin has never been associated particularly with eye difficulties, though, like every other vitamin of the B
it is

family,

essential for every tissue (including those involved in

is no theoretical reason why eye difficulties not involve a for it. Another exunsatisfied demand might large ceptional case is that of a person whose hair started to turn from gray to black as the evident result of taking relatively large doses

eyesight) and there

of thiamin for another purpose. Thiamin has never been thought of as an anti-gray hair vitamin. deficiency of pantothenate, for

example,
chickens)
It

will

cause

black-haired

animals

(and black-feathered

to turn gray,

and

its

administration will reverse the

change.

individuals

has also been reported to restore hair color to human who are gray, but the results are not uniform. The func-

tioning of thiamin in this unusual metabolic quirk.

manner

is

exceptional

and

indicates

an

Various studies, which were not planned with this thought in mind, are nevertheless wholly in line with the idea that individuals may have distinctively different requirements. For example, it was
recently

found that

several otherwise

normal individuals continued

to have a

subnormal amount of vitamin

in the blood,

and

to

dark adaptation even when they were given 200,000 8 units of vitamin daily. This is about forty times what is supposed

show

deficient

to be the requirement of average individuals

and the abnormal

supposed to be associated with a deficiency of some other vitamin. Studies of the excretion of various B vitamins show that
behavior
is

individuals vary widely in the

identical diets are used. In

amounts
cases this

that they excrete

when

some

may

be due to differences

in the bacteria harbored in the intestinal tract. In any event, occasional examples of individuals who have unusually high or low re-

quirements for thiamin and riboflavin have been reported. Some individuals absorb niacin (another vitamin) readily but others do
not.
It

would be presumed on the

basis of

what we know about the

4
inheritance of

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

enzyme
catalysts

and the

heritability

of vitamin

requirements in animals that the requirements for each vitamin would be inherited as a separate unit. requirement for one vita-

min might be
third
it

very high, for another

it

might be low and for a

might be about average and so on. The inheritance of individual vitamin requirements, which is closely akin to the inheritance of enzyme catalysts, does not rule out the fact that environmental conditions such as infectious disease may alter requirements and make for variation, though information on this point is largely
lacking. The best expedient for insuring oneself against all vitamin lack is to be careful in the selection of all food and allow a generous

can hope that by so doing the supply supply of all the vitamins. will be adequate whether our individual requirements are high or
low. Actually, however, in individual cases we do not know how wide the spread in requirements is, and consequently have no ade-

We

quate idea as to

how

far out of line our individual needs

may

be.

8
amount of evidence has been cited in the foregoing sections to show that each human being has a metabolic pattern which differs in numerous respects from that of his fellows. Since these
metabolic differences are fundamental to our existence and to
all

A large

our

important that the existence of these metabolic traits be recognized. Furthermore, before we can claim to be thoractivities, it is

oughly acquainted with ourselves,

we must know how

our indi-

vidual metabolic traits are distinctive.

evidence bearing on the existence of these traits is concerned known inheritance of catalytic systems, recognizable metabolic traits of a gross and specific nature, evidence of individualities

The

with the

upon transplantation experiments, blood chemical studies, drug actions, allergies, metabolic groups, analytical vitamin and diseases, investigations.
of

metabolism

based

FUNDAMENTAL METABOLISM
From
and
the standpoint of most o
legislating,

41

we assume

our social thinking, planning that all individuals can be lumped

seek to force inditogether into a single comprehensive group. viduals in whether they belong or not. At a banquet we serve everyone coffee whether they wish it or not; in our attack on the
liquor problem we try first the expedient of allowing everyone all the liquor their money will buy, then we seek to prohibit its use

We

seek to find a rule regarding the possible harmfulness of the use of tobacco that will apply to everyone. In solving

by everyone.

We

the problem of nutrition we have not yet progressed past the point where we think in terms of diets that are good for everyone. This habit of thought when applied to numerous phases of our
existence can lead into serious difficulties

and has far-reaching con-

sequences,

some of which

will be described in the following pages.

III. Sense of Sight

Perhaps more
ability to deal

and

Social Behavior

lives are

with

little

ruined through ineveryday common

things than for any other reason. H. N.

WEIMAN

JUST AS OUR DISCUSSION has shown that we require an understanding of various phases of our metabolism in order to deal adequately with ourselves as members of a society, so also it becomes
clear that

we

require insight into the functioning of our special

senses, the operation of

we
our

realize,

our sense of sight

which depends on metabolism. More than what we see and when influences

social behavior.

same

for all of us, individuals

While the general mechanism for seeing is the do not see eye to eye either literally
exist,

or figuratively and the differences which

though often incon-

means be neglected by those who wish to deal spicuous, can by no with human beings realistically as they exist in actuality.
Science as
it

relates to vision

has developed in two rather

is

dis-

highly developed through its various mathematical phases. The layman is not much interested in this but he is concerned with the application of optics to correcting the more common defects of vision. This
necessarily
to
is

tinct directions.

The

underlying physical science of optics

on a personalized

basis

no one would think of trying

manufacture or
all

by

members

tometrist sells glasses

sell spectacles that could be used indiscriminately of the family; in fact, no reputable optician or opwithout due concern for each of the patient's

two eyes. There has been quite another approach

42

to the study of vision

SENSE OF SIGHT AND BEHAVIOR

43

that of the biochemist, physiologist, neurologist, and psychologist. These are interested in such matters as the microscopic anatomy of

the retina

the rods and cones,

purple and the other pigments

the biochemistry of visual that function in vision, the neural

etc.;

pathways
trical

to the brain, the

phenomenon

of color vision, the elec-

phenomena
Such

associated

with vision, and a host of similar

subjects.

though there is still plenty to learn but since progress for the most part has been in the purely scientific aspects, there has been no development on a
personalized basis, and 99 per cent of the investigations have been directed toward vision in the hypothetical generalized man and

studies are also far advanced

without regard to the individual differences between two sets of This impersonal approach is essential to the advancement of eyes.

knowledge

on the other hand the advancement of our

ability to

deal with one another in society of each other and to this end we

demands a better understanding must consider individuals.

If

one

is

suspected o

having a lesion in the

of the occipital lobe

brain, his physician will probably place

him

in front of an instru-

ment known
his eyes.

as a perimeter
size

and

plot the field of vision for each of

these plots will help the physician locate the exact site of the difficulty. But ordinary individuals who
this

The

and shape of

have not the distinction of a suspected brain injury seldom have examination made.

a spot in the center of the normal retina which is, under ordinary light conditions, much more discriminatory than the rest of the retina. This spot, known as the fovea, is about the size of

There

is

the period at the end of this sentence,

light,

is

and

is

endowed with elongated

exposed more directly to cones, whereas the rest of

the retina

is less exposed and has both rods and cones. If you look one with eye at the central i in the word illumination, you fixedly and will note that even with your vision fixed on this letter the

44

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

either side are clear but that letters farther

n on

removed are
clearly,

in-

distinct. If

you wish to see either end of the word

eyes.

you

change the direction of your

tion
is

The image

of the

word

illumina-

too long to fall entirely

upon

eye of it lap over upon the

is

directed toward the center of the word, the

less sensitive

the average fovea and if the image of the ends

part of the retina.

These obvaria-

servations apply if your eyes are typical. tions in the exact responses.

There may be some

tive to

In dim light the sensitivities are reversed. The fovea is less sensidim light than the retinal area near by. Hence if one looks,

preferably with one eye, directly at a dim star, it because the image has fallen on the fovea, which

may
is less

disappear
sensitive

under these light conditions.

If

one

directs one's

gaze

slightly

away

from the
wish

star's position, it

may
is

reappear.

done using the fovea region. If we or some part thereof, we turn our object eyes so as to bring the image of the portion to be scrutinized directly on the fovea. Peripheral vision, however, involves more than 99.9
All of our careful eye work
to scrutinize

some

per cent of the whole retina

all

that outside the fovea

and

is

by

no means unimportant.

The vision of individuals in this peripheral region is seldom studied (never in ordinary eye examinations) but it is possible, using a perimeter, of which there are several forms, to chart the
field of vision

and

to

show

that in

some individuals the

field

is

more

contracted than in others.

field

The

variations in the size of the visual

and in the

sensitivity of the region outside the fovea of the

field are responsible for the fact that

some people

are able to see

and

notice

what
tests

When

going on around them much better than others. for peripheral vision were recently applied to 100 subis

at jects selected

random

their scores varied

through the range 43

per cent to 364 per cent (average score set arbitrarily at 100 per cent). Excellence of peripheral vision was found to be independent 1 of age, sex, color blindness, and central (fovea) vision acuteness.
I

remember a

case in
I

which

versity colleague.

went

to his office to see

was extremely annoyed at a unihim and found him

SENSE OF SIGHT AND BEHAVIOR

45

see me "out o the talking to a student. Supposing that he would corner of his eye" and interrupt the conference, if necessary, I cour-

teously waited for the interview to end. I waited and waited, thinking of course that he had seen me, but the conference about in-

consequential matters went on and on. Finally, after a long period of waiting, I departed expecting to dispense entirely with the interview. Later somehow this colleague learned that I had been to
see

him and

Having that some people have more

sight

apologized quite sincerely for not having seen me. excellent peripheral vision myself, I did not fully appreciate

spacious "corners" in their eyes than others. I was judging his behavior on the assumption that his eye-

and mine were

identical;

it

would have been

utterly impossible

for
I

me to have missed seeing him under similar circumstances. venture that it is not uncommon for friendships to be dampened
fail to

or for them to

develop because of poor peripheral vision in

one person and good peripheral vision in the other. Where both have poor peripheral vision, probably no difficulty would arise on
this score.

Many

seemingly

little

things can happen in case there

is

a marked difference: an unwarranted failure to speak on the street a failure to make a necessary introduction at a social gathering
a failure to pick up signals when one tries to attract, unnoticeably, the attention of the other. If the two are riding together in an
automobile, one will be able to read the street signs as they pass along; the other will not. One will see a wild animal which may

suddenly appear and disappear along the side of the road, while the other probably will not. The person with poor peripheral vision cannot see anything at all clearly unless he is looking almost directly at it. In the case of the wild animal it is likely to disappear before he can "find it" by bringing its image to the central sensitive region
of the retina. If the two persons are looking for an item in the newspaper, one will be able to find it in a fraction of the time that
the other takes. If they play golf together, the one with poor peripheral vision may tend to be oblivious to what is going on

around him, while the one who has excellent peripheral vision

may

46
see too

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

much

of the happenings in his vicinity and be distracted unnecessarily, from the standpoint of his companion. The prevalent habit of thought which makes each individual

consider himself normal and observe and judge everyone else in the light of his own supposed normality is pernicious and of far-

reaching significance. Failure to appreciate differences of -the kind we have been discussing, as well as mental differences which are
just as

acute, as

was
is

responsible for the

his connection

famous saying of Robert

Owen
little

he severed

"All the world

with his partner of many years, save thee and me, and even thou art a queer

queer." Careful tests for ability to detect movement (of an airplane) out of the corner of the .eye showed that even among twenty-eight young men with 20-20 vision, the variability was so great that under
exactly the same conditions the one with the best peripheral vision could see the plane's movement when its relative speed was only
2.15 miles per

hour whereas for the one with the poorest peripheral the relative vision, speed had to be 90.95 miles per hour before its movement could be detected. It has also been found recently that
variation in
their ability to withstand the

young men meeting Air Force standards show wide

at 10,000 feet altitude.

Some

oxygen deficiency incident to flying show marked impairment of their

peripheral vision, others do not. Some recover their peripheral vision immediately when the oxygen supply is abundant, others require 2 days or even weeks to recover.
are no data to substantiate the idea, it seems entirely that poorness of peripheral vision is an important factor probable involved in automobile accidents. In the case of pedestrian accidents poor peripheral vision on the part of either the pedestrians or
drivers

While there

to the

might contribute as well as general ignorance with regard wide differences that exist.
is

There

why

another reason in addition to those already suggested peripheral vision should be measured and studied more init

tensively than

has.
8

This

is

because of

its

potential value in the

study of personality.

SENSE OF SIGHT AND BEHAVIOR

When
it is

47

found that when white

is

the field of vision of a normal individual's eye is plotted light is used the field is largest; when

the stimulus

a blue light the field of vision is roughly 25 per cent smaller in area. If red light is used the area is only about a third as
large as with white light.

With green
with white

light the area

light.

is

smallest

about one

fifth as

large as

The margins

of the

different color zones

when

plotted look, in a typical case, about like

Figure

i.

For a "neurasthenic" individual a plot made in a similar manner

looks very different, as

shown in Figure 2. The zones are very from time to time) and overlap each other. For a (and irregular vary a individual made in the same way shows a highly "hysterical" plot

contracted field of vision; that for white light is only about one sixth of the normal size (area). This is shown in Figure 3.
applied as designations for personality types, are not as meaningful as could be desired, because they are too complex and cover too many variable factors. The
significance of various types of field-of-vision charts in terms of

Psychologists nowadays agree, thenic and hysterical, particularly

believe, that the terms neuras-

when

psychological traits has not been sufficiently investigated so that the charts can be interpreted. It is very interesting that such wide differences exist between individuals and this appears to be a powerful
tool in

the investigation of personality differences. People have always wanted to be able to peek into other people's minds and to see the happenings there. Visual field charting will not do this,
yet
it

obviously

is
it

new way

of getting a clue

and science

gets

somewhere when

follows clues.

Another complicated set of vision characteristics in which we may have marked differences comes into play in viewing moving
pictures. It has to

light of a given intensity

do with the phenomenon of flicker fusion. When is flashed off and on periodically, the eye

Fij.l-

TYPICAL PLOT of VISUAL FIELD.

Fig.2- VISUAL FIELD PLOT

of a 'NEURASTHENIC" INDIVIDUAL.
White
~Blind Spo*

Green

~ VISUAL FIELD PLOT of an v HYSTERICAL" INDIVIDUAL*

White
-Blind Spot;
Blue

right 1941, reproduced

VISUAL FIELD CHARTING, by Thomas G. Atkinson, M.D., copyby permission of The Professional Press, Inc.

SENSE OF SIGHT AND BEHAVIOR

may be
able to see the flickering, but
if

49

increased, there

comes a point where the

the speed of the flashing is light seems to be con-

tinuous. This

is

called the critical flicker frequency

and the under-

lying phenomenon is made use of in motion pictures. of one picture persists until a new one is presented.

The image

There are numerous

frequency.

factors

which influence the

is

critical flicker

The

light intensity

an important one.
or four
flickers

If

a very

dim

light is involved, as

few

as three

per second

may be enough to cause the light to appear continuous. On the other hand, if the light is very bright over fifty flashes per second are required. In this behavior the right and left eyes of an individual do not behave alike; both eyes together act somewhat differently from either one alone, and the response of the fovea region
is

different

from that of the

is

rest of the retina.

The wave

length

(color) of the light used

another factor.

These and

related

probably are the basis for the fact that

phenomena, which are obviously complex, some people are tired ex-

cessively by motion pictures, and some prefer to sit in the rear while others prefer being further toward the front of the theater. Since the intensity of the light striking the eye varies inversely with the square of the distance to the screen, the difference between the back

and the front of a

at

one distance

is

theater can be very great, and if the illumination most suitable for a particular pair of eyes, the

other distances will be relatively unsuitable. Since light intensity

has a marked effect on the response to flicker phenomenon, it seems entirely reasonable that certain individuals should have
trouble under conditions

which

exist in theaters.

For guidance in the production of moving pictures, those in charge of technical aspects have necessarily had to depend, for
scientific insight,

on

scientists

the characteristics of the

acteristics

who have been engaged in studying average statistical man and not the charMoving
pictures

and

idiosyncrasies of actual people.

have

been designed from the engineering standpoint essentially to be shown to an audience made up of like people. Probably much
nervous energy could be conserved
if

individual differences were

50
studied

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

and an attempt were made
to adapt the theaters

and the
differ-

far as possible, so as to physical presentation, as

meet these

ences. In order to
it

make

the entertainment attractive to

more

people,

be necessary to increase the factors of safety so that even those with eyes that are far from normal (with respect to flicker

may

fusion, etc.) can get the full benefits.

A wholly
in an

new eye unknown but

complication which is responsible for eyestrain large number of people was discovered a few
Institute.

years ago at the

Dartmouth Eye

The

condition,

known
work-

as aniseikonia, is of obscure origin but involves primarily the

ing together of the

retinas

two

eyes

the images

thrown upon the two

do not correspond perfectly. Difficulty is encountered particularly in those who have acute vision. Such an individual may

be able to see with extraordinary acuteness, yet the use of the eyes may entail so much strain that extensive use is impossible. Trouble
of this sort

may

arise

through the use of the eyes either for close

work
It is

or for distance or for both.

well recognized how difficulties in eyesight on the part of a may cause endless trouble and that a bright child may

school child

be

of this defect.
individual

made backward and his whole social world changed because The same factors enter into the life of adults an

cannot read extensively because of eyestrain may appear very "different" to his associates; he cannot read for diversion and must obtain a substantial part of his recreation in some other

who

way.

He may

have

difficulty

in keeping

up with

the world around

him and his whole The condition of

social

outlook

aniseikonia

may be altered. may be responsible

for remarkable

paradoxes and for a failure of people to understand each other. One person may have such poor vision (near-sightedness) that even with
glasses

he cannot recognize
sit

his best friend across the street, yet

he
all

may

be able to

down

after

supper with his books and read

SENSE OF SIGHT AND BEHAVIOR

night long with no eyestrain whatever. Another individual have remarkably acute vision may be able to read small
at great distances or the tiniest print close

51

may

lettering
suffers

up

and yet
if

if

he

severely

from

aniseikonia, his eyes

become exhausted

he uses them

one-twentieth as long as his near-sighted acquaintance.

Since the advent of fluorescent lighting with its tremendous advantage of economical power consumption, there have been numer-

ous complaints of eyestrain allegedly caused by this type of illumination. The developments will be interesting to watch because as a
result the attention of lighting experts

may

a forceful

way

to the

wide

variability

which

ultimately be called in exists in the eyes of

individual people.
It is

Northwest indicate that

reported that ophthalmologists and optometrists in the Pacific one-fifth to one-third of all the patients
to see

who come

they optometrist on the basis of careful records estimates that 20 per cent of his practice is concerned with treating "fluorescent light trouble." This is not a

them

say that they

first

noticed eyestrain

when

began working under fluorescent

lighting.

One

local problem,

and
4

it

has been of concern to manufacturers of light-

ing equipment.

Many
ties

illumination engineers are of the opinion that the difficulincident to the use of fluorescent lights are based upon violations

of the principles of good lighting and are not due to any inherent defect of the fluorescent light itself. The light is of a pulsating character

and when a
if

single tube
is

is

used an annoying

flicker
is

may be
claimed

observed

there

movement

in the field of vision. It

that the use of double tubes eliminates this difficulty. There are indications that the regular or white tubes are less likely to cause comtubes. plaint than are the daylight It is not surprising, in view of the attitude of

many

physiologists

and physiological

psychologists,

upon

whom engineers

must depend,

52

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

that practically every writer on the subject of illuminating engineering should assume that lighting which is adapted to the human eye, is all that can be desired. This assumption is unwarranted because
it

has long been

known

their

demands: some

like a bright light shining

that people vary greatly with respect to on their books,

much prefer diffuse light; some find eyeshades of great value, others are indifferent to extraneous lights in the visual field unless
others

they are very bright.

We

are badly in need of

more

definite infor-

mation with respect to eye

fluorescent lighting it eyes are in their ability to tolerate pulsation or flicker, noticeable or not, without fatigue.

variability. Particularly in the field of would be desirable to know how variable

whether

The
There
orize

is

seeing process involves a great deal more than optical physics. so much obscure biochemistry, biophysics, physiology and
it is

psychology involved, that

successfully

not feasible for an engineer to theof

optical principles regarding light will cause fatigue. The

on the
is

basis

whether or not a particular type of

proof of the pudding

in the eating.

Many observations in addition to those already cited suggest that individual variability is important in connection with fluorescent
lighting.
likes
I

For example, individuals often have strong

likes

and

dis-

with respect to this type of illumination, as it has been used. have known of several cases, some relatively mild and others

severe, in

which individuals appeared

to

be adversely affected by

fluorescent lights.

Thorough

investigation of individual complaints

even exaggerated cases

might be very worth while from the

standpoint of throwing light upon less serious difficulties that others may experience. I am confident that the engineering profession can

meet the needs once they

are fully

known.

Individual eyesights differ one from another in a large number of ways. Adaptation of eyes to darkness and to light varies with individuals and is important, particularly in connection with driving

SENSE OF SIGHT AND BEHAVIOR

automobiles at night.

53

posed by those

A)

is

The situation is not as simple as is often supthink that eating carrots (containing vitamin bound to help. It will do so only if the difficulty is due to

who

many complications, including one of night blindness, hemeralopia, which is not brought about type by vitamin deficiency. The problem of the relation of vitamins

vitamin deficiency. There are

to eyesight

is

closely related to the

problem of

variability of vitamin

requirements in general.

Color blindness, which

may

exist in several

forms and in

dif-

ferent degrees, is another eye condition which is of social importance. As far as it relates to the reception of signals, particularly red and green lights, its importance has been recognized for many
years. In detecting

tions

where

their presence

and eliminating color-blind people from occupawould be a hazard the problem has been
but in our knowledge of this subject there are

relatively well solved,

many refinements which are of some social significance. These will be evident in later discussions.
Sensitiveness to light is an item separate from other eye difficulindividual may have a great deal of difficulty with the general use of his eyes but may have no trouble with glare or with
ties.

An

relatively strong illumination in a sleeping

room.

On

the other

hand

another individual
eral,

but

may

may have a very serviceable pair of eyes in genbe bothered by glare excessively or may have difficulty,

for example, in going to sleep in a room where there is even a dim on the light. For the use of the latter sort, special blinders are

market. Possibly the differences are due in part to differences in

sensitiveness to particular critical
light, including the ultra-violet, though it appears that with certain people visible light in any form registers on their nervous systems to a degree that
it

wave lengths of

does not in others.

Obviously in the process of using the eyes there

is

a tremendous

amount of movement, not only

that the desired

image

is

in constantly shifting the eyes so brought to the fovea, but also in the act

of accommodation and in the changing of the size of the pupil. It seems equally obvious that the different structures concerned will

vary in individuals just as do our other anatomical features: teeth,

54
noses, fingers

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

and even
fingerprints,

and that

limitations

imposed

upon the use of any particular pair of eyes will depend upon the characteristics of these structures. Where muscular difficulties exist
which strengthen the
astic

and predominate, many people have been benefited by exercises deficient muscles. Some become so enthusiuse of spectacles. The process of reading is one of great complexity, embracing not only the visual process, involved and extensive muscular actions, but
all

about their pet measures that they decry

also the activity of the central nervous system.

Some

people will be

limited in their reading efficiency by one type of weakness and another by another, so that one would not expect any particular for-

mula
all

for learning

how

to read effectively to be equally valuable for

persons. Neither should we expect everyone to possess the same capabilities for rapid reading, any more than we should expect every

person to be capable of running the hundred-yard-dash in ten seconds. The anatomical and physiological differences between different sets of eyes are less familiar

but none the

less real

and im-

portant other gross variance. legs, or any

than the dissimilarities in the lengths of two individuals'

Many differences in opinion with regard to the way eyes should be treated are probably due to bias based upon personal experience. Seeing is believing and if a person knows that a particular line of
treatment has benefited
that
it

him

there

is

will benefit anyone. If

he promotes

a strong temptation to believe his particular type of

treatment as a panacea he

may

find others in sufficient

numbers

who

respond in the same

way, so that a fad with

some

substantial

basis is started.

very minor physiological difference can cause conflict in social behavior. For example, I played golf on a rather raw and windy
afternoon with a couple of young army officers. One of them, a after missing big husky, was having considerable difficulty. Finally, a shot, he remarked, "That wind makes the tears come to my eyes
so I can't see the ball,"
unaffected, to rib

which caused

his partner,

whose eyes were

alibi.

him

his cheerfully about the quality of

The

facts are of course that the tear glands of different individuals vary

SENSE OF SIGHT AND BEHAVIOR

55

greatly in their tendency toward activity. I watched the husky soldier thereafter and it was plain that the watering of his eyes was

giving
eyed.
to

him

We

a lot of trouble, while his partner was perfectly drylearn from childhood to think of ourselves as normal and

to ourselves, "This other fellow

judge others accordingly. Consciously or unconsciously we say is just another such as myself. If
to be bothered

he appears

by wind or glare when

is

am

not,

it

must

be a pretense

he

is

tricks letting his imagination play

on him."

The

ability to

judge distances and angles

related to the sense

of sight and to visual

memory, and comes

into play in

numerous

mechanical trades and industrial operations as well as in many games and sports. The relationships between these abilities and
others need investigating. It is probable that such abilities are based to a considerable degree upon inheritance since some individuals

cannot be trained to be proficient.

devise a series of tests

It

would probably be

possible to

which would determine

in advance

whether
a

a person had the fundamental

abilities necessary to

make

good

billiard or golf player. Provisional tests

could be tried out on accom-

plished sportsmen in these fields and their validity determined. People who can never learn to play such games, because of inherent
limitations involving eyesight, would be helped in their mental health if they could know it in advance and spend their energies

on some other form of

diversion.

Another
in

set of

measurable

abilities

which depend on eyesight and

judge

which individuals

differ greatly is related to the ability to

and appreciate esthetic design. This is something which is apparently innate and not the result of training. Some people have a "feel" for it, others do not. There are all degrees of sensitiveness
but there
is

who have

a fundamental consistency and agreement flair for this element in art.

among

those

Maitland Graves has developed an excellent

series of tests

which

56

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

this taste.

can be used to determine the extent to which one possesses

series of twenty pairs of designs are presented and the subject is asked to choose the better design in each of the twenty pairs. One of the advantages of this particular test is that the designs do not

resemble in appearance actual objects and hence are free from a

host of pleasant or unpleasant associations which might influence one's decision, quite apart from the designs themselves. It has been used in various art schools for entrance examinations and for other
5

purposes. Different individuals

test.

show

a wide variation in response to this

the better of the two.

Some without

previous art training will consistently pick in

is

every case the design which experts agree

Others will choose the correct one in a large percentage of cases but will miss a few. Since the choice is between two designs in each
case,

pure chance would allow a 50 per cent score

if

one used no

discrimination whatever. Actually some laymen as well as prospective art students have scored less than 50 per cent, which probably

means the

possession of substantially no taste in this regard rather than the possession of taste which is positively bad. Two of the
easier pairs of choices are
4. The The

reproduced with permission in Figure

the right are superior in each case. appreciation of design which an individual possesses deterto a large extent the taste of the individual with respect to

designs on

mines

forms in architecture, in sculpture and art, in house furnishing, in the selection of clothing, coiffure and make-up.
Closely related but probably more complex is the appreciation of color with its characteristic qualities and its numerous combinations.

Colors themselves have been studied and catalogued very successfully on the basis of possessing three dimensions: hue, value and

chroma. Red and green differ in hue; red and pink differ in value; strong red and grayish red differ in chroma. Sensitiveness to colors
not concerned with design and individuals do not necessarily possess an aptitude toward these two elements of art in the same degree. One may be highly sensitive to form but

and

their interrelations

is

relatively indifferent

and undiscriminating

as to color,

and

vice

Fig.

4 -WHICH ARE THE BETTER DESIGNS?

From THE ART OF COLOR AND
DESIGN, by Maitland Graves, copyright I94i f reproduced by permission of McGraw-Hill Boof^ Company t !nc.

58
versa.
effect

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

A
on
single pure color such as red has something of the same different individuals it may accelerate pulse rate and raise

blood pressure while blue may have the opposite effect but some individuals will be unusually sensitive and others will be relatively
indifferent.

sunset while another

One man may be thrilled with delight at a colorful may not give it a second's thought. Presumand
taste for

ably sensitiveness to color

color

together to
settle

some

extent,

though adequate
relies,

tests are

combinations go not available to

the question. Appreciation of the beautiful

sensitiveness to

so far as vision

is

concerned,

form and design on the one hand and color and color harmony on the other. This is by no means something for artists alone. Presumably works of art are produced not for the

on

sake of other artists but for the population as a whole. Much art of one kind or another enters into the building and furnishing of
every home.

a multitude of shades susceptibilities which we possess in moment in connection with the human problem of living together. How much taste has to do with happiness or unhappiness

These

are of

in marriage

is difficult

to say,

but no one will deny that

tie

common

tastes constitute

an important

between husband and wife, and

yet we enter into marriage knowing little about the capacities or the taste of either our spouse or ourselves. If after marriage the
tastes are

found to be entirely

different, the parties to the

marriage

contract have difficulty in adapting themselves outlets for their enthusiasms separately.

and often must find

It can scarcely be denied that taste for form, design, and color are elements which enter into the complex thing we call personscientific ality. approach to the study of personality would cerwhich tainly involve an evaluation of all the measurable elements

enter into

it,

and the

factors

which we have been discussing should

be included. The various elements which

the total personality

may be

concerned with

may be numerous and

of diverse character.

Rudimentary

attempts to

a wholesale basis

measure personality have been made on without appreciation of the different types of

SENSE OF SIGHT AND BEHAVIOR

factors

59

involved. Hay, hardware, and handkerchiefs cannot be measured together by the bushel, by the ton, or by the yard. f It is worth noting that responsiveness to design or to color har-

is one thing, while creative ability in the field of art may be another. quite Certainly one could not be creative without being of one's own medium, but it appears that people may appreciative

mony

be highly appreciative without having any marked degree of skill or gift of originality. I suppose those who are unsympathetic toward

more
such

who produce be endowed with but not with good may actually originality taste. Since good taste is not confined within I would limits, rigid
bizarre forms of art could argue that the artists
prefer a

more

tolerant attitude.

8
Probably closely related to design sensitiveness, color sensitiveeven to visual acuity is the tendency toward visual imagery
visual

ness, or

sense of sight predominates over the other senses so far as the exercise of imagination or

and

memory. For some people the

concerned. If they see something, it impresses itself most is remembered easily as a consequence. To such forcefully sorts of visual devices, pictures, charts, models, etc., conpeople all stitute an effective means of conveying impressions. People pos-

memory

is

and

can sessing a capacity for spatial imagery

figures. It is

comprehend and

interpret

impossible to look carefully complicated geometrical at more than a very small part of a complicated diagram or model at one time because the sensitive fovea area in the retina is very

grasp the significance of the whole various parts must be held in the "mind's eye" until an accumulated image of the
small.

To

whole

registers.

People

who do

not possess this capacity for visual

imagery and memory are helpless in comprehending complicated diagrams or the mechanisms which they may represent. The possession or non-possession of such ability influences an
individual's competence not only in a great variety of occupations,

60
trades

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

and professions but
also in recreational activities.

Obviously can plan a chess game in his imagination has the tendency toward spatial imagery and memory to a relatively high degree and will be proficient in activities that bring this ability into
a person

who

play. Clearly people can understand each other better ties in this regard are not too far different, and

if

their abili-

misunderstandings

can be avoided by the recognition of wide differences when they

exist.

From the standpoint of education the degree of visual mindedness in individuals is highly important. Yet our educational system has not developed to the point where the teacher knows the extent
to

which he himself or the students under

all

his

guidance are visually

regardless of their of cold science to this situation application the relative ineffectiveness to of would point attempting to educate a person without knowing in advance the important avenues
ability to take
it.

minded; they are

taught in the

same manner

The

through which impressions readily come to him.

probable that a predominantly visually

It would seem minded teacher might be

highly effective with visually minded students, while others might find him boring. As long as education must be carried out with
large run-of-the-mill classes, there is a presumption in favor of the teacher who is capable of utilizing different modes of approach and

does not have an exaggerated tendency in one direction or another.

We

have noted a considerable number of factors associated with

peripheral vision, flicker fusion, aniseikonia, response to to judge angles and distances, special types of illumination, ability visual of and color, imagery and imagination, design appreciation

eyesight

and

several others. In each

one individuality

is

readily observed

and

of them are highly important in social contacts, because they enter into everyday living in many forms of work and play. Only a non-scientific or a superficial approach to a study of hu-

many

SENSE OF SIGHT AND BEHAVIOR

man

6l

beings could neglect these factors; they are important in making us what we are. The individual differences with respect to
eyesight

which are

readily observed are intimately associated with

anatomical and physiological differences existing in the eyes. The functioning of the eyes and their maintenance in a state of efficiency
is emphasized, for example, by the combustion oxygen (for purposes) on peripheral Metabolism in our vision. eyes is distinctive, like that in other poris

a part of metabolism. This

effects of lack of

tions of the body,

and

is

affected

by metabolic happenings

else-

where

One

in the body. of the tasks of

humanics

will be to learn

more about

eye-

and how they may be correlated with each other, with general metabolic differences and also with other physiological and psychological factors which enter into every personality. Out of
sight differences
this

knowledge

will arise increased appreciation of each other

and

will increased expertness in our relations with one another. come to order affairs more and more so that each individual can
feel at

We

in a society that has at least adapt itself to his distinctive capabilities

this

home

made

a sincere effort to

and needs. In order to

beings in relation to

accomplish

end,

we must know human

every phase of their existence.

IV. Traits Based on Other Senses

Evidence is thus given . . . that different people live in different worlds, so jar as their sensory reactions are concerned.
A. F.

BLAKESLEE

JUST glare,
quiet.

AS SOME INDIVIDUALS are particularly sensitive to light and others are especially sensitive to noise. It is questionable whether there is anyone who does not enjoy a certain degree of

Extreme
abatement

sensitiveness to noise exists in comparatively few. Noise movements find only a few enthusiastic supporters, and

difference.

questionnaires circulated in urban populations indicate much inFor the majority, barking dogs, clanging streetcars, cry-

ing infants, honking automobiles, blaring radios, etc., are not annoying and do not disturb sleep or mental activity unless they
are close by. But there are those

who

and many

less

compelling

noises.

are greatly annoyed by these They find it difficult or impossible

an adjoining bathroom or the ticking of a watch under the pillow. There are at least five places in this country where ear stopples which people may wear to dull the
to ignore a dripping faucet in

noise are manufactured.

The demand

for such devices, however,

is

comparatively
tive to noise

small. It

is

said that Mussolini in his

prime was

sensi-

and

horns in

all

Italy

to avoid personal disquiet ordered automobile to be stilled. As a result taxi drivers and others

watch and could not depend on sounding their keep horns to warn their possible victims. We were told in Florence that the accident rate was markedly reduced by Mussolini's order.

had

to

closer

62

TRAITS BASED ON OTHER SENSES

63

People's conduct in moving picture theaters particularly, where they are relatively uninhibited because of the darkness, reflects their
attitude

toward
is

crinkly bags

eating of popcorn especially out of a first-rate annoyance to those who are sensitive,
noise.

The

second only to a continual flow of partly audible conversation. Experiments have shown that so far as disturbing mental effort is

concerned talking which can be partly understood

is

most

effective.

Whether

sensitiveness to noise

is

closely associated with acuity of

hearing has never been adequately investigated. It is certain that the same auditory stimulus may make more of an impression on one individual than upon another. particular person may be

to a specific noise for example, the screeching peculiarly susceptible of a piece of chalk scraped along a blackboard. He or she may feel
like

screaming

when

this noise occurs.

Another individual

may

be

indifferent to this sound, but

may react violently against another a of the noise, rusty hinge or the shrilling of a high-pitched creaking whistle. These variations are probably due to anatomical features in
which one
set

of hearing organs

is

built to receive

and

register
is

with
well

effectiveness certain specific vibration frequencies. It especial

known

that our

middle and inner ears

differ

from those of our

neighbors to the

same degree that our external ears do. The auditory nervous and set-up is by no means the same in any two individuals.
However,

several studies in industrial plants have shown that the of employees in general can be significantly increased by output reducing the volume of noise to which they are subjected.

Aside from understanding each other better and avoiding unnecessary annoyance and waste of nervous energy there is another
reason

why

it

would be
is

sensitiveness.

There

know more about auditory a correlation between insensitiveprobably

desirable to
to be noisy. If this
is

ness to noise

and a tendency

true

and we were

conscious of the fact that loud-mouthed people are that way because of a physiological insensitivity to noise, it would have a tendency to

make

us more charitable, just as

we

are to a deaf person

who

talks

loudly.

The

difference

between a

partially deaf person and one

who

64
is

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

insensitive to noise
is

that the insensitive person is able to hear noises normally but the noises do not impress themselves upon his

nervous system or demand his attention.

Another

set

of

human

traits that are associated

with the sense

of hearing center in our reactions to music. Being musical is not by any means a single trait, as Seashore's investigations have shown.
Instead there are a

number

of separable elements

which enter into

the aptitude for music. Those which can be measured most adequately are (i) sense of pitch, (2) sense of tonal intensity, (3) sense
of musical timing, (4) sense of consonance, and (5) tonal memory. Each of these can be measured separately and the possession of one element in high degree does not indicate competence with respect
to the others.
1

Among a series of students applying for admission to a school of music, individuals were found who would have high scores in most of the tests but would be relatively low in some. Others might be
low
in several but be relatively high in others. Variations

among

the general population would be greater than among these prospective music students, because all of the prospective music students were, it is presumed, somewhat musically inclined. Here are the
test scores

(centile ranks) of individual prospective students

who

on the

basis of the tests

were

classified

among

five

groups:

Centile Ranks of Prospective Music Students No. 4 No. 3 No. 2 No. i Student
(safe)

No. 5
(to

be

(probable)

(possible) (doubtful) discouraged)

TRAITS BASED ON OTHER SENSES

Student No.
i

65

whose

scores are given in the first

column was

group with respect to these tests, yet in below No. 2 and even below No. 4 who was placed in the doubtful class. It may be noted that No. 2 is weak in tonal memory and very strong in imagery, whereas No. 3 is very
clearly outstanding in the imagery his score is much

in intensity and No. 4 is strong in imagery. Even higher in consonance than did No. 2 in tonal memory.
If tests for these factors

low

No.

5 rates

which enter into musical aptitude are

an individual, subsequent tests will yield very satisfactorily given same results. Even with children nearly the camparatively little change takes place as they mature, and tests given adults before
to

and
the

after three years of intensive musical education yield practically

every evidence that these various capabilities are specific endowments and that each of us is born with a distinctive assortment.
results.
is

same

There

A study made by Alec Washco,

effect of

Jr.,

at

Temple

University

makes

it

appear that, aside from the musical elements cited there is a separate emotional element which can be measured by means of the
certain types of

music on the pulse rate and blood pressure. He found that music as exemplified by "Serenade" from Puccini's
Butterfly

Madame

and "Invitation

to the

consistently tended to lower pulse rates large group of individuals, but that other music, for

Dance" by Von Weber, and blood pressures in a

march, "Stars
tended to

example Sousa's and Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue," Stripes," increase pulse rates and blood pressure. Individuals

and

variation but the study was of a group. One's emotional response to music might be measured by this means, it would seem, giving another item in musical aptitude. Mechanical

showed considerable

be attained and yet the performer perfection may conceivably 2 not be able to "pluck at the heartstrings" of his audience.

may

Even eminent musicians do not

a high possess every element to

mentions a distinguished singer who was found degree. Seashore to be deficient in such an important matter as pitch discrimination.
failed in various types of performance for this reason but by chance hit upon folk songs in which she appeared in solos and

She

66

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

artistic liberties

where she could make use of

folk songs.

not

uncommon

in

She had a

beautiful voice with

wide compass, and the

great advantage of a graceful body and a beautiful face. In spite of her deficiency she was highly successful. Seashore says, "Persons

who

cal circles.

lack sense of time or a sense of intensity are common in musiThe relative absence of feeling, imagination or intellect

in persons

who have

attained distinction in music

is

a notorious

phenomenon."
Musical
taste as well as ability to

perform

is

doubtless determined

by one's possession of elementary abilities. Those who have a keen sense of rhythm will be attracted to music in which this feature is
important, and those possessing an excellent sense of consonance will be appreciative of music in which harmony plays an important
part.

These are among the important

taste.

factors

which determine one's

even violently at times but these differences are based upon fundamental physiological and psychoshould not expect everyone else to have logical dissimilarities.
musical
People's tastes differ

We

the

same musical
is

likes that

we

have, nor should

we

be so certain
it is

that our taste

good and

that whatever differs

are,

from

bad
all

taste.

Made up
same?

as

human

beings

how

can the reactions of

be the

From
world
it

the standpoint of our understanding of the peoples of the would be helpful if we knew more about the roots of musi-

cal taste

and

how

different features of musical aptitude.

tastes are related to other capabilities

races differ with respect to possession of the knowledge of how musical

would be

useful, since

we may
often

suspect that

an individual's general character and

are

his musical taste,

or lack of

it,

been emotional.

somehow related. Famous musicians have Not infrequently they have often been highly

sexed

and

sensual,

cal leanings

and

and there may be some connection between their musitheir other traits. Nero, who was devoted to music

and poetry, was extremely sensual and was many times a murderer, so interest in music is no guarantee against the possession of other
less desirable traits.
it

But there are

different types of musical taste

and

seems unlikely that two individuals should have practically the

TRAITS BASED ON OTHER SENSES

same musical
tastes

67

and be wholly

different with respect to their

other likes and dislikes. If

we knew enough

about

it,

musical apti-

tudes might be used as one basis for judging character. Creativeness in music, as in art, may be an independent possession though, as a matter of fact, most famous instrumental per-

formers have also been composers. Famous singers have not commonly been composers; presumably the one essential gift of singers
is

the voice, and having this they need not excel in other departments of musicianship.

Probably the same factors which enter into musical taste also tend to determine our attitudes toward the voices of others. I have

known

of individuals

who when

asked the reason for their vote in a

race would simply reply that they disliked the voice of political the opposition candidate. Such an individual would presumably be

highly sensitive to auditory stimuli. Psychological experiments have indicated that something in the way of character reading can be
^vell established that

accomplished simply by hearing the voice of the individual. It is human voices differ from each other; presum-

ably the anatomy of each set of vocal cords and the associated air passages is distinctive, and the habits with respect to the use of the voice

may

also differ.

The

sense of balance

and

all

the

phenomena

related to

it

are de-

pendent largely upon the functioning of the semi-circular canals in the inner ear, and it is to be expected that we differ one from another in respect to these structures and their functioning. Some people are naturally good sailors and others have a poorly developed
resistance to
I

motion and readily become

natural for people

seasick, airsick, or carsick.

suppose look with condescension on poor creatures who are not, but since the difficulty has an anatomical basis there is no justification for
thinking of such persons as
sissies

it is

who

are resistant to this trouble to

unless

it

should be demonstrated

68

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

to label in this

that difficulties of this sort are associated with other characteristics

which we wish
Another

way.
in

interesting

manner

which people

differ is in their

carry with them a feeling of orientation. Whether they are correct or not, they continuously have a feeling as to which direction, for example, is north. This intuitive sense is

sense of direction.

Some

so far

from

infallible that it

may

reverse itself as

one moves from

one side of a
tuitive idea

train or ship to the other.

Others have no such in-

and must

see the rising

sun or some other orienting

object before they can get their bearings. There are people who have continuously a dependable idea of orientation to a much greater degree than others. many of

How

rection of

from where they sit, point immediately in the diYork City, San Francisco, or Havana, Cuba? How many can do the same after taking an elevator in a large office building and entering an office where they have never been before?

my

readers can,

New

How

many, sitting in their homes, will describe in gestures the act of entering a building or turning a street corner in the downtown district, with complete disregard of the correctness or incorrectness
of the orientation of their gestures? It seems most likely that these differences are based in part upon what we may call directional memory, which like visual memory

or auditory memory is of a different degree of refinement in each of us. Presumably for some people turning a corner registers and is retained in their subconscious memory so that they tend to keep
their orientation except

under

difficult

conditions involving a large

number

of turnings. For others this directional

memory

is

com-

paratively weak.

The

directional sense of migrating birds

may be due

to highly

memory. If we imagine that every turn of their bodies registers on their psychological make-up, then their orientation would always be maintained. This may be parallel to the possession of what is called absolute pitch by a human individual. An
refined directional

individual possessing this ability can

remember
it

accurately

what

middle

sounds like and can reproduce

or other pitches at will.

TRAITS BASED ON OTHER SENSES

Incidentally, birds
dicates they

69

and animals sometimes

exhibit behavior that in-

may possess something related to absolute pitch. I have noted that the most prominent note in the song o repeatedly doves is a fraction of a tone below the C above middle C on cooing
the piano.

An

interesting case

was observed
alligator,

in the

Museum

of
to

Natural History in

New

York; an

Oscar, was found

possess, in a sense, absolute pitch. He responded with a vociferous bellow whenever B flat two octaves below middle was played

either

on a French horn or on a

cello.

Other tones

elicited

no

response.

Auditory memory

oped
This

in others. It

is

is well developed in some and poorly develsometimes said that about three-fourths of all

human

beings are eye-minded and about one-fourth ear-minded. a very crude approximation to the truth because there are different senses in which these terms can be used and diverse deis
it

grees of each condition. Furthermore,

is

questionable whether

one condition precludes the other. Probably some people who might
be classed as ear-minded are nevertheless more sensitive to visual be classed as eye-minded. There are probably innumerable degrees to which both types of capabilities
stimuli than others
exist either together or separately.

who may

All phenomena related to hearing are of course dependent upon the possession of the hearing sense. Deafness exists in all degrees.

In the case of those whose nervous systems make them tracted by noise, this may not be a disadvantage. Edison
to

easily disis

reputed

have said that his deafness was not an unalleviated handicap

it

since

allowed

him

to concentrate.

It is interesting that

many

of us

may be

deaf or partially so for a

given frequency of vibration without our hearing for other frequencies being impaired. Such deaf spots are not uncommon but

may go

undetected.

know of an

individual

who has generally

acute

hearing in both ears, but in one ear only

deaf to the practically noise of crickets. Tonal dips occurring within particular vibration frequencies, where hearing is considerably less acute than average,
is

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

have been found in 15 per cent of boys examined and in only 5 per 3 cent of the girls. As we age, our hearing, so far as the higher pitches
are concerned, diminishes markedly.

Variations in the sense of taste can readily be observed not only in connection with specific taste stimuli but also in people's atti-

tudes toward eating in general. Gustatory stimuli, like visual or auditory stimuli, make much more of an impression on some individuals than others,

and

some people eating

whereas for others

is

not surprising therefore that for one of the keenest delights they experience
it

is

merely a mildly pleasurable routine. in a chemical attention experience laboratory first called white crystalto the potential importance of differences in taste.
it is

An

my

line substance
its

was submitted

to

me

for identification. Its origin

it

and

general properties suggested that portant muscle constituent. However,

the substance

might be creatine, an immy assistant and I both tasted

whereas creatine

and found

it

to

be

tasteless like chalk,

was described

as a "bitter, biting substance." In spite of this con-

trary evidence, further study led us to conclude positively that the substance must be creatine. Before committing ourselves, however,

we
it

submitted

it

to other people to taste.

it

was submitted pronounced

4 bitter.

The fourth person to whom One interesting feature about

abundant con-

this observation is the fact that creatine is a relatively

readily extracted from it in the of soups or gravies. In view of the observation cited, it preparation would indeed be surprising it soups and gravies should taste alike
stituent of

muscle (meat) and

is

to people regardless of
bitter.

whether creatine

is

for

them

tasteless

or

might readily be misunderstood and a dislike for a soup might be '>ased upon its creatine content and not upon
child

imagination or cussedness as the parent may imagine. There is the of course, that the taste of creatine (which by itself has possibility,

been described as

bitter)

when blended with

the other flavors, en-

TRAITS BASED ON OTHER SENSES

hances rather than detracts from the
It is difficult to

71

taste

appeal of a meat or soup.

its effect

would

imagine that in these practical situations be negligible or the same for all individuals.
ability

to taste creatine has not been investigated from the of standpoint heredity but the ability to taste another chemical, phenyl thiocarbamide, has been found to be inherited. For the

The

majority of people this substance

is

bitter

but for a substantial

minority

it is tasteless.

The

inability to taste
is

and

closely related substances

inherited as a recessive

phenyl thiocarbamide trait. Further

detect the bitter

analysis revealed, however, that even those

who

taste differ greatly in the concentration required to

effect

produce

this

and even the non-tasters were able

to taste

it if

a solution of

high enough concentration could be applied

ability to taste this particular substance

to the taste buds.

The

was found

definitely

not to

be associated with an otherwise keen

able to detect other substances in

might be low concentration, and one who

taste.

non-taster

able to detect phenyl thiocarbamide very readily relatively unresponsive to other tastes. There is a strong

was

might be
presump-

tion that the ability to taste creatine

taste

is

inherited like the ability to

phenyl thiocarbamide.

Blakeslee investigated the response of 6,377 people to a moderately concentrated solution of phenyl thiocarbamide, and found that 21.3

per cent pronounced it per cent indicated that

tasteless, 65.4
it

per cent said

it

was

bitter, 5.4

was

sour, 2.1 per cent said sweet, 4.8 per

cent said salty, and the remaining 1.9 per cent ascribed to it miscellaneous other tastes: "astringent," "like lemons," "like rhubarb,"
"like cranberries," "like vinegar."
5

In a more intensive study of the taste thresholds of forty-seven individuals he found that the thresholds and responses vary not only for the laboratory chemical phenyl thiocarbamide but only to
a

somewhat
salt,

lesser

degree for sixteen other substances tested, includ-

ing

Among
another

sugar, quinine, cascara, picric acid, aspirin, saccharin, etc. the discrepancies noted were the following: for one indi-

vidual saccharin
it

was

thirty-two times as sweet as sugar; for as sweet; for one subject quinine was times 2,000

was only

72

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

A

256 times as bitter as cascara and for another cascara was twice as bitter as quinine. One individual was found to be unable to distinguish between the taste of quinine and hydrochloric acid. more concentrated solution of either tasted bitter and a more dilute solution of either tasted sour. Peculiarities of this sort are

common-

place, but are not often noted partly because of our passion to learn about the average statistical man, who has no peculiarities.
is known to yield different taste reis the individuals in different relatively rare sugar mannose. sponses To 15 per cent of the people tested it was tasteless, to 20 per cent

Another substance which

it

was sweet

only, to 10 per cent

it

majority, 55 per cent, most of these it was sweet

sations
If

it was was both sweet and

bitter only,

but to the

bitter in succession.

To

first

and then bitter but to some the sen-

were reversed.

a person possesses acuteness of taste for one substance, this does not mean that his taste for other substances is also acute. The
correlations

though generally

positive are relatively low. Fifteen

subjects out of forty-seven in the study mentioned above were found to be classed as most acute tasters for one substance and as among

the least acute tasters for one other.

Interesting, but unexplained, is the fact the taste thresholds of

some

individuals were found not to be stable but varied

from time

to time

sometimes rather widely.

It is

well

known

that

when one

has a cold his

ability to discriminate flavors is greatly diminished.

The changes

in taste thresholds were not always due to this, howbecause ever, they sometimes took place rapidly. Neither were they associated with any of the easily recognized rhythmic bodily changes

which accompany

eating, sleeping, etc.

Some

change very little; an accompanying change in the internal physiology of the individual which is responsible for it. So far we do not know what these
changes
are.

whenever changes do take

people's thresholds place, there must be

Psychological conditioning may also alter taste responses as in the often quoted example of the child for whom orange juice has

the taste of castor

oil,

because the child habitually had castor

oil

ad-

TRAITS BASED ON OTHER SENSES

73

ministered with orange juice. It may be worth noting that some children actually like castor oil and not a few like cod-liver oil. curious anomaly has been observed in connection with arti-

chokes. For about 40 per cent of people, the eating of artichokes no taste to water that is drunk afterward. For 60 per cent, imparts

however, the water has a marked and peculiar taste, sometimes characterized as sweet and sometimes as bitter. I know of one individual

who

has observed a similar though

much more marked

effect

as a result of drinking milk immediately after eating artichokes. This resulted in a most unpleasant taste and an extreme aversion to artichokes (not milk)

which

lasted

many months.

not to try the experiment on myself because in case

ceptible I

was advised I was sus-

would find

it

an extremely disagreeable experience.

an exhibit was arranged at a scientific meeting several years ago and the people attending had an opportunity to find out
for themselves their response to phenyl thiocarbamide, the reactions resulting from the fact that the substance was tasteless to some and

When

very bitter to others were significant. People had difficulty believing each other. Many "non-tasters" insisted in effect that the substance

was

really tasteless in accordance

with their

own

observation,

and
were

that the observation of "tasters"

was a

perversion. Others

equally certain that in reality

it is

a bitter substance.

One man who

found the substance

tasteless tried to get his

very bitter) to taste it her error. So far as is reported no one questioned anyone else's motives in the matter, but there was in effect, if not in actuality,
name-calling.

wife (to whom it was again and again in order to convince her of

It is

not easy, nor

definite line

is it

profitable

for our purposes, to attempt to

draw a

between the sense of smell and the sense of

taste, since

with respect
appreciable

differences they are closely related. Socially important to sense of smell undoubtedly exist. There are an

number

of people

who

have virtually no sense of smell;

74
at the other
flavors,

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

extreme there are those

who

take great delight in

perfumes and condiments and are highly discriminating

with respect to this type of stimulus. Professional tasters undoubtedly start with relatively keen perception of certain flavors (otherwise would never be attracted to this kind of work) and train their they
they are far beyond the expectations of laymen. I remember hearing an expert in his field rave quite sincerely over the flavor of a sample of vinegar when to me it was plain
abilities till

vinegar and nothing more. Undoubtedly the ability to detect and discriminate between flavors is an important factor in the deter-

mination of one's attitude toward eating.

Even when there is olfactory acuteness, the experience of one individual does not necessarily agree with that of another. This was discovered most strikingly by Blakeslee and a fellow geneticist who
were carrying out breeding experiments with verbenas. Among the other characters which were being watched in the offspring was the
fragrance of the flowers, but curiously it developed that the two investigators did not agree at all. In fact they consistently disagreed. If one investigator rated a series of verbenas 1-2-3-4 on e basis

of their fragrance, the other would rate them 4-3-2-1 in reverse order. The verbenas which were practically odorless to one turned

out to be the most fragrant for the other, and vice versa. When the two verbenas, numbers I and 4 above, were submitted to forty
people for judgment with respect to fragrance, ninety per cent noted 6 fragrance in one or the other but not in both.
Variability of response in individuals has been noted and studied in the case of a number of other flowers including nasturtiums and

snapdragons, and also in connection with specific odoriferous prinVanillin and artificial musk yield highly variable responses ciples.

with different individuals and cuminol and capryllic alcohol both

have the

characteristic of being very agreeable to

some and highly

disagreeable to others.

We find in the chemical laboratory that while

most striking idiosyncrasy of
this sort is the

hydrocyanic acid, a highly poisonous gas, usually has an odor described as similar to bitter almonds, some students of chemistry are

unable to smell

it.

TRAITS BASED ON OTHER SENSES

existence of a

75

few individuals

(I

know

specifically of three)

who

have a normal sense of smell in most respects but are not able to detect the odor of skunk. Even the pure substance n-butyl mercaptan,

which the skunk

an individual.
This

carries for
Still

to such

"perfume," has no marked odor another peculiarity has come to my

attention

that of an individual for

later case is

whom

the skunk odor

is dis-

tinctly pleasant.

probably partly explained on the

sensitivity

basis of the possession of a

low

to

skunk odor.
musk,

It is

common
tole

for substances with disagreeable odors

indole, ska-

to be used in

perfumery in high dilution. Strong odors are

more often unpleasant but may be pleasant when diluted. The fact remains that skunk odor even when diluted is not agreeable to most
people.

Though

been investigated there

the heritability of olfactory responses in general has not is a strong presumption, on the basis of

known

facts

about

taste

differences, that such characteristics are

inherited. Established facts with regard to inheritance of olfactory

abilities in

animals point in the same direction; some breeds of

have a keen sense of smell for game and others do not. Probably the genes which carry such traits induce the building up of specific enzymes or other mechanisms which make
dogs, for example,
the registering of special odors by the olfactory system. possible Just as some people are unusually sensitive to pleasant odors and
flavors,

some
some

are unusually sensitive to unpleasant ones. If

we

could

believe

of the advertising material

smell (or rather do not smell) to determinants in our social acceptance. For people
tive

which we hear, the way we our associates is one of the prime

who

are insensi-

toward perspiration odors,

However, there are those who do the majority, and obviously the odors given
viduals are not the same.

seems particularly ridiculous. notice these odors much more than

this

off

by

different indi-

Sometimes young children are highly sensitive to odors and have been reported to be able to detect and distinguish on a handkerchief
or a piece of clothing the odor of its owner. Children are notoriously uninhibited with respect to their comments and sometimes describe

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

Not only may

they dislike persons because of their odor, but often they have a dislike for unless it is used perfume very sparingly.

their olfactory impressions in simple terms.

Probably the seeming intemperance of "fresh air fiends" is based partly upon high sensitivity to many odors and a desire to avoid stale
odors which
clearly even
terior
after

may be entirely many years

unnoticeable to others. I

remember

a neighbor's house which in the instale,

always had an extremely

composite, and unidentifiable

odor which enveloped you the moment you stepped inside. The occupants were in most respects delightful people, but evidently
husband, wife and children were not sensitive toward such odors. They may have been partially anosmic (without sense of smell).

To

ultra-sensitive individuals I

suppose every dwelling has an apprecharacteristic.

ciable

odor which

is

somewhat
ill

Within recent years Russian

breath of elderly or

investigators

have claimed that the

demonstrated to be

toxic. It

persons contains substances that can be was relatively common for the old-time

physician to notice odors and in some cases to claim the ability to diagnose certain diseases and recognize impending death by this means. People who are blind and deaf are reported to be able to
use their sense of smell in the identification of others though this

has been denied.

To do

this

they would have to be

endowed with

a normal or supernormal olfactory apparatus greatly developed by noting and interpreting the stimuli.

To many
cially

go largely unnoticed unless they are espeobnoxious or pleasurable. People become accustomed to parof us odors

when they must live with them; for example, chemists unaware of the ordinary smells which exist in a chemical become laboratory. The olfactory receptors like other sense receptors
ticular

odors

are often

refractory to the stimuli.

Though
and touch

the concept of the five senses

sight, hearing, taste,

smell

has been traditionally accepted since Aristotle, physi-

TRAITS BASED ON OTHER 'SENSES

77

ologists and psychologists fully recognize that man has many more senses than these. In the skin alone, according to evidence which is hardly controvertible, there are at least five senses: for (i) touch, (2) pain, (3) warmth, (4) cold, and (5) common chemicals such as acids, bases and salts. Extensive researches have demon-

strated with a high degree of satisfaction that different nerves with

endings are responsible for carrying these different of sensations to the central nervous system. This does not types for mean, example, that the specific nerves which carry the sensation of warmth are wholly incapable of carrying pain messages. The
reverse
is true,

specific types of

but there are nevertheless at

least the five types of

nerves which are especially acute and effective for their special
7

purposes.

The problem

of

how many

senses are really involved in olfactory

experience and gustatory experience is a very difficult one and is by no means solved. Smell and taste experiences shade into one another

and a

large

number

substances. In addition to the tastes

of sensations are elicited by various chemical and smells which are commonly

recognized there are such gustatory sensations such as the coolness

elicited

by peppermint and the hotness of

all

Individual differences in

chili peppers. these peripheral senses have not been

extensively investigated but

common knowledge and an

ance with our

variabilities in

acquaintanatomical make-up can leave no

serious doubt as to their existence.

My
and

attention

was

first

attracted to these individual differences,

I was about four years particularly the sense of touch, when old. I was with my father in an orchard where ripe peaches were

when he noted that although I liked the taste of peaches could hardly be induced to touch one. The fuzzy skin made me this fuzz, but cringe. My father was quite indifferent, himself, to
abundant,
I

had probably inherited my dislike from my to the skin of paternal grandfather who had exactly my reaction it exists in peaches. This peculiarity is not uncommon; probably
he told
that I
different degrees,

me

and

is

one

basis for the de-fuzzing of peaches

which are produced

for

commercial markets.

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

A

case of a sensitivity of a similar kind has been called to attention. young man who is otherwise normal has a skin sen-

my

sitiveness

an ordinary quilted pad

at least

such that he cannot sleep comfortably in a bed in which is directly beneath the sheet. He must have
thicknesses between himself

and the quilted pad. It is not unusual for people to differ markedly in their like or dislike for the feel of woolly blankets around their shoulders and neck.
one of the qualities that Chinese people enjoy about valuable jade, is its feel. They enjoy touching and stroking it with their finger tips and holding it in their hands; it would lose much of its charm if it could not be handled. It could easily be that the
It is said that

two

Chinese have as 'a part of their inheritance, along with specific types of facial features, etc., a sensitiveness to touch which is capable of unusual development.

highly sensitive touch

it is

is

probably inherent in a successful

masseur, though
of touch
tells

him

doubtless improved by experience. His sense exactly how and where he should massage in

order to give

Soreness and fatigue in muscles reflect themselves in changes in muscular tone and in other reactions which are readily detected so that the masseur's sense of touch tells him more
relief.

accurately than the patient could the exact nature and extent of the soreness. The sensory apparatus of some individuals is such as to

make

it

possible to develop skill in this direction. Others lack any

such aptitude.
Ticklishness involves the cutaneous sense receptors and is another item on which there is great variability. It is well known that some
individuals are practically devoid of ticklishness while others are extremely susceptible, and that different areas on the skin differ

widely in this respect. One area may be susceptible in one individual and another in another. The nervous mechanism involved in
tickling
is

not well understood but

it

seems

to

be a summated

effect

of impulses coming over pressure and pain fibers. Rubbing the skin, using appropriate pressure, will render it so that it cannot be tickled
for a period of time thereafter, but the sense of pressure
is

unim-

paired by

this

rubbing.

TRAITS BASED ON OTHER SENSES

79

The extremely violent reaction which some people have against a dentist's manipulations is related to the cutaneous senses of pressure, heat and pain, and the existing differences between individuals
are due partly to differences in the numbers, character and location of the nerve endings in relation to the tooth structures. Psychological conditioning may be important in such cases, though the acceptance

of this idea

is

often based
to

upon

plausibility rather

than upon

evi-

dence.

No

one cares

have a tooth drilled in close proximity to a

nerve,, but

people are relatively indifferent to ordinary grindme that one can never tell from appearances ing. how a patient will respond, and cited a case of a husky sheriff who could hardly be induced to come near a dentist's chair except in

many

My

dentist tells

was, according to usual standards, a man of extraordinary bravery and in the conduct of his duties had been forced to kill several desperados. Yet so far as the dentist's chair

extreme emergencies.

He

was concerned he was a great coward. Presumably

the nerve re-

ceptors in or around his teeth were such that this avenue of approach was like Achilles' heel.

Our fundamental
all

metabolic and anatomical differences permeate our senses, including those that are more obscure in their func-

tioning.
less

Not only

are

numerous gross bodily

hands,
feet,

structures

more

or

distinctive for

each of us

skeletal

proportions,

facial features, tooth structures, external ears, etc.

but the micro-

scopic structures
well.

which are

at the basis of senses are different as

rods and cones in the eye, the taste cells in the mouth, the hair cells in the ear, the various types of nerve receptors in the
skin, the proprioceptors

The

which are continuously sending messages central nervous system of our every move all these the notifying nerve structures and many more may have in each of us distinctive
anatomical characteristics.

Your index

finger

and mine do not have the same number of

nerve fibers innervating them; the different types of receptors are

80

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

not present in the same numbers and are not of the same efficiency. Even the nerve fibers which are present may not function equally well some may become refractory to a stimulus more readily than
others; this
tive

means fewer impulses per second and hence less effectransmission. Different nerves do not carry messages at the
rate,

same

and individual

differences

in

this

respect are to be

expected. Each of us might during the day be subjected to the same set of stimuli but because of the differences in each of our senses we can-

not be affected in the same manner. Each of us through inheritance and training accepts certain stimuli predominantly and tends to
ignore others; from the

same

set of stimuli

each of us derives a

intricate and distinctive pattern of sensations. different distinctive these patterns may be can be appreciated only by con-

and

How

sidering the large number of possible stimuli types of sense receptors which we possess.

and the numerous

V. Other Physiological Traits

There's a great deal of within us.

unmapped country
GEORGE ELIOT

No

natures can be overlooked,

RESOURCE OF SCIENCE should be neglected and no aspect of our if we want to have a thorough

knowledge of human beings, and

to gain this

knowledge we

at least in part

fully

upon made" and many elements

until we apply science seriously are basing our hopes for social control and fearsuperficiality. Men are "wonderfully

enter into their physiological

make-

up

in addition to those already

mentioned.

temperature of our skin, when the outside temperature is Fahrenheit about eight entirely comfortable, is about 90 degrees such conditions an Under of interior. below that the body degrees

The

object
If

which

is

at

90 degrees

feels neither cool

nor

warm

to the skin.

an object with a higher temperature is applied to the skin, special nerve endings receive the stimulus and we get the sensation of
a cooler object touches the skin, other kinds of nerve endings are affected and the sensation of coolness results. However, the temperature of the skin varies with individuals, and

warmth.

If

any event does not remain at 90 degrees; it fluctuates much more than that of the body interior and there is a wide variation among with which the skin temperature is mainpeople in the efficiency
in
tained.

For example, in an experiment a group of six normal young men exposed their hands in the same way to the same low temperature

and then brought them back

81

into comfortable surroundings

82

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

The

variation in the skin temperatures at the end of the ten minutes among the six was from 68 degrees Fahrenheit
for ten minutes.
to 90 degrees Fahrenheit. In

some
after

comes back

to

normal rapidly

individuals skin temperature exposure to cold; in others it is

very slow in returning. Different parts of the body respond differently; the extremities are particularly susceptible to wide variability, and some individuals are constantly plagued by cold feet or
ankles.

Such

striking differences in temperature adaptations, as well as

differences in sensory responses, are partially responsible for the

difficulties

involved in maintaining public buildings, trains,

etc.,

so

that they are comfortable for everyone.

tions

(colds) the

Even during slight temperature-regulating mechanism of

indisposi-

the

body

may function imperfectly and one may be adversely affected by temperature conditions which would normally be satisfactory. If
in the

down in unison, then we might much warmth at the same time,

individual
as

same surroundings our skin temperatures should go up and all feel drafts and coolness or too
but
this is far

from the

case.

One

may sleep under the same bed covering another; because of differences in speed of adaptation one may
find
it

difficult to

remain cold for a long period

the

after retiring

while the other under

same conditions may tend to swelter. Since two independent senses are involved in
sensations a person

registering cold

and

may be highly sensitive to cold without sensitive to warmth. On the other hand one may be being very
skin temperature and relatively indifferent to These are factors which enter into so-called falling temperatures. cold bloodedness and warm bloodedness, but to classify all people
affected

warm

by

rises in

as belonging to

one of these two groups makes the problem appear

it

much

simpler than

really

is.

Sometimes people appear

they develop severe

to

be so

sensitive to heat or to cold that

symptoms such as asthma, nausea and vomiting,

or even collapse, as a result of being exposed to the condition to which they are susceptible. These responses are sometimes spoken

OTHER PHYSIOLOGICAL TRAITS

83

of as cold allergy or heat allergy, though supposedly allergies are not actually involved.

test is

In connection with responses to cold, the so-called cold-presser worth noting. In this test the subject's blood pressure is taken

on one arm, while the opposite hand is immersed in ice water for about a minute. As a result of this immersion nothing may happen;
that
is,

the blood pressure

may remain

unaffected.

However, there

may be a sudden jump in the blood pressure which may amount to any value from zero to about 30 millimeters for individuals who
otherwise appear normal. Individuals with high blood pressure almost always exhibit an even larger rise, and there is probably some connection between this phenomenon and a tendency toward
hypertension. In any event it is significant that normal individuals 1 differ so widely in their response. Included in the variability of responses to temperature is the fact
that
habits
individuals, because of innate physiological make-up or which have been developed, notice temperature changes more readily than others. For example, one person may sit in a drafty

some

position until

he

is

well chilled without ever thinking of his pre-

dicament. Another

may

notice immediately even slight deviations

from a comfortable temperature. This may be related to the clinical observation that some people, although less sensitive to the subjective
sensation of cold,

may

On

the other

hand

actually shiver visibly before they feel cold. others may feel cold before there is any easily

demonstrable change in skin color or texture.

temperature-regulating mechanisms and temperature senses in some people are such that they never associate temperature changes with the development of a cold. I knew of a newspaper
editor

The

whose experience

led

him

to be

vehement on

this subject.

and having learned that possessing the average susceptibilities bacteria (or perhaps viruses) could cause a cold, he maintained with great heat that temperature had nothing whatever to do with

Not

individual differences and the posapparently neglected that the temperature of the skin and mucous membranes sibility the resistance to the invading cold-producing agents. affect might
colds.

He

04

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

veritable feud

A
all

developed between himself and certain doctors probably based upon unrecognized physiological differences.

There exist many individual traits with respect to our digestive tracts and our internal organs. The digestive juices of different individuals, for example, are not the same.

The

saliva is the

most

easily

studied digestive juice, and gastric juice

sis

may
to

be collected for analyintestinal juices

without great

difficulty.

The

pancreatic
difficult

and

on

the other
subjects.

hand

are

extremely
in

obtain

from human

The two prominent ways

which

saliva

samples from normal

people differ is in their starch-digesting powers and their acidities (hydrogen ion concentration, pH). The starch-digesting power
differs greatly

from individual

to individual;

it

is

not at

all

un-

common for

a sample from one individual to have a starch-digesting power twenty or fifty times that of another. The significance of this difference is largely unknown. It has been reported that a high
correlation exists

between the content of the starch-digesting enzyme and the tendency for teeth to decay. Such a correlation has been
it is

denied, and
digesting
situation.

certain that several factors are involved.

The

starch-

power

of the saliva

may

be one element in the complex

The hydrogen
viduals from

ion concentration of saliva differs in normal indi6.2 to

pH

pH

7.6

and may correspond therefore

to a

to a slightly alkaline condition. The actual range of slightly acid or hydrogen ion concentration involved is about twenty-fold. Numer-

ous attempts have been made to connect the salivary acidity with other conditions, particularly tooth decay, but without substantial success. Significant from the standpoint of our discussions is the
finding of Rich, several years ago, of a relatively high correlation of the saliva and the aggressiveness and excitability between the of individuals. More excitable persons tended to possess a neutral or

pH

OTHER PHYSIOLOGICAL TRAITS

alkaline saliva in contrast to the average

85

which

is

on the

acid side

of neutrality. This subject needs more exhaustive study in the light of more modern psychological concepts than existed when Rich's
investigation

was conducted. 2

Gastric juice, like saliva, is a mixed secretion and arises from more than one type of gland. As obtained from different individuals
in a partially diluted condition after giving a standard test meal, composition varies tremendously. The amount of free hydro-

its

chloric acid present in a given volume may commonly neutralize as little as 15 or as much as 75 units of alkali. As a matter of fact about

4 per cent of healthy children and up to 30 per cent of normal adults show the presence of no free hydrochloric acid at all in the
gastric juice. In addition there are also those

whose lack of hydro-

chloric acid

amount

associated with a specific diseased condition. The of peptic enzyme present also varies widely from individual
is

to individual. Relatively

little

is

known

about the composition of

the most

individual samples of pancreatic and intestinal juices important digestive juices of all.

variation in gastric and intestinal motility (spontaneous movement) are evident from X-ray and other studies. It is known, for example, that the rate with which healthy stomachs empty
varies

Wide

from person

to person so that people

may be

classified as

those with slow-emptying and rapid-emptying stomachs. Of course one group shades into the other. For two healthy individuals exactly the same amount of meat may require in one case only one

hour and

forty-five

minutes to leave the stomach, and in the other

three hours and forty-five minutes. Just as the microscopic structural details and even macroscopic ones (visible to the naked eye) are distinctive for other parts of the

body, so these details, including the nervous structures associated with the digestive tract, are different for each person. One of the

most apparent differences in this connection tendency toward constipation. For some, life

is
is

the variability in apparently a con-

tinual battle against this difficulty. Proper selection of foods conminerals and roughage is valutaining a good supply of vitamins,

86

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

able insurance against this difficulty but there always remain conditions which are due to anatomical and neurological differences,

microscopic or otherwise, in the digestive tracts of individuals. Though we are unconscious of it for the most part, our internal

organs have their feelings in the sense that they continually are sending and receiving nerve messages. The messages they send are

dependent in part upon the

local stimuli

which they

receive,

and

all

these organs are directed in minutest detail by the nerve centers that control their functioning. All of this happens involuntarily and is under the control of the so-called autonomic nervous system.

We

are

more or

less

conscious of

all

the activities that are under our

voluntary control but unless we are physiologists we never try to understand how the heart pumps, how or when the liver makes
bile,

when

the kidneys

the digestive juices are being secreted or how, and when do their remarkable job. All of these things and insets

numerable others are taking place constantly, utilizing intricate of mechanisms adapted exactly to the tasks to be done.

Since every nervous system has its individuality it should be expected that each autonomic system would also be distinctive. In

any case the nerve messages that control the internal organs are subject to modification as a result of external stimuli and mental
activity.

take different turns for specific individuals. Emotional stress and anxiety are highly important as

This modification

may

the

causes of stomach difficulties presumably because the messages to numerous structures in the stomach are distorted and as a result

the tissues poison themselves by improperly carrying out their job. But emotional states that may cause stomach trouble in one may

cause heart, kidney or liver trouble in others. Because of differences in the microscopic anatomy of nervous connections or in the organs themselves the same external stimulus may, for different individuals, cause different pathological states. Recognizable signals of distress or exhilaration do not

come

to

us from our kidneys or livers and in fact one might pass through life without ever being directly aware of the existence of these

organs within his body. This lack of awareness should not be taken

OTHER PHYSIOLOGICAL TRAITS

to

87

going along in a perfectly uniform and humdrum fashion day after day. We assume that our livers are all about the same because we have very limited ways in which we
that everything
is

mean

can study the actions of the liver. If there were a number of ways of studying quantitatively the various actions of the liver, we would probably find that one person's liver differs from another person's
liver just as much as two pairs of eyes differ. There are a multitude of biochemical transformations which the liver must perform and

the numerous specific tasks which it must do vary from day to day depending on diet and other physiological factors. One liver may

be above average in the

tasks

with which it performs certain some other manner. Actually our livers or kidneys may become seriously diseased and may recover again
efficiency

and another

excel in

all

without our being aware of the situation or even of the existence

of the organs.

The

differences in individual hearts

systems can readily be made apparent by

and in individual circulatory measurements. Durspecific

ing repose the average pulse rate for men is 70 beats per minute and about 80 for women. But among healthy adult individuals the rates

may

are about 116

vary from 50 to 90. Average blood pressures for young adults mm. systolic and 70 diastolic, but there is considerable

variation even between

be sure just

normal healthy persons. In fact no one can where normal leaves off and abnormal begins.

Mere
ficial

pulse rates and blood pressures alone give a highly superconception of the measurable characteristics of the system..

Among
'

the other measurements that can be

made

are such as the

following: variation of blood pressures with external conditions,. in veins velocity of blood flow in different regions, blood pressures

between central and peripheral pulses. Many of the phenomena connected with the circulation cannot be studied without obtaining a continuous record of changes in blood

and

capillaries, difference

pressure during a time interval or recording the electrical impulses

00

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

which accompany the heart beat. In all these measurements we find significant differences between individuals.

Sphygmograms, which

are records in the

form of continuous

wavy

lines of the variation in

blood pressure from instant to instant,

have certain general features in

common

for all individuals.

How-

ever, if the amplitude, frequency

and exact shape of the waves is each individual considered, produces a distinctive record which the as to tells something precise timing and intensity of the various
actions of the heart. This record will vary with the location in

which
light

the blood pressure

is

recorded, and this variation

exist in the intermediate

may throw
vessels.

on

peculiarities

which

blood

Intimate pictures of the functioning of the heart may be obtained in electrocardiograms which register in amplified form the tiny electrical potential changes that accompany heart action. These

obtained in different manners by connecting the two electrodes in different respective positions. For each individual the wavy

may be

record of the potential changes has

its

own

peculiarities.

The
facts

study of breathing patterns has revealed some interesting

with respect to the rate of breathing, depth of breathing, the presence of a pause at the end of expirations, sighs (breaths about
twice as deep as ordinary), swallowings, etc. All of these features and others enter to make the pattern of an individual distinctive as
illustrated by examples of spirograms on page 89. These are simply record tracings of inspirations and expirations of breath. The two spirograms at the top of the page are of the same individual. They

show a marked similarity of pattern even though the tracings were made with an interval of two years in between. The four other
spirograms are of other individuals. In all cases the subjects were 3 free from any obvious cardiac or pulmonary insufficiency.

While there is a hope that breathing patterns may ultimately be correlated with othei physiological or psychological traits, they are

Fig.

S-SPIROCRAMS

Reproduced by permission of Dr. /. L. Caughey, and the American Review of Tuberculosis, copyright 1943.

These tracings show in graphic fashion how different individuals inhale and exhale at different speeds, to different depths, and according
to different patterns. The upper two are from the same individual; the lower four are from four individuals, "A," "B," "E," and "F."

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

on the other hand,

certainly not readily interpretable in the light of present knowledge. Frequent sighs and other irregularities are said to be signs of instability;

reported to be
viduals.

common

certain types of regular tracings are among schizophrenics and schizoid indi-

These and other features doubtless have meanings which be might adequately interpreted if we had a more intimate picture of the whole bodily mechanism of the individual. This is the type of
clue that will not be overlooked or followed
scientific

up

half-heartedly in a

and thorough study of human beings. Tracings of breathing records are easy to take and their analysis may lead ultimately
to important insights.

Though

scientific

I believe it is

data are not available to support the statement, obvious to the reader that individual persons differ

may speak greatly in their tendency toward general fatigue. of a man of extraordinary energy as a human dynamo or say that he is a horse for work. Theodore Roosevelt was an ardent exponent
of the strenuous
life

We

and

this

could not have been

if

he had not
hard work.

been endowed with great energy. Genius has sometimes been defined

as a capacity for

Edison

said,

"Genius

is

perspiration."

Whether or not
this fact

per cent inspiration and 99 per cent these statements are correct, this

capacity

is

certainly

an important factor in greatness.

impressed with

on a recent occasion

when

I was much saw an eighty-

of high attainments carry through a program in year-old hours that might well have staggered a man of half his twenty-four entertained He guests for dinner and with conversation that age.
lasted until late into the evening;

man

he gave an

excellent

impromptu

address the next day at a luncheon (incidentally with absolutely no reminiscing), excused himself to preside over an important board
to

meeting, and later in the afternoon gave a serious prepared address many thousands of people. The fatigability of such a person is in
is

sharp contrast to that of the more typical man. This

the basis for

OTHER PHYSIOLOGICAL TRAITS

9*

the fact that a well-known comic-strip character has endeared himself to many thousands of people because of his weakness for taking
naps.
Fatigability in the general sense
is

probably complex and involves

psychological and neurological

factors to a large degree. Eyesight

be important in this connection, though good eyes in the ordinary sense are not necessarily the possession of a man with

may

great energy Theodore Roosevelt's eyes were very poor by ordinary standards. Nearsighted eyes are not characteristically subject to fatigue and often can be used extensively. From our previous discussion
it is

clear that there are

many

factors that enter into the use

of the eyes. Fatigability is probably an important though not a simple character which varies greatly from individual to individual

not only with respect to eyesight but with respect to each of the functions that we are capable of performing.
there appear to be no collected scientific data to substantiate the idea, there seems to be a wide variation in people's re-

While

quirement for physical

exercise. President

Hutchins of the Uni-

versity of Chicago is reported to have said that when he has the urge to take physical exercise, he lies down and relaxes to let the

urge wear

off.

If this

expedient

is

satisfactory in his case,

he

is
is

vastly different

from some individuals

for

whom

regular exercise

an

essential

mental vigor prerequisite for peace of mind,

is

and normal
of

sleep.

Related to physical activity and fatigability

sleep,

the

phenomenon

and the

fact that individuals apparently differ

both in their

total daily requirements and in whether or not their daily quotas are best taken all at one time. While adult man is usually classed as monophasic in his sleep habits as opposed to rats and rabbits which

are polyphasic (that is, sleeping several times during twenty-four hours), there is a marked tendency toward individual difference in
this

respect.

slept

Edison and Napoleon are famous examples of men who comparatively few hours at night but tended to make up for

it by naps in the daytime. Successful writers and artists, who can be independent with respect to when they work, often keep hours

92
which

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

may be
regarded as outlandish by those with customary

working hours.
Earlier physiological studies on sleep indicated that individuals may be placed in one of two groups: first, those whose sleep is most
after going to sleep and who are most wide awake and mentally alert soon after waking; and second, those who go into a sound sleep more slowly, that is, in from an hour and three quarters to three and one half hours, and who are most effi-

sound within an hour

cient later in the

day several hours

after they

awake. Other

investi-

gations have indicated that individuals differ with respect to whether they sleep more soundly (that is, with less moving around) in the
fore part, the middle part or the later part of the night. In the extensive study of the physiology of sleep comparatively
little

man found an
self

attention has been paid to individual cases. However, Kleitunmistakable and significant difference between himhis co-workers in

and one of

an interesting study conducted in

part in

Mammoth
all

Cave, Kentucky, where the experimenters lived

away from

contact with day and night and the ordinary twenty-

four-hour rhythm.? It is well known that the body temperature of individuals goes down at night, reaching a minimum in early morning and then
rising to a

maximum
artificial

in the afternoon.

When

the

two

investigators

adopted an

cycle of twenty-eight hours instead of the natural twenty-four-hour cycle, and turned out the lights for sleep

nine hours out of each twenty-eight hours, one of them shifted his schedule without difficulty within a week and the record of his body

temperature showed that

completed hours each. (The

hours, the

six cycles

went down each artificial night and six artificial days of the during twenty-eight six artificial days of twenty-eight hours made 168
it

as a normal seven-day week of twenty-four hours other each.) investigator, however, reacted very differently. He could sleep well when his sleeping hours corresponded with his

same

The

natural sleeping time (on the basis of the natural twenty-four-hour day) but otherwise had difficulty. Most striking was the fact that his

temperature fluctuations did not adjust themselves to the

artificial

OTHER PHYSIOLOGICAL TRAITS

Part of the time his
of the
artificial

93

twenty-eight-hour day but instead remained on the twenty-four-hour schedule and completed seven cycles in the artificial six-day week.

minimum body
it

day and

temperature came in the middle was at these times that he had great diffito the artificial schedule.
it is

culty in remaining

awake and holding

This

is

not an isolated example for

found that round-the-

who must adjust their schedules, and radio operators in the navy whose schedule involves a broken rhythm, belong in one of two general classes those who adjust readily and those who
world
travelers

have

difficulty in living

on a schedule not involving a twenty-four-

hour rhythm. In view of the large number of people in the world whose sleep
cannot come in the usual hours, these facts are of social importance. Furthermore, they demonstrate beyond question that individuals
differ in their responses to sleep,

and that no

rule

is

likely to apply

to

all

individuals.

Unfortunately, few facts regarding the sleep requirements of individuals have been established. If individual sleeps relatively long

hours, and individual B

carries

on with much

less

sleep,

it

cannot

be concluded that each

more

sleep than his

getting what he needs. A may be getting health demand, and B efficiency and good
is

might be better off with more. Such a problem as sleep requirements

powers of science to
solve,

by no means beyond the and additional information should be

is

obtainable without extreme difficulty. It should be possible to differentiate between a person who is well rested and one who could

Some investigations have shown for sleep. is as effective as a short that a longer one in condisleep example arithmetical for an individual tasks, but not for more simple tioning
profit

by additional

complicated ones. As soon as we can distinguish definitely between a well-slept individual and one who is not, it will be possible to
study the problem of sleep requirements and to see whether they

vary greatly for individuals and whether the requirements are correlated with fatigability, with the possession of energy, or with other
significant
traits.

94

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

the measurable changes which accompany sleep are the following: the rate of metabolism decreases, the frequency of the respiratory movements decreases and their character changes, the

Among

pulse rate and the blood pressure decrease, and significant changes in the circulation take place which involve an increased blood

supply and an increase in the volume of the hands and feet. By the use of a plethysmograph, which measures changes in volume, for example those of the hand and forearm, it is shown that immediately

upon going

to sleep the

volume of an

individual's

hand

increases because of a fuller blood supply,

as sleep continues.

However,

if

there

is

and remains high as long a noise which is almost but

not quite enough to

wake

the sleeper, the

it is

volume of the hand imme-

diately decreases so that

nearly normal.

On

a resumption of

deep sleep the

night's sleep

hand volume again rises. During the course of a an individual's hand may fluctuate in volume many

times depending upon the extent to which his sleep is disturbed. Less easy to measure is decreased secretion and a consequent dryness of the surface of the eyes. This condition, which is responsible
for the idea of

the "sandman,"

accompanies sleepiness and

is

abolished by sleep. One of the most potent means for the study of brain waves (tiny electrical impulses gensleep is furnished by the erated by the brain) which progressively modify their character

during

sleep. Post-sleep

brain waves, and brain waves obtained after

awakening from a dream, are distinguishable from pre-sleep records and this type of study is capable of almost unlimited extension.

With
it

all

these

and other physiological manifestations

variability in the sleep

as a basis

seems reasonable that

requirements of indi-

viduals can be studied with exactness and that industrial and every-

day

life

can be adjusted somewhat to meet the physiological needs

of different types.

Attempts to ascertain precisely why we need sleep and exactly what sleep does for us have so far been unsuccessful. When we have
probably find reasonably satisfying answers which will enable us to make more efficient use of our
explored
shall

more deeply we

OTHER PHYSIOLOGICAL TRAITS

waking and sleeping hours.
sults as

95

We
that

will not arrive at satisfactory re-

long

as

we assume

what

applies to one individual

applies to all

and neglect the

fact that for each of us the

nervous

system functions differently with respect to waking and sleeping rhythms. There are a number of sleep eccentricities which emphasize the

importance of considering and appreciating individual

dif-

ferences.

Among

these

is

narcolepsy,

which

afflicts

otherwise normal

individuals
sleep

and involves repeated sudden short-lasting attacks of which may vary in severity and duration, and several types

of insomnia, involving (i) delayed onset of wakefulness sleep, (2) in the middle of the night and (3) early awakening with accom-

panying

inability to

go back

to sleep.

Talkativeness or the "gift of gab"

distributed
I

is

trait that is

very unevenly

among people. principally to emphasize that talking is a process which involves muscular and nervous co-ordinations the complexity of which would
be
difficult to

have

classified it as a physiological trait

exaggerate.

When

a Walter Winchell, a Walter Judd,

or a skillful announcer at a football

is

a remarkable

phenomenon

puts on an exhibition, it whether of we are interested regardless

game

in the subject discussed or depicted. Throughout history there have been fluent talkers; also those

who

have been

relatively speechless,

and

all

gradations between. Ac-

cording to the biblical account, Moses was severely handicapped by his slow tongue. Even after his experiences in a series of miracles changing a stick into a snake and back again and making his hand

he could not serve as leprous and curing it he still protested that the Lord's representative, because he was "slow of speech and of a slow tongue" and the people wouldn't listen to him. Fortunately

Moses had a brother Aaron who was a smooth talker and willing to take instructions. When he was told what to say he functioned
brilliantly

as official spokesman.

Transforming the slow-tongued

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

man who
has

Moses into a
is

could himself talk fluently

is

a miracle that

not recorded.

person

who

difficulty

expressing himself verbally

may be

gifted at literary expression,

and the reverse may likewise be true, but the possession of one ability may have no relation to the possession of the other. In some individuals both may be present, in
others neither. Talking involves intricate and rapid muscular and nervous co-ordination and the differences between individuals is

upon anatomical differences in the organs of speech and particularly in the whole nervous apparatus that controls the intricate movements involved. Probably numerous factors such as
doubtless based

auditory sensitivity and

individuals.

The

enter into the speech behavior of fact that one is quiet rather than talkative does

memory

not

mean

may

that he or she possesses an unattractive voice; the reverse be true. Neither can we be sure that the quiet person is in the

habit of thinking deep thoughts. talkative people that they do not!

We can be sure in the case of some

The
all

ability to express oneself verbally is of great

life.

walks of

To

importance in be able to vocalize one's thoughts quickly and

an important factor in gaining dominance and both because of its effect on listeners and because of the leadership,
clearly is probably

engenders in the speaker. While speaking fluently can doubtless be cultivated by study and application, it goes without
self-confidence
it

field. It

saying that individuals differ greatly in their native abilities in this simplifies the matter too greatly if we try to classify everyas

belonging to a group of good speakers or poor speakers. A under one set of circumstances may be highly effective, person whereas with another set of listeners he may fail. A man who has

body

great natural

endowment, in that the appropriate words come to him rapidly and easily, may through falling in love with the sound of his own voice become ineffective because of his long-windedness.

and thoughtwriting co-ordination are marked. Some people have difficulty in getting their thoughts on paper simply because their hands cannot work fast enough to keep up with the words which come to them.
variances
in

The

thought-speech

co-ordination

OTHER PHYSIOLOGICAL TRAITS

These can
dictate material readily.

97

One

of the most extreme cases

of this type was the Spanish author, Manuel Fernandez y Gonzales (1821-1888), who dictated not to one secretary but to several, work-

ing on several books at the same time; in this way he produced some three hundred novels. Many writers, on the other hand, are

wholly unable to dictate with

It is

effectiveness.

common
all

observation that

women

are

on the average more

talkative than

men. This

quiet and

groups so that

that all men are women talkative. A wide variation exists in both some men are far more talkative than some women.
of course does not

mean

No

one, so far as

know, has invented a talk-meter which

will

register the number of words spoken, in the way that a pedometer talkative registers the number of steps taken by an individual.

person could under most favorable circumstances have an output of 50,000 or more words a day, while a quiet person might not use

more than

few hundred in the same

is

interval.

Whether one

is

talkative or quiet

a matter of considerable social concern and

probably has far-reaching effects on the development of one's personality

and

influence.

of everyday life reflect the fundamental differences in our muscle-nerve co-ordinations. It is not polite to watch or

Many

little acts

appear to watch a dinner companion eat, but one does not have to look long to see that people in hotels and restaurants often eat disonto the fork with rhythmic scooping tinctively. Some load the food
it gingerly as if the peas were delicate pearls; others give the fork a business-like thrust. Once the food is brought to the mouth some eaters fairly snap it off the fork as though it

motion; others load

were mobile and

with the
lips.

alive,

while others carefully

variables.

comb

it

off the fork

The

rapidity, violence

motions introduce
appear to be

new

and character of the chewing Such minor differences do not

worthy of extensive study but it is worth noting that have same type of physiological basis as handwriting does the they

9*>

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

distinctive for the

and are
day
it

same reason. Walking

is

another everydistance by

activity that

each of us performs in a characteristic fashion, and

is

often easy to recognize an acquaintance at

some

observing his gait.

The

almost unbelievable

way

is tivity reveal their individuality

in which minute patterns of acshown by the fact that each radio

of tapping out messages,

operator has his

distinctive

fist,

or

manner

which

is

and recognizable by those who are practiced in receiving messages. The United States Radio Intelligence Division made use of this fact in connection with an illegal station in Chile operated
by "Pedro," a young German. When the Chileans closed in on the station, Pedro escaped. year later experienced listeners spotted a

as the illegal transmitter and were able to recognize Pedro In the order to he was his fist, messages disguise sending operator.

new

left-handed but the disguise

was not

effective

and he was appre-

hended.

nerve co-ordination

Another example of individuality in connection with muscleis observed in connection with tremor. If one

holds up a finger unsupported, there is a certain degree of tremor, regardless of how well or normal the individual is. Such tremors
in

normal individuals rarely exceed .3 amplitude, and take place at the rate of
is

mm
six to

(about

.01

inch)

in

twenty-one complete

oscillations

tremors

per second. Among the interesting facts regarding finger that they are distinctive for each individual. This is due

presumably to the difference in the volleys of efferent impulses and their effects on the muscles. That they may be associated with muscular tension
is

creased
rigid.

if

one tenses

evidenced by the fact that the tremor is greatly inhis muscles and attempts to hold the finger
tests

In one series of

involving five individuals the effect of vari-

ous factors on finger tremor was studied: (i) squeezing a dynamometer with the opposite hand, (2) doing a mental arithmetic problem, (3) taking a reaction time test, (4) being startled by a

loud noise. In each case the finger tremor of the five subjects was increased but each responded in a different manner. Subject R, for

OTHER PHYSIOLOGICAL TRAITS

example, was the one most affected o
all,

99

was the
second
far

least affected of all

among
all

the five in

tests i, 2 and 4, but on the other hand, was by 3. Subject T, his response to tests i, 2 and 3 but was

by

below

the others in his response to the loud noise.

Aside from possible correlations with personality differences, the

most useful
that they

significance of finger tremors lies perhaps in the fact

to

seem

have a direct relationship

to fatigue.

Four

indi-

viduals

had

their finger tremors tested before

and

after

performing

three successive amounts of work, each involving 500 foot-pounds. The results showed that (i) the rate of tremor, (2) the average

amplitude of the tremor, and (3) the irregularity of the tremor, all increased successively with increasing fatigue. It seems that
finger tremor
tool in studying tension, fatigue individuals. of sleep requirements Suggestive of the possible usefulness of finger tremor studies is the report that neurotic children show larger responses than normal.

might be a useful

and

Finger tremors are not only

distinctive, they are

independent of

brain waves, galvanic skin responses and blood pressure changes.

8
Another physiological response in which there are wide differences between individuals is that of detection of subliminal stimuli
(those too

weak

to arouse sensation). It
if

is

found in connection with

is

visual stimuli, for example, that

a person

confronted in the

dark with one of three geometrical figures a circle, a triangle or a square he may be able to "guess" with some validity which it is, even though the light
not able consciously to see the figure at all. Actually, such an individual must be receiving visual impressions but they are below the limits of conscious
is

so limited that

he

is

vision.

Four

subjects (the total

number

studied)

when

confronted with

these three figures in the

manner

indicated, guessed right as follows:

100

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

Number
Subjects

Total Presentations

Correct
Replies

of Correct Guesses Based on

Chance
71

W
Mi

213 210
183 201

106
118
83

70
61

Ma
Every one of the

90

67

subjects yielded correct answers

more

often than

could be attributed to chance, even though they could not consciously see. Subject W, however, gave the correct answers 56 per
cent of the time, 23 per cent above

what could have been done by

were correct only about 12 chance, whereas subjects Mi and 7 the alone could explain. cent above cent which chance 33 per per In a similar test involving reception of subliminal auditory stimuli,
ten subjects were tested for their ability to "guess" with respect to the pitch of a sound which they could not consciously hear. Of the ten, three gave responses significantly better than chance could
explain; five others responded slightly better than chance but not enough better to be significant statistically. The "guesses" of two

Ma

were apparently pure guesses for their correctness was even 8 below what chance alone could explain.

slightly

The importance
lies

of these

phenomena,

so far as our purposes are

concerned, principally in the fact that they demonstrate wide variation between individuals. They are interesting in themselves,

however, and the possession of these

certain

adequately puzzling. For example, if you are seated in a chair and some one takes a position behind you, you may be able to "sense" their
presence even though they made no audible sound nor cast any visible shadow which could give you a clue. Inaudible sounds, such as those of quiet breathing and shadows so slight as to be invisible,

abilities may be common phenomena which

used to explain are otherwise

may be

responsible in such a case.

Every nervous impulse and muscular action in the body is accompanied by the production of minute amounts of electricity. By
amplifying these and excluding extraneous sources of
electricity it

becomes

possible to

measure the

electrical potentials

which

arise

OTHER PHYSIOLOGICAL TRAITS

from
different parts of the body.
is

101

of the heart
is

The record of the electrical output used extensively in diagnosing heart conditions and
if

electrodes are placed upon the scalp the electrical potentials arising in the brain can be recorded in the form of an

known

as

an electro-cardiogram. Similarly

electro-encephalogram.

Electro-encephalography

is

used extensively in medicine in the

diagnosis and localization of brain tumors (which are inactive electrically), in the diagnosis and study of epilepsy, head injury, and
sleeping sickness. The application of the electro-encephalograph to malingerers or those who are faking blindness or faking amnesia
said to reveal normal patterns nition of the true condition.
is

and thus make possible the recogwaves

to so-

But
called

for our purposes the relation of these brain

interesting. There are many ways in which brain potential records may be obtained and they possess a number of revealing qualities. One of the commoner aspects which
is

normal people

more

is

often studied is the appearance and disappearance of the alpha waves. These waves occur from eight to twelve times a second,

involve a voltage of from 20 to 75 microvolts, and occur in normal individuals when they are resting with their eyes closed. Among
fifty

normal individuals

tested,

nine showed alpha waves

less

than

25 per cent of the time, thirteen showed these waves 25 to 50 per cent of the time, sixteen showed them 50 to 75 per cent of the time, and twelve showed them 75 to 100 per cent of the time.

People therefore can be

alpha waves

classified

on the

basis of the prevalence of

waves which
fifty

waves per voltage, which are

in their brain potentials. In addition there are beta involve less voltage but are more rapid, eighteen to second, and slow delta waves of relatively high
characteristic of

sound

sleep. Altogether,

brain-

wave

and are capable of extensive patterns are highly complicated all the observed waves could be studied more study. Presumably
if

intensively,

desired,

and by further magnification additional

fea-

tures

would become recognized.

Because of their complexity it is not surprising that each individual has a distinctive pattern. They vary in the frequency and

102

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

voltage of the alpha, beta and delta rhythms, and in regional differences with respect to each of these, and other features. It has been

demonstrated that an individual can be identified by his brain-wave

pattern and that these patterns are highly consistent for a given individual provided the conditions are the same subject awake

with eyes closed and mind kept as blank as possible.9 Identical twins have brain potentials which are very similar if not identical,
indicating that these patterns are inherited. The failure of such twins' brain potential patterns to be completely identical is probably due to partial asymmetry reversals, which are discussed in a later
10 chapter on heredity and environment. Partly because of the complexity of the wave patterns and the complexity of personalities and thought processes, little progress has been made in correlating the two types of phenomena. One in-

vestigator has said that the majority of

normal individuals

exhibit-

ing a high degree of extroversion will show a dominant-subdominant alpha rhythm. Other investigators have questioned this finding. Others

exhibit rapid brain

have found that dynamic personalities are likely to waves and dependent personalities slow ones.

said to be subject to

Those exhibiting alpha waves a high percentage of the time are asthma and ulcers. Delinquent children and
those with poor personalities are reported to yield slow waves. Much further investigation is required, however, before brain

waves can be adequately interpreted in terms of personality

traits.

of the great difficulties involved is the fact that experts in dealing with brain waves are rarely experts in the analysis of pertraits is very difficult, as sonality traits. Analysis of psychological
will

One

be shown in a

later

chapter.

VI. Endocrine Glands and Behavior

In

him

Much

inexplicably mixed, appeared to be loved and hated, sought and feared.

LORD BYRON

OFimportant from the standpoint of the functioning of the whole

individual than the endocrine glands. Certainly a thorough and scientific study of human beings, which we have regarded as an
essential

ALL THE TISSUES of the body, no type

is

more

interesting or

foundation on which to build social control, cannot neglect

these glands.

general mode of operation of the various well-recognized endocrine glands is essentially the same. These glands produce and

The

chemicals which are carried throughgive off into the blood specific out the body by the circulatory system. The active chemicals (hormones) may produce effects in parts of the body remote from their

gland
the

endocrine glands). points of origin (the Insulin is an example of a hormone. It is produced in the pancreas and is released slowly into the blood. The effects are much

at appropriate times, travels in the blood to various Insulin with a hypodermic needle. tissues where it performs its specific function which makes possible the combustion or burning of carbohydrate. In many other instances

same

as if insulin

were injected slowly,

an

extract prepared

from a

into the blood artificially

and

injected particular gland tissue will produce a result similar to that

can be

extract was derived. brought about by the gland from which the The crux of the problem of the functioning of the endocrine
103

104

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

glands lies in the hormones which are produced, and the determination of the chemical natures of these agents constitutes one of the larger and more pressing problems of biochemistry. Until a

hormone

is

known

uncontaminated form,
functions of

chemically, or at least until it is available in its actions cannot be studied with definite-

ness or valid conclusions

its

drawn about

its

functions or the exact

parent gland.
fertile

The

field of

hormones has been a

one for speculating and

theorizing and it would require many volumes to set forth all the ideas that have been proposed to explain the various phenomena
associated with hormones and endocrine glands. Even if we restrict ourselves to well-authenticated information we find the material

very extensive.

Much of the theorizing about the endocrine glands has been based upon very incomplete knowledge about the hormones that are supposed to be involved. When crude extracts of glands are
injected (for example, into experimental animals) there are three

types of uncertainty

which

arise: first,

whether the active hormone

lost) in the process the of making the extract; second, possible presence in the extract of extraneous proteins or other materials which may complicate the
effects;

has actually been preserved (or destroyed or

and third, the possibility that extracts prepared in approxisame way may carry two or more hormones in varying the mately amounts, each capable of acting more or less independently to accomplish a different result.

dozen glands in the body which produce and release hormones. There is reasonably good evidence for the existence of about forty different hormones; this means on an average

There are

at least a

about three hormones to the gland. Actually, however, there are several glands that produce only one hormone each and others that

produce as

many

as six or eight or

more.

The

thyroid and the pan-

creas apparently produce only

thyroid

hormone and

insulin,

one well-recognized hormone each, whereas the pituitary gland produces

almost certainly as

many

as six

and more
in

likely eight or ten.

There

are, in general,

two ways

which an endocrine gland may

ENDOCRINE GLANDS AND BEHAVIOR

be stimulated
It

105

to activity, that

is,

to produce

and

release
to
it

its

hormones.

coming through the autonomic nervous system (impulses of which we are unconscious), or it may become active through the effect of another hormone

may

act because of nerve impulses

produced in some other gland and brought to it by the blood. Hormones from other glands, however, may work in the opposite direction that is, they may hold in check and inhibit rather than pro-

mote the

activity

of a gland.

Anyone who

attempts to explain

human

or animal behavior

simply in terms of hormones is barking up the as finding a simple explanation is concerned.

wrong

tree in so far

The

glands do not

work
etc.

automatically

they are often under nervous

and hormonal

control

and

are affected by such external factors as light, nutrition,

Furthermore

we

cannot be

at all sure that the body's suscepti-

bilities to

different

hormones
There
is

will

remain constant from hour to

hour or day

to day.

evidence in some cases that the body

may produce anti-hormones which tend to nullify the effects of hormones. In many cases the activity and effects of a parspecific
gland are modified by two or three other glands located in different parts of the body. These others may be subject to nervous
ticular

control or to control by other glands.

tionships

more

intricate set of rela-

would be hard

to imagine.

Because of these complexities

sider only a

few of the more

be possible for us to coninteresting and less technical aspects

it

will

of the subject.

One
which

of the best

known

of the endocrine glands

is

the thyroid

releases into the blood a single

effect

hormone

one which has a

cells

profound

on the metabolism of the various

of the body.

Some

investigators are of the opinion that in certain diseased con-

ditions, commonly called exophthalmic goiter, the thyroid gives off a modified hormone, not the normal one, and that this is respon-

106

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

part of the difficulty. This possibility should not be overlooked in connection with the endocrine glands in general.
sible for at least

Severe lack of thyroid secretion may have far-reaching effects on the body; if it occurs early enough in life the child may develop into a dwarfed idiot. More mild (deficiency may lead to feeble-

mindedness. These mental changes occur not because we think with our thyroids but rather because of the indirect effect the
thyroids have to do with regulating the metabolism in all the cells of the body. Obviously the nervous tissues may be profoundly
affected.

How much thyroid hormone is released in an "adult may determine whether he or she is sluggish and apathetic or at the other extreme, fidgety and excitable. In addition to various bodily changes, deficiency in some cases may cause extreme depression. Delusions
and hallucinations of hearing,
sight, smell

and

taste

may

occur. It

has even been reported that the type of insanity known as dementia praecox may be precipitated as a result of thyroid deficiency and
rare reports of complete cure of this malady by administration of 1 thyroid hormone are in the medical literature.

Even with this gland, which is probably the best understood, we are yet in the dark as to the exact nature of the hormone secreted know that it has in its make-up thyroxin, a into the blood.

We

completely identified chemical, and that feeding thyroxin has subtissue. do not know stantially the same effect as feeding thyroid

We

precisely
tissue to
tissues
effect.

how

the thyroid

hormone does

an animal speeds up its and cells directly with thyroid material has no comparable

work. Feeding thyroid metabolism, but treatment of

its

is the pituitary Certainly the most interesting endocrine gland about the size It is one of the smallest of the glands (hypophysis). of a large green pea but is extremely productive of hormones,

most of which are

still

unknown

chemically. Several of the hor-

ENDOCRINE GLANDS AND BEHAVIOR

mones

I<>7

are protein in nature and are too complex to be duplicated in the chemical laboratory by synthesis. One of the most interesting characteristics of the pituitary is its

production of a growth hormone a deficiency of which leads to dwarfism and a superabundance of which causes gigantism. Giants
in general,

who

in rare cases

may
had

be over nine feet

their

tall

and reasonascribe

ably well-proportioned, have overactive pituitary gland and

their failure to

growth stimulated by an
midgets

many
is

intelligent

may

Possibly even

grow more

to a pituitary deficiency.

interesting

producing hormones that

affect the

the action of the pituitary in The activity of other glands.

thyroid gland, important as it is, is dependent upon the pituitary gland for a stimulus to its activity, and it is not infrequent that a thyroid deficiency may be traced, not to a difficulty in the thyroid gland itself, but rather to a failure of the pituitary to produce the
thyroid-controlling (thyreotropic) hormone. The relationship is not entirely one-way, however; removal of the thyroid glands from an

experimental animal causes marked changes in the microscopic appearance of the cells in the pituitary, showing that the pituitary
is

in turn influenced

by thyroid

deficiency.

much pituitary gland does the thyroid. Its secretion makes an animal much less sensitive to insulin, the internal secretion of the pancreas; it yields a hormone which stimulates the adrenal cortex to activity and likealso affects various other glands just as

The
it

as

wise produces hormones which in turn affect hormone production by the sex glands. One of the most striking effects of injecting
pituitary
extracts into experimental animals has involved the de-

velopment of precocious sex behavior in male baby chicks. Injection

of pituitary
to

crow

preparations into such chicks has caused them with canary-like squeaks nine days out of the shell, and to
lost their

hormone

attempt mating behavior before they have

extracts cause

down. Such

premature development of the sex glands and promote the production by the sex glands of the characteristic sex

hormones.2

Not only do

the pituitary

hormones

affect other

endocrine (duct-

108
less)

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

name which
and
is

glands, but in one case at least a pituitary hormone stimulates a gland which secretes through a duct namely, the mammary or
is

milk-secreting gland. Prolactin

this

has been given to

hormone.

It is

protein in nature

one o the few protein

hormones
injection o

that has been obtained in purified condition. Repeated a virgin goat with material containing this hormone has

caused a secretion of up to 5.8 pounds of milk a day and a similar procedure has caused the secretion of 15.5 pounds of milk a day

by a virgin

heifer.

interesting is the effect of this hormone on the psyof chology experimental animals. Young unbred female rats are not interested in baby rats and will ignore them when normally

Even more

they are put into the cage. However, if such young rats are injected with prolactin preparations they immediately take interest in the young not only do their mammary glands swell and produce milk

but they become big-hearted as well and will build nests for and attempt to mother as many young as are furnished, regardless of
race, color or previous condition of servitude.
is

In fact the yearning

so strong that such rats will not only accept baby rats but also baby mice or baby rabbits or even baby pigeons squabs. Lacking

anything

else to

peatedly to pick

mother, such an injected rat has been known reup her tail in her mouth tenderly as though it

rat and carry it ceremoniously to the nest that she has Fallacious as it may prepared. appear to attempt to explain behavior in of terms it would seem nevertheless ridiculous hormones, simply

were a baby

understand behavior and personality without taking 1 account of hormones.

to
try
to

the hormones that are known to affect behavior in a are the sex hormones. manner striking If there were simply two kinds of sex glands (testes and ovaries) and two kinds of sex hormones, one male and one female, the situation would be vastly simpler than it is. Actually there are

Among

ENDOCRINE GLANDS AND BEHAVIOR

several

male hormones and

to

several female

hormones. Furthermore,
not only

hormones having

do with sex

arise in several locations,

in the sex glands themselves.

We
which

have already noted a marked indirect

effect

on sex

activity

pituitary hormones may have. The cortex of the adrenal glands likewise may have a profound effect on sex. If the adrenal glands are removed from an experimental animal, loss of sex drive
is

notable and the

cells in

the testes of males tend to degenerate. In

if

females estrus ceases as a result of adrenal removal;

pregnant, abortion results;
if

they are

young when the adrenals are removed they cease to give milk. Whether the effects of the adrenal glands are all indirect is not fully known because some of
they have

the hormones obtained from adrenal glands actually have sex hormone activity of themselves. Overactivity of the adrenal cortex may
result in sex

precocity in males or in the masculinization of a female

becomes a pseudohermaphrodite, with female sex glands but with many male characteristics. Apparently overactive adrenal
so that she

glands, presumably through overdevelopment of a different kind of

cells,

may
is

also

have a feminizing

effect

on

a male.

One example
life

cited

that of a forty-four-year-old

man

with a normal sex

who was

married and had two sons.

adrenal glands which resulted in his underwent development; his sex organs decreased in size; his sex desire and potency disappeared and he tended to lose his body hair. Successful removal of the tumor caused him to lose the feminine
characteristics

tumor developed in his feminization. His breasts

and made him a normal male again.

sex are far from simple.

Because of these complex interrelationships the phenomena of With a series of glands harnessed together
particular

and capable of profoundly influencing one another, a

result

may
is

females
cycle,

be caused in several different ways. The sex life of even more complex than males because of the sexual

pregnancy, childbearing and lactation.

HO

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

One
all

of the most far-reaching and important facts upon which competent students of the physiology of sex agree is that human
4

beings are actually, and to a larger degree potentially, bisexual. The composite of masculine and feminine characters which we all
possess has sometimes been called the "mosaic of androgeny"

from

the Greek meaning male-female. During the embryonic development of the sex glands of a
individual, these glands as first

human

formed are equally male and female.

outer portion (cortex) is female in nature while the central portion (medulla) is male. In the development of the female ovary,
the internal portion remains, throughout life, morphologically like testes (male) tissue. Women excrete on the average about 70 per cent as much male hormones as do men, and presumably they arise
in this

The

male

tissue.

During the development of the male sex glands

the outer (female) portion loses its female appearance men produce on the average about 40 per cent Nevertheless early. as much female hormones as women do. Presumably these hor-

the testes

mones

arise

from the

residual female tissue

which remains as a

part of the testis tissue. As a result of the androgynic character of animals, certain re-

markable transformations have been brought about, particularly in fowls. In some species of birds it is common for only one ovary

and to produce all the egg cells, while the other ovary remains quiescent. Authentic cases have been cited in which the functioning ovary of a fowl has become diseased
to develop functionally in females so that she ceased to be able to produce eggs; later, however, the cortical tissue of the other ovary developed and became a testis,

capable of producing male sperm

cells,

and the fowl took on male

(she-he)
5

appearance and
in
its

characteristics.

The fowl

was

at

one stage

existence a mother,

and

later a father.

In the

human

species true hermaphrodites

who

are unequivocably

ENDOCRINE GLANDS AND BEHAVIOR

III

both male and female are extremely rare only about twenty cases are on record. In only three of these was there an ovary on one side

and a

testis

on the

testicular tissues

other; usually the glands are mixed, ovarian and being associated in the same structure. Much more

common

male pseudohermaphroditism, in which the individual has male sex glands and is therefore a male, but preis

so-called

sumably because of abnormal hormone production (and resulting

feminization) has many female secondary sex characteristics, such as absence of growth of hair on body and face, high-pitched voice,

feminine figure,

etc.

In these cases the production of female sex

hormones has

for

some reason predominated over the production

cases represent

of male hormones.

Such unfortunate
however,
is

in keeping with the idea that each of us

an extreme condition which, is a mixture

all

of maleness

and femaleness. There are

gradations between the

hermaphrodite and people whom we regard as normally male or female. The normal males and females are mixtures not only with
respect to their secretion of
also

male and female sex hormones but

with respect to the possession of masculine and feminine traits. However, maleness and femaleness are not single factors by any

means, and an individual therefore may be masculine in one or more respects and be feminine in other ways.

For purposes of
with
fair accuracy

illustration let us

may

list the following traits which be recognized as belonging more to one sex

than the other.

Traits

Which Arc

Traits

Which Are

Predominantly Male

Predominantly Female
gracefulness

muscularity

prominence of larynx
hairiness of face

inconspicuousness of larynx possession of a "skin you love to

low pitch of voice

callousness

touch" high pitch of voice

sensitiveness

mathematical inclination

love of music and art

lower degree of emotionality uncommunicativeness

higher degree of emotionality

talkativeness

112

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

traits in

The

one column or the other are

not,

however, con-

sistently found together in the same person. Masculine and feminine traits may readily be possessed by the same individual. A man with

a very prominent larynx may be exceedingly fond of music or a woman who is very emotional may have more than the normal

amount

of hair on her face. Both males

and females are complex

mixtures possessing various masculine and feminine characteristics to varying degrees. This is in keeping with the fact that there are

male and several female sex hormones and complex lationships with other glands.
several

interre-

The

fact that so-called

male and female

traits

and

abilities are

so inconsistently possessed by representatives of the respective sexes made the basis of a powerful and valid appeal, on the of the part anthropologist Margaret Mead, for society to recognize

has been

this fact

and allow individuals

6

which they may

to develop the abilities and leanings social stigma, regardless of whether without possess

they are males or females. When a woman is less feminine than the average, we may say that she is mannish, and when a man is less masculine than his
fellows,
ever,

he may be labeled a sissy. Nature is probably wise, howin endowing people with both types of traits. It is very ques-

tionable whether a 100 per cent male and a 100 per cent female could get along together. This is an entirely hypothetical question since no such individuals ever existed. Any man who boasts that

he is a 100 per cent he-man must, in order to substantiate his claim, bare a chest which is adorned with no telltale features and submit
a sample of urine which contains no female sex hormones. probable result of unfortunate hormonal aberrations

is

soac-

called homosexuality

which

exists in several

forms and which

cording to some

authorities affects to a greater or lesser degree as

many

as

5 per cent of the population. Studies have indicated that in

is

certain types of such individuals there the amounts of male and female sex
is

an abnormal

ratio

between

hormones

excreted.

While

it

not possible at present to recognize such individuals by an analyof their

sis

hormone

secretion, they constitute a serious social prob-

ENDOCRINE GLANDS AND BEHAVIOR

lem, and
it

H3
means

seems highly probable that a more thorough study of

of the

the secretion

various

hormones would

result

in

whereby they could be recognized. Better yet, it seems probable that they may be successfully treated. At the present time not all
of the pertinent hormones that influence sex are known chemically and the best methods for determination or assay involve determination of several together. It is possible that further chemical and physiological advance will have to be made before anything of

material value can be done for such individuals.

ever, are optimistic.
7

Some

reports,

how-

There are probably a good many instances in which hormones or hormone-like substances are involved in the body mechanism, in
addition to the better

known hormones.*
phenomena
of this sort are
indiis

Among

the examples of borderline

as fear

and anger. When an of the sensation has vidual being hungry, it is found there
hunger and the emotions such

an

accompaniment of typical hunger contractions in the stomach, which can be observed by X-ray. These come and go with the senhas been found by experiment that blood transfused from a starving dog to a normal one will induce
sation of hunger. In dogs
it

typical

hunger contractions in the normal dog for a normal period

ten to thirty minutes. Something similar in function to a evidently been released into the blood of the starving

of time

hormone has
dog.
It

appears likely that there

also a satiation

hormone

not only a hunger hormone but which works in the opposite direction
is

*The more widely known endocrine glands, with the hormones they produce, are as follows: intestinal mucosa secretin, cholecystokinin, enteroinsulin; thyroid thyroid hormone (containing thygastrone; pancreas roxin); parathyroid parathormone; adrenal medulla adrenaline; adrenal cortex testosterone, androsterone, etc.; ovary corticosterone, etc.; testis
estriol, estrone; corpus luteum progesterone; pituitary growth hormone, prolactin, thyreotropic hormone, parathyreotropic hormone, corticotropic hormone, pancreatropic hormone, fat metabolism, gonadotropic (sex) hormones.

estradiol,

114
because

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

when

the blood of a recently fed dog is transfused into a the stomach contractions in the starving dog are one, starving abolished for a period of five to six hours. Other evidence that the
secretion of digestive juices

and the contractions in the

intestine are
intes-

controlled by
tinal tissue
is

hormones

is

found in experiments in which

tions; in this

transplanted and severed from all its nerve conneccase it may contract and secrete periodically and keep

pace with the stomach although nerve connections are entirely

8

lacking.

That strong emotions release hormone-like agents is indicated by the fact that the normal secretion of gastric juice and the normal
stomach and
intestinal

movements

(peristalsis)

which accompany

digestion are promptly abolished in dogs and cats for a considerable period of time when they become highly excited. It is well known
that strong emotional states such as grief, fright or anger banish

hunger and may upset the whole gastrointestinal system. Serious stomach disorders may arise because of continual anxiety and fear

and

this is

states

may

not inexplicable when we realize how readily emotional affect the metabolism of tissues, secretion of digestive
gastrointestinal contents.

juices

and the forward movement of the

released

In emergencies involving extreme fear or anger, adrenaline is by the medullary portion of the adrenal glands and has a

number

of important effects which emergency. The heart is caused to

may aid in coping with the pump more forcefully, thus

more
effectively; sugar is

sending fuel and oxygen to the

tissues

released into the blood to nourish the tissues; air passages to the lungs dilate permitting freer breathing, and the coagulation time

of the blood
tractions

is

greatly decreased.

The stomach and

intestinal con-

and

secretions cease

this

phase of physiological functionIt

ing can wait until the emergency is over. But the situation is not as simple as it may seem.
adrenaline
is

appears that

released only during emergencies and that its action the other hand, whenever the sympathetic nerves short-lived.
is

On

are stimulated they cause the release of another hormone-like substance, sympathin. It is similar to adrenaline in its action but not

ENDOCRINE GLANDS AND BEHAVIOR

identical. It is

H5

produced

at the

but

its effects

are not local because

endings of the sympathetic nerves it is transported by the blood

active for

to adjacent areas

where

it

may remain

some

time.

The
is

chemical nature of sympathin remains unknown; in fact, there evidence for the existence of two different kinds of sympathin.
is

It

probable that

members

roles in connection

of the sympathin family play important with emotional states. Another hormone-like

substance, acetyl choline, is released by parasympathetic nerves. It is a known chemical substance but its relationships to the situation under discussion are not as important as those of sympathin

because, unlike sympathin, acetyl- choline is readily destroyed by tissues and its effect is therefore local and transitory.

One

of the most fundamental facts in connection with the prob-

lem of the

relationship between endocrine glands and behavior is that each individual person has a set of endocrine glands which taken together act distinctively. Each person who is in any sense

normal has all the working glands, but for each individual they have shapes, sizes, structures, and presumably activities, which are distinctive. For example, the human thyroid gland may vary in

Most commonly

is larger on the average in women. there are actually two glands, each about two inches long, connected by an isthmus about half an inch wide. But this isthmus is often absent or is replaced by a strand of connective

weight from 8 to 50 grams and

tissues; the shapes of the lobes differ

and they may or may not be

from the near-by thymus gland. The thymus gland may have additional thyroid tissue embedded in it. The same type of variation is observed in other glands and is reflected in a variability of activity. In the case of the thyroid, which

mixed with

tissue

releases a single

hormone, there is a wide divergence of activity and many people have glands that are substantially above or below the extreme average in the amount of hormone they release. Only

Il6

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

glands

cases receive medical treatment. In severe cases overactive glands are partially removed by surgery and in cases of with too

low

activity thyroid

up

for

from an animal source may be fed to make the deficiency. Most of us, however, accept our thyroid

glands and our other glands just as we accept our facial features, and make the best of the particular assortment that nature has provided.
Pituitary glands in different individuals

do not vary
differ

as

widely in

gross size as
ture.

markedly in strucThe best available information indicates that for normal adult

do thyroid glands but they

males the glands vary in weight from about 350 to 800 milligrams. There is some tendency for the glands to increase in size with
In women they are larger on the average and increase in with succeeding pregnancies. The gland hangs by a stalk in a small cavity almost in the exact center of the head. It consists of
stature.

size

three

main

parts, the fore part (anterior lobe), the

hind part (pos-

terior lobe), and the middle part (pars intermedia). The latter is made up partly of colloid material and partly epithelium. The fore

part

of greatest importance in the production of hormones. The range of distribution of the various parts of normal pitui9 ~ * taries is as follows : n Cent n Per Cent Per
is
.

Anterior lobe
Posterior lobe

56.00
7.10
0.13 0.02

to to

92.00
41.30
3.64
10.39

of the whole of the whole of the whole

f

Epithelium (pars intermedia)

Colloid (pars intermedia)

to
to

whole

Microscopic studies of the cellular make-up of the anterior lobe show that it is made up of roughly three kinds of cells: acidophiles
(acid
staining),

basophiles

(base

staining),

and chromophobes

(non-staining). study of the distribution of these different types of cells in normal pituitaries shows that 37 to 64 per cent are

chromophobes, 23 to 43 per cent are acidophiles, and 9

cent are

to

27 per

in their

which vary widely basophiles. Each of these types of cells, relative numbers, has its own peculiar functions and in
is

some

cases evidence

available as to

which types of

cells

are in-

ENDOCRINE GLANDS AND BEHAVIOR

volved in the production of specific hormones
acidophile that the chromophobe cells should not be
cells

for

produce the growth hormone. There

example, the is evidence

as

lumped together

one

kind but actually are of more than one type. Every investigator

who

has studied pituitary glands has noted the wide diversity of the

specimens obtainable from normal individuals. Many specimens have been obtained for study from normal men who have met
accidental death.

In view of the fact that the pituitary gland is made up of several types of structures with several kinds of cells in each, and since it

has
is

many functions producing many independent hormones it not so surprising that its gross size does not vary through extremely wide limits. Because of irregularities of form there is room

for very wide divergence in the structures producing individual hormones. In the case of glands which produce a single hormone
it is

quite customary

and proper

to speak of

them

as

being over-

speak of the pituitary gland as being overactive or underactive is, however, meaningless unless one has
active or underactive.

To

a specific hormone. There is every reason to think that an individual pituitary gland may be overactive in producing one horin
respect to another, and of average activity in the production of a third. Without going into further detail we may say broadly that each

mind

mone, underactive with

individual possesses a set of endocrine glands which is distinctive in the size of the different types of structures and the numbers of
specific

kinds of

cells.

Presumably

cells

of the

same

size

may
is

also

vary in their tendency to produce hormones, and in addition the

hormones produced responsiveness of individuals to the

by no

means uniform.

We

should not leave the subject of individual variation in en*

docrine glands without suggesting the importance of over activity or underactivity in the sex glands. There are wide differences in
these structures

and a high degree of

sex drive variability in the

should be expected. Standards of what

may be

regarded as a normal sex

life

prac-

Il8
tically

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

do not
exist,

because of the intimate nature of the necessary information and the emotional and personal aspects of individual
behavior. Underactivity of the sex glands in both males and females is widespread and well known in medical practice. Overactivity is

recognized less often, partly because a strong sex drive is considered normal. Illegal and excessive indulgence, and even criminal indulgence is blamed on human nature rather than upon the nature
of the individual

human

being concerned. Probably

it

would be an

exaggeration to say that if the sex drive of some individuals were rated in terms of horsepower, that of others should be measured in

terms of mousepower, but there can be no reasonable doubt of wide divergencies. This oversexed condition is known as satyriasis or

nymphomania, but there is comparatively little knowledge as to what causes it or what, if anything, can be done about it. Since sex drives are among the things which we do not measure,

we do

not

know how

individuals

compare with one another or

to

whether the intensity of the sex urge is directly related rapidity with which the urge returns after it is satisfied.

the
in-

An

tensive study of hormone excretion may tell us much that we do not know. fact which emphasizes the complexity of the problem and the great possibilities of individual variation is that while re-

moval of the sex glands

the sex drive
urge,
it

in males (castration) usually diminishes

it.

does not .always abolish

Eunuchs may have sex

and

cases

late as

long as twenty-five years after castration.

testes.

have been reported in which they were able to copu10 In such cases
sex drive arising

there

must be hormones promoting

In
all,

from

tissues

other than the

activity

there are a

number

of aspects to sex

and a number of hormones and endocrine glands that may

be involved.
Variability also exists in

phenomena

in

which the operation of

hormones

is

ties believe

that there

probable but not fully recognized. Competent authoriis a wide divergence in individuals in the

complex functioning of the autonomic nervous system, which regulates most of our vital functions without our conscious effort. We

ENDOCRINE GLANDS AND BEHAVIOR

have already indicated the hormone-like principles which appear to
be involved in these processes.

Although the mind has in general no direct control over the work of the autonomic system we have no method whereby we can
there is by no means a complete barrier between our higher thought centers and the impulses which travel to and from our internal organs. In this,

consciously send a message to our kidneys or liver

appear to differ widely. In some the autonomic nervous system tends to go its own way, working smoothly and relatively undisturbed by thought processes and seldom impinging
also, individuals

upon the mental

life

of the individual. In others, however, the

barriers are relatively

weak

sult that the functioning of the internal

(or the impulses strong) with the reorgans is greatly affected

affect the

by the mind and probably also greatly

mind.

Difficulties

in the functioning of the internal organs tend to register themselves as a diffuse awareness of something wrong, with a result that

worry and anxiety may

tions are

result.

more

intense in

some

Anxiety, fear, anger and similar emoindividuals than in others and this

probably affects the autonomic nervous system and internal organs

in varying degrees.

This subject
actions.

is

an involved one and no one has more than a

inter-

sketchy and somewhat speculative picture of the various

8
It

should be reasonably clear to everyone

who
and

considers the
factors

subject that

inasmuch

as

we may

inherit

from our forebears

which determine the

color of our skin, hair

features, the lengths of

our fingers and

toes, etc.,

our facial eyes, so we should also

expect to inherit factors

shape and activities of course that no modification can take place through influences which exist during our lives.

which would determine the general size, of our endocrine glands. This does not mean

Evidence on the question of inheritance of endocrine character-

120
istics

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

by

human
it

beings

is

certainly not contrary to this assumption;

neither does

appear to be very definite or extensive. In connec-

tion with animals, however, there have been

many

interesting

and

conclusive experiments and observations.

For example, Riddle has found that one hereditary strain of doves required twenty times as much prolactin to elicit a response as did another strain of doves. This indicates that susceptibility to
the effects of a

hormone

are inherited. (Prolactin in doves

and

pigeons causes the secretion of crop milk with which the young are fed.) Also he was able to produce by selective breeding two strains of doves, one characterized by having large thyroid glands, the
other

small

shown

thyroids. Stockard's investigations with dogs have that they belong to endocrine types and these types are

hereditary.

striking example of hereditary transmission of endocrine tendency is that of dwarf mice which have pituitary glands entirely

acidophile cells are the ones which produce the growth-promoting hormone and the hereditary dwarfed condition of the mice is due to the lack of this hormone.

lacking in acidophile

cells.

The

When

growth hormone preparations are administered

11

to the

dwarf

mice they grow to the size of ordinary mice. There are no serious doubts that individual human beings inherit endocrine tendencies as they do peculiarities of metabolism

and many other bodily

to be a single tendency

features.

The

inheritance of

what appears
heritis

may, however, involve a number of

able factors, and the investigation of the genetic relationships

not

simple.

We have already encountered numerous examples in which it seems obvious that the hormonal pattern would have a great influence on the behavior or personality of the individual. The study of the relationships between endocrine glands and personality is a
difficult

and

largely

unworked

field.

ENDOCRINE GLANDS AND BEHAVIOR

who have

121

Hoskins correctly appraises the situation when he says in connection with the pituitary gland, "For the most part, endocrinologists
been concerned with the pituitary have been
little

inter-

ested in the psychological aspects of the subject. Conversely

few

well-trained psychologists have

found

their

productive interests in

the endocrine field."

study of endocrine-personality relationships

must involve competent consideration of both the endocrine phase and the psychological phase. If either phase is neglected or weak
the whole investigation collapses. Possibly the most serious available study of the relationship of glands to personality is that of Freeman who made autopsy studies on the glands of 1400 psychotic patients dying at St. Elizabeth's

He Hospital in Washington, D. C., over a period of ten years. classifies individuals into four fundamental personality types
cycloid, paranoid, schizoid,

12

and

epileptoid.

The

cycloid

is

"extro-

verted, industrious, subject to fluctuations in

mood,

athletic

and

highly sexed."

paranoid embittered and calculating." The schizoid is "introverted, retiring, self-deprecatory, studious, meticulous and low in physical vitality."

The

is

"reserved, suspicious, antagonistic,

The

epileptoid

is

"moody, pedantic, devout and subject

to paroxys-

mal headaches,

rages, fits."

On

the basis of weighing the endocrine

glands of the 1400 psychotic patients who could be placed in these groups, he could find little relationship between the comparative

weights of any gland and the personality types of the owners. The most suggestive relationship which he found was with respect to the weight of the testes of the male patients. The weights varied

from 10

to 45

grams and large

testes

were found to be associated

inci-

to a considerable extent

with schizoid personalities. Somewhat

interesting observation,

dentally,

he made the

by comparing the
testicles,

characteristics of those possessing large and small

that the

possession of large testicles

was

associated with circulatory death,

hirsutism, bald crown and homosexuality, whereas the possession of small testicles was associated with large hips, gynecomastia

(mammary

development), hairless body.

122

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

which psychologists generally

A serious limitation of this study is the fact that the fundamental

listed are not ones personality types

could accept. There are several characteristics under each classification which may be combined in one individual; for example, a

person could be highly sexed, suspicious, retiring and moody, and so have one characteristic from each of the four types. The possession of each of the

arrived at objectively.
to opinion

component personality traits catalogued was not Too much on the psychological side was left
a

and judgment. There would be

much

better chance to

find revealing relationships between endocrine glands and personalof cells, in the pituitary for example, were ity if the various types

considered separately rather than if merely the weight of the whole gland were determined. Such a procedure would have added enor-

mously

to the task involved in the research

and

it

is

doubtful
basis,

whether, using the fundamental personality types as a

any

very clear-cut results would have been obtained. Here again, however, it is safe to conclude that the relationships between endocrine

glands and personality are not simple. In this connection it may be cited that Gushing examined post-

mortem seventy

pituitary glands

from psychotic

patients in state

hospitals without finding

what he considered a single normal gland. Excessive amounts of connective tissue was often present or there was an abnormal assortment of cell types, but he was not able to
and
13

discover a correlation between the type of abnormality found

the type of psychosis involved.

Personality traits in animals have been studied from the endocrine point of view with interesting results. It was noted for example that

under controlled conditions involving fear tended to defecate and urinate, whereas other rats under exactly the same
certain rats

conditions remained calm and self-controlled.

The two

types of rats

were kept separately and by inbreeding it was found that the tendencies were inherited, and that the emotional and the fearless rats
constituted

these strains

two independent strains. When the glands of rats from were compared, it was found that the emotional rats

ENDOCRINE GLANDS AND BEHAVIOR

had markedly
trait

123

larger adrenal, thyroid

and

pituitary glands than the

fearless rats. It

should be noted in

this case that the

psychological

which was the

basis of the investigation

was

definite,

and was

not a hodge-podge of traits. In our discussion of the relationship of endocrines to personality and behavior we have sought to avoid false implications with regard
to the control of personality

by hormones.

It is clear in

many

cases

that the presence or absence of a hormone will influence the behavior of the individual. However, the means whereby hormones

are released are imperfectly understood, as are the possibilities of are not acquainted with the degree of variable susceptibility. control which the higher thought centers may have on endocrine

We

activity

and

effectiveness,

and are not in a

position to enthrone the

endocrine glands to the extent of regarding them as the sole occupants of the driver's seat.

IO

Our rapid survey of some of the known facts regarding endocrine glands and their functioning reinforces and emphasizes the importance of individuality and the futility of expecting every hu-

man

being to behave in accordance with a pattern which

we

ascribe

to the average

man.
their activities

While our knowledge of the endocrine glands and

is

fragmentary, the existence of a large variety of endocrine patterns in different individuals is certain. Heredity plays an important role
in determining one's endocrine pattern and this in turn is an imneed more adequate knowledge as factor in behavior.

portant
to

We

how

individuals differ

from one another with

respect to endo-

crine glands, and we need to do our social thinking in terms of individuals who differ widely from each other. Problems of sex and marriage, for example, cannot be solved as long as we think

only in terms of average individuals. Available knowledge about hormones and their physiological and of personality psychological effect does not make the problem

124
simple,

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

and the discovery of
correlations

between endocrine features

and personality
field

characteristics constitutes a fertile

and productive

for investigation. In order to consider this problem more to deal with seriously we must be in a position psychological capacities and traits. These will be treated in the following chapter.

VIL

Psychological Traits and Capacities

Nature never rhymes her children nor maizes

two men

alife.
R.

W. EMERSON

PURPOSES OF HUMANics as outlined in the

J-

first

chapter of this
still

book are

related to those of the scientific psychologist but

they differ
to the

fundamentally.

The

psychologist

is

interested in "getting
is

bottom of things" so far as the working of the mind cerned and as a thorough-going scientist he must have no

con-

special bias or purpose other than to find and understand the truth. Such an attitude is absolutely fundamental to progress and the type of

study which

we

are advocating has everything to gain

from a strong

and well-developed psychology. But the humanicist, if we may call him such, has an ax to grind; he is interested in the type of psychological and other social betterment.

knowledge

that can be used

and applied to

standpoints it is regrettable, but on the other hand it entirely natural, that the general public should be more interested in science which accomplishes things than it is in pure science which
is

From some

is devoted to the love of learning for its own sake. Pure psychology has suffered from lack of support for the reason that it has been concerned with discovering the fundamentals of the mind. When

psychology devotes itself to industrial or social purposes and is able to develop measures that have practical utility, then the general
public pricks up its ears. Of course the practical measures develop the public does not entirely out of purely scientific findings but
125

126

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

this.
it

always appreciate

World War

II,

when

value of psychology in becomes more fully known, will be a potent

The tremendous

stimulus to popular support in future years.

The
beings

basis
is

on which we are advocating the study of human entirely practical and unless useful and valuable results
it, it

come from

will

have missed

its

mark

entirely.

The

distinction

between a pure science and a practical study is illustrated by the contrast between a chemist who is the fundamental scientist en-

gaged in studying atoms and molecules and the details of transformations, and the applied technologist who may be
ested, let us say, in extending the uses of

their
inter-

wood and

in an improve-

ment

of

its

qualities.

The

technologist

must build upon the work

of the fundamental scientist but his purposes are quite different.

Our concern about

practical concern

psychological capacities and traits is then a about characteristics that have or may have im-

portant applications in everyday affairs, and in affairs which are perhaps not so common but are nevertheless important for public welfare. Let us turn to the psychologists for help.
first to emphasize early in this century the of mental activity to the point where the indianalyzing possibility visible mental factors might be recognized and dealt with. He com-

Titchener was the

pared the work of the psychologist with that of the chemist and thought of mental activities as complex or composite in nature, and
capable of being broken down into elements in much the same way that the chemist is able to break down a complex chemical
substance into
its

constituent elements.

Experience since Titchener's time has showed that this idea, while a laudable one, is too ambitious to be brought to fruition within the
foreseeable future, simply because there are too many mental elements intertwined in what may superficially appear to be a relatively simple

mental process. Our knowledge of inheritance and

PSYCHOLOGICAL TRAITS
of genes (and cytoplasmic factors) which must be that the particular assortment of characters which shows concerned each of us has obtained from his forebears is composed of an enor-

the

number

mous number

of units.

search for fundamental psychological

elements could hardly be successful without a recognition of these

inheritance factors.

Many attempts have been made by psychologists to analyze the various traits which men may possess. Allport and Odbert, for
example, have collected and published all of the English words, principally adjectives, that may be used to designate more or less
distinctive behavior.
17,953.

The

total

number

of trait

names found was

Of

sistent traits, rather

these about 25 per cent were truly designations for perthan for momentary states of mind or mood or

words carrying an implied judgment regarding desirability or un1 desirability. There are approximately three hundred traits or supposed
traits for

which psychological

tests

these there are a

number

of near duplications

have been devised; among and many which are

so composite as to

make

their significance highly questionable.

Kelley narrowed the field to relatively few traits of outstanding importance. He did not have our objective in mind discrete psychological characteristics that are of social importance and some of his traits are therefore of too general a nature; e.g., "a social trait" and "a general factor." Even sex was considered as a trait. 2

The most recent of many attempts to B. Cattell who made an exhaustive and
termine the personality
traits

of classify traits is that

R.

mathematical study to de-

He fully recognizes the necessary limitations of his type of investigation when he says, "The objective test is obviously the only scientifically acceptable
which are primary.

foundation, for establishing traits, but for factor analysis it suffers from the severe disadvantage that even a set of tests deliberately
devised to be very diverse, may tap only a small angle of the personality." Because of this limitation he relied not upon objective
tests,

but upon behavior ratings by individuals, as his fundamental

3

data.

Some

of CattelPs traits are included in the discussion below but

128

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

others are of too general a nature to be useful for our purpose; for instance, "intelligence" and "positive character integration." He was

concerned with personality traits, which are not necessarily identical with the psychological characteristics we are seeking. It seems that
in order to discover and establish fundamental psychological characteristics it will be necessary in the nature of the case to study personalities

tive

by objective means and not to rely on a study of descripterms which happen to be already at hand. In natural sciences
the coining of

phenomena are usually recognized and described first; names to designate the phenomena comes later and
little difficulty. It

usually offers

seems likely that in the search for psychoelements there has been too much emphasis on statistical logical
also

studies

human
if

upon intensive investigation of individual individuals beings. possess the characteristic traits and the traits are real they should be discoverable where they exist.
little

and too

The

but

Their distribution throughout the population is an important item, this can be ascertained after they are recognized.

We shall
others,

make

use of

all

of these psychological contributions

and

particularly
abilities,

Thurstone's

outstanding work on primary

mental

appear to
science

in our attempts to outline those characteristics which 4 be of greatest social importance.

It is entirely

we

appropriate that in developing this practical applied take cognizance, wherever necessary, of ordinary traits

such as are recognizable by the layman. The use of common designations for these, even at the risk of appearing unscientific, is also
justified.

technologist who deals with wood, for example, does not hesitate to consider its grain, its hardness, its tendency to split,
ability to stand

The

its

wear and take a

finish.

These are

qualities that

may recognize; they are not the result of exacting scientific analysis, yet they are nonetheless important so far as the uses of wood are concerned.
the
for the purposes of scientific psychology at least one member of the profession (G. Allport) has voiced his opposition to the

man on

the street

Even

W.

tendency of his fellows to belittle the common-sense approach. He says, "In common speech everyone presupposes traits when he char-

PSYCHOLOGICAL TRAITS
acterizes himself or his acquaintances.

129
says, is gruff

This man, one

is

and

reticent but a

hard worker; that

man

fastidious, talkative

and

penurious. Normally the psychologist too talks in these terms. But as soon as he enters his laboratory or classroom he is likely to leave

common
[highly

sense behind
technical]

him and embrace one

theories.
. . .

or another of the thinks

of

scientific

Rightly he

common common

sense as a faulty guide. Yet in the matter of human traits sense is remarkably well-seasoned with experience, and 5 deserves the complete rebuff it receives." scarcely To select those characteristics which are highly important from

the standpoint of humanics

I

is

may make

to

do so

will be wholly

a difficult task and any effort which on a tentative basis. The char-

should show promise of being important from the social point of view; they should be as measurable and as independent of each other as possible. Such characteristics probably will not be, in
acteristics

the scientific sense, elementary and indivisible; they will be complexes and many of them will have elements in common. As I make
clear in later chapters the

be an

effort of vast proportions,

development of the science of man will and far-reaching in its effects. Any
traits

attempt

made

here to analyze and select important

or char-

acteristics will

be merely preliminary and suggestive, and not too

closely tied to the highly technical aspects of psychology.

Psychological characteristics may have social importance for one or more of the following reasons: (i) they may be directly involved

of

and between human groups be (2) they may intellectually essential to social progress and advancement; (3) they may be emotionally invaluable in
in the harmonious relations within
all sizes;

life; (4) they may make possible the performance of occupational tasks. In brief, people need to be harmonious, intelligent, artistic (in the broad sense) and practical, and the traits

the enrichment of

and

capacities

which are most important from our standpoint are

is

those that contribute to these four categories. The idea that any one single characteristic

so outstandingly
is

important erroneous but in some cases vicious. tifically

as to be

enthroned above

all

others

The

not only scienconcept of gen-

13

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

has undoubted practical utility, particularly as a it is useful, ability to accept formal scholastic
training;

eral intelligence

measure of

though not infallible, in the segregation of morons, imbeciles and idiots. But general intelligence is a catch-all phrase; it is not one but several, and to emphasize it as a single endowment is capacity
to

do violence

to the scientific facts.

Furthermore

if

general

intelli-

gence ratings are used in connection with individuals sidered normal or above, they are liable to create an
chological attitude

who

are con-

unhealthy psy-

on the part of those whose

scores are either

below

or above averageinvolving loss of morale on the one hand and creation of cockiness and conceit on the other. thoroughly scien-

tific

difficulty, in

approach accordance with

to the

problem of intelligence largely obviates this

later discussions.

Drives. Before

we

characteristics or traits of individuals

can deal properly with the other psychological we shall have to discuss cer-

tain inescapable factors

are physiological in nature namely, the drives or motivations which lie behind behavior. By the study of the behavior of animals it is possible to gain

which often

insight into these factors.

Hunger

is

one of the drives which causes

experimental rats to become active. Approximately every four hours they become active for some minutes, then if food is available they
eat

and

cease their activity.

is

That the sex urge

is

also a drive

causing

activity

readily

shown

rotating drum so that its occurs every four or five days, and regularly coinciding with estrus there is an increased bodily activity of 50 to 100 per cent. study of hunger-driven, thirst-driven, sex-driven and exploration-driven activities of rats indicates that the first two types of activities were variable in that a highly particular rat which seemed

in the case of a female rat kept in a can be The recorded. estrus activity cycle

to be highly responsive to

hunger or

thirst at

one time would not

necessarily respond well at another time even though the condi-

PSYCHOLOGICAL TRAITS
were supposedly the same. This might be interpreted that the hunger and thirst drives are fluctuating in their
tions
to

131

mean
the

intensity

and

that valid comparisons are therefore difficult to

make.

On

other

hand individual rats were more consistent with respect to the sex urge and the urge to explore, and tended to have the respective 6 urges to about the same degree at different times. The same fundamental drives which affect the behavior of experimental animals

human

also affect the behavior of human beings, but in the of the motivation become beings psychological aspects so complex that they are difficult to analyze. General vitality, sex

knowledge (investigative) are drives of a very general nature which are of great importance from the standpoint of our interest. These and other motivations have physiological as
thirst for

urge and

well as psychological bases which are complex and their interrelations are not clear. Psychological motivations may involve numerous
cultural factors as well as the abilities of the individual.

An

indi-

vidual

may lack a drive to learn to play the piano because he has no aptitude for music or because such activity is not looked upon with
approval by his family and friends.

On

the other

hand

if

the indi-

vidual's aptitude for

music

is

strong enough and

his general vitality

great enough, the cultural influences may be completely overcome. Motivations will enter as factors in several of the characteristics
listed

below, some of which are expressive in nature.

a.
is

one of the

Expansiveness and RedusivenessJ This pair of opposing traits easiest to recognize and to rate with certainty and con-

sistency.

The

expansive person always makes himself known, gives

the world the full benefit of his thoughts and

makes

it

difficult for
all

people to ignore

him.

The opposing tendency (and

exemplified by the person

there are

gradations in between) is into his shell like a clam, keeps his thoughts to himself, and allows himself to be ignored, even though he may have good ideas.

who draws

132

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

qualities are related to those of talkativeness

These
ousness.
persist

and

gregari-

They

are observed even in

young

children and tend to

throughout life. There is nothing fundamentally good about one trait or bad about the other. People who are reclusive can rejustification

mark with
if

that this

would be a boring world indeed

everyone were expansive, and those

who

are expansive can with

equal justification point to the uninteresting world which would were clam-like. Fortunately most people lie between exist if
everyone the extremes between the urban dweller

who

is

into everything,

and night out, and the hermit who lives most contentedly in a mountain cabin wrapped in his own solitude.
day in
Expansiveness can, especially

when

extreme, be highly annoying

and hence
ance has

a very important trait from the social standpoint, Cason in his study of several hundred causes for personal annoyis

listed

about a dozen that were selected by a group of

8

people as being particularly irritating.

related to expansiveness
line,
:

Of

these, six are all closely

habitual arguing, crowding in front in a

speaking in a dictatorial manner, putting hands on unnecesattention in public, and continual sarily, boisterousness, attracting

criticizing.

In order to
is

ness the reader

importance of expansiveasked to think of the people whom he most

call attention to the

How many of them are quiet-mannered, with thoroughly a habit of tending to their own business?
dislikes.
b. Persistence

and Changeableness. These contrary

traits

are not

and probably not as widespread as are expansiveness and reclusiveness. For children and others who are characterized
as clear-cut
to be a general tendency toward perseverance or the opposite, but for mature individuals whether they persevere or not depends upon the task concerned and the motiva-

by immaturity there appears

tion behind
if it is

In general, one is more likely to persevere in a task not so easy as to be boring or so difficult as to be almost
it.

and it is difficult impossible. The individual's ability comes into play to construct tests which may be applied in a wholesale manner.
in these

Probably both habit and fundamental inheritance come into play traits. They are somewhat related to the problem of funda-

PSYCHOLOGICAL TRAITS
mental
vitality

133

and tendency toward fatigue; very

are constitutionally unable to

likely there are

individuals

who

verance in any activity. Fortunately there remarkable persistence and may hold a job which involves the
repetition of a useful routine task for

show extreme perseare those who show a

years at a stretch.

many

Such
suited

individuals,

who

in a sense are the salt of the earth,

must have the

capacity for persistence

to their abilities.

and

at the
is

same time the task must be

A mind

which

lems does not readily adjust itself are not called into play at all.
the other.
lessness

capable of solving intricate probto a routine in which its abilities

Again we are not justified in extolling one trait and depreciating While persistence has its place, changeableness and resthave
their place also. If everyone

had the

trait of

persisting

him, the whole world would be a doggedly series of ruts and there would be no climbing out. c. Dominance and Submission. These opposing traits belong to
at the task assigned

the

same general group as those already discussed, and like perseverance and its opposite are not of general application but change

somewhat from

situation to situation. Usually

when two

people

have extensive dealings with one another, one of them tends to dominate, have his way, and win the arguments while the other tends to be submissive and conciliatory. The one who agrees and
placates

may

indirectly gain his point

roles are

by

dominant and submissive

still

this very means, but the observed. In marital rela-

tionships and others, troubles arise when two dominant personalities come into conflict and when neither can assume the submissive role.

While

certain individuals tend

toward dominance in

all

their

relations throughout childhood and adult life, they nevertheless may in the presence of an individual who for some reason is more

dominant than themselves (an employer, a wife or even a child) assume perfectly the submissive role. From the standpoint of their value to society, submission is not desirable and dominance undesirable, or vice versa. If everyone

were dominant there would be

out of the collision of

no one

to dominate,
to.

and

if all

were submissive there would be no

one to submit

The

conflicts

which

arise

134

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

traits

dominant
is

desirable that

are highly important in social organization, and it we know more about how these traits arise and

they can be turned into constructive rather than destructive channels. This subject will be touched on further in later chapters.
d.

how

some have
art,

Strong and Wea\ Emotions. People not only differ in that their emotions more readily aroused by music, others by others by sex, etc., but some have a high emotional capacity
not.

and others do

There are individuals whose emotions are never

aroused to a high intensity by any cause while in others the emotions are easily stirred. Irritability
listed as psychological traits.

and

sensitiveness are

sometimes

These are

related to the emotions

and

are closely linked with physiological functioning.

measure emotional responses by noting blood pressure changes, changes in pulse rate, and electrical
to

Attempts have been made

responses from the skin. One of the difficulties involved is the apparent tendency of individuals under experimental conditions to mask the emotions and thus to produce spurious results. Further
research coupled with avoidance of attempting studies on a wholesale basis should make these associated traits measurable. It is ex-

tremely doubtful whether an individual

necessarily also easily frightened

who

is

easily

angered

is

and

easily elated.
all

Probably

when

we

attempt to

measure the emotions

together the results are

unavoidably confusing.

Emotions enrich
valuable.

life

On

the other

hand

tremendously and hence are extremely if one is excessively emotional he may

be miserable a considerable portion of the time. Unfortunately the emotions of fear and anger can be excessive just as can the pleasurable emotions.
factor of great importance in connection with the study of emotions is that most individuals probably have emotional cycles

which cause them

outward events in

to

their lives.

have their ups and downs, independent of any According to R. B. Hersey, who has

extensive study of this subject, people's emotions most often rise and fall every thirty-three to thirty-six days though about

made an

40 per cent have decidedly shorter or longer cycles. These emotional

PSYCHOLOGICAL TRAITS
cycles are discovered

135

by watching and recording one's own moods and in the case o women the emotional cycle is said to be super9 imposed upon the menstrual cycle. It seems probable that there is wide variability in different indiobservation
viduals in the intensity of their emotional fluctuations. Common tells us that some people are often depressed or elated

and that others have more even temperaments. What is sorely needed in the study of emotional cycles is objective means, probably physiological, whereby it will be possible to determine one's emotional state. Relying

feelings

is

introspection and one's own estimate of his unsatisfactory at best. If the emotional cycles referred to

on

cause pronounced changes in an appreciable number of individuals, this is a phase which needs to be explored very early in the scientific study of any individual specimen, because there is no predicting how

widespread the
logical

effects of the

emotional cycles

may

be.

Many" physio-

and psychological tendencies and

capabilities

may be mark-

edly affected.
e.* Ability to Memorize Rote Material* Among the mental traits or abilities which are relatively easy to recognize is the ability to remember such items as numbers, words, and letters in a rote

fashion without particular regard for any meaningful associations. This is one of the primary mental abilities as developed in Thurstone's valuable study.

This study involved giving a

series of fifty-

six sets of psychological tests to 240 students

and analyzing the

primary
abilities

results mathematically in order to recognize the

which entered into the performance of the tests. This rote-memory as one of the definite mental traits which an indiability stood out vidual may have to a greater or lesser degree independently of his
possession of other abilities. This trait is a desirable one in that
activities
it is

useful in

numerous every-

and may be of great use in learning foreign languages. day The knowledge of foreign languages, on which is based the intercommunication and development of understanding between peoples,
*

The

items listed under

e, f, g, h,

i,

j,

k and

are supposed to constitute

basic inheritable capacities.

136
is

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

of tremendous social importance. Rote memory is only one of the abilities required in learning a foreign tongue, but there is no effecit

tive substitute for

Individuals

who
and

in developing a large vocabulary. have other highly developed abilities

may

be

weak

in this

their activities are restricted to a greater or lesser

degree. However, many men and women who have achieved greatness have doubtless been largely lacking in this ability. It is not primary in the sense of being basic to other mental activities.
/.

Facility with
abilities,

Numbers. This

is

another of Thurstone's primary

and may be possessed in varying degrees in the absence or presence of other traits. Persons having a high score on
mental
rote

memory may have

is

a low score on facility with

numbers and
toward

vice versa.
It

not at

all

unusual for persons

who

are inclined

literature to

reverse

may

be definitely disinclined toward mathematics and the also be true. The late William Lyon Phelps confessed
in the field of mathematical physics

that in mathematics

the

American genius

he was "slow but not sure." Willard Gibbs, and chem-

istry,

revealed his attitude and his lack of inclination toward literary expression when he made his only speech in a meeting of the Yale

faculty.

The

subject being discussed

had

to

do with language and

is

mathematics.

He

arose, spoke four words, "Mathematics

a lan-

guage," and sat down.

These

cases are cited not to indicate that there are

any neces-

sarily opposing qualities in mathematics and language or literature. Some individuals possess aptitudes in both directions to high de-

grees. It

is

of a

number

of importance, however, that we recognize the existence of mental traits which may be possessed or not, in-

dependent of the possession of others. g. Spatial and Visual Imagery. Another

trait is

relatively clear-cut

mental

the capacity to visualize all sorts of objects in two or three dimensions and deal with them in the imagination. It may be measured by testing the ability to distinguish and recognize pictures of right and left hands, regardless of unusual positions; to imagine

the placing of a series of irregular geometrical forms together to

PSYCHOLOGICAL TRAITS

137

produce a cube, and to visualize the operation of a set of gears and determine from the direction of movement of one the direction of

movement
Such

of another distantly related to

it.

This

trait is closely

related to mechanical intelligence.

and indispensable in some phases of mathematics, engineering, physics and chemistry. However, there are phases of mathematics, such as algebraic transformations and
ability is invaluable

number theory, where this aptitude does not enter, and all branches of chemistry and physics do not involve this ability. From the standpoint of mechanical and scientific advancement in arts and
industry visual imagery
is

is

of great importance socially.

However,

it

fortunately

by no means a

necessary prerequisite for social use-

fulness.

Familiarity. This primary mental ability has to do with recognition of words; building anagrams and recognizing correct spellings were important tests used in discovering its existence.
h.

Word

Visual and spatial factors seem to have entered because

all

the tests

involved printed rather than spoken words. This ability is conspicuously absent in some individuals who may be intellectually
very able in other ways they are poor spellers to whom the spelling of a word, right or wrong, is a matter of indifference. Since this
ability
it is
it.

one which enters into the use and learning of languages socially important but it is not essential that everyone possess
is

According to the analysis its possession is not correlated highly with the possession of any other mental trait.
Manipulative Use of Words to Convey Ideas. This ability, according to Thurstone's study, is distinct from what we have called
i.

word

familiarity above

and has

to

do with the meanings of words

and the ideas which they convey. An individual may excel at spelling and recognizing words but be deficient in knowing their meanings or grasping the ideas they convey. On the other hand an
words may be a poor speller. Because of its application in the production and use of all types of literature including scientific writings the social importance of being able to use words
effective user of

would be

difficult to exaggerate. It is

worth noting that the

ability

138

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

as discovered, pertained to written or printed words, and not to of speech which involves other abilities already mentioned. facility person may have a strong aptitude for manipulation and use of
at expressing his thoughts

words in written form, but may be inept

orally.
/.

Inductive Formulation of General Principles.

The

see ability to

a general principle when confronted with a series of specific facts is apparently another special capacity which may or may not be
It is essentially

possessed irrespective of one's other mental abilities or deficiencies. inductive reasoning, which Francis Bacon is some-

times given the credit for fathering, and is exemplified by Newton's discovery of the universal law of gravitation and Darwin's development of the doctrine of evolution. It is exceedingly important in science
this. It certainly is
all thought, and derives its social value from not important that everyone have the ability. are of the dreamer type are essential for the advance-

and in

Those who

ment

of learning, but the formulation of generalizations is not the which enters into the every-day life of a large percentage of the population.
sort of activity

There may be a wide range of strength in the tendency which various individuals possess for formulating generalizations. The capacity is related to the ability to deal with abstractions and probably helps to determine one's attitude toward a subject such as philosophy. Among my acquaintances are two individuals who

have

many

interests in

type of scientific

common in that they have done a similar work. One is strongly inclined toward philososcientific

phizing and dealing with abstractions, while the other thinks philos-

ophy
is

is

pure nonsense. Another

worker of

my acquaintance

so strongly bent toward abstract thinking that it is often impossible for him to get down to earth (in terms of one who is less inclined to abstract thought) so as to make himself understood

by those whose pattern of thought

general and universal in scope. hardly worthy of mention it

is different.

He

tends to avoid

restricted non-controvertible statements in favor of those that are

To him
is

a specific

phenomenon
it

is

notable only

when

seems to

PSYCHOLOGICAL TRAITS
have general meaning and to
fall

139

in line with the broad concepts

and

abstractions entertained in his

mind.
is

common

failing

on the part of some

to

have an urge to

formulate generalizations, even though they lack the ability to

commonly acceptable as valid. Such are liable to make people sweeping and premature generalizations for example, about the characteristics of Orientals, Japanese, Westarrive at conclusions that are
erners,
/.

New Yorkers,

and

so on.

Deduction of Particulars

Applying General

Principles.

This

Thurstone's ability (essentially deductive reasoning) according to study appeared to be a primary mental element; that is, it seemed
to be a mental trait the possession of

which was

relatively inde-

pendent of the possession of others. Its use is exemplified by the work-a-day activities of a lawyer who must be able to apply the
general principles and statements of law to the specific cases with which he is concerned. In mathematics or in any other field where
there are recognized axioms or supposedly fundamental truths, deduction is common. It is a favorite method of authoritarians in

general and
/.

is

used more or

less in all fields of

knowledge.

as originally ability Perceptual Facility. described by Thurstone consists in readily perceiving detail that is

This primary mental

embedded in irrelevant material; for example, finding a particular word in a page of print. To the writer it seems that this ability may
be based to a considerable extent upon excellence of peripheral vision and other similar factors and if so it should not be classed
primarily as a mental ability. Intuition Creativeness
Sense. Admittedly these do not constitute a single independent trait, nor does it appear can be measured with likely that individually or collectively they

m?

Common

a high degree of satisfaction on the basis of present knowledge. On the other hand there appears to be something very real and very

important which
Possibly the

we may

associate with these terms.

most convincing evidence in favor of the existence

* The items from this point on are different in scope from those included in the group e to 1 inclusive.

14

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

No

and importance of intuition as a mental ability may be found in connection with the lives and works of great leaders in art, music,
one would be disposed to question that Bach, for example, was able by some process which still music which to has been able to attract produce appears mysterious
literature, science

and

religion.

and hold the

attention

and

affection of

and probably will for many which he possessed cannot well be

beings for centuries centuries to come. Since the ability

human

attributed to inductive reasoning, or other of the any primary mental abilities listed spatial imagery well in a it set be above, may separate category of intuition or creativeness. To say that it has not been analyzed further scientifically
is

not to say that

it

cannot be.

It is

not unrelated to

common
appeal.

sense, to

be discussed below, because of the universality of

its

Probably the outstanding abilities of William Shakespeare, of Michael Angelo, and of Louis Pasteur could be placed in the same
classification.

Pasteur seemed to be able again and again to arrive at valid conceptions long before he had experimental proof. His

creativeness lay in his ability to formulate hypotheses that turned out on the basis of his own hard work and enthusiasm to be tre-

mendously productive. In the case of all great leaders in art, music, and literature the ability to create material which has a widespread appeal is most significant.

For the purposes of

disputation,
tainly

we may

theological arose by intuition. Certhat Jesus' teaching say

this discussion

and avoiding

all

held responsible. Even

tunities

none of the previously mentioned mental abilities could be if we recognize and exaggerate the oppor-

which he had
ability to

for learning

from

his forebears

and

others,

his selection

and enunciation of the fundamental laws of

previously considered.

life indifall

cate

an

draw upon a Universal Mind, which does not

within the
feature

abilities

The

universality

is

the

which makes the

the fact that after

many

of such outstanding importance ability centuries, minds of the highest quality still

pore over his words and obtain from them ideas that are applicable
to

modern
Intuition,

life.

however, can encompass error as well.

The

typical

PSYCHOLOGICAL TRAITS

M
is

paranoiac has the unshakable intuition that he is being consistently persecuted although the intuition has absolutely no basis in fact.

The inmate

of an asylum

may have

the intuition that he

Napo-

leon Bonaparte or the religious fanatic may have the intuition that he has a special message or insight from the Deity. Intuitors may

grasp universal truth or beauty, they may grasp utter nonsense, or they may grasp a mixture of the two. Intuition that has not proved
itself

by a discriminating wide appeal

often claimed that

is

not to be trusted.
intuitive

It is

women

are

more

than men. They

are said to be

more observant

and

to develop intuitive

of people beginning at childhood, judgments based upon these observations.

There appears, however, to be nothing in the extensive study of Terman and Miles on sex and personality to show how valid this
idea
is.

It is

an interesting observation,

if

justified, that

women who

are

circumspect in other particulars will indulge freely in

smuggling

without any pangs of conscience. It may be that this is due to an intuitive lack of respect for laws such as tariffs which are highly artificial in nature and are not based upon a moral code.
thing about common sense is its wide appeal. Unless such as to gain extensive acceptance it cannot be regarded a common sense idea. The possession of common sense would not

The common
is

an idea

appear to be a simple trait; it is related to intuitiveness and probably has a number of components. In science common sense, being intuitive in nature, is not a safe guide. It has to be tested by experi-

ment. Sometimes ideas which appear to be obviously true cannot be trusted. For example, even the axiom that a straight line is the
shortest distance between

two points

is
is

not true on the surface of

a curved line.

the sphere. Here the shortest distance

One
tive,

aspect of

common
is

being able to put things

sense involves having intellectual perspecregardless of how unusual into their

proper places. This

probably closely related to the mental abilities of involving inductive and deductive reasoning. Another aspect
sense
is

common If we

related to tact,

which

will

be mentioned

later.

as intuitive all the contributions to classify

art,

music,

142
literature,

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

philosophy, science and religion which cannot be ac-

counted for on the basis of the primary mental abilities already listed, then the importance of intuition in human life is almost

beyond exaggeration. However, that intuitions are not always trusted and have led to innumerable errors cannot be denied.
n. Orderliness.

to

be

This

trait,

while probably not as important from

later, is
is,

our standpoint as some to be discussed

ably clear-cut and fairly generalized.
to be orderly in

nevertheless reason-

That

a person

who

tends

to be meticulous about his or her personal apparel

and

its

care tends

handling correspondence and in the care and disthe library or study. Some women position of books and papers in
are naturally good housekeepers and take pleasure in having the household shipshape. Others are indifferent so long as they can successfully make their way from one room to the next without

mishap.

Men

also

have a divergence of
is

traits in

the

same manner

and when a

extremely meticulous and old maidish about such matters marries a woman who is slipshod in her house-

man who

man who is fussy keeping, the marriage can end in shipwreck. about having everything just so cannot endure having the baby's pot left on the dining-room table.
This
trait

may

be more important than

we

think, particularly in

the conduct of organizations and their meetings. I have often noted a wide divergence of attitude on the part of different individuals with respect to this. Some feel that orderliness and regularity of

procedure are matters of first importance, even if the wishes of the group have to be violated. Others tend to go to the other extreme

and are quite willing to disregard all formalities, so as to get to the root of the problem under consideration. Those who are for orderliness are the type who want to have things arranged ahead of
time

who

is

to

make

the motion,

who

is

to

second

it,

etc.

Even

in a meeting of such import as the 1945 San Francisco Conference of the United Nations, differences of attitude of this sort appeared.
It

has not been demonstrated that orderliness in the conduct of a

is

meeting

or housekeeping but

associated with a tendency in orderliness toward dress it is not improbable that there is some relation.

PSYCHOLOGICAL TRAITS
havior;

143

Doubtless training can do much to alter one's pattern of beon the other hand orderliness is probably to a considerable extent an inherited trait. Often in the same household one child

appear to be naturally orderly and neat in his behavior from early youth, whereas another child raised in the same surroundings

may

may be
o.

as consistently disorderly.

Of

course, each child in a family

inherits a distinctive set of traits.

Co-operative Imagination ing pictures a man swaying

Empathy. If you should see in movon the cornice of a skyscraper and

should unconsciously try to help

him by

tightening your grip or

direction,

by twisting or leaning in an appropriate

exhibiting empathy.

you would be
is

more commonplace example

one's tend-

ency to laugh

he may not laughter is about. This tendency, which may be of considerable importance, has
apparently never been studied extensively as a trait, but it appears to be one which is possessed in variable degrees by different individuals. If

when he sees know what the

or hears others laughing, even though

one takes snapshots of spectators during a tense moment

in an athletic contest one

to help the

may

note that some appear to be trying

team push the

ball over the goal line or to help the

others, who appear to be equally with unchanged posture. Similar differences between individuals may be noted when, for example, different onlookers

jumper get over the high-jump bar;

attentive, sit

observe another person replacing an automobile tire or lining up the wheel of a bicycle. The watcher who has strong empathy will immediately know when another hand is needed and what help
required, whereas the person lacking empathy will wait to be asked for help and then may help in the wrong way. Still another example may be observed in connection with musicians. Some are
is

natural accompanists probably because they possess empathy; others in spite of being excellent musicians simply do not have the capacity
to adapt their performance so as to be in rapport with the soloist. Empathy probably has an intimate relationship to certain types

of crowd psychology. In order for a group of persons to constitute a psychological crowd they must have their attention centered on a

144

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

object.

common
it

They become aware, by

various means, of each

other's attitudes

seems reasonable

toward the object (which may be a person) and to suppose that empathy comes into play. We

say a speaker sways a crowd or carries it along with him. His gestures if effective may incite empathy on the part of individuals, and

the individuals in the group may incite empathy in each other. The presence of critical persons who react against the speaker, however,
also has

an empathic influence which tends to prevent the crowd

as a unit.

from acting

p. Suggestibility.

Like

many

of the other

traits

which we have

discussed this can hardly be considered as an independent one. It to be closely related, for example, to empathy, which has just been discussed. Its importance and the importance with which it

seems

has been viewed by social psychologists makes it worthy of discussion. It is probably not highly generalized, in that individuals

may

be suggestible along certain

it is

others. Doubtless,

The
to

lines and not suggestible along influenced by training. greatly fact remains that some individuals from childhood on tend

be

easily led

and

easily influenced

ence of the

common

by suggestion. The mere existadjectives tractable and docile and their appliadults
is

cation to children

and

evidence that this

is

so.

During

childhood and youth suggestion by parents, teachers and others

comes

into play continuously

and

is

closely related to the

phenome-

of learning. It is largely by suggestion that the customs and mores of one generation are passed on to the next, and is highly desirable from the standpoint of maintaining decorum that children

non

should be suggestible. Fortunately and even ideally adults should also show a measure of suggestibility; otherwise they cannot accept and follow leadership and co-ordination of human activities becomes
or impossible. the standpoint of the welfare of society it seems that neither extreme suggestibility nor extreme resistance to suggestion is desirdifficult

From

people in large numbers "Vote for McGinty" or "Buy Laxitate after Thirty-eight" simply because the idea has been sugable.

When

gested to

them by
is

placards, billboards

and radio plugs, too much

suggestibility

demonstrated. That people are often easily subject

PSYCHOLOGICAL TRAITS
to suggestion has

145

been demonstrated by circulating utterly foolish petitions and noting the ease with which signatures are obtained.

Highly suggestible people make effective leader without qualm or question.

mobs and

will follow a

It is perhaps easy to exaggerate the prevalence of suggestibility of people as a whole, and the tendency to sign petitions indiscriminately may be due in part to excessive politeness and desire not to

offend the persons who are circulating them. Public opinion polls often tend to give one confidence in public judgment, when there
is

no

At

trickery or coercion involved. the opposite extreme in suggestibility

we may

consider a group

of university professors who, in accordance with the investigative which they must have, are critical of everybody and everyspirit
thing. If

presents an appealing proposal to their assembled group, regardless of how trivial it may be, there is a

one of

their

number

tendency to pick

it

to pieces

and point out every

possible flaw or

complicating contingency. are spent in the detailed analysis of inconsequential matters, primarof the extreme resistance to suggestion and unwillingily because
ness to follow leadership. In large deliberative bodies of critical

Not

infrequently hours of valuable time

people such as legislatures, congresses, etc., this resistance to leadership has often been overcome in a practical manner by referring

many
submit
tively

matters to committees.
to leadership,

The committees are small, tend to and often, in effect, make decisions on rela-

important matters.
individuals
is

As

suggestion

we doubtless tend to be more suggestible if the in line with our previous thoughts or in accordance

with our wishes.

effectively suggest

person

whom we

have learned

to respect can

an idea or proposal, whereas the same proposal from a person whom we do not hold in high regard will coming meet immediate rejection. Each of us no doubt accepts suggestions most readily when we are led to think of them as coming from our favorite self rather than from any outsider.
q. Introversion

and Extroversion.

When

a person's interest

is

in

the objective world around him, he is said to be extroverted; when everything he observes tends to be considered and evaluated in

146

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

is

terms of himself, he

introverted.

No

one

is

wholly introverted

and no one wholly

extroverted, but these opposing characteristics

are possessed by each individual in varying degrees. The typical extrovert is interested in his work, tends to be ex-

pansive, is undaunted by failure and thick-skinned in his attitude toward the opinions of others. The typical introvert, on the other hand, is interested in his own thoughts, tends to be reclusive and is very sensitive to the opinions of others and to their criticism or
praise.

Either

trait

when

possessed to a moderate degree

is

valuable

from the standpoint

Pride
is

of society.

undoubtedly closely related to introversion as is also the tendency to react unfavorably toward criticism. Both tendencies have a very general distribution, but on the other hand there is a

high degree of
result of
it.

variability.

use of criticism and

individuals can accept and make suggestion while others freeze up inside as a

Some

Some have

a desire to see themselves as their neighbors

is

see them, but in others this desire

comparatively weak.

unwillingness to face one's own limitations squarely is probthe result of faulty mental hygiene. One can be trained from ably childhood to suspect that he has weaknesses that must be concealed, in

An

ical defense.

which case deception including self-deception is the logBy a more wholesome approach, one recognizes his

strong points in which he can take pride and faces his possession of weaknesses as the common lot of all mankind.

which have been devised for measuring introversion-extroversion tendencies have been in the form of questionof the tests

Most

naires

which while not

ideal are nevertheless reasonably satisfac-

tory for this purpose.

r.

Altruism and Egoism. These

traits are related to

extroversion

and introversion and are of great importance from the standpoint of social welfare. There are people who consistently modify their
conduct to accord with the
interests of others

and there

are people

who seem never to be concerned with any interests but their own. The trait is not perfectly generalized by any means: an individual

PSYCHOLOGICAL TRAITS
may
not be uniformly
altruistic

*47

or uniformly egoistic.

An

egoistic

person

may expand

his

egoism

to include a

few

others, as the

man

prayed, "God bless me and my wife, my son John and his wife; us four and no more." Sometimes the egoism is expanded to include the members of a larger social group.

who

who

Closely related to egoism always think of their

is

competitiveness.
status

We find
own

individuals

own

and

their

progress in

terms of competition, while others, more fortunately disposed, are able to be more objective and concentrate less attention on their

own

fortunes.

The same
i$

trait

adds zest to competitive games and

activities.

There are people who are so lacking in it that they play games apathetically and when the playing is over it does not even occur to them to add up the score.
recreations

and

valuable in

many

These

characteristics are probably related to introversion

and

ex-

troversion.

Even
Love

"Love thy neighbor

of self
is

the highest religious ideal exemplified in the commandment, as thyself," does not involve complete altruism.

not denied or even subordinated to the love of others.

is

The

ideal social attitude

not one which excludes

self,

but in-

cludes self in a larger "we." Since altruism is a trait which has social approval, nominally at least, it would not seem feasible to measure it by a questionnaire.
If

one

is

asked about his interest in others, he

is

likely to

respond

in accordance with the dictates of social approval rather than reveal

his true attitudes.
s.

More

subtle

methods must be used.

it

Sdf-Objectification. This trait has in

some of the elements

said, "I

that are present in extroversion

first

and altruism. Socrates

must

know

myself."

He

an extroverted
also

attitude

revealed an introverted urge coupled with a desire to examine and study himself but

a desire to step outside himself to Burns's

make

the examination.

Oh wad
To

some power the

giftie gie

us

see oursels as ithers see us!

is

a familiar quotation

embodying something of the same

idea.

The

best

method

that has been devised to determine

how

well

I4o
a person

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

knows himself
and
traits
is

to

have him rated both by himself and

his associates with respect to various traits. If his

his abilities
this is

own

estimates of

agree well with the estimates of his associates, an indication that he at least knows himself as he is known.

If there is
is

a wide disparity, then

it

deluded with respect to himself.

appears obvious that the person radio wag has said of such a
I

person, "I'd like to buy him for for what he thinks of himself."

what

think of

him and
is

sell

him

Very

closely related to the ability to

know

ourselves

the ability
is

to laugh at ourselves.

person

who

takes himself too seriously

suffering from
his

own

self-deception. Everyone has his own failings and weaknesses and a person who thinks he is exempt is de-

luded. Curiously the large proportion of people who have been asked think that they know themselves rather well, whereas tests show that their traits as seen through their own eyes check poorly

with their

traits as

seen by their associates.

/. Devotion and Loyalty. Capacity for loyalty and devotion has not often been considered as a distinct trait by psychologists, but its

mention appears

justified

because of

its

social

reason for thinking that this is a trait which is but inherited is its apparent hereditary possession by animals. Certain breeds of dogs possess it and others seem to be almost

importance. One not only distinctive

wholly lacking in
pined
sense of devotion.

it.

Literature

is full

of stories of dogs that have

this

at their master's graves. Yet,

I

dogs do not always have

know

which was

sold

and transferred

of an adult cocker spaniel, for example, to a new master without difficulty.

Later upon encountering his former master the dog seemed to be make good entirely indifferent to him. Some dogs by inheritance

watchdogs and
of
all

guard the home from the approach outsiders, even friendly ones, whereas others are so lacking
will jealously

in this trait that they

would greet a burglar

trait to

as a prospective play-

mate.
If it is
is

a distinctive

human

possess loyalty,

and

if this trait
is

possessed in varying degrees

by

different individuals, this

PSYCHOLOGICAL TRAITS
fact

M9

which society needs to know. It would help in understanding the role which followers play in social and political movements. They, as well as leaders, can be fanatical.
Jealousy may be compounded of egoism and loyalty and is often observed in intense form even among very young children, as well
as

animal

pets.

Our

erstwhile neighbors

had a
carry

terrier

with an exif

tremely jealous disposition.

He would
to a cat.

on

excessively

he

saw any acquaintance,

attention to another

especially his master or mistress,

dog or

When

paying any he strayed in the neigh-

borhood a sure way of bringing him home in a hurry if the direct approach calling him didn't work, was for his mistress to call either the neighbor's dog or cat. He would come bounding immediately.
It is interesting and notable that different individuals ferent animals have this trait in widely varying degrees.

and

dif-

u. Acquisitiveness.

This

trait is

by no means equally distributed

throughout the human family. Some take great pride in ownership; others are relatively indifferent to it. Some let human relationships be subservient to acquisitiveness, such as the person who deliberately marries for

money, but

to others acquisition of
If

money

or

goods remains of secondary importance.

some individuals were

deprived of the incentive of laying by something for old age, they would miss much of life. Others would prefer to leave this to Santa

Some find a pleasurable outlet in color any one of a thousand other things. Some lecting postage stamps are acquisitive in their imaginations only. Not a few carry on imagClaus or to the government.
inary stock market operations and keep careful books on their holdin such hobbies, others by naings. While some individuals delight
ture lack the inclination

and

are indifferent.

One of the reasons for thinking acquisitiveness is a real trait is that we find it inherited in exaggerated form in certain species of animals. Some are born collectors. One of the most striking of these
the mountain rat or pack rat, which will take to its abode every imaginable type of article, unusual pebbles, pieces of glass, coins,
is

spoons, door knobs,

etc. It

has even been

known

to carry off sticks

15

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

We

of dynamite to the nest. These articles are stored and presumably are periodically admired just as a collection of pottery might be. v Psychic Tempo. know relatively little about the time factor
.

in mental

life.

That

different individuals
is

have

distinctive sets of

physiological reaction times

clear,

but the relation of these to

mental

activity

is

not. It

is

a commonplace observation that some

people are quick on the trigger with their ideas whereas others

have minds which

chologists
is

act more slowly. The general experience of psythat in the conduct of ordinary psychological tests, the

do not differ very materially whether the testees are given a longer or shorter time; those who can make a high score do so whether the time is relatively long or relatively
relative standings of the testees
short.

The Army Alpha

test

used so extensively in the First World

conducted on a rigid time schedule, and lengthening the time probably would not have improved it as a means of picking

War was

and sorting
as in

soldiers.

However,

in

many

intricate life situations,

some psychological tests as well in which the solver of the probtime

lem must formulate the problem

for deliberation
sarily
is

as well as find the answer,

important. Ability to deliberate does not neces-

ability to give rapid answers. In thinking as in other the race things may not always go to the swift. There is another aspect of the relation of time to mental activity.

go with

Some people seem to have a sense of time which others lack. People who have this always know the approximate hour of the day and
can judge with accuracy how long it will take them to do an errand or transact a matter of business. They can always be punctual if they care to and have relatively little difficulty in holding to a
schedule.

At

the other extreme

to

might be

cited

an example of a

husband who volunteered

time." It

me good

naturedly a

number

of in-

stances to prove that his wife

would be

interesting to

"had absolutely no conception of know whether this trait is related

to the sense of timing in music or the ability to judge accurately the passage of short intervals of time.

w. Dramatic Tendency. The liking for make-believe and for disbut in some play is, I suppose, to some extent inherent in everyone,

PSYCHOLOGICAL TRAITS
of us
it is

I5 r
trait. It

distinctive

enough

to

be characterized as a

may

often be notable in very

coquettish

and demure
nor

it is as natural to be young girls, to turns as it is to eat and by sleep. Not all

whom

young women and

this ability,
is

The same
with other

girls, however, possess or are able to acquire the tendency limited to the female sex. justification which has been mentioned in connection

traits

may be

cited in this case.

The

appears to be inherent in certain species of animals.

dramatic tendency Sea lions are

perhaps the most natural showmen. They love to learn and do tricks to attract attention and will fight for the chance to show off.
It is

interesting, too, that they are often extremely jealous,

is

and that

jealousy frequently observed among theatrical and other folk whose primary interest is in exhibitionism in some form. Sea lions

work
his

own

together best in a troupe of three or four each one doing special tricks. Each one thus has a chance to show off what

he can do, unmolested and without direct competition.

like
x.

How much
list

human
and

beings!

Miscellaneous Traits.
characteristics

No

claim can be

made

that the
is

of

traits

which we have presented

complete.

We

have omitted some in

tion

spite of the fact that they

have received

atten-

psychologists, because they appear to be composite in nature. Tact, which is often mentioned as a trait, is an example.
It

from some

appears to be

made up

empathy, extroversion, and There are several psychological traits

possibly of intuitive submissiveness.

common

sense,,

which are known

these
is

to be-

people. Among possessed by relatively synesthesia which involves seeing colors whenever heard. No two synesthetes agree on the correspondence between the
colors

few

color hearing or music tones are-

and

pitches but for

them

it is

a very real experience.

As they

advance in age, the

ability deteriorates.

Another

ability

called eidetic

imagery

is

possessed by some

children.

They have such vivid visual

imagery that they can project an image on a surface in front of them

and

see

it

in detail

and

color.

Still
is

more

of controversy, interesting, but belonging in the field

the possible existence of

some

individuals

who have

clairvoyant*

I52

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

A

revival of interest in this field mind-reading, or similar abilities. has developed particularly at Duke University where a large number of experiments have been reported which seem to indicate that these

phenomena

are existent.

10

One of
strations

is

the difficult phases connected with these purported demonthe fact that when these powers are looked for in many

people they turn up missing. On the other hand, in specific cases data have been obtained which are hard to explain away. Our discussions make it seem reasonable for these powers, if such exist, to

be possessed by relatively few, and the apparent observation that the powers come into play only under favorable psychological conditions
is

of difficulty

not unreasonable, though it does greatly magnify the making a conclusive demonstration.

important for us to realize that the fundamental or primary psychological capacities are possessed independently of each other.
It is

Many
Some

mental, and in a

of the traits listed above are doubtless not primary or fundanumber of cases interrelations have been noted.

nearly primary than others. In the case of several of the mental capacities or abilities
of the characteristics, however, are
it is easy to present convincing evidence be may possessed independently that is, largely in of other mental abilities. the absence

more

which are more measurable,

that each alone

The

existence of so-called idiot-savants

is

extremely interesting in
according to ordinary

this connection.

They

are individuals

who

educational

standards

ordinary

tests,

and range down, by from morons through imbeciles to idiots. Yet they
are

feeble-minded

remain living testimonials to the invalidity of ordinary tests as measures of total intelligence, because some of them have remarkable mental powers.
11

To

one was found by

take a relatively easy-to-believe case, a young man of twentyintelligence test to be a low-grade moron, but

PSYCHOLOGICAL TRAITS
it

153
facility

was observed

that

he could

fix

and put together with

door-locks, bicycle bells

and almost any mechanical contrivance. He was given the Stenquist Mechanical Aptitude Test and instead of having the mental age of a small child, he was, in mechanical apti-

tude, a superior adult. Testing this man for his primary mental abilities would result in discovering that in some phases of intelli-

gence, particularly those which are indispensable for book-learning, he was very weak but that in some other respects (at least one,

and
able

possibly

more) he was

strong.

There are recorded a consider-

of feeble-minded people who, like this one, have had striking mechanical ability. Some such have developed into highly
skilled

number

wood

carvers.

An

interesting authentic anecdote illustrates the irregularities in

human make-up.

a special clinic for examination.

school principal took a feeble-minded youth to Among the tests applied was a
irregularly

structural visualization test involving fitting together

cut segments of a block. This test was completed by the feebleminded boy in one minute. For the principal who brought him, on
the other hand,
it

took "eighteen minutes of unhappy fumbling to

do the

test!"

12

One

of the most

common

mental
is

abilities to

be found

among

the possession of an outstanding an Ohio town memorized the feeble-minded in boy memory. telephone directory and the automobile license numbers of many of the citizens and would show off his ability for audiences by giving

those classified as feeble-minded

telephone numbers and license numbers

becile in

when

requested.

An

im-

Texas specialized on

vital statistics.

Upon meeting

a person

the imbecile

would ask the date of

his birth, those of his father

and

maiden name, and would gather any other information of this kind that he could. Years later he would meet the same individual and give him the comHis memory was so perfect that he was plete details with accuracy.
mother, the dates of their death, his wife's
consulted

The

the county records were found not to be clear. remarkable memories can probably be possession of such

when

accounted for partly on the basis of a very good

memory endow-

154
merit,

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

supplemented by concentrated training in the absence of disSuch an individual may have relatively few things on his

traction.

mind, and because a display of his memory ability brings approbation and attention he is motivated to devote himself to it almost
exclusively. Possibly the relative vacancy of his

mind

in other re-

possible the retention of enormous amounts of memorized detail. Possibly the principle implied by the mythical icthy-

gards makes

ology professor holds he announced to his beginning class that he would not try to learn their names because every time he learned a
:

new

name, he forgot the name of a fish. Another type of mental ability which may be possessed in
student's

spite

of the relative absence of several other mental

abilities is that in-

volved in arithmetical calculations.

deficient that

A boy of sixteen was so mentally

to talk; in fact

he had never learned

he was not able

to respond correctly

when

requested to point to his eyes or ears.

interest in written

At an
before

early age

he had taken an

numbers and

them whenever he had an opportunity. If one placed the first members of a series of numbers such as 2, 4, 1 he would write correctly the succeeding members of 8, 6, 32 the series 64, 128, 256, 512, and so on. When confronted with the series 2, 4, 16, each member of which is the square of the preceding member, he wrote 256, 65,536 and 4,294,967,296, which
scribbled

him

are correct for the three succeeding members of this series. got the idea of square roots from seeing numbers and their square
roots written side by side,

He

and could

also

perform

this operation

mentally.

Another boy of twelve (an imbecile on the basis of general innumbers "with telligence tests) was able to multiply two three-digit
lightning rapidity." Another when told the age of a person could respond correctly telling the number of minutes the person had
lived.

One

imbecile girl

was very
on simple

efficient in

multiplication

and

division but

would
if

fail

additions.

Another high-grade

given any date within the previous five years, of the week it fell on, "without hesitation." state correctly the day One of the types of outstanding abilities most often observed in
imbecile could,

PSYCHOLOGICAL TRAITS
Mind who was born
in

155

feeble-minded people is along artistic lines, including music. One of the earlier recorded idiot-savants was an imbecile named Gottfried

in

Germany

in 1768.

He

never learned

to read or write nor could he gain a knowledge of the value of

money, yet his

sketches gave

ability

him

considerable

drawing and in making water-color fame in Europe.

proportion of feeble-minded who have some appreciable gift for music is considerable; they can be found in almost any state
patients are kept. Even those who the line in mentality may have some gift. An idiot girl of fifteen has impaired eyesight and can hardly speak; however, even with a spasticity in her fingers that makes the
institution

The

where feeble-minded

are farthest

down

mechanics

difficult,

A
cile

number
the

she can play simple tunes on the piano, by ear. of feeble-minded have been highly gifted in music.
is

Among

more famous examples

that of Blind

Tom, an imbe-

recitals. After accomplished pianist his public performances he joined with the audience in applause. Blind Joe was a similar character who appeared in vaudeville.

who was an

and gave many

We have dwelt upon these feeble-minded individuals who have some unusual mental abilities because they demonstrate the inthem
dependence of the different types of mental abilities. Not all of are phenomenally gifted by any means. There are all gradations and not infrequently a feeble-minded person will be approxi-

mately average in several respects but of course to be classed as feeble-minded he would have to be weak in some of the capacities

which are indispensable in

intelligence tests.

Idiot-savants are simply extreme caricatures of you and me and our neighbors and friends. They are strong in some traits and weak in others; if some kinds of tests are applied, they appear very weak,

other tests

make them appear

strong.
is

The same

is

true of

all

of us,

but as psychological testing

downs

are overlooked.

Too much

usually carried out these ups and is lumped together and called

behavior (on general intelligence. For purposes of predicting school die basis of schools substantially as they are at present) conventional but unless they involve testing for a tests are generally successful

156
series of

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

separate capacities, they overlook the significant fact that individuals possess different mental abilities in highly variable
degrees.

To classify members of the human family as either intelligent or dumb may be convenient for some purposes, but it is not justified by the scientific facts. Much less is it justified to classify individuals
in the upper ranges as smart, smarter and smartest. With respect to number facility, individuals can be classified in this way with

some

accuracy.

we

differ greatly

With regard to ability to memorize rote material and it would be relatively easy by arranging a

series of contests to decide

who

is

the most able person in rote

memory in each county in the United States. Or we can rate people with respect to their ability as spellers (word familiarity) But when it comes to total intelligence we cannot be rated i, 2, 3, etc., any
.

more than we could

race horses

rate in the horses.

same

classification

Shetland ponies,

and draft

Men whom we
respect. It is

every matical physicist to say that as a youngster he was so slow in learning to talk that they feared he was abnormal. There is no reason
for thinking that Einstein's mind is in every respect phenomenal. Would the reader venture the guess that he excels (i) in word familiarity, (2) in rote memory, (3) in spatial imagery, and (4)
I would not. Even with regard to number the case is not clear; there are facility alone, plenty of good mathematicians who are relatively poor in mental arithmetic and from

regard as brilliant are not necessarily brilliant in not detracting from Albert Einstein as a mathe-

in

number

facility?

some
that

stories that are told

of Einstein's boyhood

it

would appear
together

he belongs in this group.13 To assume that the different mental

that

abilities are tied

individual's mental capacity acts as a unit and inevitably on the scale between highest intelligence and somewhere belongs is as childish and unjustified as it is to assume that complete idiocy scale: (i) very every individual must belong somewhere in the

and

an

good, (2) good, (3)

fair,

(4) bad, (5) very bad. Neither type of

classification is at all justified

by the

scientific facts.

PSYCHOLOGICAL TRAITS

157

The

total

items and
gests as

is

an

personality of an individual comprises many different not limited to the purely psychological. Allport sugultra-simple definition that personality is "what a man

really is."

We
the

sonality

is

may expand sum total of

this
all

wording

slightly

of the characteristics

and say that and traits

perthat

go

to

make

a distinctive individual.

How

thoroughly

we wish

to study a personality will

interest. If

be deter-

mined by the extent and character of our this book is a sound one, and if we need

the thesis of

to

know

ourselves thor-

oughly, a superficial view of personality will not suffice. For some waitress to fill in during a summer purposes, say the hiring of a

few things that one would need to observe or know; her manner and appearanceface and figure; her manual dexterity in handling dishes and food, and her observance of ordinary property rights. But if the building of a successful
vacation, there are comparatively
society is a serious
interest in

human
which

undertaking and is worth painstaking effort our beings will be deeper than this and we will dewill

velop tools
personality

make

it

possible to probe deeply into

it.

any

when

the occasion

demands

We

should be able to

we

study individuals with something of the same thoroughness that study the steel that enters into our machinery, buildings, bridges and dams, and the plastics we have learned to create.

On

at least in the

the basis of present-day knowledge and using tools which are making at the present time, a thorough study of a
personality

human

would include a consideration not only of bodily

but also

build, facial features, etc.,

many

features of internal physi-

ology, sensory equipment and its functioning, and finally an assay of the various mental capacities and traits. Among the items not

commonly thought
fields;

of in this connection are: peripheral visual

metabolic features

(such as tendency to ketosis);

drug

responses; brain waves; appreciation of design and color; musical

15
aptitudes

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

timing, pitch, consonance, emotional reaction; talkativeness; peculiarities of sleep physiology; not to mention the several separate mental capacities and the numerous psychological traits

which can be measured with some

success.

Of
an

the various elements which enter into the total personality of individual, the psychological ones are of outstanding importance

from the
liarities,

social standpoint. person's body build, metabolic pecubrain waves, breathing pattern, etc., are relatively unimportant items of themselves, so far as his social contacts are concerned, in comparison with what goes on in his mind. But the

psychological characteristics of an individual are often difficult to recognize and analyze and to measure with any degree of certainty,

whereas physiological and metabolic definite and far easier to measure.

characteristics

may be more

nomena have

Every consideration leads us to think that psychological phephysiological bases, and many physiological attributes

of personality are eminently worthy of study because of the light which they will shed upon psychological characteristics. There can

be small doubt but that there

is

a fundamental unity between one's

physiology and one's psychology, but we must extend our knowledge of individuals before the interrelations become apparent.
Instead of using psychological traits (which unfortunately are often indefinite) as a starting point, and trying to trace them bac\ to their physiological origins, I propose that the alternate procedure

of starting with physiological traits and tracing them forward also shows promise. Because of our relative lack of attention to individuals, neither

method has been

seriously explored; certainly

an

extensive study of physiological traits has never been used as a starting point for the study of an individual's psychological make-up. Because one's psychological reactions are so overwhelmingly im-

portant in all social relations, we cannot be scientifically serious about the problem of social control and at the same time neglect

which patently are so promising, from the standof point contributing to an understanding of ourselves.
to follow leads

PSYCHOLOGICAL TRAITS

159

test out the comprehensiveness of our present knowlabout individuals, let us consider the problem of what we edge know about our individual selves. Here are a few queries about

In order to

oneself

which are suggested by material in the foregoing Can the reader answer these with respect to himself?

chapters.

metabolic peculiarities that might throw light on personality or aptitudes?

I

Have
Are

my
or

there certain drugs that are unusually valuable for

I

me

others that

should avoid?

If so,

what

are the implications?

How

do

I react,
I

comparatively, to tobacco and alcohol?

have any exceptional vitamin requirements which should be taken into account in connection with my eating habits?

Do

Do

have

distinctive eye characteristics

affect

with respect to

flicker

fusion,

which should

my

adjustment to

moving

picture en-

tertainment, or which should call for an adjustment of this type

of entertainment to

me

and others

like

me?
and what would a chart of

How
my

acute

is

my

peripheral vision,

visual field look like?

Would

it

throw any light on

affect

my

dis-

tinctive abilities or traits?

Do
Can

fluorescent

without
I

my

lamps of any particular type being fully aware of it?

me

adversely

any assurance upon my innate ability to be discriminating in form and design? What about color combinations? What are my limitations and excellences in the sense of musical
rely with

timing, of pitch, or of consonance, etc.? does my emotional response to music compare with that of

How
Do
I

others?

have any striking or interesting of smell and taste?

peculiarities

in

my

senses,

l6o

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

I
is

Am
and

unusually sensitive to light, noise or other sensory stimuli there anything I can do about it?

Does
this

my

skin temperature adjust

itself

rapidly or slowly

and does

have a bearing on

my

tendency toward colds?

What is the pH of my What meaning do these

saliva

and the

acidity of

my

gastric juice?

distinctive characteristics

have? Can they

throw any light on my personality? To which of the numerous blood groups does my blood belong and does this have significance with respect to other physiological
or psychological traits?

What What
I

requirements, relatively, for physical exercise? sort of a physiological sleep rhythm applies to me, and can

are

my

better adjust myself?

others

Or should society adjust itself to me and who are like me? What are my brain waves like and what do they mean? Ditto

for

my

breathing pattern, electrocardiograph tracings and finger

quivers.

How

do
I

I rate

in tendency
it?

toward

fear, anger,

and

elation,

and

what can

do about
sex

How does my

hormone

excretion

compare with that of

strongest in

others,

and what masculine and feminine

traits are

me?
this

Am

highly, moderately or weakly sexed

and does

apply

only to certain aspects of sex or to all?

How am
mental

I distinctive

in regard to the seven (or

more) types of

which people possess in varying degrees: spatial imagery, facility with numbers, word facility, etc.? How should these aptitudes influence my life and work? (A large question.)
ability

compare with others in expansiveness, persistence, and dominance, and can I improve myself in these traits?
do
I

How How

do

my

basic drives

compare with those of others?

Am
Are

far

orderliness,
this fact?

from average in the possession of empathy, loyalty, and suggestiveness ? If so, can I apply the knowledge of

my

tendencies toward introversion, egoism, self delusion, and

PSYCHOLOGICAL TRAITS
acquisitiveness

ll
modify these

out of line with

my

ideals,

and can

tendencies ?

think

it

is

safe to say that

most readers

will be unable to

answer any substantial number of these questions. Possibly some

of the questions

may appear trivial but on the other hand the answers taken together could form the basis of an intelligent approach to
all

one's future activities.

A forward-looking society will provide for the gathering of information of

this sort

book

how

and we shall suggest in the later chapters of this such knowledge and information can make vast con-

tributions to the practical solution of general

and

specific

social

problems.

VI I L Man

and Society

While we may tal\ about customs and traditions of a society we must not forget that societies are composed of human beings and
that all behavior, traditional or notf vidual behavior.
is

indi-

WOODWARD AND SUTHERLAND *

PROBLEM OF MAN'S PLACE in

THE himself

society

is

as intricate as
lives.

man
fact

and

as vast as the society in

which he

The

that progress in the scientific understanding of human relationships has been relatively slow should not be a matter of surprise in view

of the complexity and the numerous types of factors which enter into every social situation. It is vastly more difficult to reduce human
affairs to

a scientific basis than

it

it is

with material things. In fact

may

accomplish the same result be taken for granted that our

to

understanding in this field will continuously be less complete than our knowledge of non-living things. Students of society who have

had the courage

stantial

to attempt social analysis

and who have made sub-

amount

progress in spite of the difficulty of credit.

must be given an immense

One school of thought, however, inclines toward the position that the best that can be done is to describe society as it exists, and
that to analyze
desirable.
it

scientifically

is

not only hopeless but possibly un-

phenomena of society are outside and quite from the of natural science. One sociologist with an domain apart extreme attitude wrote a book (1943) with the leading chapter
such, the
entitled "Declaration of

To

Independence of Sociology and the Social

Sciences."
2

Sciences

from the Natural

If a well-ordered society

can be developed on a non-scientific

162

MAN AND SOCIETY

basis, its

163

development will be a strong argument in favor of this extreme view. In actuality, however, no one contends (least of all the students of society) that social advance is satisfactory or that we are
sure of the road to progress. In such a predicament the answer is: "Let's try natural science (or anything else that holds promise) and
see

what

it

can accomplish."

An
which

attack

of natural science
is

to

on the problem of social control from the standpoint must follow the method of natural science, attempt first to understand the more elementary items
complex phenomena, and progress from the known known) to the unknown from the simpler to the

that enter into

(or partially

more complex.
In mathematics

we

on simple

algebra. In physics

build our ability to solve differential equations we study simple motion before we

attempt to study motion where complex gravitational, electrical and magnetic fields are involved. In chemistry we do not start with proteins, the most complex molecules known; we develop our knowl-

edge of these on the basis of the simpler compounds and the elements. In biology the understanding of a complex multicellular

organism

is

organism. In psychology

based upon a study of the cells which make up the we do not logically start with the most
first;

complex phenomena
enter into the

we

attempt to get at the elements which

is

more complex phenomena.

man.

The

of society starting point in a scientific study

On

the

basis of logic

and admittedly without

specialized

knowledge of

the various
in social

seems that every attempt to study a problem science would be pursued on the basis of one of the three
fields, it

following assumptions: (i) human beings are at the core of this problem and in order to solve it, we must know them better; (2)

human beings that enter into this problem are already well enough known so that we can proceed to study something else; (3) while the human beings entering into this problem are imperfectly known, we must proceed as best we can without this knowledge.
the

There

are, it

their solution

on a

seems to me, more problems which will depend for better knowledge of human beings than is com-

164

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

A

scientific appreciated. approach may initially involve direct study of outward events, but sooner or later it is necessary to investigate what lies behind or underneath. In natural science the

monly

first

chemist, for example, who wishes to produce plastics has to gain a large body of information and insight regarding the make-up

of relatively simple chemical molecules information which has nothing to do with the property of plasticity.

What

will be the ultimate effect

on

society of a better understandwill

ing of the

human

elements ? Just

how

our

scientific

knowledge

bear fruit and in what specific ways will society be ordered differently?

to

While we shall in the succeeding chapters outline the answers some of the questions in the light of specific problems, certain

and dependable answers are at this time impossible. In order to promote social welfare we must depend on scientific findings and experience to guide us. The method of natural science does not
involve describing our ultimate social machinery first and then developing our science to fit this machinery. Science leads the way;
it

does not follow.

It

would have taken a superhuman prophet to have foretold at the time of the Wright brothers' experiments at Kittyhawk, what the
design of the airplane of the future would be: the importance of streamlining and the modern means of generating power. It would

not have ta^en a prophet, however, to would lead to vast improvement.

It

\now

that scientific study

seems

certain,

even though

we
is

cannot draw blueprints of the

future based

on a

science

which

as yet very poorly developed, that

beings will influence all types of human activity including those involving the most elemental (animal) needs and urges such as nutrition, sleep and reproduction;
those that involve activities of the work-a-day world; and those in

a better knowledge of

human

MAN AND SOCIETY

A
knowledge of how human beings range in

165

the realm of ideas and the enjoyment of hobbies, amusements, art, music or literature.
variability in each

of the

human

activities will

make

it

classification

which can be used by

possible to develop systems of individuals as bases for their

personal adaptation. Until the ranges of variability are known and until each individual is in a position to learn at least in broad outline

about his

own

attributes

be an enormous number of misfits

and aptitudes, there will continue to cases where society is attempt-

ing to force average-sized shoes onto people whose feet are far from
average.

With some

activities it is

possible

by

trial

and error to arrive

at a

Obviously, reasonably satisfactory people are usually able to attend or stay away from art galleries (except perhaps when they are on conducted tours) in accordance

self-classification.

for example,

with their

Even

if

own tastes. Often what is not wanted can be rejected. we adhere to the art gallery illustration, however, there is

probably a large amount of lost motion some people attend as a matter of form or because it is fashionable to do so, while others

who might gain great benefit are prevented from participating because of ignorance of themselves and failure to cultivate their inherent capabilities.

No matter what the activity is, it should be society's goal to provide for the variability which exists in that activity. If some individuals require an unusual amount of a particular vitamin, society
should develop means whereby they are able to gain the necessary information regarding themselves and satisfy this demand. If the
sleep physiology

of individuals

is

sufficiently variable to

demand

it,

society should

make

the information available to individuals

and

for every provide for their welfare in this respect. If it is possible relaxation of type of individual to have hobbies that will be a source

and something

to look

forward to periodically, society should inves-

human variability) and make it tigate the possibilities (based upon feasible for individuals to know about themselves and to cultivate
suitable interests.

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

another and point out the possibilities inherent in a knowledge of individual variability and the ways in which society can furnish a basis of self-classification

We

might

discuss

one

activity after

of individuals

and a means for adjustment. In the light of our meager knowledge it would be dangerous to formulate social programs
to

and

be highly

specific as to exactly

what the ultimate outcomes

will be.

The

era in social

humanics must lead the way toward a new adjustment, and to do so the science will need to grow
science of

-and develop

on a

vast scale.

There

are a

number

of reasons

why

the science of individuals has

suffered from

neglect. In the first place no one has taken the trouble to total up the numerous differences that exist and as a result there has been no common appreciation of how large and how important

individual differences are, or

how

far afield

we

can go

when

they

are neglected. Our extensive use of statistical methods has served to cover up the information about individuals which otherwise

would have been

to take short cuts

evident.

There

whenever

a natural and laudable tendency make the study possible, and it would
is

of society much more simple than it is if we could consider each individual to be the equivalent of every other individual. An investigation within a narrow field, using a limited number
of techniques, is easier than one which is broader and requires consideration from many angles. This fact has contributed greatly to the prominence of research in highly restricted fields, and to the
feeling

which

is

sometimes entertained that breadth of interest and

scientific interest are incompatible.

and the utilizaIt is a natural consequence of specialized research tion of specialized techniques that social purpose should not be a prominent factor in the investigations of natural scientists. It is too

much to expect that a natural scientist who continuously delves into the intricacies of cell physiology should at the same time be

MAN AND SOCIETY

an expert in
fields

167

pertaining to

therefore, natural scientists

a degree, can be absolved from the blame conrelations.

human

To

nected with the neglect of the science of individuals. However, the natural scientist cannot point his finger at the stu-

dent of society and say,

social scientist

"To you

belongs the blame."

Has not

the

depended on the natural scientist for his knowledge about human beings, and is not man-in-the-abstract the biological
'robot, the invention of the natural scientist? Social scientists have,
it

seems, tended to swallow the natural scientist's concept, and

if its

value in social study is severely limited who is to blame? Most of those who have considered the matter have a sense of
regret

and disappointment over the good of

all.

failure of natural scientists

and

social scientists to

understand each other better and to co-operate

for the

in social sciences,

who

Furthermore, there are very few, including those are highly pleased with the success of social

and what it has been able to do for humanity. In order for a better understanding to develop it is necessary for different points of view to be need insight into each expressed.
science

We

other's

minds and thoughts, and any sincere attempt to make clear what our plight is or to evolve solutions should be welcome. My thoughts with respect to the relations between natural and social
sciences should be

viewed in

this light.

constructive
I

and sound

will be accepted for

Whatever appeals as being what it is worth, and

hope unacceptable ideas and viewpoints, based upon

In the
first

my own
exists in

limitations, will find as consistent rejection.

the breach place, I believe that

interested in the

which often
problems of

our universities and colleges between those interested in natural

sciences

and those broadly

society

is

ferences between

based to a considerable extent upon unrecognized psychological difmembers of the two groups. Human minds, like
bodies,
it is

human

do not work exactly alike and for those whose minds are built along similar

perfectly

natural

lines

(having similar

mental capacities) to become associated in certain fields of study, and that others with different abilities should be attracted to other
fields.

common

mistake which

we

have often made (and the

l68

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

concept of intelligence quotients has not helped) is to conclude, if someone thinks along lines foreign to us, that there is something wrong with his mind. Much of the scientific information which we

have presented in the

effect of

earlier

dispelling this idea,

differ

chapters of this book should have the and of making it easier for people

whose minds

markedly to work together, supplementing each

other's abilities.

highly desirable outcome is that natural and social scientists should find common purposes and work together. An important answer to this need lies immediately before us in the study of

humankind. In this there must be co-operation between the natural and social sciences, because the social scientists lack many of the
necessary fundamental backgrounds and techniques. The natural scientists, on the other hand, lack the impetus and cannot without

acquaintance with social problems choose those investigations which will be most germane and most helpful nor will they be able to
apply their findings. Humanics, the practical science which we have been attempting to describe, needs to rally the aid and co-operation
of those of every discipline.

But what hope

scattered interests

is

there of co-operation

among

those of such

and diverse opinions? The hope cannot be realized unless there is a unified desire a rallying point on which there can be a centralized interest. But we have the best of all possible rallying points

human

beings
is

ourselves! If

we

cannot join in

co-operation. There have since the been strong evidences, particularly development of the atomic bomb, of a strong social interest on the part of natural

an

interest in ourselves, there

no hope of

scientists

and the time seems

ripe for a vigorous co-operative attack.

of the difficulties standing in the way of a comprehensive attack on the problem of the nature of human beings is the organization of our universities. Often they are departmentalized so that

One

MAN AND SOCIETY

they are
of
little

169

more than a
it

groups. This would make

loose federation of highly specialized difficult to carry out an intensive study

human

beings, using diverse techniques, within the structure of

a university. The lines of separation between different departments or branches of study exist not only in the universities but also in our national
research organizations.

The

National

Academy

of Sciences

and the

National Research Council, which grew out of it, are made up of divisions largely in line with traditional academic departments, and such type of organization would not encourage physiologists and biochemists to join hands with psychologists in the scientific study
of

man. The

social scientists

have a Social Science Research Council

of their own, established later and entirely separate from the National Research Council. It includes anthropologists, economists,
historians, political scientists, psychologists, sociologists
ticians.

and

statis-

Obviously there

is

no encouragement within

this

framework

for a co-operative study by natural and social scientists of the science of humankind. In addition there is a wholly separate and comprehensive Linguistic Society of America whose interests are also ger-

mane. The American Association

is

for the

Advancement of Science

rather broad in

historians,

scope and has provision in its organization for scientists. However, the philologists and other social
its

divisions maintain their identity,

specialties.

and the trend

is

toward various

The
means

scholars in various fields

so that efforts to

must be drawn together by some can be focused on the science of human beings.
is,

The way

do

this

it

seems, by developing humanics as an

applied science.

Men
But

are too

of scientist
this is

complex to be studied adequately by any one type and what is required is the attention of many experts. not an unprecedented situation, and has been met with

before in natural science.

of materials

Wood,
scientist

coal

and petroleum

are examples

which are

also too

hensively by one type of

inent that they

complex to be dealt with compreand their usefulness is so prom-

form the

basis for divisions of applied science.

Wood,

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

for example,
is made up of various ingredients; celluloses, lignins, and from the etc., purely scientific standpoint this particular of chemical substances is not of any interest. But pracagglomeration

tically
fields,

wood
all

has

many

important uses and

scientists
etc.,

from various
co-operate to
its

learn

physics, chemistry, botany, bacteriology, of its characteristics which all have a

bearing on

use.

The

methods of

purposes of these wood technologists are practical and their attack are not limited to any academic field. The same

will be true of humanicists

they will attack the problem of man's nature from any angle, in order to learn, practically, how to deal

with him.

The idea of new one and

studying man from a broad point of view is not a various suggestions and plans along this line have

been presented from time to time.

On
man)

the basis of the etymology of the word (anthropos meaning anthropology might be considered a broad science dealing

with every aspect of man. Historically, however, it had its origin in the study and measurement of ancient human skulls, and has rarely if ever stressed the complete study of present-day man. It
has dealt most often with the natural history of man's origin. To quote Professor Ralph Linton, Columbia University anthropologist,
"It [anthropology] became a sort of peripheral science, working in 3 the corners and interstices not covered by the older disciplines."

While
its

it is

traditions,

conceivable that anthropology might, by an overturn of become an applied science concerned with the fundathis

mentals of men's characters,

does not seem

likely.

It

could not

maintain

meaning
rially.

its present identity as an academic department and the of the term anthropologist would have to change mate-

existing academic branch of learning which is intimately related to an applied science of mankind is social psychology, but
status is variable

One

its

and

its

scope too restricted for a broad scientific

study of man.

MAN AND SOCIETY

There have, however, been
several other

I? 1

proposals directly related to the

man.

modern projects and of the scientific problem study of Some, especially those of recent origin, will be discussed
Institute of

briefly.

The

Human

Relations at Yale University, which has

its

been in existence for several years deriving a substantial part of

support from the Rockefeller Foundation, has

as its general objective

a broad approach to the study of man in his social environment. During the earlier years this institute's work was two-fold and in-

volved (i) a frontal attack on such problems as delinquency and

unemployment and
later objective in
is

(2) search for "basic principles of

human

be-

havior and social interaction." There has been a shift toward the

more

recent years.

"The

center of gravity of the

4

the individual in his social setting." program of ments this institute have not been dramatic.

The

accomplish-

In 1937 there was published in England a valuable book, under

the editorship of
J.

B. Cattell, called

Human

Affairs?

It

had

as its

purpose the bringing together of biological,

sociological materials;
it

psychological

and

ceived, of a journal of

was proposed as a forerunner, if well rethe same name. Unfortunately the journal

did not appear, though doubtless the oncoming war was an important factor in this connection.

An

earlier journal of relatively

broad scope

is

Human

founded by Raymond

Pearl.

As

the

name

implies this journal

Biology has

tended to maintain the somewhat restricted point of view of rather than to deal with the comprehensive study of man biologists,

from every

angle.

Professor Lee R. Dice of the University of Michigan has called

attention forcefully to the "importance of co-operative studies of the of man," and indicates that "no investigation or group of
investigations

biology

now

in progress

is

in

my

opinion sufficiently com-

a complete picture of prehensive to secure anything like

man

the

own

animal, as he exists in this constantly changing world." While his in the field of heredity and he stresses particular interest is

*72
this aspect,

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

it is

plain that Dr. Dice

had in mind a broader study

which might

my

"Every state should in maintain and generously support a permanent center opinion
differ
locality to locality.

from

on man." 7 With his interest in heredity in the foreground, he says, "The study of the biology of man will be most
for research
effective, I

am

convinced,

when

a relatively small number number of families is studied

a very intensive study is made of of families, rather than when a larger

less

intensively.

very best results will be secured

are studied

when

my opinion, the the same families precisely

In

from many different morphological, physiological, psychological and environmental viewpoints." If the word individual were substituted for family in the above
quotation throughout, the hereditary aspect, which must be longer range, would be omitted, but the .statement would still carry an

important idea. Intensive study of a few individuals can reveal much that is not apparent as a result of an extensive and superficial study
of many.
Professors

called attention to the Laboratory of Physiological

exists at their institution

Brozek and Keys of the University of Minnesota have Hygiene which

and the importance of "interdisciplinary research in experimental human biology." The Minnesota institute is relatively broad in its scope and includes biochemistry and behavioral psychology. While they stress the importance of studying man in his entirety, the study of individual human beings is not
stressed.

They speak

of "the individual

human organism" and

not

of individual

In a

later

human organisms.8 chapter we shall consider

and make use of

briefly proposals

and attempts
patients,

made
and

in the medical field to center attention

on individual

to learn about

their innate peculiarities. Psy-

chiatrists in particular

have necessarily paid unusual attention to

individual differences.

proposal to study human beings scientifically and compreIn spite hensively has as yet received any substantial public support.
of
all

No

the moves that have been

made and

all

posals that

may

have been entertained or

set forth,

the ideas and proWe can say that

MAN AND SOCIETY

to date there has never been developed a study of

173

human

beings

which even remotely approximates comprehensiveness.

The
pend

for

applied science which we have called humanics must demost of its fundamental groundwork upon the pure

sciences of biology, psychology, chemistry

and

physics.

As

these

fundamental sciences develop, uncover new techniques, gain new insights and extend our information, the possibility of applications
the field of humanics increases correspondingly. It is true of every applied science that its roots are embedded in pure science,
to

and without pure science to sustain it, its future development would be made impossible. The development of humanics will increase rather than decrease the importance of the fundamental sciences
that underlie
it.

All that

we

discover in pure science about

man

in

the abstract will be inestimably valuable. Some of my readers, I feel sure, unconsciously exalt what they think of as the magical element in science. Actually there is no

magic
is

to the task of searching out the secrets of nature

it

requires

diligent

and painstaking thought and

effort. It

may

be and often

inspiring work, but it is nevertheless work it requires extreme perseverance and stamina. Even the poet Tennyson appreciated the fact that scientific advance does not come by inspiration when he

wrote, "Science moves, but slowly, slowly, creeping on from point The non-scientist in general can have little conception of to

how

point." often a prodigious

amount

of

work

results in a

mere crumb

of added information or insight. In the field of humanics we may hope for relatively rapid advance because the idea of studying the same individual human beings
intensively

standpoints and deriving therefrom has never been followed. However, we socially valuable information

from

various

will be foolish

if

we

that the practical study

science to fall back on, expect, even with pure and analysis of human beings is going to be

174

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

simple and easy. If we may refer again for purposes of illustration to the analogy between humanics and the applied science of wood technology, we may assert without fear of argument that human
beings are incomparably more complex than wood. Yet success in the field of wood technology has required the work of large laboratories with well trained staffs for many years. If we are to under-

stand

human beings we must be prepared

effort

a problem incomparably more important to put the requisite amount of money and

into

the task. Fortunately

we

can reap benefits as

we

progress.

We
to

must take the problem seriously if we expect our progress be sure. This means for one thing strengthening all the basic

sciences, including, as a conspicuous example, psychology. The number of psychological laboratories that are staffed and equipped to do effective research is far too small and the number of trained psy-

chologists

is

wholly inadequate for the tasks that

lie

ahead.

IX. Humanics Tolerance Mental HygieneReligion

No man
of his

can climb out beyond the limitations

character.

own

JOHN MORLEY

T\7TE

not delude ourselves into thinking that under any conditions by any means complete. Each of us is greatly limited in his freedom by inborn traits and abilities and accumulated habits. No one can say to himself: "Beginning tomorrow I'm going to be,
it is

PRIDE OURSELVES

on our freedom and we should, but we need

or like a goat or like a Neanderthal man. In the first place no one of us is well enough acquainted with the psychology of snakes or goats or Neanderthal

and

act psychologically, like a

snake"

men
ence

to duplicate their reactions,

if

we

were.

man

can't

and it wouldn't make any differbehave entirely out of keeping with

stress this lack of

his character.

Possibly

it is

not desirable to
it

freedom in our

could be used as an excuse for not making of one's life. On the other hand, it is desirable to think out anything of the lack of freedom in others because it gives us a real and
self-analysis;

own

necessary basis for excusing the shortcomings which we see in them. If a blind man should bump into one of us on the street we

would beg his pardon and, knowing he could not see, it would hardly occur to us to become angry. After reading the chapter dealing with differences in sense thresholds, one probably would not become
angry with another for disagreeing on the fragrance of verbenas, or the sweetness of saccharine, or the desirability of fluorescent

I?
lights.

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

But we are apt
is

someone holds with

a subject that

become annoyed and even angry when positiveness a contrary opinion, especially on
to
is

dear to our heart. very often the direct result of his distinctive

A person's opinion
innate mental

traits supplemented by his unique experience. Most differences of opinion, even those that appear serious, are based upon these factors, rather than a difference in the intentions or the

moral
is

and tragic affair, which in human ad when two groups of nauseum, repeated history well-intentioned become because they embittered equally people
qualities of the disputants. It is a sad

cannot agree on the ways and means of accomplishing

ends.

common

When
the air
is

the

wind blows, we do not get mad

at

it;

we

realize that

following the laws that govern its nature. Likewise we should not cast blame on another person who holds an opinion
contrary to ours especially when the opinion is obviously entirely natural and in keeping with his past history and mental
that
is

make-up.
It

would be

a near-miracle, for example,

to

if

a self-made

man who

had the push

active

advance from poverty to a position of influence through his own efforts should in his mature years become an

and

ment. His aggressive and

enthusiastic advocate of a paternalistic type of governself-sufficient nature and all his life's

experience point unalterably in the opposite direction. It would be just as great an anomaly if a non-aggressive and dependent type

of individual

who was brought up

conflicts

later to espouse

to lean heavily on others were of individual initiative. cause the vehemently

In

all

our internal
capital

between between

liberals

between

and

labor,

isolationists

and conservatives, and inter-

are prone to incriminate our opponents, rather than to seek out the causes for their attitudes and attempt to bring
nationalists

we

about reconciliation on the basis of recognized principles or by

compromise on the
a frank appraisal of

basis of recognized conflicting interests,

all

and

factors involved, including the intensely

human

ones.

HUMANICS
Someone has
their place"

TOLERANCE
way you would
last

RELIGION
be treated,

177

stated the golden rule in this

like to

other people the

form: "Always treat if you were in

clause presupposes an ability to imagine oneself in another's place. However, if the other person has mental

The

and physiological

traits

which are .wholly unfamiliar

to you,

you

cannot put yourself in his place. Scientific knowledge of man is often a prerequisite for moral conduct, and humanics is, to this
extent at least, an ally of morality and religion. may have difficulty in realizing how important mental traits

We

are in social relations. When knowledge of individuals shall become more highly developed we will appreciate as we cannot now how two individuals having similar associations and the same

books to read may, because of

entirely

their

different

conclusions

and

attitudes.

mental differences, arrive at Such facts should

make us not quite so sure that we are 100 per cent right all the time. Surely our particular assortment of mental traits and mental abilities cannot be used as a yardstick for all humanity.
Sinclair

Lewis has

illustrated in graphic fiction

how two

indi-

may (because of inherent differences in mental make-up) be affected quite differently by their bringing up. Two brothers
viduals

analyze their backgrounds as follows:

and

"My father," said Ora, "was a sloppy, lazy, booze-hoisting old bum, my mother didn't know much besides cooking, and she was too busy to give me much attention, and the kids I knew were a bunch of

foul-mouthed loafers that used to hang around the hoboes up near the water tank, and I never had a chance to get any formal schooling, and
got thrown on my own just as a brat. So naturally I've become a sort of vagabond that can't be bored by thinking about his 'debts' to a lot
I

of little shop-keeping lice, and I suppose I'm. inclined to be lazy, and not too scrupulous about the dames and the liquor. But my early rearing did have one swell result. Brought up so unconventionally, I'll

always be an Anti-Puritan.
sanctity of Beauty."

I'll

never deny the joys of the flesh and the

pretty easy-going

"And my

father," said

Myron, "was

and did

like

drinking and swapping stories with the Boys, and my mother was harddriven taking care of us, and I heard a lot of filth from the hoboes up
near the water tank.

Maybe

just sort of as a reaction, I've

become almost

178
too

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

much
of a crank about paying debts and, fussing over

my

work,

and being scared of liquor and women. But my rearing did have one swell result. Just by way of contrast, it made me a good, sound, old* * fashioned, New England Puritan."

Admitting
basis.

that this contrast

may

Our

opinions and

attitudes are

be overdrawn, it has a sound determined to a considerable

extent by our mental abilities and traits and by the functioning of our sensory reactions and our autonomic nervous system.

There are almost innumerable ways

edge of ourselves can contribute
to

in

which a

better

knowl-

our mental health. Knowledge

of physiology has to precede its application in hygiene. Knowledge of our own mental powers and traits is essential before we can
successfully apply hygienic measures to our

mental

life.

Personality and

individuality,

which each one of us unquestion-

ably possesses, is something to be developed, not something to be must know our potentialities in leveled off and destroyed. one or another trait or ability before we can develop them. Many conscientious people with high purposes have dealt upon them-

We

selves untold misery

capabilities

and

that

they

frustration because they tried to develop did not possess; at the same time they

could have been developed. neglected Each of us has a co-ordinated distinctive assortment of a large number of traits and abilities and, as we have seen, each one of
abilities that

us possesses these
person
is

traits

and

abilities

in

different degrees.

One

deficient in

some

traits

and superior in

others, another

ties.

individual has a different assortment of deficiencies and superioriNo one is average in every trait, no one is outstanding in all,

no one

is

equally deficient in

all.

The
*

scientific facts

about you and

me

should be comforting,

From Work f Art, by Sinclair Lewis, copyright 1934, reprinted by permission of Doubleday and Company, Inc.

HUMANICS
should increase our

TOLERANCE

RELIGION

179

self confidence and our morale. An average even one who is somewhat below (or average) can meet the President o the United States, a Supreme Court Justice, and a

man

financial magnate, with the assurance that

he probably
it

excels each

one of them in

several desirable traits.

Maybe

will be in rote

memory, maybe in sense of pitch, in empathy, in appreciation of design, in word familiarity, in spatial imagery, in peripheral vision,
in altruism, in sense of timing, in emotional strength, in orderliness, in loyalty or in any one or several of the dozens of traits

which we

possess.

The

realization of this should be of the greatest

value to an individual, whether anyone else knows it or not, but if the realization is shared by others it can become a tremendous
psychological boon. It puts a so-called average individual in a dignified position upon a pinnacle, in fact compared with the mis-

leading and unscientific information that his intelligence quotient

is

average, namely 100. If there were nothing whatever to be gained from study of individual human beings except a sound basis for strong morale, this

worth while, because morale is allimportant in connection with any activity requiring continuous effort. Harold Swift of Swift and Co. has emphasized this in conit

alone would

make

vastly

nection with employees: "In my opinion the employee's chief wants are, (i) to be considered an individual, (2) to feel that he has a
dignified

and secure part in a worth-while

enterprise, (3) to

have

an opportunity to think and express himself about things that are going on about him, (4) to receive a good pay check, (5) to have
the privilege of being let alone to live his own life." Note that the pay check is fourth on the list and that every other item has to do

with recognition as an individual.

careful study, using trustworthy psychoof "what logical techniques, people want from business." In his of representative business ornumber a investigations involving
J.

D.

Houser made a

ganizations he found that all types of employees from those holding executive positions on down to the laborers were very much alike
in their attitudes

on

certain questions

they were primarily inter-

l8o

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

ested in matters pertaining to their own morale. Rate of pay always ranked from fifth to twelfth in importance among the various ele-

ments which made

their jobs desirable,

and such items

as desire for
list.

recognition and personal consideration always topped the regard to workers' strikes Houser says:
It is

With

human nature to believe that men would go into and endanger their lives in bloody violence, for the mere wages or shorter hours which unions demand. Behind every blow in every strike are days and months and years of hurt feelings over acts emphasizing men's insignificance and enforced inferiority. What the worker wants is ... regard for his simple dignity as a man. 2 *
an
insult to

picket lines

These observations are

student of

entirely in line with

human

nature,

what that penetrating William James, had said years before:

"What
craves

most

every genuine philosopher (every genuine man in fact) is praise, although the philosophers generally call it

recognition."
is wholesome from the standpoint of those who are comconsidered the or inferior individuals, is just as valuaverage monly able for those belonging in the superior group. It would be a wholesome thing for the man of influence who is recognized for his

What

ability, to

know
some

that should he

America the
to

first

man

go for a walk on any sidewalk in he might meet would probably be superior

him

in

respects

which are the common

the joy out of his
life,

superior in some of the numerous traits possession of everyone. This should not take
abilities are

because his

nonetheless real and

outstanding. Even if they were not so outstanding, he could pat himself on the back because of his ability to advance in spite of some-

what mediocre equipment.

Authorities agree that hatred
is

one of those reactions which are

releases

harmful both mentally and physically. It presumably into the body, but whatever the mechanism, its bad
erally recognized. It
*
is

poisons

effects are

gen-

interesting that as long as

one remains on

From What People Want from

1938, reprinted

Business, by J. D. Houser, copyright by permission of McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc.

HUMANICS
the

TOLERANCE
We

RELIGION

l8l

beam

scientifically

being. All scientific without desirable traits.

he cannot thoroughly hate a fellow human information indicates that no human being is
can
let

our emotions take over and

hate his guts or hate the ground he walks on, but

when we do

this

we are going contrary to the facts which science tells us. The opposite rather extreme statement of Will Rogers that he never met a

man

he didn't

like,

on the other hand,

is

wholly in accord with

science.

Everyone does have likeable features. Many people poison themselves and waste their nervous energies

better knowledge of human beings and in harboring jealousy. the natural results of this knowledge are an antidote. It seems to

me
and

that feelings of jealousy are

ability

when someone whose

most readily fanned into flame, we do not recognize, steps out ahead
feel

receives recognition that

we

he or she does not merit.

When

a typist who can type a hundred words a minute gets promoted over one who can do only fifty words a minute an important cause of jealousy is absent. But if the fifty-word typist "gets her man"

while the hundred-word typist goes unwanted, jealousy

natural result.

is

more
has

The hundred-word

typist says to herself,

"What

haven't got?" If she can answer the question satisto herself, she is bound to be psychologically less disfactorily turbed. If the fifty-word typist is the prettiest girl on the staff, or

she got that

she has other evident qualities that make her popular, then the disruptive feeling of jealousy is not so liable to develop. In professional life unfortunate feelings of jealousy seem to arise
if

most often when some person

tion
is

is

elevated

whose
do

ability or qualifica-

in doubt. If a

man

is

clearly able to

brilliant

work

in a

their acknowlparticular field, his colleagues are usually graceful in he receives when but high recognition through some lucky edgment

break,

when

his capacity

better

general the first place,

knowledge would tend to smooth out many of

if

is in doubt, then stress develops. of ourselves and our associates of

men

in

these difficulties. In

and women

competence could be better evaluated, fewer men would be elevated for no good reason, and this would

of our diverse help tremendously. In addition, a fuller appreciation

182

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

numerous
fit

natures and of the

easier for us to realize

cial abilities

which we may possess makes it that the other fellow may have obscure spetraits

which

him

for a particular job,

and that the boss

may be in a better position to judge. In any event our morale can be salved by the knowledge that each of us can surpass our associate or

competitor in some respects. Ignorance about ourselves and our associates

is,

then, an impor-

tant factor in the breeding of jealousy. more complete knowledge of ourselves can contribute in

many

other ways to our peace of mind. If we know what our abilities are we can know what may reasonably be expected of us. Overconscientious striving to do something that we cannot do can be avoided. knowledge of what our limitations and our abilities are

should decrease the pressure of

life

and make

possible a

more

tran-

quil accomplishment of those things for which our gifts fit us. Those of us whose gifts are not so numerous or great should * shoulder less feeling of responsibility.

While

psychologists, psychiatrists,

and students of mental hygiene

could not unanimously endorse theology as a beneficial agent in human life, they would be practically unanimous in their endorseof religion if they could specify that the religion must be the kind that engenders in human beings the triad of faith, hope and
love, of

ment

which the

greatest

is

love.

These three are probably the

fear, despair

most important mental medicines, and their opposites and hate are among the worst mental poisons.
one of the bases of our national
life,

Individualism of conscience and freedom to worship has been

and

this

no doubt

is

founded

upon the Christian teaching of individual responsibility. Jesus taught this and also recognized individual differences. In the parable of
the sower there were different kinds of
talents differences in
soils;

endowment were recognized;

in the parable of the in Mary and

HUMANICS

TOLERANCE

RELIGION

183

Martha he recognized two

entirely different types

pathetic to both; in his dealings with his

and was symfollowers he noted their

personality differences, and in his Sermon ished against judging one's fellowman.

on the Mount he admon-

As an outgrowth of freedom a large number of religious denominations and sects have come into existence and are a living
testimony to the fact of wide individual differences in religious attitudes. Even within the Roman Catholic Church there is some

room
orders.

for

individual differences, in the existence of the various

of the varieties of religious
itinerant evangelist

Long ago William James wrote

experience and today even the most primitive

knows
appeal.

that people differ markedly in their response to religious

Religion has a social aspect which is highly important and it is only by belonging to a group, being a part of a crowd in the psychological sense, that the greatest, benefit can be obtained. From the
standpoint of mental hygiene, it is essential that the individual lose himself in something bigger than himself, and belonging to a

coherent group where mutual respect and love

is

manifest

is

an

important means.
If the large

number

of denominational sects each

filled a

had

its

char-

acteristic qualities

and each

need for a certain type of indiit is.

vidual, the wastage

would not be

as serious as

are

many sorry duplications and many people with

Actually there religious lean-

ings who are consistently repelled by every religious agency. One of the unfortunate traditions which it would admittedly be difficult to avoid has been that children should follow the denomination of
their parents, rather than select for themselves the type of religious,

observance which would suit their

inherit

own

peculiar make-up. Children

and

develop a mosaic of traits

very different

and aptitudes which are often from those possessed by either parent, and not in-

frequently the religious taste of a parent is quite unacceptable to the child not because the child is bad but simply different. Partly because of intolerance within families, the social aspect of religion

Io4
is lost

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

to

many

because of their lack of participation in any religious

regard as the essence of religion goes
religion (even
stuff)

activity of a group nature.

Fortunately what

many
as

marching on and
secular daily life
is

the

volume of

what would once

have been regarded

Sunday School

that enters into our

stupendous.

Many

of the writings in our books

religious connota-

and magazines which are accepted without any

tion
theless parables, adaptations

by people who do not regard themselves as religious, are noneand exemplifications of fundamental
which were
at

truths

one time regarded

as religious truths.

the assumption that the function of churches is to serve the people, it seems that the church is a natural place where individuals

On

should come into their

own and where humanics

should receive

active support. If churches are statistically minded and haven't time for individuals or interest in them, then they have departed a long

way from

their original purposes.

Better scientific

knowledge of human beings should be welcomed

by them more

the churches, because by

effectively.
is

knowing people

better can

we

help

Religious tolerance

traditional in

our country in the sense

that people have the right to belong to any church that they want to or to none at all. This is based essentially on a regard for in-

dividuals

and

their religious opinions

and

attitudes.

More

of this

same

tolerance and appreciation of individuality could well be exhibited within family groups and within church groups. To spread such tolerance still further so that we can accept in good faith other

one people's opinions on social, economic and political questions, is of the purposes behind the desire to gain a better scientific understanding of men.

X. Humanics and Education

All that
is

valuable in

human

society de-

pends upon the opportunity for development accorded to the individual. ALBERT EINSTEIN

HUMANICS point. It

at many points, in fact at every should not only influence the method of teaching at different levels but should affect the content of instruction; it should

TOUCHES EDUCATION

be taken into account in connection not merely with the pupils who are to be taught but with the teachers who are responsible for
instruction.

Many of the fruits of humanics which are in prospect, including those to be discussed in succeeding chapters, cannot be realized unless there is wide dissemination of scientific information about
human
beings and

how

they differ from one another.

Even though

our knowledge in the field of humanics should increase by leaps and bounds, its value and use, in the hands of experts alone, would be small compared with the potentialities that would exist if the
general public were educated with respect to it. In order to cultivate a tolerance for each other and an appreciation of each other's make-up it is essential that children have an
early

even in the preschool years and this means that start mothers and fathers and future mothers and fathers must be in-

formed and appreciative

individual differences.

as to the

magnitude and importance of

of education

Extreme environmentalists who hold or have held that the story is simply one of conditioned reflexes, and tkat the
185

l86

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

one's life depends wholly

outcome of

on

training, are forced

back

into the very early years of a child's life in order to account for formative influences. While we cannot accept the extreme point of

view we recognize that the very early years are of great importance, and that attitudes can arise at this time.
After people reach adult or middle
tion,
life

new

facts

and informa-

which might have had a profound effect if presented earlier, may readily become passive and inert information. Even though the facts may be accepted intellectually, attitudes and habits of

thought are too well formed to be greatly affected. If we wish to develop more of an appreciation of the dignity and uniqueness of individual human beings, children must be reared in an atmosphere

where the
acquired.

basic information

which promotes

this attitude

is

readily

Fortunately there is already, among adults who possess a generous portion of common sense, a considerable appreciation of the wide
differences that exist. The prevalence of this idea is due personality no doubt in part to the study and emphasis that some psychologists have devoted to individual differences; however, this appreciation
is

also

one of those things which

is

often learned in the process of

or from teachers. Men of affairs who living and not out of books have learned how to deal with people appreciate and some of

them very keenly that each individual is something of a rule unto himself. They make use of this knowledge daily. When adults become informed there will be no serious obstacles
through demonstration and experiment that they and their school friends differ greatly among themto teaching even small children

selves in

numerous ways

in their ability to detect various odors,

in their liking for various odors, in their ability to discriminate their sense of timing, their preferences with regard to pitch, in musical selections, their taste in design, their ability to discriminate

among

with which they "see out of the corners of their eyes," in their sense of touch and their response
colors, in the readiness

to visual

various

and auditory stimuli, in games and skills, etc.

their liking

and aptitudes

for

HUMANICS AND EDUCATION

If children

187

early

it

were given the opportunity to learn such information would start their habits of thought in the right direction.
of going through or acts differently

learn to be tolerant early. Instead life on the assumption "If the other fellow feels " from me, he is 'putting on or else a 'bit crazy,' their ideas (or philosophy if you will) on the
5

They would

they will build up basis of the indi-

viduality

and dignity of each human being. Instead of thinking of other people as belonging in categories such as smart, smarter, smartest or dull, duller, dullest, even children will be in position

to

become acquainted with people

mental
abilities

as

they actually are

traits

sessors of various

and

the posin varying degrees,

superior in some, inferior in some, average in others. Intelligent mothers and fathers early recognize differences be-

tween

their children

and often learn

to deal

with them individually

science has contributed

in accordance with these differences.

But

help them in this important phase of their parenthood, and children have never been made to appreciate how
comparatively
little

to

much

they differ amongst themselves. Many important differences and many of the adjustments in the family and in the school are made on the basis that what fits one child must fit
are overlooked
others.

This

is

comparable to passing out the same sized clothing

indiscriminately to all

members

of the household.

Humanics could not be

neglected the teachers. They or her individual aptitudes, interests and

of greatest service to education if it too are human beings and each has his
abilities.

It is, of course, extremely important for education that individuals with the highest aptitudes and abilities be attracted to the

profession.

the inducements with respect to standbe able to ing, prestige and pay be adequate, but it is necessary to can this be done if in teachers. recognize aptitude potential

Not only should

How

l88

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

not

we do
do not

know about their know what traits and

however,

various

traits

and

abilities?

Or

if

we

abilities are desirable in teachers?

It is easy,

to fall into the error of thinking of the teacher

statistics

or the ideal teacher. Teachers cannot be reduced to

any

pupils can; a teacher may be excellent for some pupils teacher who has a strong tendency to be and poor for others. ear-minded may be expected to do well with students of similar

more than

tendency, provided the other necessary attributes are present, but such a teacher's effectiveness with students who are strongly visually minded will probably be low. This is merely one basis for classifying
teachers

and

do not imply that

it is

In

my

professional experience

the most important one. feel sure that I have observed

where particular students and instructors conspicuously many fit each other mentally and other cases where there were serious
cases
misfits.

The
at

misfits

were not due to a lack of

ability

on the part
abilities.

of either teacher or student but were due to differences in

I

have

numerous times
at best.

felt that in

my own

an

excellent job

with some students,

teaching was doing while for others it was

I

mediocre

We have
faculty

mentioned the mental breach between the students and

lean toward the humanities, on the one hand, and those
affinity

who

who have
on

an

for such subjects as chemistry

and

physics,

the natural scientist reads the writings of his non-scientist colleagues he is liable to exclaim, inwardly or outthe other.

When

wardly

"Words! Words! Words!" The

non-scientist

the contribution of his scientific colleagues

may

on reading exclaim (for all I

this contrasting

know)
analysis

"Symbols! Symbols! Symbols!" Whether

is

meaningful or not, the fact

mental
lives.

is

clear that experts in science

abilities

and experts in non-science may both have high

far apart in their
type.

and

still

be

Their

abilities are

not of the same

In every educational system there should be the

shifting pupils

possibility of

from one

teacher to another, in the event that mental

exist. If

or other incompatibilities

we knew more

about individuals

HUMANICS AND EDUCATION

made
before difficulties arise.

lop

and more about the nature of the incompatibilities which are likely to be most bothersome, such adjustments could probably often be

Our

failure to

pay more attention to individual children has been

due in part to lack of information, but it also has its roots in the idea of carrying out education on a mass-production basis and attempting to reduce everything to statistics. Even those who react
against too much emphasis on tests and statistics talk more about the abstract concept the individual than about individuals. Articles and books galore have been written dealing with all aspects of edu-

cating the child or even the individual child, but the importance of recognizing each child as an individual with widely different apti-

tudes has rarely been stressed. R. B. Cattell has said (presumably in an optimistic moment), "The modern educator realizes that progress

must be based upon a scientific understanding of the emotional and mental make-up of each mind." * This, stated as an ideal, seems very far from realization. Many educators are more likely
view
glibly expressed

to take the

by a prominent leader who, writing

on the general subject of the importance of the individual, says, "Every boy and girl at more or less frequent intervals demands attention as an individual." This is almost like saying, "Each cog in
the machine
is liable

sometime or other to develop a crack or flaw."

is

One

of the functions of education

to help the student find his

place in the world and we could start on this problem much earlier than we do. Students go all the way through college without learning what their aptitudes are or what they might be fitted for. I

out his aptitudes for the first time after army examination. It probably would have been possible to gain exactly the same information when he was in grade school; then his college education would not have required
of one
college graduation, in an
repetition,

know

who found

as in this instance

it

did.

19

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

If the elementary teacher has a reasonably small class, she can begin to learn in the early grades about the individuality of each of

her pupils. The concrete information about specific capacities (not a generalized LQ.) which she has gained, as well as her estimates,

can be passed on to the teacher of the next higher grade and if this gathering and revision of information is continued the capabilities
of the students will be pretty well known by the time they have finished the grade school, and their futures can be mapped intellisometimes complain because students do not make up gently.

We

their

minds

until late

what they want

to do.

We

are certainly not

doing what we should to help them. When and if students arrive at the point where they see their way with reasonable clarity and are seriously considering, say, one of
three professions
cial

law, medicine, or engineering

test their

they can take spe3

aptitudes in any one of these fields. This is a step in the right direction and the tests will no doubt be improved and increase in dependability with use and experience.

examinations to

But the

two important advantages

student's aptitudes could be determined earlier with at least there would not be the shock to those

who

fail in the examinations and must violently change their plans, and secondly the respective professions would not be so likely to

lose potentially valuable to

aptitude tests have been developed constitute a very small percentage of the whole population and most people go into their life work with very inadequate information as to their prospects of success or alternative lines of which might well have been chosen.

know their aptitudes The three professions for which

members simply because of their inability far enough ahead for effective planning.

work

Knowing
cause
of
life

them work

the aptitudes of the students early in their lives may to gravitate in appropriate directions so far as choice is concerned. However, this knowledge is only one part

of the story. In order to

know who

should be a merchant, physician,

factory worker, banker, mechanic, lawyer, writer, clerk, stenogor engineer we need to rapher, teacher, artist, scientist, statesman know what traits ma\e for success in these particular fields.

HUMANICS AND EDUCATION

An

Ipl

experimental approach to this problem involves studying individually successful men and women to find out what traits are
present and which ones may be absent. Some are obvious, but others are not, especially when we consider that there are many kinds of
physicians, mechanics, writers, scientists, and so on. If we knew with a fair degree of certainty what traits are indispensable for success in various lines of endeavor, and if we knew also the traits

possessed by an individual student, then vocational guidance could be intelligent. Most often a person chooses a type of work with very
little

advance knowledge of what is in prospect. Verbal descriptions concocted by someone else are liable to be painfully inadequate.

may inherit and develop traits which differ very those of their parents, the parents themselves, unless they are highly alert to individual differences, are not necessarily good advisors. Benjamin Franklin, Charles Darwin and George
Because children

much from

Bellows, the
isters.

artist,

were groomed by

their parents to

become min-

Cellini was intended, according to his parents' advice, to become a musician instead of a goldsmith and artist. Debussy's father, on the other hand, aspired to make a naval officer out of

him

instead of a composer. Gallileo and Leopold Damrosch were cut out for medicine, according to their parents' notions, and the legal profession was chosen by the parents of Dumas and Balzac

for their sons' careers.

and personalities of the two Oliver Wendell Holmes, senior and junior, will appreciate how poorly the son's tastes could be judged on the basis

Anyone

familiar with the lives

of the tastes of the father.

There

is

abundant

historical evidence to

show

that neglect of

of schools to individuality has resulted in the past in the failure

perform

their function.

A classical example is that of Thomas Edison whose teacher said he was addled and was not worth keeping in school any more.
Edison admits his deficiency: "I remember
I

used never to be able

I92
to

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

I

get along at school. I don't know now what it was, but always at the foot of the class." It seems safe from all we

was

know

about Edison that his

difficulty

was not lack of

ability; it

was the

lack of the abilities required to

ticular school by the particular a schoolteacher, was convinced that her son, instead of being a dullard, had outstanding ability, and she defended him in no un-

do the work prescribed in the parteacher. His mother, who had been

certain terms. It

is

fortunate that Edison had a mother

who

could

help him.

"She never misunderstood or misjudged me," and he thrived under the individual instruction which she gave him. She was evidently a woman of unusual insight and indesaid,

He

pendence of thought. Edison said of her, "She believed that many

turned out badly by the time they grew to manhood, would have been valuable citizens if they had been handled
of the boys
right when they were young. Her years of experience as a schoolteacher taught her many things about human nature, and especially

who

about boys."
It is

evident that in Edison's case the school failed to recognize

his individual traits,

and therefore

failed to

do

its

duty by him.
Lincoln's

Sometimes there
school experiences.

is

a misapprehension about

Abraham

We sometimes

think, "Poor boy,

he didn't have

an opportunity for schooling." Actually, however, there is reason to think that he had more opportunities than he cared to avail
himself
of.

he

said.

He went to school a total of about a year, "by littles" as He left few biographical notes regarding his childhood but
schools, so-called

he did indicate "There were some

absolutely nothing between the lines, it
to

There was

excite ambition for education." Reading seems probable that Lincoln's school experi-

ences were rather sad and that after he had learned the rudiments
of reading he found self-directed reading to be more profitable 5 than school attendance. Again, the schools failed to recognize individual gifts and consequently failed to perform their function. By himself, with the loan of books he was able to give himself a highly
* From Thomas Alva Edison, by Dr. Francis T. Miller, copyright 1940, reprinted by permission of The John C. Winston Company.

HUMANICS AND EDUCATION

effective
abilities.

193

and

distinctive education, suited to his

own

remarkable

The
failure.

scholastic education of

Van Doren,

his

Benjamin Franklin was also largely a biographer, says, "But he was almost wholly
to school."

self-taught as if

he had never gone

Here was another

individual with remarkable

abilities that

made him

abilities, but they were not the kind of take to Latin or arithmetic, and hence the
6

school failed to contribute materially to his education. It is interesting that these three Americans, recognized as

among

the greatest, should all have had highly individualized educations obtained largely by reading books of their own choice. Even a single
great book
is

not the same

variable attention, interests

appeal in different of emphasis. While of these three Edison might be classed by some as an eccentric genius, no one would call the endowments of the other

when read by different individuals: and backgrounds cause the same book to ways and to carry different meanings and points

two bizarre and there

is no reason they should not have been served well by schools that served other children. But to say this is to assume that what is good for one child is good for another an

entirely false assumption. Actually all three personalities

were

suf-

so that scholastic education built ficiently different

"treat

on the dictum
were
all

Of

alike" failed almost completely. course one may answer that the earlier schools
all

'em

poor.

Possibly true,

but on the other hand, there are plenty of historical

examples of

men who

during the same periods excelled in school

it.

work and

derived great benefit from

Generally the work and

suited to

methods of a particular school were approximately

their existence.
It is

some

of the pupils; otherwise the schools could hardly have continued

obvious that

in this day

and

Franklin, Lincoln and Edison were youngsters age, they would attend school much more than
if

they did (averaging as they did between one and two years). But can we be sure that today they would receive the individualized education they needed? Is it possible that they would be run

194

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

as a result turned out to

through the mill, and

be more like run-of-

the-mill people? Certainly many of their ideas and attitudes were not the sort that would naturally blossom out of a schoolroom but

were more
flective

as a result of diversified reading likely to arise

and

re-

thought.
is

There

when

doubtless a greater possibility of having scholastic misfits the pupil has unusually keen aptitudes along technical and
lines.

was seemingly slow and backward in elementary school and we may guess that what was required of him was outside his range of aptitudes. He did not look back on
mathematical
Einstein

elementary school with any pleasure and likened his teachers to non-commissioned officers. Henry Ford made little use of scholastic
education, but trained himself effectively for his future work. Available education did not suit his purpose

and no one
test,

thought of giving
less

he would

a mechanical aptitude have rated very high.

him

in

in his day which doubt-

Even people who

are inclined toward literature have not always

their

been enthusiastic about

Riley said, record of my career would not be seriously affected." Chesterton characterized his schooling as "being taught by people I didn't

formal education. James Whitcomb "Omit the schoolroom from my history entirely, and the

know, things
people
ticular

that I didn't

want

to

know."

On

the other
fit

hand

who
his

are far

from academically minded may

into a par-

schoolroom excellently.

Andrew

Carnegie,

for

example,

though

top of his

schooling was very limited, while it lasted stood at the class and had the reputation of being the teacher's pet.

He
and

attributed
this

most of his education, however, to the books he read,

his establishing thousands of public

was the cause of

libraries.

In elementary schools where students ordinarily have the same teacher for all or nearly all of the subjects, a very great deal depends

on teacher-student
entirely different in
if

relationships.

If

the student and teacher are

temperament,
is

traits,

and mental

abilities,

and
it is

the

method of doing things

prescribed by some

outsider,

HUMANICS AND EDUCATION

too

195
his school

much

to expect that the pupil will enjoy

and
life

profit

by

work.

shouldn't expect the impossible. Three of our greatest men succeeded in

We

their schooling.

How many have

there been

who have

largely in spite of failed in life

because of their schooling? It is by no means safe to say that men of ability will always triumph over the obstacles that are in their
path.

There have been plenty of

failures

among

able people

not

only failures in the sense of failing to achieve their full potentialities,

but even more striking failures in that they have become criminals and drags upon society. Dostoevsky once said of criminals, "Perhaps they are the most gifted, the strongest, of our people."
lations

Studies have indeed indicated that while there are in convict popumore than a proportional number of so-called feeble-minded,

the general average of intelligence of penitentiary inmates (based on intelligence quotients) may be distinctly higher than that of the
general population. The larger number of criminals who remain out of prison are certainly not less able intellectually than those who
are in prison. If intelligence quotients could be devised so as to be complete measures of mental ability, instead of being so largely a
7

measure of

ability to

the criminals

do traditional school work, then on this basis would probably outshine the general population even

more. Criminals as well as other failures frequently

to

are, according persons whose individuality and distinctive traits and abilities have never been taken account of or in many cases even

my

thesis,

recognized. In the case of active criminals, they have found unsocial

outlets for their energies
It is well

and

abilities.

known

that having

an occupation for which one

is

fitted is
fail

youngsters various types of misfits.

develop.

schools the best possible insurance against criminality. to recognize distinctive abilities and traits, and fail to help find suitable vocations, they turn loose upon society
It is

When

from these

misfits that

our criminals

196

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

educate parents, teachers and prospective parents and teachers, in the fundamental scientific facts regarding the prevalence and importance of individual differences, is obviously one of the first
tasks of humanics.

To

To do

this

adequately and at once

is

impossible but

we

can

make

progress. Clearly it will require zeal and co-operation on the part of people with many different interests, but we hope to show in the succeeding chapters that progress in this direction is of vital importance to all. Since it concerns us all so intimately, there is

prospect of our joining in a common purpose in the same we do when a war threatens our safety and freedom.

way

that

have attempted to emphasize that the facts of humanics are by no means all known, and that much research and study will be
essential for bringing
it

We

to full fruition.

One

of the important func-

tions of institutions of higher education is to extend the boundaries of knowledge, and humanics will enter into this function to an im-

portant extent. Curious minds are alert minds and teachers, possibly above all others, should have them. This is the fundamental reason

why
kind

research

and advanced teaching are inexorably

associated.

Curious,

alert persons,

who

should be the teachers, are not the

can contentedly plod along unmindful of the potential discoveries that lie all around them.
If the ideas that are set forth in this chapter are translated into

who

added support for education. But it will be an investment for which we can hope to reap benefits,
action
it

will require greatly

financial

and otherwise,

far

beyond the amount

invested. If

we

could save a substantial part of our crime bill, for which there is excellent prospect, it alone would more than pay the expense for
greatly increased
It

and greatly improved school facilities. would be presumptuous on my part to attempt to outline
schools need. It seems obvious,

just

what

from the standpoint of our

HUMANICS AND EDUCATION

discussion, that

197

some of

sive schools are highly desirable

the measures adopted in so-called progresand that more education having to

will

do with trades and vocations

be

essential.

From

the standpoint

of individual attention the most crucial

for

more and more

better teachers,
effective.

and most expensive need is so that classes can be smaller and

teaching

Nietzsche probably had size of classes in mind when he said, "In large states public education will always be mediocre, for the

same reason
there are

that in large kitchens the cooking

is

usually bad."
is,

Actually cooking in large kitchens doesn't have to be bad; that

if

only if individual pupils.

enough capable cooks. Schools can serve us effectively they abandon wholesale methods and pay attention to the

One

of the important possibilities in connection with school or-

ganization is that of segregating students into homogeneous groups within which individual differences will not be large. It is reported
that in the Detroit public schools all children are given psychological
tests in the first grade and are thereby classified as belonging to the middle group (about 60 per cent), upper group (about 20 per cent), or lower group (about 20 per cent). In addition, those with definite

handicaps constitute another of approximately 2 per cent. Special

courses are organized for the different groups. The idea of classifying students and caring for
is
8

them

in groups
is

an excellent one, but

if

the fundamental thesis of this book

sound, children should be classified on the basis of their special mental capacities and not on the unscientific basis of supposed intelligence quotients. To deal with children as though they belong

one of the groups (i) handicapped, (2) mediocre, (4) bright, is to do violence to the scientific to undermine morale and healthful attitudes.
necessarily to

dull,

(3)

facts

and

One

of the tasks of large-scale education in the future will be

developing suitable groupings so that children with similar aptitudes can be taken care of in accordance with their needs, and will
not be forced to wear average sized shoes that do not
fit.

XL
When
a

Marriage
meets his
R.

man

fitting mate,

society begins.

W. EMERSON

INand

THEIR VALUABLE BOOK on success and failure in marriage, Burgess Cottrell stress the general point of view which we have

adopted.

They

say in their preface:

In modern society, knowledge is becoming indispensable in every phase of human living. The increasing knowledge of physical nature made possible the great inventions which are changing our institutions and our mode of living. Medical knowledge has removed or reduced the scourges of communicable and other diseases. Increase in our information about human nature and social relations is likewise essential for dealing with many of the problems of human adjustment.

Of

the marriage problem they say:

fields of

In few
dent, the

human
for
it

relations

is

demand
1

information so scanty
adjustment.
*

more insistent, and the amount and fragmentary, as in the field

the need for knowledge more eviof verifiable

of marriage

Marriage is indeed one of the concrete problems to which humanics can make a direct and immediate contribution. I say the
marriage problem rather than that of marriage and divorce, because

we take care of the marriages, the divorces will take care of themselves. Divorces involve the severance of marital relations: the
if

* From Predicting Success or Failure in Marriage, by F. W. Burgess and L. S. Cottrell, copyright 1939, reprinted by permission of Prentice-Hall, Inc. 198

MARRIAGE
most extreme measure taken
People
to
differ in their attitudes

199

end an unhappy state of affairs. toward divorce; some simply take

the position that if you come to dislike one mate you should choose another; others think of divorce as only to be considered when

the marriage becomes unbearable;

still

others

go

to the extreme of

discountenancing

all

divorces.

Whatever

one's opinion

may be with

respect to the ease with

which divorces should be obtained

all will

(I do not expect to discuss this the of fostering the kind agree upon question), desirability of marriages in which the question of the ease of divorce never

becomes involved. In a

sense, abolishing divorce

would

solve the

There would

divorce problem, but it would not solve the marriage problem. still be the violent consequences of serious misfits. The

obvious desire of society as a whole, regardless of the diverse attitudes of individuals toward divorce, is to promote happy and

wholesome marriages.
locking the stable door before the horse is stolen. If society could bar the way toward unhappy and unwholesome marriages, and could smooth the way toward those that involve

This

may mean

no

regrets,

then vastly more than the divorce problem would be

solved. Instead, society has in general

made marriage
itself

scandalously

easy and haphazard and has thereby saddled of what to do about the unhappy marriages

with the problem that have resulted.

lasting

On

what

basis

can

we hope

to

promote happy and

is

mar-

riages?

The

obvious answer

is:

marriage involves adjustments to

prerequisite
to

individuals,

and knowledge about the individuals

dealing with them successfully. There is no place in our society where the need for humanics is more apparent. Marriage is a highly
personal and individual matter;

adapting to an

average

woman,

never a question of a man or of a woman being happy with

it is

an average man. Each marriage relationship involves the mutual accommodation between a specific, distinctive individual man and
a

woman who

has

traits

and

abilities that

no one

else

possesses.

200

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

The

first

and immediate contribution

that

humanics can make

to the marriage problem is to promote tolerance and understanding between husbands and wives by bringing to the fore certain facts of

how widely and in what diverse ways we may one from another psychologically and physiologically. If each spouse could even partially appreciate the fundamental background
life

.with regard to

differ

of the other

the

why

of his or her behavior

then

many

of the
ability

frictions could be eliminated.

This presupposes, of course, an

change viewpoints, which generally becomes more difficult as we get older. There are many little causes of friction that have a
to

readily discernible physiological basis

and when these are under-

stood and appreciated the irritation tends to disappear. If we can give children the education in humanics which they need, then the problem of marriage will move toward solution more
rapidly.
If children learn

early to appreciate the significance of indi-

viduality

and the way individuals

are

made

up,

it

will

become

second nature for them to respect the opinions and wishes of others, and to accord that dignky and deference to their spouses that will

make toward happy

trouble
If,

marriages regardless of

how

the individuals

are mated. Differences in traits

become much

less

can cause serious potentially troublesome when they are recognized.

which

for

some

physiological reason, a

husband

likes

way

happy

of doing something, and the wife does not, in spite of the differences, provided their education has de-

one thing or one they can remain

veloped tolerance and an appreciation of the underlying reasons. If education devotes attention to individual differences there will

be an inevitable tendency for children in general

better,

to

know

each other
basis for

and

this will

naturally give a

much improved

choosing a mate in later years.

MARRIAGE

2OI

more important

contribution which humanics can

make

is

in

discovering the basic reasons for success in marriage, and in predicting the outcome of proposed marriages on the basis of scientific

study of the individuals. The time should arrive in the not too distant future when a couple contemplating marriage can be advised with a high degree of accuracy as to their prospects of a
successful union.

As

a basis for judgment, not only will

life

it

be desirable to have

information about their family

sex education, their attitude

and personal adjustments, their toward marriage, toward religion, and

many
success

other such items which can be obtained with considerable

by questionnaire methods, but in addition objective information about their physiological and psychological traits will be
essential.

Remarkably

fine

work

is

being done in several marriage

clinics,

institutes of family relations,

and

so forth, in various cities of the

country, in the

way

of giving advice

and aid
is

to

married couples

and those contemplating marriage. There

also interest

and valu-

able activity in this field in various universities

and

colleges.

Some

a large measure of common sense psychological background and this connection can hardly be exagof which in (the importance

gerated)
advice.

has

made

in giving possible a high degree of success

Some newspaper

columnists do a valuable service in their

2

wholesome

attention to personal problems related to marriage.

Cottrell intimate, however, whatever
is
is

As Burgess and
the

done in

way

of bringing about adjustments

accomplished in the

absence of anything more than scanty and fragmentary scientific can at present only dream about what could be accomplished if scientific information were abundant. Every kind of
information.

We

insight

is

worth

attention, but certainly

no type of information

202
holds as

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

much
promise as a study of individuals with respect to

their physiological

and psychological

traits

and backgrounds.

experimental approach involves the study of couples who have been successful in marriage and of others who have not, to detertraits are important and which are comparatively unhas been used with relative success in This method important. studies involving questionnaires, but of course the type of informa-

An

mine which

tion that can be obtained in this

way

is

limited.

Some

studies have used divorce as a criterion of failure in

as

maris

riage and absence of divorce

an indication of

success.

This

crude criterion because people differ greatly in their attitude toward

divorce. Furthermore, there are all degrees of success in marriage.

Even among the marriages which (because no divorce results) there are

are

regarded

as

successful

countless

numbers

in

which

the relationships could be subject to great improvement. application of humanics to the problem may, and should, raise greatly our idea of what constitutes success in marriage.

An

According to the quotation from

more

lives are

common

Weiman given earlier, "Perhaps ruined through inability to deal with little everyday things than for any other reason." While the discussions
to stress the fact, I believe that the
is

on marriage do not seem

im-

generally recognized. Distressing differences and rows can start over things which appear to the disinterested outsider as inconsequential in the

portance of seeming trivialities in marriage relationships

extreme.

The
band

wife

is

may start the ball rolling by neglecting, when her husin a hurry to catch a bus or train in the morning, to have
enough
for

his coffee hot

trifling

him

to enjoy.

Now

this is

seemingly a

upsets.

It is

thing but can nevertheless lead to serious psychological interesting that it can have a definite physiological basis

understandable only as a result of studying individual differences.

MARRIAGE

203

People differ widely in their temperature adaptations, and the tissues inside the mouth are not exempt from such variations. Some like
coffee piping hot

and

dislike

it

when

it

is

cooler. Others,

on the

other hand, cannot stand it to take hot coffee or soup into their mouths. I had a young lady confess to me that she never likes a

hot drink, and was positive that she had made the mistake of serving guests with soup and coffee that was cooler than they liked,
because of her

own

preference.

elementary education in the nature and prevalence of individual differences on the part of the husband and wife would probably prevent the friction. She would be aware of her husband's differences

An

and would know about

his liking for hot coffee.

the other hand,

would recognize

that she

He, on have differences too, might

and would not be

A
little

so quick to jump to erroneous conclusions. thousand situations comparable to this might arise involving things bed coverings, open windows, choice of perfume,

fluorescent lamps, the color of neckties, late sleeping or early rising,

noisiness, food preparation, a liking for reading in
like,

bed or the

dis-

time of meals, and so on through the whole day. Each situa-

tion

may have

would
and

a definite physiological basis and understanding tend in one way or another to eliminate the irritation. the effect of these
little

It is likely that

differences

is

cumulative,

that couples

who show

too

should be discouraged from and B, with the following persons,

contrasting traits of this sort marrying. Imagine for example two

many

traits

or tastes:

A
1.

B
and
chess.

Dislikes checkers

Likes checkers and chess (spatial

imagery).
2.

Likes athletic sports.

Derives
eating.

Doesn't care for sports.

3.

great

pleasure

from

Is

generally indifferent to food,

4.

Likes to read.

Doesn't care to read

strain).

much

(eye-

204
5.

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

Likes cool temperatures.
to noise.
light.

Likes room "plenty warm."

6. Is sensitive

Has

a tendency to be noisy.

7.
8.

Likes subdued

Likes bright illumination.

Needs meals on

time.

Doesn't care.
Is indifferent to design.

9.

Enjoys and appreciates design.

Likes plenty of bed covering.
Cares
music.
only
for

10.
11.

Sleeps lightly covered.

Is sensitive to

rhythm

in

harmony,

12.

Likes to

sit

near the back in

Likes to

sit

near the front,

movie
13.

theaters.

Doesn't

mind

stuffy rooms.

Is sensitive to stale odors.

Is sensitive

14. Is indifferent to colors.

to colors (sunsets, etc.)

off-

think that

we would

be safe in giving such a couple the

hand advice

(especially if they were uncertain enough to ask it), not to marry. Their ideals and attitudes and other adjustments might be perfect but with all these conflicting traits to deal with

they certainly would have an uphill battle. To have knowledge of each other's traits and appreciate their physiological basis would
help, but the situation in the

ported to have said,

end might be like the man who is pur"Yes, I've been married to her for fifteen years
traits

and

I still don't like her."

Couples with so

many opposing

would

in actual

life

never

marry if they were acquainted with each other. Being acquainted and "keeping company" is unquestionably important for this very reason. The study of Burgess and Cottrell, referred to
to

want

above,

showed

clearly that couples

statistically

with no more than

six

months'

acquaintance had

much

poorer chance of success in

marriage than those with acquaintance up to two years. The couples who knew each other for two years, on the other hand, had distinctly less of a

chance than those

who had known

each other a

longer time.

An

couple to get familiar

important function of a long courtship is for the with these little traits (as well as others to be

MARRIAGE
discussed later)

205
Attendance at movies

and know each

other's tastes.

might,

if

they were frank with each

Being together in
3, 4, 5, 7, 8,

up item 12 above. homes might bring adjustment on such items as

other, clear

and

13.

and again would ultimately make them acquainted so

Seeing each other under varying conditions time far as the

majority of the listed items go. If desired, this process of getting acquainted could probably be frank a greatly speeded up by comparison and appraisal of tastes

and

traits

this type of difference. Especially

of the type considered, or at least by paying attention to would a consideration of trait

if

differences be important

a study of these
scientific

traits

were a

common

knowledge of which of the various physiological* traits are of greatest consequence in marriage.
if

procedure and

we had

psychological traits of individuals who are parties to a marare not discussed along with the "little things" contract riage because they seem to be more important. They are, however, ad-

The

mittedly

difficult to delineate

and

to measure.

Not

infrequently they

are variable

from time

to

time in the same individual.

While the

classification

and characterization of various mental

abilities may be far from final in the scientific sense, a number of them can be measured with considerable reliability. Couples who

contemplate matrimony should not necessarily have mental abilities that match each other, item for item. If one member of the partnership should have poor rote-memory abilities, for example, it would

be very convenient for the other member to rate high in this respect because there are many items in connection with family life that

someone needs
speller

to

remember. Likewise
it

if

one member
if

is is

(word recognition)

is

convenient

the other

a poor a good

one.
It

would seem highly

desirable that

any party
abilities

marriage should

know

about the mental

to a prospective of his or her pro-

206

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

spective mate, because adaptations can best be made on the basis of knowledge. If the results of specific tests were available and were

interpreted not too Ikerally they would be valuable. Traditional I.Q. scores would, on the other hand, probably do more harm than

good. If a husband's score

natural for

is

120 and his wife's 100,

that he
is

it

would be

him

to

draw the conclusion

smarter in every

way. The chances that her abilities surpass his in some respects, however, are excellent. knowledge of each other's specific abilities would promote a real partnership, in which some matters would be

better handled

by the wife and others by the husband. Such divisions

it

commonly

occur in well-adjusted families but

may

take a lot of

experimentation to arrive at a

The

fact that certain

happy solution. minds work together well

click, in

the

colloquial sense seems to me to be very important, and one of the functions of courtship and keeping company is that the two indi-

viduals

individuals talk pressed or write they talk my language; what they say makes perfect sense. On the dther hand, others may approach matters in a strange manner, make assumptions that I would not make, become interested in aspects that

may try out many times

each other's minds.

have been forcefully im-

with the fact that

when some

would not

interest

me, and the whole discus-

sion
it is

became

practically worthless for me. This does not worthless for other people.

mean

that

leanings, mental attractions and repulsions, are imin marriage relations and I see no way in which they can portant be recognized as readily as they can by conversations on all sorts

Such mental

of topics.

The Some example.

attitude of people

toward poetry may serve

as

an

people have no use for poetry in any form. If all the in the world were burned they wouldn't be directly books poetry affected. While one who has no use for poetry is unfortunate in that
it

respect,

does not
life,

mean

things of
abilities

or boorish. It

and

traits to

he is depraved, lacking in the finer means that he doesn't have the mental which poetry appeals. Another may have a
that

mental make-up for which poetry has a gripping appeal; he is sensitive to its niceties and can recognize it whether it is labeled poetry

MARRIAGE

207

or not. Is such an individual a superior being? Only in this one attribute. In other respects he may be quite inferior and in some

he

is

likely to

be deficient.
traits

Psychological

other

than those directly associated with

mental

often important. Just how the traits of males and females complement each other is not well understood but
abilities are

highly masculine

men

are attracted

and

vice versa.

More

definite
is

by the feminine knowledge about the

traits

of

women

distinctive traits

of males and females

desirable.

Among

the

traits,

often unrecognized and

into marital relationships in an important way, are introversion

unnamed, which enter and

extroversion, altruism

dominance and submission,

and egoism, expansiveness and reclusiveness, orderliness and its opposite. Some of
matrimony than others
is

these are doubtless of greater importance in

lacking. Clearly the marriage relationship is a complementary one, and not the union of two individuals each of whom is self-sufficient.

but definite knowledge on this

Members of the partnership should not have exactly the same assortment of traits. Particularly is this notable in regard to dominance.
If

both are markedly of the dominant type there is sure to be trouble ahead, unless one or the other can assume a submissive role. In such

cases, again, division of interests is a desirable

outcome.
is

The husband
abilities are

can be dominant in certain matters in which he

more competent

and the wife can take the lead

superior.

in those in

which her

The

only

way we can

learn

how

important these various

traits

and adjustments of specific married couples. Just as the searchlight of science has never been marfully directed toward any specific human being, no particular riage has been studied fully. Many case studies have been made,
are, is to study intensively the traits
it

is

true,

but never have the contracting parties been studied in

from the standpoint of psychological traits, including mental abilities, and physiological traits. It would have been most interestdetail

ing

if

scribed so convincingly

such a remarkably well-adjusted marriage as has been deby Cornelia Stratton Parker in her book An

208

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

Idyll could

American

have been studied

scientifically before

the

husband's death. While the members of this partnership were doubtless unusually delightful people, it seems probable that their
highly successful marriage was due not to their excessive virtues but more particularly to the fact that their various traits fit together to

an extraordinary degree.

have left until the last the most important factors in marriage, those which are at the basis of the whole institution, namely love and sex. Reik though for more than thirty years a follower of
Freud, has made a strong case for recognizing love as something that does not have its origin in sex. He rebels most vigorously
against the idea that love and sex are the same, and asserts that Freud in his later years modified his view materially, though he never fully retracted his earlier doctrine. Reik says, "Sex and love
are so different that they belong to distinct realms of research fields; sex to the domain of biochemistry and physiology, love to the domain of the psychology of emotions." 3

We

While

am

inclined to accept Reik's point of view

on

the basis

of present evidence, it seems characteristics of individuals far

highly profitable to study the sex

more

fully

than has ever been

done, not only to develop a better understanding of sex but also because of the light which may be shed on the subject of love. It
is

perhaps in the
If all

field of sex that

humanics can make

its

greatest

immediate contribution.

male individuals had about the same love-making and sex were alike in their repropensities, and if all female individuals
actions, the
is.

The

sex question
rest

problem of marriage would be vastly simpler than it would not have to enter, and marriage adjust-

the other physiological and psychological traits of the individuals involved. But probably there is no feature

ments would
in

upon

human

personality

and make-up where greater individuality and

exist

wider differences in attitude

than in sex in

its

various aspects.

MARRIAGE
This is due to the fact that there are not only the two sexes but various phases and gradations between. Furthermore differences in sexual propensities are based not only on hereditary differences but
also

upon superimposed environmental

influences,

which may be

very far-reaching. cannot take space to discuss every phase of the problem of sex, but must limit ourselves to material which will be illustrative

We

of the need for individual study. There are several phases of sex
activities

which are

at least partially separable.

we may mention the romantic attraction which two children of opposite sexes may have for each other. While this doubtless has sex as a basis, the sex feature may be well submerged, and the adolescents or younger children involved may be wholly unconscious
First

of

its

Some
out

importance. In this phase of sex there are wide differences. children are continually falling in and out of love, others
to what may be regarded as puppy love throughOthers remain indifferent for a time, but apparently reach
fall

remain indifferent
life.

a threshold and

harder than usual. These differences doubtless

if

have physiological and psychological meanings,

we

but

knew

what they were.

This phase of romantic love need not terminate with marriage;
in fact in the best adjusted marriages
intensified perhaps, but
interests of the
it

continues

on and on

not

deepened as the

home

develops and the

marriage partners become more closely knit together. Another phase involves overt and recognized sex urge, which in
is

the male

most often readily and

easily

evoked, but which in the

rapidly.

female

is

often aroused less readily

and

less

There

is

abun-

dant reason for thinking that sex urges differ tremendously from individual to individual, but there is no ready way of measure-

ment and we must depend upon inference. Sexual contact and satisfaction do not arrive in the same fashion for different individuals. While males by comparison are usually "quick on the trigger" they are by no means uniformly so, and females are variable
in the speed with

which they

react.

One

of the

common

causes of

210

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

lack of sexual adjustment in marriage is the failure of the husband to recognize the difference between his wife and himself.

A factor
on which

which
there
is

is

some more
and

of great importance in marriage relations and definite information is the speed of

its

recurrence of the sex urge after

satisfaction.

about males
are used,

is

available

it is

apparent that

Some information when contraceptives

physiological

and men are

living

with their wives under conditions such

that the only limitations

on sexual indulgence are

It is

ones, there

is

an extreme variation in behavior.

well

known

that the frequency with

which the sex urge is developed diminishes with age, but here the variability is extreme. Apparently wellauthenticated medical cases have been reported in which, on the

one hand, a

man

in his thirties suffered exhaustion for several days

as a result of sexual indulgence,

and

at the other extreme,

man

past seventy consulted his doctor in fear of impotence because of his inability to perform the sexual act more than twice daily. Some

of

my

readers will react to such cases with the remark that such

men

are abnormal. True, but the term abnormal often becomes

is

rather meaningless. Society

of abnormal people; each of us may be regarded as abnormal in one respect or another. The enormous variability and the numerous factors involved
rather surprising that so out as well as they do.
it

made up mostly

make

many

marriage adjustments work

can humanics do to help in solving this problem of sex adjustments in marriage? Education as to natural variability will
help, because recognition of differences

What

tends to
other

make members
and

hand

and their physiological bases of the partnership more tolerant. On the a serious study of individuals from the standpoint of
their

their sexual traits

whole physiological and psychological

in advance of marriage

make-up should make it possible to know what the sexual propensities of a man or of
Extreme
It

woman might be

like.

cases at least should

be recognizable.

has not been the custom in science to study any one individual thoroughly. Surely if the two individuals mentioned above one in

MARRIAGE
his thirties, the other in his seventies

211

were compared thoroughly and anatomically, physiologically psychologically (including, of course, their hormone excretions) there would be found a clue some-

where

to the striking difference in their sex traits. It

is

preposterous

to think that this trait difference stands alone

and unique without

any connection with the anatomy, physiology, or psychology of the individuals. Such studies should lead to the discovery of tests, very likely of a physiological nature, whereby the sex drives and sex
traits

way

of individuals could be determined before marriage. In this those whose sex traits are in strong contrast might know it in
If the tests

advance, and avoid marriage.

were highly successful and

basis for giving

dependable, they might advice to prospective marriage partners.

constitute

an important

The importance Though there are

factory

of sex adjustment in marriage is unquestioned. reports of a fair number of cases where satis-

adjustment to marriage resulted in spite of inadequate

sexual response, it is probable that no marriage could be regarded as successful in anything approaching the ideal sense unless the sex

adjustment was reasonably good. Obviously many marriages have been successful, in the sense that divorce has been avoided, without
sex adjustment having existed. highly important factor in marriage and its success, the bearing of children, is biologically the fundamental reason for marriage, and
4

no marriage reaches the ideal unless healthy children are born and reared. Of course no marriage could be considered unsuccessful
in the broad sense
Childlessness
riage
is if it

leads to a life-long

happy companionship.

nevertheless one of the causes of unsuccessful mar-

and consequently for divorce. Among the numerous ways in which individuals show great variation is in their degree of fertility. If two individuals mate, both

whom possess a high degree of fertility, pregnancy will result. both possess a low degree of fertility they may remain childless cases have been recorded, in which subindefinitely. Many such
of
If

found capable sequently both partners to a childless marriage were

212

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

Some
reports have indicated that the inability of
is

of parenthood.

some couples

to

have children

due

to a

type of physiological

antagonism, whereby normal fertilization is prevented. Various bodily conditions vitamin deficiencies, endocrine
orders and emotional states

dis-

may

be responsible for alteration of

at different times.

the degree of

of the fertility

same individual

thorough study of individuals from numerous physiological angles may easily result in the discovery of methods whereby the
childlessness of prospective marriage partners could be predicted.

need not, of course, be calamitous. The success of their marriage may rest upon a devoted companionship. On the other hand, artificial insemination can be
failure of a couple to beget children

The

resorted to, as well as the

common

expedient of adopting children.

summary we may say that the fruits of happy, well-adjusted marriages are among the most important boons of civilization or of
In
life.

of the

Insofar as the marriage problem can be solved, the problem home and the rearing of children can be solved, and unless

progress

and improvement can come here

it

can come nowhere.

XI L
We

Criminology

might classify individuals into categories, but t in the last analysis, every individual who commits a crime is in a class by
himself.

BARNES AND TEETERS

r-i

IHERE ARE THREE IMPORTANT ASPECTS of criminology to

which

significant contributions, namely, in: (i) of criminality, (2) apprehension of criminals, and (3) prevention effective treatment of criminals.

JL

humanics can make

The whole problem

of crime

is

vast in

its

scope, intricate in its

pattern and overwhelming in its importance. Its cost directly and indirectly is enormous; many billions of dollars annually in money, in addition to the destroyed, ruined and damaged lives. Humanics

taken seriously, can tremendously alleviate the crime problem, can save enormous sums of money and pay large dividends in
if

human

values.

We

shall discuss briefly

some

of

its

potentialities.

In order to prevent criminality, it is first essential that we understand criminals and how they get that way; then perhaps we can
strike at the root of the trouble.

Understanding a criminal

is

complex being, and we

study.

undertaking, just like

understanding any other human cannot hope to succeed without intensive scientific
criminology there
213
is

In the

field of

already a strong tendency to

214

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

ficial classifications.

recognize individuality and not to rely upon half-baked or superBarnes and Teeters say, "Each individual is a unto himself and must be studied as such. Roughly peculiar entity

speaking, for rough it is, we might classify individuals into categories, but, in the last analysis, every individual who commits a crime is in a class by himself." 1

On

the basis of an enormous

amount

of study of crime and the

compiling of thousands of case histories, we have already considerable comprehension of the causes of crime, though the information
is

not as definite as

it

might be

if

we were

in the habit of

making more thorough

scientific studies of individuals.

Heredity is undoubtedly a factor in crime, but it would be entirely erroneous and out of accord with the facts to think that criminality
is

acter that

inherited in any simple way, for instance by being a unit charis passed down from father to son. Criminals are like

other people; they inherit complex assortments of traits and drives, physiological and psychological in nature, and the particular assort-

influences to

ment which one possesses comes into play along with environmental mold the individual's life. A particular set of traits

may

sessor

be highly unfavorable for the environment in which the posis placed, and hence may lead to criminality. There are ex-

amples, of course, of criminals with very unbalanced traits, certain types of feeble-mindedness, sex perversions and criminal insanity.

with some justification place our finger upon cause of the criminality. Sterilization and the hereditary measures then in order. are eugenic By and large, however, criminals are, according to the best eviIn these cases
traits as

we may

the rest of us.

dence, complex mixtures and fundamentally not so different from have already indicated that criminals may, on

We

the basis of intelligence population, especially so

tests,
if

rate even higher than the general

we

include

among

the criminals those

are skillful in avoiding apprehension and hence are not included in the prison populations. So far as drive is concerned, criminals as a

who

group are probably not lacking; in

fact,

it

may

well be

that their difficulties often center in their drives being too strong.

CRIMINOLOGY
With regard
to

215

moral

ideas,

Lewis E. Lawes, long time warden o

Sing Sing, says, "Prisoners do not have to be taught moral precepts; unless they are insane or feeble-minded, they know the difference

between right and wrong."

If

a person has

ability,

drive and sense of moral value,

how

can

criminality develop in him? It seems to me that an important answer lies in the fact that each member of the human family has
his distinctive collection of traits but that probably in the case of the great majority of criminals, their individualities have never

been recognized or ta\en account of, and society has never helped them find a place where they, with their distinctive traits, can serve

with

self-respect.
all

A strong basic urge in

ing.

of us

is

to covet recognition
is

and stand-

When

a child with superior equipment

sent to a school in

which
is

his aptitudes are not recognized, his desire for approbation

thwarted. Since he has the drive and the intelligence (possibly consisting of an unusual set of mental abilities) and cannot obtain
the approval that he needs from the school or from the home, he may seek to attract notice and make an impression on his fellows by being a "tough guy." Unless there are fortunate influences which

change the course of his conduct he

in crime.

is

then headed toward a career

meager schooling was probably an excellent example of a potential criminal. But there was an insurmountable obstacle which stood in the way his mother. She
left his

Thomas Edison when he

believed in him, defended him, brought out his abilities and gave him the very type of self-respect that everyone needs. She was

that boys

she was playing. She realized apparently somewhat aware of the role who were not handled right were liable to be in trouble
life.

in later

Criminals are evidently turned out with great regularity by soto develop crimciety as it is now organized. They usually begin
inal tendencies in early adolescence

and begin

to

be arrested for

various offenses in larger numbers as they grow older. For several criminal arrests in this country was years the age of maximum

2l6
nineteen.

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

The
statistics

of the ages at which arrests are

made

are

complicated by the fact that jurisdiction usually changes from the juvenile to other courts at sixteen but there is evidence that the

number
is

of offenders increases steadily year by year until the peak reached.

Youngsters
date of their

who

are

by committing

offenses for

on the way to being criminals usually begin which they are not arrested, and the

not by any means the date at which their criminal career began. Often they may exercise caution and avoid
first arrest is

and forethoughtful enough or receive infrom experienced criminals they may avoid arrest indefinitely. Sooner or later they then become professional criminals and associated with organized crime.
arrest; if they are skillful

struction

The weak point in the life of youth, taken as a group, comes in the gap which exists between the last of their schooling and the time when they settle down (if they do) to a job. If their school
work has not been such
and
if it

as to give

them encouragement and

status

has failed to prepare them for anything in particular; if on top o this their home life is such as to make them feel alone in the world, without friends who believe in them, then criminality
has
fertile soil in

which

to

moralizing
the pattern

effect

on children of

grow. Schoolwork has often had a deability who have not fitted into

and seldom

A boy in such
or

is the fit an entirely satisfactory one. a situation doesn't have to be a degenerate or lack-

ing in worth-while qualities to take the first steps toward a criminal career. Every boy who has visited a watermelon patch at night,

who

him the makings As a matter of

has swiped apples or peaches from a neighbor's tree, has in of a criminal. All that is required is development.
fact there is a taint of criminality in

many

of us

who
ball

are thoroughly respectable

office

and law-abiding

citizens.

What

about the

boy who

according to tradition steals

time for a

Or

in the pretense of attending his grandmother's funeral? the plumber who traditionally counts his time while he goes

game

back for his tools?

What

about the people

who

often avoid giving

honest service, by getting to

work

late,

leaving early and

what not?

CRIMINOLOGY
What
about the person
it,

217

salary for

are largely

who takes and holds a job and receives a when he knows he isn't needed, and that his services or wholly superfluous? What about the salesmen who
pad
their

traditionally

expense accounts?

How

about the sharp

businessman
to

him?

How
is

funds,

who
that

doesn't belong ways about the government official, responsible for public lets them be wasted extravagantly because it is not his
finds legal

who

of getting

what

money

being wasted?

How about the public official who fails

to vote in the interest of public good, because it conflicts with his own interest? about the laborer who supports his union in

How

enforcing restrictions which prevent him and his fellows from giving honest service? Or the taxpayer who uses his pull at the city hall to have his property assessment adjusted?
All this should give us
step by step in our minds that
is

more sympathy

for the

drawn
he
it

into a life of crime.

is

young person who There should be no doubt

if

worth saving. Even

our humanitarianism
is

does not

demand

our

own

self-interest

clearly

served by

doing

so.

Many

veloped and are

or

worth-while ventures in crime prevention have been dein operation in our country. Usually these proto help children

grams involve trying

who have become

delinquent

who show

signs of

becoming

so.

We need

to begin further back.

well-adjusted marriages will help beyond measure because in the homes thus founded children can get the individual attention they require. Schools that recognize and take account of

Happy and

individual differences will see that every child is taught in accordance with his capabilities and that when his schooling is pver he is ready for something.

The importance

of having a suitable occupation, in which

is difficult

self-

respect can be maintained,

to exaggerate.

Lawes

tells

of

a young man with a long criminal record, including murder, who worked defiantly in the large knit shop of the prison for three years. Eventually he became interested in the techniques which the civilian
barber-instructor
pupil.

He

was teaching to his class, and asked to become a took great interest in this work and, finding his aptitude,

2l8

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

became one of the most skillful barbers. With the prospect of having a shop some day, Lawes said, "I knew that Leonard who ten years before had been proclaimed a vicious and incorrigible criminal had
reformed, and was 'through/ as he put
it,

'with the racket.'

"

have occupations suited to their abilities do not become criminals, and experience has shown again and again that the best chance of reforming a hardened criminal lies in the possibility of
training him for some specific work that he likes. is for a feeling of self-confidence and self-respect.

Men who

The prime need

do with the criminals when they commit their depredations? First, we must catch them. A scientific study of human beings
to

What

can help in

many ways

to

do

this.

We

shall confine
lie

our discussion,

however, to what can be done in the way of

detection, or perhaps

accurately detection of deception. It is obvious that if lies and deception qould be detected scientifically, it would be difficult for

more

criminals to avoid conviction or for organized crime to exist. There are several possible lines of attack which have been ex-

perimented with, of which we will mention only two first, the detection of emotional reactions during deception by means of
breathing records, blood pressure changes, and electrical responses in the skin, etc.; and second, the use of a suitable drug to render the subject incapable of fabricating a lie while under examination.
It goes without saying that no method has been developed at the present time to the extent that it can be considered fool-proof, or perfect even in the hands of experts. Otherwise the procedure

in general use and a matter of common knowledge. Let us inquire, however, into the potentialities of these methods and

would be
what
is

being done to develop them. The observations that blood pressure changes and changes in breathing records accompany emotional disturbances have long been

known and

for

many

years the possibility of using these and similar

'CRIMINOLOGY
criteria as a basis for lie detection

219

has been considered.

One

of the

disturbing factors

and
tions

the wide variation in the blood pressure records also the breathing records of individuals under normal condiis

(see

page 89), and the consequent

difficulty

deviations

which

result

from emotional

stress. If

of discerning every individual

breathed in the same manner normally or if blood pressure fluctuations always followed the same pattern normally, then it would

be possible to construct an apparatus that would ring a bell whenever the emotional stress accompanying deception appeared. But what is normal for one individual is abnormal for another, and the
records obtained in criminal cases are not interpreted with readiness or great precision.

Acquaintance with the breathing records and blood pressure records of many individuals under normal and abnormal conditions
of the uncertainty about this tool, which is of considerable value in criminal investigators. But realready search on individual differences, especially in the physiological

would eliminate much

realm,

is

in

its

infancy.

Unfortunately we, the public, are not well enough educated to appreciate fully the value of scientific investigations such as would

be involved in the development of a deception detector.

When

better automobiles, airplanes, radios, electric lights, telephones, etc., are wanted, we make possible the expenditure of millions of dollars in research, but for the development of a lie detector, we aren't quite

sure there isn't enough precedent for it to convince us. Even the more conventional scientific research often has to fight for its life, but research on lie detectors almost doesn't exist. The tools which have already been developed are valuable, but

the findings are in general no good in court. Why? Because in order for a method to be accepted in court it must be generally and psyaccepted by scientists in the field involved. If physiologists

whole were in a position to vouch for the cardioits findings pneumo-psychograph, a form of lie detection apparatus,
chologists as a

could be accepted in court, but they are not able to do so, partly because probably 99 per cent or more of them are unfamiliar with

220

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

and would not be able
to

this type of investigation

judge

its

merits.

Investigation in this field is very meager and until a group of scientists of significant size is engaged in a particular type of re-

search there can be

"The

lie

no such thing as general acceptance. Inbau says, detector technique at the present time lacks not only the
by psychologists and
physiologists, but
2

legally essential acceptance

also their active interest in the potentialities of the technique."

It is dangerous to promise anything as the outcome of research because there are always uncertainties, but I venture to say that a few hundred thousand dollars expended in research on lie de-

would yield apparatus which would be accepted by physioloand gists psychologists and therefore by courts. This does not mean instruments that would be absolutely perfect such are not humanly
tectors

possible but it would mean devices that would far surpass any now used for accomplishing the same results. The resources of science

by any means to blood pressure changes, breathing pattern changes and galvanic skin responses. Temperature changes
are not limited

(minute but significant), changes in circulation, sensory reactions, finger tremors, brain waves, and other variables that might not
occur to one off-hand, are

connection with

lie

detection. If
effort,

among the items that might find use in we took the job seriously it could
relying possibly not

be done, by concerted
several criteria.

on one but on

The

other type of

lie

detection

which we

will discuss briefly is

related to the well

known

fact that

when

people are under the

influence of liquor they often talk indiscreetly and sometimes to their own detriment. Dr. R. E. House, an obstetrician in Texas, dis-

covered in connection with the use of the drug scopolamine for

childbirth (twilight sleep), that patients who stered in the right manner and in the right

drug adminamounts were able to

this

had

hear and answer questions and that even though they were comthe incident later, pletely unconscious and unable to remember
their answers to questions

were always in accord with the

facts.

This led him to investigate as best he could its possibilities as a means of eliciting the truth from criminal suspects. The results were

CRIMINOLOGY
promising and the discovery received a
lot

221
of over-enthusiastic

publicity in which the material was referred to as a "truth serum." (It has nothing whatever to do with serum.) Dr. House's attitude

toward
before of his

his discovery
it

and the

necessity for extensive investigation

could be used widely was excellent.

it,

He

died in the midst

work with
is

believing that his discovery

had great value.

Scopolamine

a harmless drug

when
five

administered correctly.
its

series of individuals

were awakened

hours after

use,

no worse
Like

for the experience.

They

ate

and enjoyed a hearty

breakfast.

any drug, however, scopolamine can cause trouble if carelessly used. When used according to House's technique it depresses the higher
brain centers and under
to ability
its

influence the subject does not have the

make up

the

difficulties in its

or follow through in a deception. One of use is that the subject must be in just the right
lie

stage of anesthesia, and furthermore there are gr%eat individual variations in response to the drug. House said, "Scarcely any two patients are alike or require the same amount of medicine."

Obviously a study of individual differences in response to the drug must be made before it can be used extensively. House would

have been happy

to carry such work ahead but he did not receive the necessary help and encouragement. People were in a mood to take it as a ready-made perfect device or not at all. Since his day

the whole investigation appears to be a dead duck, even though he did demonstrate his discovery on several occasions and presented
his findings to medical societies.
8

doubtless prejudice, based on ignorance and unfamiliof any drug to a mere suspect. The arity, against the administration fact that the drug might conceivably do the subject bodily harm is

There

is

hardly a valid argument; when a suspect is moved from one location to another by automobile there is possibly even more danger of his

coming to harm through an automobile accident. Furthermore it would not be absolutely essential to the use of this device that the drug be administered against the prisoner's will. If it worked satisfactorily,

One

innocent people at least would be glad to submit. phase of this type of investigation is the recognition that

222

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

We

the possibilities are by no means limited to scopolamine. Other have already mendrugs behave in a somewhat similar manner. tioned alcohol; chloroform also has a similar effect and Dr. House

use along with scopolamine. In his later studies he also used a small amount of apomorphia in conjunction with scopolamine and chloroform. Dr. House worked under treat

one time advocated

its

mendous

disadvantage, mostly alone and without adequate opportunity to determine individual reactions and to gauge them. Scopolamine is an alkaloid belonging to the atropine family. It
is

drug with many

relatives. It

seems reasonable to suppose that

other related alkaloids might work better; or more likely yet, that organic chemists will be able to produce synthetic drugs that will be superior. None of the available drugs have been tried to see if

they hold any promise for the purpose.* Again, if we take the job seriously, there

is

no reason why

House's technique cannot be perfected or a better one devised. It can never be done, however, in a wholesale fashion or until we
study far more adequately the individual differences in responses to the drugs that may be used. By careful study of the preliminary reactions of the individual, which was done after a fashion even

by Dr. House,
dosages

it

will probably be possible to

gauge the proper

satisfactorily.

The problem
guilty
is

of the

way

to treat criminals after they are

found

a real

scientifically
first

and compelling one and should be faced realistically, and without sentimentality or emotionalism. In the
if

should find out by study, what can be done with them.

place

we

we do

not already know,

One
is

theoretically possible

to exact the death penalty

method of dealing with all offenders and be through with them once and

*The use of sodium amytal by army psychiatrists to get psychotic individuals to open up and talk about their troubles and experiences is an example of what may be accomplished in a closely related field.

CRIMINOLOGY
for
all.

223

While

this

would

possibly be a cheap

way and would

pre-

vent overcrowding of our penitentiaries, there is not the slightest possibility that the public would favor it. If the death penalty were exacted on a scientific basis there would have to be careful sifting

and

selection so that the worst

were weeded

out. It is likely that

on

a scientific basis young sixteen-, seventeen- and eighteen-year olds might be saved and the neglectful parents might be sacrificed instead.

This would not be a popular move. Coming back to possibilities which are more

realistic

and recog-

nizing that capital punishment except for a few is out of the question, we are faced with the fact that prisoners, if they are not done

away

with,

A theoretical
tect society
is

must be handled in some manner. alternative is to imprison them

indefinitely

completely from their criminal acts by this out of the question; about 1,500,000 felonies are committed clearly each year; something like 300,000 arrests for felonies are made

and promeans. This

yearly,

200,000.
thirty

and federal prisons have a capacity of less than expectancy of prisoners on commitment averages or more years, and if we did a reasonably good job of constate

and our

The

life

victing felons

and incarcerated them

for life our prison population

would be completely beyond endurance. In view of the fact that we can neither

exact the death penalty

nor imprison criminals indefinitely, it is obvious that most of them must be turned back into society. This means that either they are turned back as criminals or as "reformed" criminals.

The

only

way we can know whether

criminals can be reformed

is

by study and

trial. What we obviously need is to know more about the individuals to be reformed and the methods which will work

best to accomplish the desired results. If we go at it scientifically, the worst outcome will be that we will know that it can't be done,

or at least that
is

we

don't

know how
it

to

do

it.

A more likely outcome

that

we

will find that

can be done in the great majority of

Healy and Bronner, who made an extensive study in Chicago, go so far as to state that "no conditions, whether of mind or body
cases.

or

life situations,

of checking the developpreclude the possibility

224

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

of a criminal career."

ment

Whether

this is

overoptimistic remains

to be seen.
It is

clearly desirable, since criminals

have to be returned to

so-

ciety sooner or later

at

reformation should

whether reformed or unreformed, that the effort start at the earliest possible time, and that any
ideas about abstract justice,

foolish

and extravagant

and any

costly

thought of revenge that will conflict with this purpose, shall be thrown out the window.

To

carry this forward individual criminals

must be studied

scien-

and thoroughly. From the standpoint of dollars and cents tifically alone they are eminently worth studying. We know enough now to
envisage

we

some of the results of thorough study. will find criminals to have individuality traits

We

can guess that

cluded their easy adjustment to society as society has made a tremendous mistake in assuming that they should fall into an artificial generalized pattern. There is no such thing as

which have prethey have seen it, and that

being to be set up as a standard pattern which all should follow. Let me repeat: more definite knowlpersonalities must await further scientific evidence, but criminals about edge
everything that we know seems to point to their individuality and the lack of recognition of it by society, as the fundamental difficulty. shall probably learn by further study, if indeed we do not

a normal

human

We

hope of reforming a criminal is to know him individually and once having found out what his traits and abilities are, to devise ways and means whereby these traits and
already

know,

that the only

can be used in constructive, valuable ways. With present restrictions which surround almost all productive labor on the part
abilities

of penitentiary inmates, it is difficult to see how they can be trained along the lines of their aptitudes. Not all would or could take to but the great majority would barbering, as in the case cited above,

take to something, if their traits were known and a chance were afforded to use their distinctive abilities.
obviously no simple formula, nor under present conditions any practical scheme, for the proper treatment of criminals. can be sure that any plan that neglects to recognize their dis-

There

is

We

CRIMINOLOGY
tinctive traits
self-respect,
is

225

and the well-nigh universal

destined to
fail.

desire for recognition

and

The almost hopeless situation which we have arrived at, in connection with the possibilities of turning back to society reformed rather than unreformed criminals, should make us all the more
attracted

by the
1

possibility of

generations.

It will

take

more than an ounce

it

preventing crime in the on-coming of prevention but

there

is

no reason

to think

will tax

our

capacities.

If

we

apply to

the elimination of crime

some of the

effort

and zeal which we

exhibited in the conduct of the recent

war we can go a long way. We must start at the beginning. Progress in building happier, more well-adjusted marriages is indispensable; recognition in the homes
and schools of individual
which
fits

differences

each individual, are also

and development of education essential. These efforts will pay

incom-

for themselves in

many ways and

will take the place of the

parably more

difficult

task of reformation.

XIII. Medicine and Medical Research

To
a person
exist

which

who appreciates the variations among human animals, the re-

mar\able thing is that in spite of these great personal differences there are some sicknesses in which the majority of patients do follow a very similar course.
DRAPER, DUPERTUIS AND CAUGHEY

DISCUSSING the contribution of humanics to medical ad-

BEFORE vance,

it

will be necessary to discuss briefly

some of the back-

ground information regarding medicine and medical research as

they exist in this country.
of physicians in the United States is larger in proportion to the population than in any other country approximately one physician for each 750 people. The total number of physicians
is

The number

about 170,000. Each year (pre-war) approximately 5,000 retired or died and their places were taken by about the same number of medical school graduates.

We are here concerned primarily

ment
of medical research.
this is

with provisions for the develop-

The

attitude of typical medical students

toward

made

clear in the Final

Report (1932) of the

distin-

1 guished Commission on Medical Education.

Not infrequently as a part of either a thesis or elective work in a course [medical] students work on minor problems or take part in some major research work. . . . These efforts should not be taken too
seriously

as

contributions

to

the

advancement of knowledge.

Occasionally these contacts with unsolved problems have challenged students whose interest had not been aroused previously and have

marked the beginning of a productive career in research. Most medical students, however, are not primarily interested
ordinarily

in

and

do not have

either the ability or 226

enough

free

time to conduct

MEDICINE AND MEDICAL RESEARCH

independent research.
the
It is difficult

227
do
all

for even the best students to

provided in the regular medical course and very few can successfully combine that work with additional activities of a research character.
satisfactorily
is

work

which

After the regular medical course, an internship in a recognized hospital must be served and this is frequently followed by an assistant residency or a residency, which is the common manner in

which graduate training in medicine

appointments.

is

obtained. Apparently about

one-fifth of the medical graduates complete such two-year graduate

Concerning research during

this residency period the

2

Commission

on Graduate Medical Education

says:

The
terest.
.

resident

[physician]

who

has special aptitude should be enin-

couraged to undertake a properly organized project of significant

.
.

Many

educators are critical of those institutions that require

all

gradu-

ate [medical] students to attempt research, feeling that much of it is meaningless and that the time is too short for the completion of a problem, or that it absorbs too large a percentage of the student's interest

before he has obtained a broad basic understanding of his subject.

from the above statements that even graduate medical students are usually not regarded as well equipped for research and that investigation and the advance of medical science are a minor
It is clear

item in the program, undergraduate and graduate, of medical students.

Before discussing further the question of

medical research and where

difficulties

it is

done,

it

who is responsible for will be well to note the

it

of defining medical research and distinguishing

from

may best do this by considering specific discovered X-rays in 1895, was he doing Roentgen medical research? Were Mme. Curie's classical investigations which
non-medical research.
cases.

We

When

led to the discovery of

radium the

result of medical research?

How

about Fleming's discovery in 1929 of penicillin, the powerful antibacterial agent which he found to be produced by a certain kind
of

mold? Many

basic discoveries such as these

those of the chemi-

228

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

and the vitamins
for

example have not been the products of medical research but have been contributed by chemists, and so on, who have been interested in physicists, bacteriologists
cal sulfanilamide

their
is

own specialties. Medical research, more properly speaking, not concerned with fundamental discoveries like those mentioned

but with the development of medical uses. Since the lines are not easily drawn we can probably make the meaning clear most satisfactorily by limiting medical research to
that

done in connection with medical

schools, hospitals, medical

research institutes

public health laboratories.

(endowed or operated by private concerns), and Such research has usually a direct bearing
information on medical research

on medical

practice.

Statistical or other co-ordinated

in this country

is

scanty.

fields of clinical research"

and

Gregg speaks of "the poorly cultivated tells of many ways in which a medical

research career

is

made

unattractive.

He

says:

In some schools we have noted with regret that the delicate beginnings of the research attitude, often inspired during the pre-clinical years, are discouraged if not altogether killed by clinical teachers, so
that students never turn their faces again to the laboratory sciences.

Concerning the early career of a prospective medical researcher at

a $i20o-a-year salary, Gregg says:

He

is

shocked to find

how much

he needs more mathematics, more

chemistry, more physics. He is discouraged by the slender residium of useful knowledge his college days provide him. . . . His idea of a substantial salary after four years of college, four years of medical school and five or six years of special work is $2500 to $3000. . . . Five years
after graduation the ablest of

my contemporaries were making $10,000 a year in [medical] practice and have continued at that level or above it. The equally able men who went into [medical] teaching or research
at

were

$3000 after

six years

and few have worked up

to $9500 twenty

years later.*

From The Furtherance of Medical Research, by Allan Gregg, copyright 1941, reprinted by permission of Yale University Press.

MEDICINE AND MEDICAL RESEARCH

A
sampling of the pages of the
latest edition of

American

Men

of Science indicates that about 2800

at least part time in

what may

country are engaged be regarded as medical research.

men

in this

This includes research in such diverse branches as surgery, psychiaand public health. Many of the men included in this try, pathology
list

are practicing physicians,

some

of

them on

the staffs of several

obvious to anyone acquainted with the life of a hospitals, physician that the proportion of their time and energy devoted to research must be very small indeed. Many others are professors in
it is

and

only part time for research. On the basis of the available information it would appear that for every hundred practicing physicians there is less than one man devoting his full

medical schools

who have

time to research and advance in medical practice. It is obvious, if this is true, that there would be a tremendous step ahead in the
support of medical research
if

ing to the doctor's bill 5 per cent to

disease that the doctor has treated.

the suggestion were followed of addbe used for research upon the

Much

of the medical advance of recent decades has been due to

the activities of private foundations and is not based on public supIn addition progress has been increased by a great number port. of contributions from investigators who are entirely outside the
field of

medical research proper.

As medicine advances and becomes

more highly specialized, this resource will diminish in importance. We have no reason to be proud of our record in strictly medical research nor complacent about its future. As evidence that direct medical research has lagged in recent decades we may cite the fact that niacin (nicotinic acid), discovered

had been known and

research
testing

in 1938 to be highly efficacious in the treatment of human pellagra, available to chemists since 1867. It was found

in crude vitamin preparations in 1911

and

later,

and

if

medical

and well-supported even trial and error on pellagrins might have demonstrated its effectiveness ten had been
active

to twenty-five years earlier.

Sulfanilamide was

known

to chemists for thirty years before

it

came

into use in medicine. It

was

six or eight years after highly

230
promising

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

results

were obtained by

Domagk on

a closely related

drug, before sulfanilamide came into common use. There were fourteen years between the discovery of penicillin by Fleming in 1929 and the first time a substantial number of human cases were
it had not been for the beneficence and farsightedness of the Rockefeller Foundation the use of these phenomenally important chemicals would have been delayed many years more.

treated. If

In 1932
for

Mead Johnson & Company offered an award clinical research. The terms were as follows:

of $15,000

The award will be made to the investigator (or group of investigators) who (i) determines the clinical value of vitamin A (if any) in human medicine, or (2) determines the vitamin A requirements of human beings or (3) determines whether vitamin A in amounts more than contained in a well-balanced diet is of benefit in human physiology.
Year after year passed with no contenders for the award, and four of the seven original judges died; finally, after thirteen years, the judges, with four replacements, advised the donors "that it is
their considered opinion that

no report or

reports have been pubstated require-

lished

which adequately answer any of the three

ments of the award." They also expressed the belief "that no adequate answer to the problems as formulated will result from current
research,"

and recommended that the award be revoked.4

clinical research seriously failed in this case,

This means that

as a result

and

we do

not

foow on the

basis of clinical trials

whether

vitamin

has clinical value,

how much human

whether abundant amounts are

beneficial to health.

beings need, and On the basis

of animal experiments, this vitamin stands out as important as ever. One complication which probably renders the task more difficult

than

differ

beings widely from person to person in their requirements of vitamin and their response to it. This is hardly an excuse, however, for

it

otherwise would be

is

the probability that

human

folding

up and abandoning attempts

of

to find out.

The

situation with regard to vitamin

is

not unique. Direct

knowledge

what various members

of the vitamin family can

do

MEDICINE AND MEDICAL RESEARCH

in the medical field
is

231

scanty and

it is

partly because of this that

quacking generalities and about products which may or may not be intelligently compounded. I could name at least a half dozen vitamins discovered in recent years, the medical uses of which are essentially
listen

we

have to

on the radio

to half-true

inane

sales talks

unknown and

men

to

do even a

unexplored. There aren't enough medical research substantial fraction of what needs to be done!

If a

chemist in the course of laboratory investigation discovers a

drug which shows promise of being useful medicinally, what can he do about it? Experience shows that it is far from simple to get
such a drug tested, even if it shows excellent promise. If it promises to be useful in connection with some widespread disease and is the
type of

compound which can be patented and

exploited

com-

mercially, the opportunities for having it tested therapeutically are increased. However, purely scientific information is generally hard

to get because of the dearth of medical researchers.

One

fact

overshadows
it

all

others in the need for medical research

in the future, and

fundamental nature.

applies as well to research of a more basic and It is the recognition that individual people

the prospective patients

identical metabolically, in other or any way. What is one physiologically, psychologically man's meat may be another's poison, and this issues a new chal-

are

by no means

lenge to medical research. It is essential that adequate knowledge be built up so that medical treatment can meet more effectively the

needs of individual patients. We have previously called attention to the

fact,

which

will

become

more obvious

our further discussion, that the present fundamental education of medical students which precedes their
as a result of

clinical study is

abstract

and takes

based almost wholly on a knowledge of man-in-thevirtually no notice of the wide differences between
individuals,

individuals.

Normal

normal physiological responses,

232

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

results, are their stock

and therapeutic measures that bring normal

in trade.

Possibly the best indication of the attitude on this point is to be in current use. The Physiological Basis of Medical Practice, a book of nearly 2000 pages, published in 1943,

found in medical books

may be

its general authors are Best (of insulin fame) and Taylor of Toronto. In spite of its general excellence one looks in vain in the sixty-eight-page double-column

taken as an

illustration. It is

chosen because of

excellence

and authoritative

character.

The

index for such entries as "idiosyncrasies," "individual differences," "constitution," or "types," and finds no evidence that anywhere in
the body of the

book individual responses

is

are considered seriously.

Man-in-t he-abstract

clearly the basis of discussion.

Such

topics as

blood groups are of course discussed, but there is no hint that these groupings may have broad physiological implications or be of any

importance except in
transfusion.

specific

phenomena

associated with blood

its general excellence is The Basis of Pharmacological Therapeutics (i94i,*about 1400 pages) by Goodman and Oilman of Yale. Individual differences in response

Another book chosen because of

to

drugs are treated under the heading "Idiosyncrasies." One paragraph explains that idiosyncrasies are abnormal, unusual and unexpected drug responses, but no hint as to their possible significance is given. In other portions of the book several specific idibsyncrasies

shall refer to

for individual drugs are cited briefly without interpretation. 6 one of these cases later.

We

But there are strong tendencies in some branches of medicine to take the matter of individual differences seriously. Probably the
psychiatrists are the leaders,
eral statement that there are

and

it is

not

uncommon

to see the gen-

about as

many

kinds of mental disease

as there are diseased individuals.

This does not mean that psychia-

MEDICINE AND MEDICAL RESEARCH

trists

233

do not attempt to
but there
is

classify

their patients or that they treat

them purely on an
ticable,

individual basis. This

would

clearly

be imprac-

often of a

mixed

a general agreement that mental difficulties are nature and that in an individual case to follow

anything

like a rigid pattern of treatment prescribed for a

given

type would be a mistake.

One
was

of the earlier books in

which a study of individual

differences

seriously considered as a promising experimental approach to a

study of medical diagnosis and treatment was The Biology of the Individual, published by the Association for Research in Nervous

and Mental Disease in 1934. In the chapter, Constitution and Internal Medicine, Barker cites Kretschmer's well-known classification of

most human beings into pyknic (Greek, thick), asthenic (Greek, weak), and athletic types, as perhaps the best grouping yet

devised. He emphasized briefly the importance of constitution in connection with high blood pressure, apoplexy, angina pectoris, gastric and duodenal ulcers, spastic constipation and diseases of the

muscular and nervous systems.

The

grossly oversimplified classification of

pre-eminent position of the Kretschmer is indicative of

7

the undeveloped status of the subject at that time. Other chapters in the same book stressed the importance of indi-

vidual variance primarily from the standpoint of mental disease. Another evidence of a stirring interest in individual differences in

medicine

is

the formation and development of the so-called Con-

stitution Clinic of the College of Physicians

and Surgeons,

New

York, and the publication from that clinic in 1944 of Human Constitution in Clinical Medicine by Draper, Dupertuis and Caughey.

This contribution came

to

my
I

attention

when

this

book on hu-

manics was about half written.

the field of medical practice,
point of view similar to

was much pleased to find that, for the authors had already adopted a

my own. The fundamental idea of the

with
its

Con-

stitution Clinic is "to incorporate

new method
The two

study of sick persons any which might further illuminate an individual's consti8

tutional type."

chapters

on

constitutional physiology are particularly

234

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

discussion, since they deal with
stressed:

germane and illuminating to our some of the points which we have

First, in human beings one can never understand body function except in relation to physique, psychological pattern, and the stress of internal and external environment. And, second, since no two human

beings have the same physical equipment and emotional background, every human reaction must be considered as a unique performance by an individual whose behavior is determined not alone by the basic rules
of physiology, but also by his personal constitutional status at the

mo-

ment.

The "normal range" of resting heart rate serves as an illustration of the point of view. There are healthy persons whose heart rate seldom exceeds 50 per minute at rest, and others whose resting rate is seldom less than 100. Although one may say the normal range of heart rate is
between 50 and 100 per minute,
this statement contributes little to

any

analysis of circulatory dynamics. The actual fact is that a pulse of 70 may be fast for one person and slow for another. To the constitutionalist,

the observed pulse rate is an indication of the momentary balance in the individual between the many factors which produce cardiac acceleration and the equally numerous forces which cause deceleration, operating on the cardiovascular apparatus with which the individual happens
to be

endowed. . Another field of physiology in which

.
.

failure to

understand individual

differences leads to utter confusion

lism and body weight. To more ridiculous than the general acceptance of the idea that a person's normal weight can be determined simply by reference to a "height-

the broad realm of energy metabothe student of constitution there is nothing

is

weight"

table.

Although

results obtained

large series of people

by averaging the observations made on a have value, the striking of an average tends to

submerge the individual quality of the diverse organisms that comprise

the group, and the results apply therefore only in a vague way to any discussion of the personal quality of the unique human animal. . . . It is not difficult to devise pharmacological tests which are sufficiently
All of these tests have one thing in safe for use on human beings. common, namely, marked differences in the pattern of reaction shown
.

by
the

different individuals.

This

is

the only clear fact that emerges from

many

investigations of this type

which have been carried

out.

Most

workers, however, have not been satisfied with this simple demonstration of individual differences in response to drugs. They have gone

MEDICINE AND MEDICAL RESEARCH

235

ahead to use these data for the formulation of elaborate theories of autonomic physiology and the observed facts have been submerged under
the mass of interpretive comment. . . . If a patient behaves very badly in response to a given medication, it is called an idiosyncrasy, but if he responds very favorably, that is called

brilliant effect of the

drug, and the patient's individual peculiarity in

respect to this pharmacological experiment receives

no comment.*

Kraines, in his excellent book dealing with psychoses and neuroses also emphasizes the importance of constitutional predisposition

in connection with numerous conditions; functional disorders, disease,

search be

and psychotic disturbances. It is high time that medical remore adequately supported so that ignorance regarding
9

individual differences will not be so profound. The stirring of interest in individual differences, as they concern medical practice, is shown also by the new movement called psy-

chosomatic medicine.
relationships
cine,

The word
relatively

psychosomatic denotes mind-body

and the

new

which was

started in 1939

journal Psychosomatic Mediwith the assistance of the Jpsiah

Macy, Jr., Foundation "is to encourage and bring together studies which make a contribution to the understanding of the organism
refers to "the

and psychic aspects." While this quotation whole" and hence to man-in-the-abstract, organism nevertheless the tie-up with psychology and psychiatry, where indias a whole, in somatic
as a

vidual differences are recognized and often stressed, will ultimately insure serious attention to individual differences. It will be impossible to make serious advance in psychosomatic medicine as long as
man-in-the-abstract remains the consistent theme,

and one can

see

leanings toward a serious consideration of individual differences in the contributions to the journal.

There has never been a time when individual

been
totally

differences

haye

ignored in the medical

field

and

skillful

and competent

physicians have probably always

*

relied

on observation and common

From Human

Constitution in Clinical Medicine, by G. Draper, C.

Jr.,

W.

Dupcrtuis and J. L. Caughey, Paul B. Hoeber, Inc.

copyright 1944, reprinted by permission of

236
sense to guide

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

them
in this matter. This intuitive,
as far as
it

common-sense

approach

is

no doubt valuable

goes,

possesses the necessary qualities, but for scientific information.

it is

when the physician a poor substitute indeed

In particular instances the need for recognizing and attending to individual differences has been driven home as the result of repeated
observations.
peutics,

For example, in The Pharmacological Basis of Therareferred to above, it is emphasized that in connection with

the effects of tobacco individual differences must be ascertained and

recognized. In concluding the discussion authors say:
In summary

on the use

of tobacco the

it may be stated that each patient must be studied carean attempt to decide whether in his case tobacco is producing chronic intoxication [emphasis supplied]. Although tobacco is contraindicated in Buerger's disease and in nicotine amblyopia no generalities can be stated regarding the deleterious effects of smoking on patients with other disease syndromes. It is unfair and often unnecessary to

fully in

request one to give up smoking, unless the evidence convincing nature than is usually advanced.*

is

of a

much more

The
doctor

necessity for individual study

is

is

emphasized, but

how

the

to study the patient

is

and find evidence for chronic

intoxica-

not specified. Only an attempt to decide can be made, and then only on a flimsy basis, as long as our knowledge
tion in a specific case

of individual metabolic and physiological differences is as scanty as at present. There is no gadget which the physicians can turn on

a patient in order to determine whether he

is

tobacco-resistant.

The

usual procedure is for the patient to smoke (if he wishes) until he reaches the age of seventy. If he is still alive and is also not afflicted

with either Buerger's disease or tobacco ambylopia, this is pretty good evidence that he is one of those resistant specimens referred to
earlier in

connection with Pearl's

statistical

study.
practice

There are various other phases of medical

*

where common

From The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics, by L. S. Goodman and A. Oilman, copyright 1941, reprinted by permission of The Macmillan Company.

MEDICINE AND MEDICAL RESEARCH

sense has

237

demanded

that individual differences be recognized. Cerability,

tainly one of the possessions of a skillful anesthetist is the based on observation and intuition, to judge the numerous

details

of administration. This

is

a matter

which

is

handled on an indi-

vidual basis and individual responses to specific anesthetic treatments are known to vary widely.

In the

field of

allergies the existence of individual differences is

about 15 per cent of all the in United States are affected a to people greater or lesser degree. One authority says, "Allergy is one of the most consistently hereditary of all diseases." Although there is much that is obscure in
also clearly recognized. It is estimated that
allergies, the fact that no two individuals can be expected to respond in exactly the same manner is a clear-cut fact. have already mentioned that some react to an allergen by symptoms such as

We

sneezing, etc., some by hives, and some by gastro-intestinal disturbances. In addition to these differences there is a wide variability
in the degree of sensitivity to any specific allergen. Some individuals who are definitely allergic to egg proteins are insensitive enough so that they can eat eggs occasionally but are made very ill if they eat
several days in succession. Others cannot eat eggs as such at but can tolerate the amount which they obtain, for example, in cake. Others are so sensitive to infinitesimal amounts of egg, that
all

them

they

may

be

made

ill

by kissing an individual

who
suffer

has eaten egg.

allergies; it is

Obviously man-in-the-abstract never suffers from

only actual

men, women and children who

and

their cases

must

receive

much

individual attention.

The

differences in allergic

responses is based upon fundamental differences in physiological and metabolic make-up. To date these differences are obscure. They
are not likely to

become

clarified until individuals are studied

more

exhaustively than they ever have been. Physicians who have made a special study of allergies believe that allergic tendencies are associated with recognizable personality traits.
likely

While

this

seems entirely

and plausible the evidence on which such

traits

a belief exists is

unsatisfactory, because the personality

concerned have not

been measured but have been judged only subjectively.

238

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

Other phases of medicine in which individual differences are well recognized are skin grafting from one individual to another and
individual
vidual,

the transfusion of blood. In these the fundamental biology of one is made to impinge directly upon that of another indi-

and man-in-the-abstract doesn't enter

is

into the picture.

coming, recognized and studied not only in connection with a few conditions, but in their application to all manner of diseases and treatments.

The day

I believe,

when

individual differences will be

When

that

with

difficulties

numerous cases and unable to be of

day arrives there will not be so many people which are beyond professional help. At present exist in which physicians admit that they are baffled
assistance.

Actually there are already several diseases in which individual differences are known to enter in a striking fashion.

In the gay nineties

or

when

in our cities typhoid fever killed 1000

it kills

more people

for every one

now, an important cause was

the existence of undetected typhoid carriers. These were people who exhibited no symptoms of the disease and yet carried the germs with

them continuously. From 2 to 10 per cent of all people who have the disease evidently become carriers some for a period of a few months only, others for years. Some who never contracted the
disease, so far as

outward symptoms were concerned, nevertheless

bacilli

harbored the typhoid

and were capable of spreading

any time.
exist: (i) those

continuously, often in the gall bladder, infection by way of the intestine at

In respect to typhoid fever the following types of individuals who resist the disease in all its aspects; (2) those
resist its

who who

but carry the germ to others; (3) those contract the disease but throw it off completely at convaleseffects

harmful

cence; (4) those

who

contract the disease but harbor the

germs

for

a few months

thereafter; (5) those

who

contract the disease but

MEDICINE AND MEDICAL RESEARCH

239

harbor the germs for a long period thereafter; (6) those who have only mild symptoms of the disease (walking typhoid) and recover
slowly.

There is no question about the desirability of having sanitary conditions such that typhoid is completely eliminated. Nevertheless wide differences in the potential response to typhoid germs exist in different people and an insight into the why of these differences

would be illuminating. Especially would this be so if these ences were correlated, as we would expect them to be, with

differ-

recognizable biochemical, physiological and psychological traits. Scarlet fever is another infectious disease in which wide variability

in response

is

exhibited.
is

Almost everyone has an even

concerned, in that

start in life

as far as this disease

we have

complete im-

munity

for the first year or so.

For large numbers, including Negroes

as a group, this natural resistance to the disease remains throughout life, and even though they may be exposed they do not contract
it.

Cecil in his TextbooJ^ of Medicine says, "The fact that so people exposed to the disease do not contract it, suggests that

many much

scarlet fever is unrecognized."

This means that they have mild cases

which can be

called scarlet fever only

ative agent, since the scarlet rash

through courtesy to the causand the fever are both absent.

Many

individuals of
life,

become
this
is

few years

but

susceptible to the disease after the first variable. Most cases develop when the

children are from five to twelve years old. The disease varies greatly in severity and in many cases this is due to innate differences in the
individuals concerned. Before

modern treatments were

devised,

it

was not uncommon

for the disease to appear in

severe form, killing four or five children in succession. In the

one family in a same

along with

epidemic another family might have light

the other

cases. This,

known facts, including the complete resistance of many white people and most Negroes, suggests strongly that one's physiological make-up in some way determines his reaction. Various complications

may

or

may

not accompany or follow the disease, in the

kidneys, in the middle ear, inflammation of joints, infection of lymph glands, and disturbances in the heart. The existence or non-

240

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

existence of these complications is doubtless determined to a large extent by the patient's anatomical and physiological make-up. Whether a child is or is not susceptible to scarlet fever can be

determined by the relatively simple Dick test. In these two infectious diseases, typhoid and
are

scarlet fever, there

no outward

characteristics

(except the specific response to the

toxin as in the Dick test) whereby susceptible and non-susceptible

individuals can be differentiated,

and we can only infer that physioanatomical or characteristics logical probably lie at the basis of the differences in response. In the case of infantile paralysis poliomyehowever, there are outward physical signs of
that
susceptibility.

litis

These indicate

some children

contract the disease

and others

do not because of innate anatomical and physiological differences, and that the progress of the disease is probably likewise determined by these
differences.

Constitution Clinic of the College of Physicians and Surgeons, referred to above, was brought into existence as a result of observations made during the infantile paralysis epidemic of 1916.

The

Draper was led to the conclusion at that time that children who were stricken with the disease had observable physical and personality characteristics, an idea which, however, was not new since
other physicians had mentioned such observations earlier. An intensive study involving a mathematical analysis of a series

of measurements of infantile paralysis victims as contrasted with uninfected children led to the conclusion that in the age groups five-to-eight and above twelve the afflicted children possess a significantly larger

head and face

size,

have a greater interpupillary

eyes,

distance, greater breadth

between the inner canthi of the

and

longer eye

slits. It is

for susceptible

and

rhythm of growth is different non-susceptible children, and the differences in

earlier

evident that the

growth
exist

rates

which appear during

and

later

periods do not
to twelve

during the period

when

the children are

from eight

years old.

basis for recognizing susceptible

Observations as distinguished from measurements are also the and non-susceptible children. Six

MEDICINE AND MEDICAL RESEARCH

241

observable characteristics have been selected in the Constitution

Clinic as being especially significant: (i) presence of black pigment spots on the skin; (2) presence of long curved eyelashes which reyears; (3) presence of large incisor of teeth; (4) presence spacing between the central incisor teeth; (5) pronounced hyperextension of the joints, and (6) presence of

main long during advancing

internal eye folds. In every one of these cases there is a significant positive correlation between the possession of the characteristic and susceptibility to infantile paralysis, as judged by actual incidence.
It

appears obvious that a study into the roots of poliomyelitis

must involve attention to individual cases. Indeed, as we have seen, by measurement and observation it is already possible to identify
susceptible individuals with considerable accuracy. If the underlying cause of the differences in developmental growth could be deter-

mined

might be possible to correct it (possibly by glandular make every child resistant, or if being forewarned is and therapy) being fore-armed, it might be possible to give special protection to susceptible children. In the development of cures and treatments it
it

is clear

that intimate

knowledge about individual

the disease
is

cases
is

is

essential,

because
ity

when and

if

contracted there

wide

variabil-

among

individuals as to the course

which

it

takes.

Conditions which go under the general designation of colds are important economically because of the large loss of time they entail

and

numerous complications which may arise in connection with cold symptoms. There is possibly no field in which individual differences are more prominent or where attention to them would bring more definite results. A cold is a very indefinite disease, and we can hope for progress
also because of the

only

when

this is fully recognized.

is

To

search for the cause of the

common

cold

of itchy skin. skin and it is probable that numerous infective agents can affect the mucous membranes of the nose and throat in such a manner as
to produce symptoms of a cold. For a given individual there may be a kind of cold which is highly typical, but the same individual

probably about as scientific as to search for the cause multitude of agents may irritate and cause itchy

242

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

time to time have different types o colds and it is a to think of a cold as being a single disease with uniform crudity
characteristics regardless of the infective agent or the victim's indi-

may from

viduality.

In

this

connection Draper, Dupertuis and Caughey say:

clinical teaching is predicated on the idea that any a pathological entity with appropriate symptoms, physilaboratory findings, many [medical] students draw the
is

Because most
single disease
cal signs
is

and

conclusion that there

a "textbook picture" for each of the diseases that

they study, and that deviations from this accepted pattern cannot be explained on any sound basis. To a person who appreciates the variations which exist among human animals, the remarkable thing is that in spite of these great personal differences there are some sicknesses in which the majority of patients do follow a very similar course.*

Not only are individual differences important in connection with the particular infectious diseases already mentioned, but in the large group of virus diseases an individual's predisposition is of great
10

importance.
origin, in

Rheumatic fever

is

a disease of
is

somewhat obscure

which individual predisposition

If variabilities are

upon the activities more important in metabolic and other diseases which depend directly upon the physiological aspects of the body's activity. A large number of diseases show their relation to individual differences in metabolism and physiology by the fact that they occur
in one sex consistently to a much larger extent than in the opposite sex. Ninety-eight per cent of all cases of gout are in men, 83 per

strikingly important. important in infectious diseases which depend of invading organisms, they are likely to be even

cent of cases of pyloric stenosis in children are observed in boys, 83 per cent of duodenal ulcers are in men, 82 per cent of carcinoma
in the head of the pancreas are in men, as well as 75 per cent of the severe cases of coronary sclerosis. On the other hand 91 per cent of the cases of toxic goiter and carcinoma of the gall bladder are found in women, as well as 90 per cent of all cases of osteomalacia,

*From Human

Dupertuis and J. L. Caughey, of Paul B. Hoeber, Inc.

Constitution in Clinical Medicine, by G. Draper, C. W. Jr., copyright 1944, reprinted by permission

MEDICINE AND MEDICAL RESEARCH

243

86 per cent of myxedema, 83 per cent of gallstones, and 75 per 8 cent of all rheumatoid arthritis and chorea.

These wide divergences have the possibility of deep significance in physiological sex differences which are still obscure. The diseases
noted here include none affecting organs and tissues involved in reproduction in which, of course, we should expect sex differences.

But the

tissues in the

different in a significant fashion

pyloric region of the stomachs of males are from the same tissues in females;

otherwise stenosis and ulcers would not occur so

much more

readily

in males. Likewise, the thyroid glands in the two sexes must be significantly different or toxic goiter and myxedema would not

be so predominant in women.

If the innate characteristics of these

and numerous other

tissues are different in

males and females,

is

it

follows that variance in these tissue characteristics

also to

be ex-

pected among individuals of the same sex. In numerous diseases the importance of innate individual differences
is

indicated

for

example in

gastric ulcer,

duodenal ulcer,

pernicious anemia, acute rheumatic fever, hypertrophy of the prostate, gall bladder disease, migraine, toxemia of pregnancy, carcinoma

of the breast and uterus, diabetes, goiter and arthritis. Draper and his co-workers point out how important individual differences are in connection with convalescence. They say:

The

variables

which enter into the formula

for convalescence in each

patient are so numerous and so intimately connected with the total personality of the individual, that standardization of procedure is less
possible here than

anywhere

else in clinical practice.

In recent
is

years, because the average

age of the living population

rapidly rising, there has been an increased interest in the processes of aging and in medicine as applied to older people called geriatrics. It is obvious that in growing old there is a tremendously wide
variation

that a study of aging as it applies be of the greatest significance. Psychiatrists have been among the leaders in recognizing the importance of individual differences; it seems unnecessary to press the

among

individuals

and

to man-in-the-abstract can never

244

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

point that in the field of mental disease and psychosomatic medicine the possibilities of the recognition and study of individual variability are outstanding in comparison with other fields of medicine.

On the basis of admittedly incomplete proof and

it

personal observa-

seems likely that medicine has missed the boat on several tions, occasions because of the general scientific bias in favor of man-inthe-abstract.
effective for

Numerous remedial measures which would be highly some individuals have apparently been discarded and
found not to

discredited without warrant because they have been

be of universal application measures which might have helped some have been left unused because they would not help everybody.

One
tion.

of

my

with a bit

former graduate students unwittingly presented me of evidence on this point which will serve as an illustra-

He

attacks of migraine headache,

had been a frequent victim of severe and rather typical which seriously affected his work
life.

and his whole

he informed himself

Being of a studious and investigative nature, as well as he could regarding the disease and
substantial medical help

when he

received

no

he began experi-

menting in a mild way upon himself, keeping records of his attacks and symptoms. After some years he hit upon the observation that

when he became
water

him

very thirsty (he lived in a desert area) and drank liable to precipitate a migraine attack. This led freely, to try limiting his water supply and never quite satisfying his

he was

thirst.

The experiment worked with

a high degree of satisfaction

and when he was with

me

as a student

he had solved the problem. He self absolutely free from migraine attacks for many months, but that by actual trial he knew he had only to imbibe freely at a drinking fountain to bring on an attack. With a dearth of strictly medical research there
is

he was fully convinced that said he had by this means kept him-

no mechanism
trial. It

whereby an idea such

as this

one can be given an adequate

MEDICINE AND MEDICAL RESEARCH

245

has plausibility, because it is well known that headache can be caused by pressure in the cranial cavity and that surgeons when
they wish to operate on the brain use diuretics to cause the brain to lose water and shrink. It looks as if this graduate student had

he solved

he was concerned; whether number of other people remains any unknown. Any claims might be met by negative evidence. Even if his idea had merit, probably some migraine victims would find the method ineffective, and because of our interest in man-in-thesolved the migraine problem so far as
it

for

substantial

are inclined not to accept or even try measures unless they are purported to be of general use. It is scientifically possible that search for the 'remedy for migraine could go on and on inabstract
definitely

we

without ever achieving success but that a recognition of

different types of individuals

would

treatments which,
the relief of
all.

when used

in appropriate cases,

lead to a series of independent would lead to

Because of

my

activity in the field of

vitamin research a number

of examples involving vitamins have come to my attention, which are suggestive along the same line. It seems pretty clear on the basis
of evidence already available that each individual has vitamin redo not know the quirements which are somewhat distinctive.

We

vitamin requirements of any individual nor have we anything like adequate ideas of how wide a spread exists in the requirements of
different people.

come to my notice are two involving which I discovered and named. a vitamin pantothenic acid, trained nurse, after making arrangements by telegraph, made a trip

Among

the cases that have

of several hours' duration to

tell

me

gratefully of her experience.

Her

story

was

this:

She had been in government service but had gradually become afflicted so that ultimately she was discharged as a mental case. Her
to remember everyday principal difficulty, she said, was inability she was When her work. items associated with supposed to have a

Sunday off, she would show up for work anyway, having forgotten what day of the week it was. More serious, undoubtedly, was the

246

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

would be forgetful about her work or would be missing from work because she had forgotten the day of the week. She told me that remembering such simple things was
fact that at other times she
literally

impossible for her. During the period when vitamins began to be used widely, she became a vitamin fan, or faddist if you will, and took the various

vitamins that came on the market.

When

became

available she

took

it

on general

calcium pantothenate principles rather than

because of any specific help she expected to get. Much to her surprise her hair, which had turned almost white, began to resume its former
color.

She had not heard of

this

vitamin possessing anti-gray hair

properties

and she did not particularly care for the change which

she observed in her hair. She did, however, bless

as a benefactor of the

human

had (she thought) renewed of carrying on regular work and her memory was completely restored. As evidence on her memory, she said she had been involved
as a passenger

me quite sincerely race because the taking of the vitamin her faculties so that she was capable

but not injured

in an automobile
later

wreck and that

in the litigation several

to

months

she was able without difficulty

and give coherent testimony. In fact she told me that an attorney had gone out of his way to compliment her on her testimony, saying that it was the best or one of the best
details

remember the

pieces of straightforward testimony that he had ever heard a witness give. The entire conversation with this person seemed to be in line

with the supposition that she was giving a clear-headed and accurate
picture of her experiences. With respect to the anti-gray hair properties of pantothenic acid, it seems reasonably sure that it cannot be counted on to restore the
color of gray hair in human beings in general. In some cases, however, it appears to do so, and this is in keeping with our knowledge

of individual differences and the fact that in strains of experimental animals which originally are black (rats, mice, dogs, chickens), lack of the vitamin induces gray hair (or feathers) and replacing it in the diet restores the original color. The nurse's experience with respect to her memory is, so far as

MEDICINE AND MEDICAL RESEARCH

I

247

know, almost an isolated instance, though Gordon did report in a few cases great improvement in mental condition, which he 11 ascribed to the administration of pantothenic acid. Of course, any
claim that calcium pantothenate will restore memory to all people or will improve the condition of mental cases in general would be

promptly met by contrary evidence, whereupon people would then look upon the whole thing as a fake. Several explanations can be
offered of the example in question:
it

may be

that the nurse

was

suggestible and spontaneously recovered from her mental illness; it may be that she is one out of a hundred or one out of a thousand
cases of her kind,
sibly the

and that

all

the others would

fail to

respond. Pos-

on memory in such a
it is tried.

chance of calcium pantothenate having a beneficial effect case is 1:10, 1:5 or 1:1. No one knows until
beneficial measures until
is

If

we

discard

all

we

find one

which

will

work

for everyone there

an enormous waste, and our search for

may be for something that doesn't exist. Another instance relating to the same vitamin is also worth considering. A woman whose hair was turning gray was advised by
her beautician to try taking calcium pantothenate. The effect on her hair was entirely satisfactory but she received another more
valuable benefit which she
is difficult,

the one

was not looking

for at

all,

and hence

it

as in the case of the nurse, to explain the results

on the

basis of suggestibility. Incidentally, she

was a woman of unusual

and education and not temperamental. She had been a victim of constipation, but upon taking calcium pantolifelong thenate regularly she found herself to be completely rid of the difficulty. Whether other people are affected in a similar manner or not,
intelligence

she

is

convinced that

it

has been of inestimable value to her.

is

Since the metabolism of each of us

somewhat

distinctive, it is

probable that some individuals have a high requirement for this vitamin (as well as other specific ones) and that as a result of a

tendency to excrete or burn the vitamin excessively they are benefited to an unusual degree by its administration. Only serious attention to individual cases will reveal the facts.

248

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

How

Probably any doctor of long experience could cite, after reflection, a good many examples of medical discoveries which appeared highly

promising

at

one time but were

still

later

completely discarded.

be useful for some individuals no one many knows, but it seems very likely there has been a large waste because of our general insistence that discoveries to be useful must be appliof these might

cable to

all individuals.

Medical diagnosis and treatment on a purely individual basis is to a considerable degree impractical, especially so for ordinary people of moderate means. Physicians are hardly trained for the task of
looking exhaustively into the minute details of the anatomy and physiology of one patient, and if they were, patients could not
usually afford to pay for the services rendered in a closely individualized study.

What

seems to be required for individual needs to receive atten-

manner is that each person shall, for purposes of and treatment, be typed or placed within an appropriate group in much the same way that people are typed
tion in a 'practical medical attention

before they receive or donate blood in transfusions. In practice the four blood types O, A, B and AB are adequate in most cases. Investigation into individual differences

may

reveal that

it is

desirable

to classify people in perhaps four types with respect to pulmonary tuberculosis, in heart disease perhaps six or more types and a similar

of types for nephritis, several for diabetes, and so on the known diseases. For diseases which are capable of being through adequately controlled without it, typing individuals would not have

number

to be resorted to at

all. (Unfortunately, however, much of the time be occupied with diseases which to date are must physician's not well controlled.) On this basis a system of medicine could be

developed which would not be too cumbersome for

utility

and yet

would afford an opportunity for the physician more nearly what is individually needed.

to give the patient

MEDICINE AND MEDICAL RESEARCH

A considerable mass
available
types.

249

of information

on

specific diseases is already

which might aid in the discovery of individual human To type diseases such as pneumonia, in which various strains
is

from typing the indithe causative agents are not known and hence perhaps are of unitary character, typing of diseases may in essence be the same as typing the afflicted individuals.
of pneumococci are involved, viduals who may contract it.
different

When

Many

attempts have been

made

to classify

human

beings in

physical make-up, body dimensions, etc., acteristics. Also serious attempts have been
cal

and

in psychological charto correlate physi-

made

and psychical

traits.

The

possible correlation of physique

and

intellect

has been explored with comparative thoroughness, and

while there are doubtless relationships they are far from being
simple or clear-cut. As for finding gross relationships, there would seem to be, a priori, little encouragement. Why should we expect
to find, for example, one's ability to

memorize

rote material to

be

related to the size of one's foot or the curvature of one's

abdomen ?

the basis of a thoroughgoing analysis of all the biochemical, physiological, and psychological traits of individuals, no typing has

On

been made.

ever been attempted, because the analyses themselves have never From the standpoint of medical practice, a broad typing of universal scope including necessarily a large number of types would seem to be far less serviceable than a typing based upon
specific types of disease, or

upon

different types of

organ physiology.
re-

The need
search,

for

more

extensive

and more intensive medical

based partly upon the necessity of learning more about individuals so that they can be adequately typed. Such typing, which may be done for various specific purstressed, is

which we have

poses,

must be based upon a

information.

substantial

amount
of

scientific

The development
research

of thoroughly adequate bases for

typing will entail

much

and no one can guess

how

far

it

may

go.

At the outset the number of types recognized in connection with some diseases may be small, possibly only two, but as research in individual differences advances and more refined observations are

250

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

the

made

of types will increase. As indicated by Draper and co-workers, there is now a strong tendency to formulate a text-

number

book picture of a

disease,

which
type,

is

equivalent to regarding everyone

as belonging to the

same

One

of the lines of research which

we may

envisage for the future

will involve the use of drugs designed not necessarily for the cure

have of disease but for developing means of typing individuals. of that in selection for medicithe and indicated drugs already study
nal use there has naturally been a consistent elimination of
all

We

those

which tend

to give highly erratic responses

when

administered to

different individuals.

Drugs have been

retained that give relatively

uniform responses. For usefulness in typing it seems reasonable to suppose that the kind of drugs which give erratic results when administered to different individuals will be
future attention

more

valuable. In the

may be given to finding drugs which, when administered to members of a group, will give the widest possible
The
question

variance in results.

may

arise in the

minds of physicians whether recog-

nizing and paying attention to individual differences will tend to develop on the part of the patient too much concern for his individual health, after the

manner

of hypochondriacs. It seems likely,

on

the contrary, that an intelligent understanding of the existence of individual differences may serve to put many people at ease, and
that because they recognize the existence of individual quirks they will not be so inclined to run to the doctor with every trifling

twinge of pain or physiological vagary.

Fundamentally the question may resolve itself into the relative merits of living in darkness and in light. Partial truths are often dangerous but it is difficult to see how, in the end, people can be
otherwise than helped by having access to fuller truth about themselves.

XIV.

Heredity and Environment

common mind,
ALEXANDER POPE

'Tis education forms the

]ust as the twig

is

bent the tree's inclined.

(But a peach tree

is

never inclined to be an oa^.)

ANON

THXTREME
J
J.
'

vironment in

POSITIONS on the relative importance of heredity and enhuman life are those taken by A. E. Wiggam and
respectively

B.

Watson

and

cited

by Allport.

Nearly all the happiness and nearly all the misery of the world are due, not to environment, but to heredity: the differences among men are, in the main, due to differences in the germ cells from which they

A. E. WIGGAM.* Give me a dozen healthy infants well formed, and my own specified world to bring them up in and I'll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any kind of specialist I might select doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant, chief, and yes, even beggar-man and thief, regardless of talents, peculiarities, tendencies, abilities, vocations and race . There is no such thing as inheritance of capacity, of his ancestors. . B. J. talent, temperament, mental constitution and characteristics.
are born.
.

WATSON.f

These diametrically opposite statements cannot both be true. In fact, they were written over twenty years ago, and no reasonably well informed person today could accept either of them. The truth unquestionably lies somewhere between these extremes.
*

From The New Decalogue

by

of Science, by Albert

right 1923, used

special permission of the Publishers,

Edward Wiggam, copyThe Bobbs-Merrill

Company.
f From Behaviorism, by J. B. Watson, copyright revised edition 1930, used by special permission of the Publishers, W. W. Norton and Company, Inc.
251

252

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

it is

In discussion of this topic

often pointed out that both heredity

and environment
of a

human

are inseparably intertwined in the development being. For example, if the fertilized egg which con-

the starting point of every human individual is left without a suitable environment, requiring as it does nutrition, suitable temperature, etc., it promptly dies and no development whatever takes
stitutes

place.

On

the other hand,

if
it

a suitable environment

is

with everything exactly as

should be

and no

fertilized

provided egg with

a hereditary background is provided, again no development takes Because of this mutual interdependence between these two place.
factors,

some have been

inclined to say in effect, "Let's forget about

this fruitless

heredity-environment problem, and devote ourselves to

something else." To the academic mind

this

the practical standpoint of

may be a satisfying solution, but from human affairs this is still a highly imwork without
the other but

portant question not whether one can to what extent each contributes.

Let us suppose,

as

an example, that we consider again the develop-

ment

of

a^

tiny

Obviously if it could not develop. But

cised over the

embryonic human being in the mother's womb. had an environment entirely unsuitable, the embryo

how much

control, practically,

can be exer-

development of the embryo by changing its environment? Can we, by supplying the mother with the very best possible assortment of food elements and guarding her from all unfavorable
influences,

make
to

the developing
If this

physique and mentality?

embryo grow into a child of superb were so, this would be a wonderful

opportunity improve the human race; selves assiduously to the care of pregnant
others

we

should devote ourthe welfare of

if

women;

would be

of negligible importance,

by comparison. But

what happens
so long as she
society has

to the
is

mother has

little effect

on the developing baby,

fed and cared for in the traditional manner, then

to

no reason

be especially concerned about pregnant

think
is

women.
Actually

we have what we

a reasonable

working knowl-

HEREDITY AND ENVIRONMENT

edge of

253

how

to

proceed.

by produced we do know that feeding the pregnant mother properly

portance, and
that various dietary deficiencies

at will

are quite sure that geniuses cannot be care of the mother. On the other hand proper
is

We

of im-

may

cause difficulty

not only with the child but with the mother. Even so, our knowledge as to how to do it, or how far we can go toward improving
babies by attention to maternal nutrition,

pay heed to the problem

possible.

we

sketchy and when we do so mostly in order to play safe, if

is

The problem
here;

of prenatal nutrition

is

not for extended discussion

wish only to use it as an illustration of how the problem of heredity and environment is important. Society's practical interest
in the care

we

and feeding of pregnant mothers, insofar as it has such should not be based upon vague opinions but upon factual interest, information. Whether this interest is great or small should depend

upon whether the

controllable factors in the

environment have a

great or small effect on the developing embryos. In the nutrition of children also, and the extent to which
control their lives, the question of heredity

it

may

and environment

enters

in a practical way. If we can do much by proper nutrition, then nutrition should receive a commensurate amount of attention; if

we

can do

little, its

importance diminishes.
large

So we might go through a

number

of quandaries. If idiots

are idiots at birth, the problem they present takes on one aspect; if controllable environmental influences produce them, it is quite a
different one. If insanity
it is

is

hereditary, the issue

is

one thing and

another
still

if

insanity
if

results
is

from the

controllable environment

and

a third

the origin

mixed. Suppose criminals are born:

if feasible,

we

should use sterilization measures,

to eliminate

them;

but if environmental influences produce them we should look after these influences; if criminals are both born and made, then we
should pay attention to both factors. In whatever direction we turn, the problem of the contributions of heredity and controllable environment is important. All our

254
attempts to

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

make
of

knowledge

how

progress and improve society depend on our heredity and environment contribute to each of

the questions that confront us.

While we have much scientific knowledge bearing on the problem of heredity and environment, from the standpoint of social engineering we often lack the very knowledge that we need. But we

must go ahead anyway;

base our attempts very often done.
It is

if

we

don't

we

can assume that

know the facts on which to we know them, and this is

one of the larger tasks of humanics to give us more clear-cut and valid ideas as to what is heritable and what is not, and to teach
us

more

fully

and more

definitely

what environmental
is

influences

can do. Whether Watson's statement

more nearly

correct than

Wiggam's, or vice versa, makes a tremendous difference in our lives, and all attempts to improve society must hinge upon the scientific facts, whatever they are.

some of the universally accepted facts of out as far as possible theories and interpretations heredity, leaving which are not essential to broad understanding of these facts.
Let us
first

consider

Heredity in mammals, and specifically in man, is exceedingly complex in comparison with heredity in fruit flies and other simpler

forms which have been studied

far

more

extensively.

In view of the

tremendous difference in generation time and the fact that genetic experiments with human beings would be almost out of the question

unavoidable that most of our detailed knowledge of the workings of heredity should be derived from experiments with simpler forms. The general principles are so adequately con-

anyhow,

it is

firmed, however, by experiments with numerous diverse plant and animal forms, coupled with observational study of human heredity,
that

no one can doubt

their validity.

The problems

of genetics,

how-

ever, as they apply to simpler forms, are

by no means completely

HEREDITY AND ENVIRONMENT

cleared

255

picture of the detailed working of of that heredity (or any other mammals) remains for the far-distant future.

up and a comprehensive

human

We

inherit

from our
abilities

tendencies

and

ancestors a multitude of distinct, separate which through interaction with the en-

vironment become what

acters

and

traits.

recognize as anatomical features, charSometimes the environmental influences are so

we

highly constant that almost invariably the same character is formed. often speak of inheriting red hair or brown eyes for this reason

We

what we

actually inherit, however,

is

the

mechanism which

in the

normal course of events produces red hair or brown eyes. Speaking in the less exact manner, we shall discuss briefly some of the characteristics which every student of the subject recognizes
as

being inherited
first set

in the sense that the

mechanism

is

inherited.

The

of characteristics
to

are those

which have

which may well claim our attention do with bodily form. It is common knowl^

this

edge that we inherit our anatomical make-up from our forebears; becomes most notable with respect to facial features. These are
but a
specific

distinctive for each of us,

feature often

shows a marked

form from the

resemblance to a parent or grandparent. Always they derive their features of forebears. If we were in the habit of
observing hands or feet closely,
there in exactly the

we would

find family resemblances

same way.
is

An
traits

obvious fact

that

we do

not always inherit characteristics

is

that are observable in our parents. Every parent

the carrier of

which he himself does not

possess,

and

traits

which we obtain

by
is

inheritance

may

in

some

cases

have been carried (without mani-

Thus when someone "Where did the child get that nose?" or "How can he be so tall when his father and mother are short?", the observed phenomenon is not out of line with what we know about
festing their presence) for several generations.

moved

to exclaim,

heredity.

A large proportion

of the traits which each of us shows are traits

which one or the other of our parents also show. But some of the traits that we individually possess were hidden or recessive in our

256

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

parents and hence not observable in them; to find their origin we would have to go back to grandparents or to earlier generations.

When we say we inherit our bodily form, this does not mean gross features alone but minute details as well. Evidence that even fingerprints are inherited
is

from one egg and having

the fact that identical twins (those arising therefore the same inheritance) have

fingerprints that are virtually the same, whereas all other people (each with a distinctive inheritance) have fingerprints that differ

one from another.

That we
is

inherit the

minute

details of

our anatomical make-up

a matter of far-reaching significance. Not only is the texture of our skin, its tendency to freckle or tan, and so on, inherited, but
the characteristics of the
tracts are also inherited,

and

mucous membranes in our this means that we inherit

respiratory differences

in our abilities to withstand the invasion of microorganisms or other parasites which attack us through the skin or through mucous mem-

branes. Skins differ in their tendency to blister,

acteristic is inherited is

and

that this char-

amply demonstrated by extensive studies on the inheritance of a peculiar disease involving the very ready formation of foot blisters.
vessels

Going below the skin

surface to the blood

we

find, as

we would

vessel walls

shows

expect, that the strength of the blood variation. This again is an inheritance as has
heritability of

been shown by the

tendency toward nosebleed. feature anatomical that we possess must have Actually every tiny as a hereditary basis a similar feature in one of our forebears. There-

fore the distinctive characteristics of our individual endocrine glands are inherited. This is well illustrated by the pancreas which in some

individuals

is

deficient, or
its

becomes

deficient at

some time
is

in

life,

in the production of

hormone. This tendency

inherited

and

when it becomes manifest we call it diabetes. The bony structures are by no means exempt and numerous irregularities or abnormalities of bone and teeth structures are known
to be inherited.

We

have in previous chapters indicated some of the ways in

tissues

which nervous

and sense organs

differ

from

individual to

HEREDITY AND ENVIRONMENT

individual
to

257

and

how

at least

some of

these differences are

known

be inherited, and the same thing has been found of many nervous conditions in men and in animals. Emphasizing the fact
that a tendency, rather than a ready-made
trait, is

inherited,

is

the

case of Huntington's chorea, which produces uncontrollable muscular movements and mental it does not

degeneration; although

appear until middle

faulty

life

it

is

an inherited disease
middle
structures

that

is,

the

mechanism which
not only

gives rise to it in
affects

life is inherited.

Inheritance

gross

and microscopic
make-up.

structures but even extends to the submicroscopic chemical

The

heritability of blood groups, which involve differences in the chemical composition of blood constituents, has been mentioned.

Hemophilia, a condition involving a faulty mechanism for blood coagulation, has been thoroughly studied and its heritability established

beyond question.

Finally

we come

to the various metabolic conditions

albinism,

alcaptonuria, phenyl kctonuria, etc. which are known to be transmitted by inheritance from one generation to the next a fact which

our metabolic processes are inherited. Given the proper food and environmental conditions, our bodies
is

a clear indication that

all

are able to produce large

numbers of

catalysts,

which enter into

promoting and controlling the numerous chemical transformations essential to our lives. The mechanisms which make possible the
production of these catalysts are all inherited otherwise we wouldn't have the mechanisms. The metabolic deficiencies referred
to

above are simply cases in which parts of certain mechanisms are

missing from the inheritance.

consider the possible heritability or non-heritability of a more difficult psychological traits and abilities we are dealing with

When we

problem and one on which we have less definite information. In general environment is required to translate an inheritance into
or observable characteristic; closely related to this is the fact that inheritance of a particular characteristic does not insure us the

trait

may inherit the mechanisms necessary for the possession of it. set of teeth, but if our nutrition is faulty an of excellent growing

We

258

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

D or
vita-

in one of several ways in calcium, phosphorus, vitamin min C, for example the result will be faulty teeth.

In the production of psychological

posedly apply.

traits

the

same

principles sup-

An

individual

may

inherit all of the elements

which

will call a good disposition. If, however, and a unfortunate an psychological atmosphere, poor nutrition, failure to learn the rudiments of mental hygiene intervene, the

go

to

make up what we

good
and
than

to pot. disposition may go Our knowledge of what environmental

to

factors are

most dangerous

what extent

personalities
is

are threatened or

harmed by unto dispute

scientific

favorable environments
it

far

more

limited

and open

would be

if

we

paid serious attention to the

study

of individuals.

sometimes mislead ourselves into saying: This influence reasonably may do so and so, therefore this psychological influence does so and so. We need to know rather than to guess.

We

The importance of inheritance in various types of mental abilities can hardly be doubted on the basis of recent investigations involving 2 identical twins but an extension of our knowledge is desirable. For
the development of mathematical ability, an extreme environmentalist might suggest surrounding an infant with all sorts of devices
that

would

numbers

cultivate number concepts, and might advise having instead of letters served in the alphabet soup. I believe,

however, that most of

my

readers will agree that

all

such devices

would have
If

little effect

on a non-mathematically

inclined person.

we

consider one of the so-called idiot-savants, an imbecile boy

through environmental influences special (other than food, little to do with it. very
Obviously
if

who could mentally multiply any three-digit number other by any three-digit number with lightning rapidity, we are led to think that his inheritance and that ability arose
of twelve years
shelter, etc.)

had

we want

to

know more
traits

about the inheritance or

traits,

non-inheritance of mental
able to recognize

abilities

and mental
and

we must be
a
let

and measure the

abilities at least in

rough way. Most of us do not know what

traits

we

possess,

alone

HEREDITY AND ENVIRONMENT

whether

259

we

inherited

them

(or didn't)

from our paternal grand-

mother or maternal grandfather.

subject of the inheritance of musical ability has been discussed numerous times. Unfortunately, however, information has

The

been lacking on possession of the various musical abilities by individuals and their progenitors. As was made clear in an earlier chapter there are several

elements involved in musical ability such as

sense of timing, sense of pitch, sense of consonance; probably not all of the elements are fully recognized. According to what we

know

about heredity, these are inherited,

if

at

all,

not

all

together

but each by itself. On the basis of present knowledge, the inheritance of the elementary musical abilities is strongly indicated and this is in keeping with the fact that the anatomical structures in the
ear

and the nervous system must

also

be inherited.

course to bring any special ability to fruition, and to make the most of it, special environmental influences are necessary, though

Of

sought out by the individual himself. mathematician would hardly thrive or develop potentially great without contact with others who are mathematically inclined; neither would a potentially great musician develop to the fullest
these influences

may be

extent without contact with other musicians. If the drive as well

as the ability exists, however, the individual

may overcome

great

obstacles in his attempts to find a suitable environment for himself. may conclude our discussion of the inheritance of psycho-

We

logical traits

by giving the opinion that the primary mental abilities (whatever they are) are inherited and that special environmental

influences probably play a very secondary role in their development. More definite information on this is desirable. With respect to the

such as dominance, extroversion, altruism, persistence, expansiveness these are probably both inherited and developed. An
other
traits

individual's inheritance probably may have a good deal to do with making it easy for him to develop dominance, or easy to be sub-

missive, as the case

may

be.

The environmental

influences

may

con-

ceivably play a leading role, however, and cause an individual who is by inheritance inclined toward dominance, to become submissive.

260

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

role of inheritance

The
is

and environment

in producing such traits

largely speculative because of our lack of reliable information.

General observation

tells

us that the environmental conditions in

which an individual
attitudes
If

is

the customs he will adhere

reared determine the language he will speak, to, and to a large extent the loyalties and

which he

will entertain.

occidental child adopted into a Chinese home, for example, there is no question but that the infant will learn to speak Chinese, will adopt Chinese customs, and will develop in

we imagine an

general a Chinese attitude toward

latter

provided of course, in the case, that his distinctive appearance does not cause him to
life,

feel "different"

and

as

an outsider.

us imagine another experiment in which a thousand English babies, for example, 'are allowed to absorb independently the same Chinese culture, and then when they reach maturity are

But

let

moved

to a desert island to live together.

it

culture, will they cling to

Knowing only the Chinese or will there be a consistent modificafit

tion of the Chinese culture so as to

traits

better the physiological

and

psychological While the question has apparently never been carefully investigated, it appears certain from the undoubted inheritance of ana-

of the English-born people?

tomical features in the mouth, vocal cords, nasal passages, tongue musculature, etc., that language modifications and language differences have in part an anatomical and physiological basis. Would it not be reasonable to suppose, in the hypothetical case under consideration, that the

language would be modified, at

least

within a

few

expect

Would we not generations, better to suit the people using it? all customs to be gradually modified so as to be more adapted
and psychologically
to the traits of the people?
is

physiologically

way of pointing out the probability that items of a given culture may have a hereditary basis, and
This
another

many many

HEREDITY AND ENVIRONMENT

customs

261

may be based upon

characteristic traits

possessed in

common

tribe or 'cultural group. An outsider when absorbed into a foreign culture may seem to adopt it readily (he has no alternative) but the foreign culture may still be foreign to

by people of the same

him

physiologically and psychologically. It may be quite a different type of culture from any that his kind of people would ever have

developed.

The

situations here described are admittedly

imaginary and the

results speculative.

They do have

a bearing, however,

upon many
I

anthropological investigations and their interpretation. If stand, for example, the extensive studies made by Margaret
the Arapesh, Guinea, there

underof

Mead
in

Mundugumor and
is

the

Tchambuli

tribes

New

a tendency to assume that the striking differences in the cultures of these tribes is environmentally produced. For

example, the Arapesh children grow up to be docile, contented and unaggressive because of determinative factors in early training, such
as the fact that they are fondled

and are allowed

to

dawdle and

dally in their nursing.

grow up
first

to

But the cannibal Mundugumors are said to be aggressive because they must "fight even for their
3

drops of milk."

An

alternative explanation

is

that the

Arapesh are by natural

they treat their are by natural

inheritance docile

and unaggressive; and

children as they do. Possibly the inheritance aggressive and competitive, and it is for this reason their children receive a different type of treatment.
It is
is

why Mundugumors

this is

indicated that "the twin birth rate [of the

Mundugumors]

far in excess of that for

Guinea." The part of the tribe indicates that inbreeding has taken place, and makes very because plausible the suggestion that one tribe differs from another
of inherent
I
traits.

New

any of the other known tribes of that existence of this heritable trait within

not proposing, however, that Dr. Mead's interpretation (assuming that I understand it) be discarded and the alternative
explanation accepted. Rather I wish to emphasize that the question is not settled, and by its nature cannot be until we make a more

am

262

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

intensive study of individuals. While the importance of environmental influences cannot seriously be doubted, the evidence on which the idea is based is often of a most unsatisfactory nature.

An unconvincing line of evidence is that relating to children who have been reared in the wild and who have shown the effects of
when they have been returned to civilization. Cases of this sort have been reported for hundreds of years, usually, however, on the basis of non-scientific and uncritical observations. One of the most recent and widely cited examples is that of the
the lack of culture

"wolf children" of India.

These children were

October, 1920, through

first

field glasses at a distance of

observed (other than by natives) in a hundred yards.

Six years after the event, the Reverend Singh, who eventually adopted the children, wrote the following description in a letter:

Three wolves were observed to come out of a tunnel-like passage from their den, closely followed by two cubs; then there appeared a human head covered with bushy hair with a ghastly look about the face. This head tarried for a little while looking to this side and that side, then a human form came out of the den followed by another human being at its heels. The two children crawled on all fours.
children were judged to be about two and eight years old were adopted. The younger died in a few respectively when they

The

months but the

at the

older,
letter

named Kamala, was

alive

and with the family

time the

six years in the civilized

mentioned above was written in 1926. After home she was able to utter about forty

words including a few sentences of not more than two or three words. Originally she ate like an animal but learned somewhat

more

refined methods. She

all.

was able

to

walk

straight
4

on both

legs

but could not run at

She never had been housebroken and would

answer the

of nature anywhere and at any time. In Arnold Gesell's reconstruction of the life history of the older
call

girl,

Kamala, he obviously and admittedly called upon imagination and invention to fill in important gaps in actual knowledge. He

understates the condition of ignorance regarding her early life when he says, "We do not even know when she was captured by

HEREDITY AND ENVIRONMENT

263

her foster mother wolf." Actually it isn't known that she was captured by a wolf at all, and the foster mother relationship is hazy
especially since there
years.

were two children

differing in age

by

six

In spite of the fact that he estimated her mental age at three and a half years when her chronological age was about seventeen, Gesell
expresses the opinion that she was not innately mentally deficient. accounts for her retardation solely on the basis of her early years in the wolf den. This is the crucial question in the whole

He

study. If she

was normal

at the start, her life story

is

most

interest-

ing; of its

if

she was mentally deficient, the story loses at least nine-tenths interest. To the present writer it seems unlikely that a healthy

and

intelligent child could

be so warped by wolfish associations of

eight(?) years' duration that she should be unable to learn in six more years what a puppy (or even a wolf puppy?) may learn in

a few weeks. There

is

certainly

no proof
5

that the girl

Kamala was
so-

not feeble-minded from the

start.

No

one

who

critically

examines the evidence regarding the

feel that
it

called feral children

can

is

completely conclusive or

that the question

any sense a closed one. Examples such as the wolf children in which the heredity of the individuals is wholly
is

in

unknown can

contribute

little

to our critical

knowledge of the

importance of environment. Especially so since the chances that healthy intelligent children will be abandoned or go wild are manifestly

far less than are the chances of deficient children

doing

so.

of studying the relative effects of heredity and environment which offers the most promise involves the utilization of

The method

what

are often called identical twins, particularly

when such

are

reared apart in different environments. Such twins arise from a and are commonly considered to have the same insingle egg cell
heritance.

264

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

Unfortunately, however, identical twin? are often not as identical as we could wish, for two general reasons; first because of differences in prenatal environment, and second because of partial asymmetry reversals to be discussed below. Since two bodies cannot

occupy the same space at the same time, one of a pair of identical twins is liable to be less favorably located in the mother's womb
than the other. This

some

is particularly true for blood supply and in cases the difference can cause one twin to be markedly under-

developed in comparison with the other. Postnatal nutrition tend to lessen the discrepancy.
It is

may

not

uncommon, however,

for identical twins to

be appre-

ciably different in weight at birth and ference throughout life. Another circumstance

to maintain a similar dif-

which may have a

difference-producing effect is that

first,

one of the twins has to be born

not identical for the two.

and the

obstetrical situation

is

The asymmetry

portance. Sometimes

differences are interesting and probably of imidentical twins are born who are almost perfect

mirror images of each other that is, one is right-handed while the other is leftjianded; one has a clockwise whorl in his hair, the other
a counterclockwise whorl;
ularity in shape, the
left
if the right ear of one has a slight irregear of the other is affected in a similar

should exist throughout the whole body then one twin would truly be the mirror image of the other and except for this asymmetry they would be identical. Complete

manner,

etc. If

this situation

mirror-imaging

is,

however, rare; in

fact,

both twins are more

often right-handed and appear to be more nearly duplicates than mirror images. In most cases, however, there is partial mirrorimaging and partial duplication. In this sense the twins fail to be
identical,

and

this difference

may be

at the basis of physiological

and psychological

differences.

In organic chemistry we have a somewhat comparable situation. When two kinds of molecules are structurally mirror images of
each other, they are called antipodes, and always have identical solubilities, reactivities and energy content. When two molecules are
partially

mirror images and partially duplicates, then the compounds

HEREDITY AND ENVIRONMENT

are called diastereoisomers.
are similar, they identical solubilities, reactivities or energy content.

265

While they

do not have

The most intensive study of the heredity and environment problem using twins as a basis is that of Newman, Freeman and Hol6 zinger. They first studied fifty pairs of identical twins who had been reared together and for comparison fifty pairs of ordinary
(fraternal) twins. Fraternal twins

come from
that even

separate egg cells

sisters.

and

are therefore as

much

unlike as ordinary brothers and

findings

One

of the

more important

was

when

identical twins

were reared together under surroundings which were identical (insofar as it would be possible for society to make them so) they were "never truly identical" and sometimes differed "to a disconcerting
degree." comparison of older pairs of twins with younger ones indicated "a slight but hardly significant tendency for the older twins to be less alike" as indicated by mental and educational tests.

This

is

interpreted to

mean

that differences

due

to

environment
slight effect

which would tend

to increase

with age had

at

most a

in causing the individuals to become different. study was also made of nineteen pairs of identical twins

who

had been separated

different

in infancy

environmental

and hence had been subjected to influences. A comparison was made

identical twins

between the differences exhibited by these

and those

reared together. In "weight, intelligence, and school achievement" the separated twins showed significantly greater differences than did the unseparated twins. The greater differences in weight (of the separated twins) can well be attributed to differences in nutrition;
the differences in rated intelligence are probably associated with in-

have previously commented upon the limitacreased schooling. tions of intelligence tests in measuring mental ability.
extensive study just cited leaves largely unanswered the question as to the extent to which physiological and psychological traits be modified by environmental influences, though in con-

We

The

may

nection with the intelligence and school achievement tests the authors state: "Some slight change is also suggested in the case of

temperament." This study was planned nearly twenty years ago and

266

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

to

had

be carried through largely on the basis of

for example,

tools

and

tech-

niques available at that time; Thurstone's exploration of primary

mental

abilities,

came

after

it

had been completed.

have previously indicated that the full searchlight of science has never been thrown upon any individual human being. In the
chapter

We

on marriage we noted
scientific

that

no married couple had ever been

investigated with

thoroughness. Again in connection with the present subject we can say that no pair of twins, identical or otherwise, has ever been subjected to a thorough study from all the
angles that offer promise. In the earlier chapters

commonly

exist

we outlined numerous differences which human beings: metabolic differences, difamong

ferences in reactions to drugs, several vision differences, numerous other sensory differences, reactions to temperature and sleep, electrical

phenomena, endocrine
traits.

patterns,

mental

abilities

and other
at

psychological
different ages

If identical
all

and other twins were studied

from

these angles

we would

be very

much

nearer

knowing

the facts with regard to the contributions of heredity and environment to human life. The possibilities of improving society

depend upon our knowing the relative importance of various factors in our lives, and when we build merely upon assumed knowledge

we

are building

upon an insecure foundation.

a tendency to attempt to trace all sorts on the part of adults to im-

In some

circles there is

of unfortunate psychological attitudes

portant but seemingly inconsequential events which took place in should have more definite information, very early childhood.

We

phenomena. One word may opposed speculation, on said against the possible exaggeration of these effects. From what we know about the ability of young children to recover from all
as
to

such

be

sorts of bodily

injuries

without permanent impairment of their

faculties

that trifling psychological injuries should not have lifelong effect. Probably psychological injuries are more on the part of likely to result from permanent wrong attitudes
it

would seem

parents and other

it is

members

of the family. This

is

so essential that people understand better

how

one reason why widely and in

HEREDITY AND ENVIRONMENT

what numerous ways
this

267

individuals differ

from one another. With

knowledge,
that

it

damage

we

inflict

should be possible to lessen the psychological on each other, regardless of whether we

imagine the

possibilities of

such damage to be relatively small or

tremendously large.

XV. Humanics
When
woe be
a blind
to those

and Leadership

man
who

flourisheth the banner,

follow him. FULLER'S Gnomologia

r-pHERE ARE TWO WAYS in which humanics can contribute to the JL problem of leadership as it occurs in the numerous ramifications of human society: in improving the selection of leaders and in the
prevention of abuses.
shall assume that leadership is inescapable and that it makes for efficiency in the pursuit of common purposes. Its existence presupposes followers not blind and irresponsible individuals who

We

have no minds of

their

common good
like their

to follow

own, but individuals who are able for the some strong individual who has purposes

own. As Pigors says, "Followers subordinate themselves, not because the leader is utterly different but because he is the
so."
1

same, only more

Certainly one of the serious shortcomings of social organization

in general has been the elevation of misfits and the creation of abuses in leadership. may think of ourselves as living in an age of science, but with regard to choosing leaders we depend at best

We

largely

upon empiricism. Often our is hardly more names were drawn from a hat.
in important ventures
268

choice of individuals to lead

intelligent

than

it

would be

if

HUMANICS AND LEADERSHIP

One
study of individual
capabilities

269

of the fundamental reasons for our frequent and often disastrous mistakes is that we have never paid serious attention to the

and

what

since the

men and women and to the measuring of their Probably we have progressed someday when William Jennings Bryan became for many
characteristics.

years the leader of an important political party primarily because he coined a catch phrase and possessed a fluent tongue, but we still choose our political leaders because of their good radio voices and

when
smile
It

television

becomes

common

the radiance of the candidate's

may be an important determining factor. is true that professors behind cloistered walls have studied the

psychology of individual differences but whatever they have learned has made relatively little impression on the public. It seems to me
that

one of the serious drawbacks

is

to the public acceptance of psy-

chological measures
testers to

the failure

on the part of many psychological

several types,
abilities

recognize the importance of a series of mental abilities of and their unfortunate tendency to lump all these

together and assign to individuals intelligence quotients. What does the public know or what has it cared to know about the intelligence quotients of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Wendell Willkie,

Thomas Dewey

or

Harry
I

S.

Truman ?

Is

indifference to this information

an indifference

the public's complete to the intelligence

intel-

of our political leaders?

think not. If the public thought

ligence quotients were significant measures of intelligence and practical sense, it would sincerely desire to know the intelligence ratings

But the public knows from long potential political leaders. sometimes professors (who must observation that and experience have high I.Q.'s) are "dopes," and that untutored folk (who probof
its

ably have

low

I.Q.'s) often

have superior judgment and good

sense.
is

Our

superficiality

in the study of individual

human

beings

bearing fruit that

stock in

makes our mouths pucker. The public takes little our I.Q.'s and never even stops to ask the psychologist how
is.

intelligent a potential leader

take the position that it about the mental abilities

I

would be

desirable to

know
traits

and the psychological

a great deal of anyone

270

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

in a position of leadership.

whom we put

But the information must

be trustworthy and significant, and based upon a more thorough knowledge than we now have. This is surely one place in the field
of social relations where

more

science

is

needed.
characteristics

There are doubtless many psychological help to determine whether a person will be a
specific

which
chance

successful leader in a

undertaking and

it

often happens that a

more or

less

selection turns out to be a wise one.

Some

people with meager

placed in a position of responsibility measure up remarkably well, but it is a gamble. One of the highly important factors is the individual's attitude
experience

when suddenly

toward the public and toward the job to be done. If he secretly suffers from the effects of bad mental hygiene, has a feeling of inpersonal fortunes are ever the center of his thought and attention, then the public has a right to know about these difficulties, just as it would if he were blind or deaf. Faked
feriority

such that his

own

amnesia or faked blindness can be detected by electroencephalographic study. If the resources of science are called upon, it is not at all unreasonable to think that faked public interest and faked honesty of purpose could also be detected by suitable means. When
scientific

study has advanced to the point where the methods

work

with high consistency, it is probable that lie detector techniques will be applied to individuals who propose to assume leadership, to determine whether they are actually suitable leaders or are merely
pretending to be.

Some people will shrink from the thought of subjecting a candidate for leadership or public office to a critical examination, because of undue invasion of his privacy. But the candidate isn't compelled
to

run for

office

and

it

would be

as fair for

one candidate

as another.

When we

become educated

to its

possibilities,

we

will think nothing

of having a candidate's head examined by encephalography or by any other means that will reveal his suitability. Even giving him a

harmless drug which will enable the public to find out the truth about his immediate attitudes may be some day looked upon as a

HUMANICS AND LEADERSHIP

commonplace
public's ideas

271
that the

precaution.

The
if

reader

may be reminded

do change

radically. Street lighting

was once conit

demned on
light
at

the ground that

the Creator had intended

to

be

night, suitable

arrangements would have been provided

(possibly by

more and

larger

moons).
with the highest degree of
definite ideas as to

In order to be able to
success,
it

select leaders

will be

necessary to

have more

what

makes
logical

for leadership.

The whole
traits,

and psychological

personality, including the physioshould be studied in the case o

individuals

order that

who have been conspicuously successful as leaders, we may know better what successful leaders are like.

in

The scientific point of view needs to be developed in this field. Too often we read history without conceiving the possibility that
something could be done to prevent
it

do not look, for example, upon the

rise

from repeating itself. We and ascendancy of Francia

(El Supremo), the Paraguayan dictator (c. 1757-1840), as a scientific phenomenon to be investigated and understood. This remarkable

man

country as a despot for

gained his power largely by peaceful means, governed his many years, held it aloof from all interna-

tional relationships, lived past eighty

and died a natural death while

little

he was

still

in power.

And

yet

we know

about what

made
its

him

so successful.

We

know

that his country after

winning

independence was in such a condition as to give a potential dictator a chance, but Francia's qualifications for the job or the qualifications of dictators who have followed him in other countries

have never been successfully analyzed. It made a great difference to Paraguay, who turned out to be dictator, and the history of the
world
is

a dictator

or not obviously greatly influenced not only by whether the takes who is chosen, but also by post.

There are two obvious ways in which scientific study can be directed toward this problem; one involves studying successful leaders and the other (including dictators who dominate rather than lead),
involves studying leadership

and domination among animals.

live together in

In

many

cases

where animals

groups a hierarchy

272
of

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

A

is established. study of dominance in ordinary barnthe was fowls initiated Norwegian Schj elder up-Ebbe over yard by been has and illuminating. Close observance of twenty years ago

dominance

hens living together in confinement shows that a fixed peck order is established in the group, whereby each hen comes to know her
or intermediate in dominance. place whether she be highest, lowest hen can one that is In general there peck any hen in the group and
get
that

away with

it,

and

at the other

end of the

scale there is a

hen

any other member of the flock can dominate. Not always is the order rigidly established in numerical sequence. Sometimes

number

five hen, for

example, will maintain

this general position

in the flock

Many

2 and yet be able to dominate hen number three. kinds of birds have been studied as well as other animals

including monkeys in the London Zoo. Interesting hierarchies have been found to be present as a rule. When groups of hens are involved, an established order
tion
is

soon developed and the

social situa-

becomes

relatively static. If cockerels are placed together the

situation remains badly

mixed up, many

fights take place,

less

more
rise

dominant

'birds

tend to become demoted,

dominant birds

(as well as fall),

and no bird may be able

to maintain consistent

domination.

With pigeons and

several other species of birds

we

differences. In the first place, in contrast to chickens,

find significant groups of male

pigeons behave about the same as groups of female pigeons. Neither males nor females develop as fixed a peck order; in fact, while some pigeons appear to be definitely more dominant than others there
is

no completely dominant pigeon and

there

may be

reversals of

dominance from time

stances.
to

to time in the absence of

unusual circum-

The

differences
stratified

between various

species in their tendency

form a well
Birds and

kind

may show
territory

society suggests that different races of manthe same type of variance as a result of innate traits. other animals may show dominance when they are in

home

and may

lose

it

in strange surroundings.

A dominant

hen in a

flock
if

absence, or

may prolonged hens which are kept in a small pen are turned out to

lose her position as the result of

HUMANICS AND LEADERSHIP

roam over new
a result.
territory their order is liable to

273
as

become modified

which may be highly revealing from the standpoint of human social problems, have been carried out by only a few investigators who have had limited public support.
Investigations

in

this

field,

Of

particular note

failure to tackle

from the standpoint of our discussion is our is the secret of leaderseriously the problem of what
animals.

ship even

among

We have

ing individuals either among hence we are relatively in the dark as

not devoted ourselves to studyanimals or among human beings,

to the attributes of a

dom-

inant hen, a dominant pigeon, a dominant

Hitler.
Seniority, fighting or bluffing ability,

monkey

or a dominant

ness are

among

the factors

good health and aggressivewhich determine dominance in fowls.

is

Size

is

not important. That the endocrine secretions play a part

indicated

by changes

in

by

direct experiments the injection of sex

dominance during brooding periods; also hormones has been shown

fowls the males

to influence

dominance.

Among

commonly dom-

inate the females but

among

other birds the reverse

may be

true.

The

effect of nutrition

though it is known dominance.

scarcely been investigated, that poor nutrition in general causes lowered

on dominance has

The problem

of leadership and domination

is

a complicated

one

human beings. But certainly one way of especially so among studying human society is through an attempt to understand more about animal society. If we cannot understand animal society, which are in a poor position to appreciate the inis relatively simple, we A large part of what we know about tricacies of human society.
man,
his body, the functioning of his organs, his nutrition

and

his

medical treatment was learned by studying animals. Is there any good reason to suppose that the study of animals may not prove just
as fruitful in the social field?

274

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

One

of the inevitable results of a

knowledge of human beings,

believe, will

be an appreciation of the fact that no be the leader in every avenue of life. to equipped
If intelligence quotients

man

is

by nature

seem the
country,

sensible course to select the

meant what the name implies it might most intelligent man in our

make him

President and keep

intelligent.

him

in office as long as he

remained the most

mental

But

since

we

cannot

scientifically

be

rated as smart, smarter

abilities,

such a
it

and smartest, but only for specific types of proposal is ridiculous. There are numerous

ways in which
excels in
all.

is

possible to be intellectually able

and no one
and
abilities

When we
may
up

consider the

numerous

traits

that individuals

when one
ing one
activities

trait is

possess in varying degrees, and recognize that another is liable to be down, the idea of allow-

man
of

to

be dictator with power to

make

decisions

on

all

wholly absurd. needs leaders badly; leaders in industry, in science, eduSociety cation, government, journalism, law, in engineering and medicine,
life is

in religion, in

music and
line of

art

and

in entertainment

and in

sports

and every other

versal leaders

those

human activity. But it doesn't need uniwho lead, or rather dominate, in every field.

No

one

is

able to qualify for such leadership.

Actually dictatorships and unwarranted dominance by individuals arise partly because of our general ignorance of individual limitations.

When

human

being shows unusual prowess or ability along

one

line,

and thus

possibly qualifies for leadership in that field,

abilities

we

carry over into other fields. If the individual his vocal cords relaxed and quiescent keeps at the proper times he may create the illusion of possessing breadth

can often be led to imagine that these

of vision far beyond his actual horizon. The abuse of power has often come about in this fashion the individual demonstrates some
special ability, often as a

maker of

speeches,

whereupon other

vir-

HUMANICS AND LEADERSHIP

tues

275

and

abilities are

showered upon him and gradually he becomes

an authority and

finally the authority

on

all

subjects.

better

knowledge of the nature of human abilities and of human frailties would prevent this from ever happening. It is difficult to imagine
a dictatorship arising in a country well informed about the butes of individual human beings.
attri-

XVI. Humanics and Employment

Far and away the
is

best prize that life offers the chance to worJ^ hard at worl^ worth doing.

THEODORE ROOSEVELT

HpHE
J-

EXPLORATION OF OURSELVES not only has many potentialities in connection with physical and mental health, education, marriage and social organization generally, but also has inexhaustible pos-

employment. broadly state two problems of employment as consisting of (i) the 'need for more employment, and (2) the need for better employment. Human exploration can contribute substantially to

sibilities related to

We may

the solution of the

first

and in an outstanding way

to the second.

Progress in the provision of better employment will be accompanied by increased employment in the field of human exploration itself.

In

this

book numerous reasons

for intensive study of

human

beings have been suggested. When we consider the numerous forms of activity that will be served and the vast study required, we may be almost overwhelmed by the question "Who is going to carry on
this vast enterprise?"

exploration we have a new frontier, the basis for new professions, the foundations of a giant new ininto economics we dustry, if you will. Without going very deep 276

The answer

is

that in

human

HUMANICS AND EMPLOYMENT

may
ment

277

consult our dictionary to find that an industry is "Any departor branch of art, occupation or business, especially one which

employs much labor and capital and is a distinct branch of trade." Humanics, as it will develop, will fall into the category of an industry because labor and capital will be involved in the production of a special type of valuable service. Will not young men and

women

be happy to pay handsomely (in installments

if

necessary)

for a practical

and

serviceable analysis of their capabilities

and

traits?

Such analyses will have to be the "real thing," and as such they will be of immeasurable help in the selection of an agreeable lifework

and in the

selection of a mate, in addition to contributing greatly to

physical and mental

health.
as a

Humanics may be regarded

whatever outside services

home

industry, too, because

will
still

may become available, an individual surely gain self-knowledge from his family. More important he must study himself and learn to make his own decisions.
Humanics
will be a school industry, also,

and any school that does

not contribute materially to an individual's knowledge of himself will be considered a failure. School staffs will have to be expanded
to fulfill this important function. It will be impossible to carry out

education even on a partially individualized basis when classes are be a basis for new large, and the need for additional teachers will

and

arise full-grown the basic because knowledge necessary to produce overnight simply a highly acceptable product is not yet developed. It is within our

profitable employment. This industry which we are considering cannot

grasp, but the grasping of it will entail extensive research and this involves a substantial amount of employment itself not only for

the investigators but their helpers, clerical staff, instrument makers, architects and builders and everyone who may contribute indirectly.

We
static

often hear

it

stated that economies

become old and

relatively

when

frontiers can

large-scale enterprises

no longer be pushed back, and when new, become impossible. In human exploration we
is

have a

new

frontier

which

capable of yielding fruits certainly

278

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

just as useful as

more valuable than bags of yellow gold dust and

fields of

yellow grain. in the evolution of man he was presumably much like the Early animals. Material needs, things to eat, to wear and to shelter him, were the commodities in his economic world; little else concerned

him.

As he has progressed, however, things of the mind and spirit have risen in importance, and we can look to the day when an increasing amount of man's effort and striving will be for intangible
values pertaining to his mind and his emotions. Looked at from this point of view, humanics is a vast frontier, the exploration of

which

is

both logical and

irresistible.

We

sciences. Kettering has said, "If

have by no means reached the frontiers of the natural we could get out of our minds the

idea that

we know
is

thing [research] labor in no time."

a lot about everything, and realize that the whole ahead of us, then we would have a shortage of

The

collaboration of physicists

and chemists

to

produce the atomic bomb tialities of science. Perhaps

awakened people anew to the potenit emphasized in their minds too much

the potentialities of destruction, rather than constructive possibilities. But natural science can construct marvelously, as well as destroy,
as will be better appreciated as new peacetime are made available to the public.

wonders of science

The

frontiers of natural science

and the

frontier of

human

ex-

exploraploration are closely related and supplementary. tion will have the natural sciences as its basis and the development

Human

of these sciences will be essential for exploring human beings. Conversely, a better understanding of human beings will contribute to
natural science by

making

it

The day may come when

possible to develop better scientists. in every town and city there will be

business organizations composed of experts who, with the tools of natural science, will be able to determine with high success the potentialities of any and every youngster or adult who appears before

them. This industry

tions because the

taken seriously can be of tremendous proporcommodity to be sold is something that literally

if

everybody will want, something that cannot be sold second-hand,

HUMANICS AND EMPLOYMENT

and
which can demand and

279

be worth a large price. Since something individuals are not unchangeable several analyses may be needed a lifetime. Its when viewed as an during advantages industry furnishing employment is that the product cannot be machine-made

human mind

with interchangeable parts, but demands the consistent use of the our highest endowment. Underlying all practical will be uses continuous research in the industry and in educational

institutions, in order that

new triumphs may emerge. new suffers from its frauds and charlatans and Every industry we can be sure, if only on the basis of experience with mental

quacks, that this industry as it develops will not escape. It takes time for the public to become educated to recognize the difference between the spurious and the real, and there should be adequate

government protection against frauds who claim too much and deliver too little and whose expertness is limited mostly to their
salesmanship. That such an industry as I have visualized has real possibilities and is not merely a visionary idea is shown by the existence and growth of the Human Engineering Laboratory of Hoboken,
Jersey, with several branches in other cities. This organization originated as a project of the General Electric Company in an

New

mental

attempt to improve plant morale and efficiency by applying experitests to fit employees into jobs where they could do their

best work.
its

Out

of this has evolved a laboratory

efficiency to

which has enlarged

an attempt to understand 1 ourselves better through knowing what we can do." In this laboratory, where anyone over nine years of age can be
analyzed, the testing has centered around thirteen aptitudes: (i)
personality [expansiveness, reclusiveness]; (2) accounting aptitude; (3) creative imagination; (4) structural visualization; (5) inductive

purpose "from industrial

reasoning;

(6)

analytical

reasoning;

(7)

tweezer dexterity; (9) observation; (10)

tonal

finger dexterity; memory for design;

(8)

(n)

The

(12) pitch discrimination; (13) number memory. selection of aptitudes for testing has no doubt been influenced

memory;

by the previous history of the organization and some of the

apti-

280

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

tudes chosen are pertinent to notably urban and industrial populations. While the analyses cannot in the nature of the case be highly scientific in all are the conclusions drawn free from respects, nor
conjecture, this organization seems to be

making use

in a practical

and

effective

way

of the readily available scientific knowledge

for

and

at the

same time searching

apply.

more

insight and more worth-while

tests to

For a description of some of the accomplishments of this organization the reader is referred to the book Square Pegs in Square Holes by Margaret E. Broadley. One of the most remarkable of the incidents recorded

picked up on the lower East Side in New York and sent for testing by a prominent executive as a joke. The tests revealed that the bum had what the organization
is

that of a typical

bum

thought to be the aptitudes necessary for an excellent office manager. The jester was induced to give the man a job, and four years later
the

bum was
who

office

have entered to

manager for the executive's company. Luck may some extent into the deductions in this case but

one

reads of the accomplishments of this organization will be convinced that science has been put to real use.

From

the right direction, but

the standpoint of our discussions, this work it is only a start. There are

is

a start in
crucial

more

aptitudes than those listed

and doubtless many of those considered

scientific

can be more clearly defined and measured in a more

manner

as

research

progresses.

The

industry of testing

human
to the

beings for their capabilities

must eventually be developed

point where it can be done with something like scientific thoroughness. In addition to developing and refining tests, and determining
their validity, the aptitudes of successful

men and women

finally,

in every

walk of

life

must be determined, and,

instead of being

applied to a

few thousands of individuals

needs to be applied to
termine

many

type of scientific study millions. Experience alone will dethis

when

exhaustive

tests will

be necessary and
to

when

abridged

studies will suffice, but the

equipment

do a thorough job when-

ever

it is

called for is needed.

HUMANICS AND EMPLOYMENT

281

Employment can be looked upon as improved either from the standpoint of the employer or from that of the employee. The farreaching benefits which will arise out of a more adequate knowledge of

human

From
what
is

beings will accrue to both and to the public as well. the employer's viewpoint there are jobs to be done, and
is efficient

most desired

and dependable performance of the

tasks, however complicated or however simple. If there are machines to be run operators are wanted who will be as dependable as the

machines themselves; if positions require foresight and vision men or women are needed who can be depended on to possess and use
these attributes.

In general the testing of employees and applicants has been concerned chiefly with routine work for which large numbers are required.

matter has sometimes been treated as a joke: a hiring stenographers has been represented as devoting Mondays to the rejection of all girls with red hair, Tuesdays to ruling out blue eyes; on Wednesdays all girls with pronounced dimples

The whole

man

are sent packing

and no one

is

hired the rest of the week.

Or an

employer is pictured as looking blankly at the psychological scores of three prospective secretaries and saying, "I'll take the blue-eyed blonde."

The
and

advances of industrial psychology have been far from meager,

however.

of the larger companies go to considerable pains professionally trained men aid them in selection, promotion

Some

and

is to the advantage of employers, especially as labor turnover costly and union insurance makes unemployment contracts make it less easy to dismiss individuals once they have

transfers.

This

been employed. For the choice and promotion of

men and women

in the higher

wage
any

brackets personal judgment

tests

is largely relied upon rather than which may be given. Systematic methods of selection,

282

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

except for specific types of factory jobs, have not been worked out with enough scientific exactitude to make them generally trusted another sign of the acute need for more intensive study of individuals

and

their capabilities.

The
and

scientific selection

important. in performance. For some hiring individuals with a wide variation or other of factory operations it is common for the assembling jobs most efficient workers to have two or even three times the output

skill is

The

of employees who must have expertness usual interviews and references lead to

of the least efficient, though their experience is equal. In simple tasks individual differences tend to decrease with training the less apt and the more apt level off with about the same performance. When

the

work

is

complicated, however, individual differences tend to

training,

become greater with

which makes
capabilities

it

more important

that

those hired have the particular

which are required

for

each specific job. In our utilization of

human

material

we have

not reached the

age of science.

We

are as

backward

as a construction engineer

would be
or

if

he built with materials which had never been analyzed

had

their strengths determined.

is

Even though

the progress of into travel,

dustrial psychology

inspiring,

we

have a long distance

for difficult and important jobs. All of us particularly in testing men in authority who should not be there, and probcan think of

ably know others who seem to have what it takes but never get a chance. If by eliminating the serious misfits we could use available material effectively and scientifically the benefits would be im-

measurable.

The

ideal of everyone

is

to

have an occupation in which, with

is

reasonable consistency, the

attained
it

work

enjoyable.

When

this goal is

means, in general, that the individual can do the work

fits

well; the job

his

aptitudes.

HUMANICS AND EMPLOYMENT

283

Since there are approximately 17,000 occupations in the United States no one should feel unduly limited. But to select an occupation with intelligence one should know two things: (i) what traits

and

abilities are

sesses.

required and (2) what traits and abilities one posFor the most part we are ignorant on both counts. Fortunately
people are so constituted that they could be relatively pro-

many
ficient

and happy in any one of several occupations, and there are occupations in which the requirements are not highly exacting, so

we muddle through somehow. Or do we?

Berrien reflects agreement with this point of view 3 with regard to personality and vocations:

when he

says

Nearly everyone who has dealt with the question of vocational guidance mentions the importance of selecting an occupation into which one's personality will readily fit. The chief difficulty with this advice is that very little is known about the kinds of personalities required in
various occupations. There have been very few systematic studies designed to distinguish between salesmen, foremen, business executives,

bankers, physicians, and so on, in terms of emotional stability, introversion, dominance or any other personality feature. This does not mean
that vocational counselors have not considered personality important. On the contrary, they talk long and glibly about personality requirements
for specific vocations, but they have depended largely upon the evidence of casual observations in arriving at conclusions about the kind of personality required in

any given occupation.*

When a person has a wrong job that is, one for which his aptitudes do not fit him his life may be upset in numerous ways. Among the calamities that may befall him are accidents.
The number of people killed and injured by accidents in this country when figured over a long range is far greater than those
killed

and injured in war, and there

is

good reason

to believe that

a large proportion of these accidents can be prevented only by paying attention to the causes that lie within the individuals in-

volved.

Among
*

automobile drivers,

it

is

found that there are accident-

From

Practical Psychology, F.

K. Berrien, copyright 1944, reprinted by

permission

The Macmillan Company.

284

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

prone individuals who are responsible for far more than their share of accidents. In one study 10 per cent of over a thousand taxicab drivers had 32 per cent of the accidents. In another study automobile
drivers

were rated in

five

groups on the basis of the number of

which they were involved during a three-year period. These groupings proved to be a perfect index of the relative group records for the three years following, and the accident rate for the
accidents in

more
steel

The same

About 9000 workers were placed in eleven groups on the basis of whether

accident-prone groups increased. situation holds in industrial accidents.

they had paid o, i, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 or 10 visits to the plant hosthe year. The following year the eleven groups stood pital during in exactly the same order as before.

thorough study of

human

beings such as

we have

advocated

will be required to determine the underlying causes of these differences which are so apparent, and there is good reason to expect

that it will be possible to place individuals who are prone to accidents ;n occupations where they will not constitute such a hazard to themselves and to their associates.
I

have in mind two acquaintances, one a prominent engineer,

another a prominent scientist. Of these neither can safely operate an automobile. Of the two, one simply never drives, the other has
accidents that he has had to give it up behavior must have physiological and voluntarily. atypical psychological bases, but no one knows what they are. Only a thorough study of human individuals can reveal the differences because

driven but has had so

many

Such

attempts to do so

on

the basis of simple tests have failed.

The
ment

field of accidents is

vision of individuals

and

one in which a study of the peripheral particularly their ability to detect move-

in the peripheral field should prove valuable. must not be the complete solution to expect, however, that one key trait will

We

any problem.
case.

Human

beings are too complex for this to be the

of

Recognition of differences and knowledge of the

ployees will in

traits

em-

many

cases

make

it

possible for

them

to obtain

HUMANICS AND EMPLOYMENT

working conditions
accidents
better adapted to their needs.

285

illumination, ventilation, temperature, etc. This will decrease the tendency toward

and

illness

and contribute
efficient

to general well-being.
to obtain

And
and

whatever helps the employee will help the employer

keep dependable and

workers.

The
which

greatest benefit the individual can derive

suits

from having a job

physiologically and psychologically is perhaps his increased morale and improvement in mental health. It is said that

him

there are

with

all

people in our country than those afflicted other diseases combined. Certainly having a job which suits
ill

more mentally
is

one's aptitudes

of paramount importance.

No

one could be ex-

pected to be really well mentally unless he has an occupation which allows him to use his aptitudes. While the evidence which can be cited is not satisfactory from a
viewpoint, there is good reason for thinking that undeveloped aptitudes cause trouble. Many examples could be given of individuals whose mental and physical suffering has been great
strictly scientific

made to do work for which they had no fitness. observations in the Human Engineering Laborathe One of early tory was of a slovenly, sulky girl who was obsessed with the idea that spies were after her. Her work involved finger dexterity for
because they were

which she lacked

aptitude, but

when

her job was changed to

work
lost

involving tweezer dexterity, for which she had aptitude, she her obsession and began practicing neatness and friendliness.
It

may be
is

considered as one of the axioms of

life

that healthy

impossible unless one's occupation furnishes a natural outlet for one's energy. This outlet cannot be a natural one unless
existence
it is

in line with one's innate capabilities.

answer study of human beings is not offered as the complete to the problem of employment or any other problem but as an
indispensable starting point. The whole question of employment involves

many

factors

which

286

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

not mentioned.

we have
after

The economic and

political aspects

remain

one knows what aptitudes one has as well as the aptitudes required for the jobs at hand. Perhaps the available and the required aptitudes will not match up.

What

then ? Perhaps

we

cannot

devise an economic system in which each individual can find employment of any kind, let alone employment in keeping with his
aptitudes.

we

Such problems cannot reasonably be regarded as insoluble until have made more serious attempts at their solution. It is my

belief that social problems, like other difficult

and complex probcharacteristics

lems, cannot be solved by pecking

away

at the superficial aspects

and neglecting such

of the individuals of

basic factors as the

fundamental

who

are concerned.

So while a

better

knowledge

beings will not of itself constitute a complete solution to employment or other social problems, no adequate solution can exist which leaves out human exploration. If we sincerely wish to

human

apply science and scientific methods to the problems of social relations, how can we do so more effectively than to first %now ourselves?

XVII.

International Relations

Their persons being cultivated, their families were regulated. Their families being regulated, their states were rightly governed. Their states being rightly governed, the

whole empire was made tranquil and happy. CONFUCIUS

WILL NOT BE

MY

PURPOSE to mention

let

alone discuss

all

the

enter into the problem of preventing war and cultivating co-operative attitudes between nations. It will be enough to outline some of the ways in which a better knowledge of human

ITfactors which

beings can help.

We
that

shall start

we

as

human
it is

with the assumption that war is undesirable and beings can ultimately prevent wars if we wish.
is

Optimism about prevention of war

pian dreams; toward each specific social end that

that
it is

a common-sense attitude which

not mere indulgence in Utowe should adopt

desire.

we

We

should assume
failed in serious

within

human

reach, at least until

we have

and
If

consistent attempts to attain it. we look over our national budgets,

we

see a reflection of our

attitudes
is.

and are caused to wonder how serious our desire for peace When a war is on we spend money and lives prodigiously (as
should) to get
over, but when peace comes we hope for the and concentrate on recovering from the orgy and spending that we have just experienced. How much
it

we

best, fear the worst,

of loss

money goes
Until

we

into our budget for the prevention of other disasters? have made a sincere effort involving the expenditure

of ample time and belief that the goal

money we have no
is

real basis for

unattainable.

We

may

pessimism or indeed find the "moral

287

288

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

to,

equivalent for war," which William James referred ourselves better. striving to understand

in our

suggestions which will be offered here are by no means exhaustive. They constitute some of the possibilities which are conshall not nected directly with a better knowledge of ourselves. deal with actual or hypothetical social devices or inventions which

The

We

may be

only distantly related to our general theme.

Part of what

may be

said

on the

subject of international rela-

tions has already been implied in the chapter

on

leadership. If the

fundamental

basis for choosing leaders

can be

clarified, if

we can

recognize more accurately just what their capabilities and limitations are, then the social machinery for their selection and for their
functioning has a
that

much

better chance of accomplishing the

ends

we

desire.
it

While

is

thrilling to us of the

United States to read of the

war, in producing the

triumphs of our
unbelievable

aircraft industry in the late

number

men who manned man interest and drama. From

ties in international relations,

of 1500 planes per day, the exploits of the these planes is more highly charged with hu-

the standpoint of future possibiliit

to

know what

even more inspiring our psychologists were able to do in the selection of

however,
is

prospective fighter pilots, bomber pilots, bombardiers, navigators, 1 aerial gunners, radar operators and flight engineers. The enormous production of over 50,000 planes a year could have

and operate the planes had been and training of the airman was a seemingly lacking. The which was nevertheless done in an outstanding impossible job fashion. Speed and lack of waste motion was essential because the
all

been for nothing

if

men

to fly

selection

production of airmen had to be geared to the production of planes; the trained personnel was limited, and ten months' and
training

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
$30,000 in

289

money was

involved in every case.

It

was

essential that

the training click.

After a period of research into the methods to be used, individual candidates were exhaustively and exhaustingly studied through

numerous

carefully selected aptitude tests such as could be

answered

by penciled check marks, followed by

electrically scored tests in

which the candidate manipulated elaborate machines for determining psychomotor abilities involving equilibrium and co-ordination
of senses, muscles and mind. It

was found

that the possession of a

college degree had nothing to do with the ability to pass the tests nor did it have anything to do with flying ability. Furthermore the

screening

tests

showed

clearly that

some were cut out

for pilots,
indi-

some

for bombardiers

and some

for navigators

and that each

vidual showed
tests,
staff,

distinctive abilities.

Most remarkable was how the

made

developed in a comparatively short time by a relatively small it possible to select fliers successfully and with precision.
tests

Before the

had been devised two out of every three candidates

were washed out, leaving only about 33 per cent who were successful and some of these probably could not have qualified under
the

more

later.

After the

stringent perfected techniques of examination adopted tests had been developed 96 out of 100 of the top
essential accuracy of the

scorers
tests

were commissioned. The value and

were shown by studies of accidents and success in combat. It is said (though it is hard to believe) that the testing of the candidates

cost less than five dollars a candidate.

One can

hardly suppose that

such

tests

are perfectly adapted to their purpose; probably further

improvement is possible. There was a war emergency and the accomplishments were almost beyond belief. So far so good. But what of a comparable nature have

we done

or will

we do

to

make

careful the selection of

will

peacetime leaders

and diplomats

to the

end that the god of war

not enjoy many happy returns? Surely the tasks of diplomacy and international politics are as exacting as the tasks of a bomber crew.
It is

just as

important that the

men and women

be

fitted for the

290
tasks not only
well.

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

by natural aptitudes and
that
abilities

but by training as

The same improvement

may come

to

our

own

leadership by

a better knowledge of individuals can accrue to other countries as well. They need the best leaders just as we do; scientific methods
for us will work for them also; and when the highest of leaders and diplomats are on both sides of every national type boundary fence we have something besides wishful thinking on

which work

which

to base our

hope

for better days.

and training of national leaders must be undergirded by improved leadership and followership in every walk in life and in every town, village and hamlet. The soundness of our
selection

But

whole

social structure,

down

to the individual people

who

are the

fundamental

units, is involved.*

have the roots of war in the home, the church, the school; in every family disagreement, in every church row, in every educational strife. In these fields as well as in industrial and political
activities,

We

we

get

much

of our psychological training

attitudes.

and prepara-

tion for

development of war

How far

spect is adult attitudes and leanings are often developed very early in life. It may be that we adults have ingrained in us a good deal which is undesirable
relief
spirit

a study of human beings can go to improve us in this redebatable. Many psychologists are of the opinion that our

and inescapable and that humanity can look for fuller only in our children and grandchildren. To what extent the

of tolerance, discussed in an earlier chapter, can be engendered by early educational recognition of wide variance between indi* Walter Lippmann has with outstanding success developed the theme that the essential political principle by which international problems can be solved is "to ma\e individuals, not sovereign states, the objects of international agreements: it is to have laws operate upon individuals." One World or

None, McGraw-Hill, N.

Y., 1946.

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
viduals

291

is unknown. If we were brought up by parents who recognized these differences from the start and if we were trained to

is

think from early youth in terms of a world in which each individual a distinctive mosaic of traits and abilities, it might have more

effect

sorption in man-in-the-abs tract

we imagine. Because of our abtend to judge our neighbor from across the street or across the ocean on the basis of our own standon our adult
attitudes than

we

ards of behavior and

taste.

When

he behaves contrary to

this

standard

we

judge him

as inferior.

Our

tolerance

is

worn

thin

by

constantly using ourselves as a yardstick. Whatever benefits in improved leadership and attitudes can be

expected from a more thorough study of human beings, they cannot accrue unless they are made world-wide. International problems cannot be solved by having superior leadership in one or two countries alone.

which the world

Fortunately for the spread of potent ideas, the pace at is getting smaller is increasingly rapid. Science and
least,

understanding are like leaven, and their products, at reaching the whole world. The study of human beings, be world-wide, as is already the desire for peace.

are

too,

must

our knowledge of human beings within our own group is sketchy, as we have been led to conclude in our previous discusIf

our ignorance regarding the distinctive characteristics of the various peoples of the world may be described as colossal.
sions,

The simplest way to escape this fact is Pollyanna's: "All men are brothers hence they are all the same, in spite of appearances."
Without detracting from the
ideal of

human

brotherhood,

we may

remind ourselves that even blood

brothers, in the literal sense, are

by no means identical. Another way to skirt around our lack of

to register the results of more or less they constituted satisfactory information. I read a jouralistic article

knowledge is casual observations as though

scientific

292
recently in

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

which one of the main
points, plausibly

and exhaustively

maintained, was that Russians and Americans are fundamentally

very

much alike in their character traits. But what scientific knowledge do we have? How much effort has anyone expended to find
traits are

out what the distinctive American and Russian

they
they compare? Another journalist, a student of German
exist

assuming

or

how

affairs,

writes with con-

how the German people regard themselves as building blocks in a pyramid and are quite happy to be sat upon and dominated so long as they can sit upon those who are beneath them.
viction

Can we German
James

set this

down on

the basis of observation as a distinctive

trait?

W.

Gerard, United States ambassador to

War
his

1913 to 1917, said in explaining how we lost the I, "Public opinion was woefully uninformed

Germany from peace after World

on the nature and

of the

German

people."

With

all

due

respect to his greatness

good intentions, Woodrow Wilson seems to have been in the same boat when he declared, "We have no quarrel with the German
people." During the late war at least, we not only had a quarrel with the German people, we had a fight with them. It is highly desirable to know to what extent this fight was brought about by

between the peoples involved. find ourselves in a fight our tendency is to convince ourselves by propaganda and otherwise that our opponents are evil
differences

When we

or crazy or both. This is always a ready and easy answer, but nine times out of ten it is probably the wrong answer. When there is labor it is easy to take sides and say one strife between capital and
is

human.

bad and the other good, when actually both sides are merely It is an easy explanation of the latest European debacle to

say "Hitler

was a madman."

human forces how pitifully

we knew the whole story of the which came into play we would doubtless recognize inadequate this explanation is. The character of the
If

people unquestionably entered. That members of the human family can interbreed is no proof that they are essentially all alike: animals may interbreed even

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
when
they

293
in-

show extreme

variability in size, in
is

body shape, in

telligence

and in temperament. This

true

among

horses, cattle,

dogs, rats, mice, fowl, etc. Anthropologists agree that races of

ficult to identify

human

beings are often dif-

and that mixing of

races has

been common.

If

races are difficult to unscramble, that should not blind us to the

fact that the original races,

whatever they were, possessed distinctive anatomical, physiological, and psychological characteristics and if our racial origin is mixed, we have in our inheritance a mixture of
these racial
It is
traits.

well recognized that the German people, for example, are racially heterogeneous. This does not mean, however, that they have in their make-up all the racial characters of all peoples. Just as they

have predominantly, by inheritance, light-colored complexions, hair

eyes, it is entirely possible that on the average they may possess a trait such as that mentioned above the tendency inheritance by

and
to

become regimented.

A
to

heritable characteristic of hens in a flock

definite

is

to tend invariably

peck order of dominance, but many other birds lack, by inheritance, the same tendency. Some breeds of dogs are readily taught to observe strict discipline and are naturally submissive to authority while others incline to be far more independent. Cats as a group lack the trait which is ascribed to Germans. In a
stern voice,

assume a

command

a cat to

come

to

you and

it is

like

Mahomet

talking to the

mountain.

Training can do a great deal to modify people but one wonders whether people's innate characteristics do not play an important

and behavior. It is said to be part in determining their attitudes to condition cats so they will exhibit a number of the charpossible
acteristic behaviors of dogs,

and

presume that dogs can be condieasier

it

tioned to behave like

learn to act like cats,

cats.

But

how much

is

for cats to

and dogs

to take

on the behavior of dogs!

used to read in our history books about warlike tribes. Assuming that such have existed and do exist, what is the basis of
their warlike characteristics? Is
it

We

that,

by some

accident, they got

294

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

into the habit of fighting and kept on because of inertia, or is it because of an inborn possession of characteristics which made fighting seem more natural? Some breeds of dogs are pugnacious while others are not, indicating that the tendency to fight is heritable.

recent careful study of the fighting tendencies of several different strains of mice (males) in the Jackson Laboratory at Bar

Harbor, Maine, has showed that by inheritance there are differences between strains not only in their tendency to fight but also their fighting habits. The mice used were inbred and they were observed

under conditions excluding the possible

effects of

training; they

had

had no previous opportunity to fight or to see fighting. 2 Each 057 mouse invariably showed an immediate interest in the intruding
contacts
lick

male which was placed with it for test purposes. Many friendly were usually made and apparently at times the host would

and clean

his guest.

These mice were

pacific; they

showed no

aggressive fighting behavior. attacked. Members of the

They would

fight back,

however,

when

C3H

strain

of mice characteristically
retire to the
this

tended to

sniff the intruder briefly

and then

opposite

side of the cage for several minutes.

During

time the hair

would fluff up and they would breathe in a labored fashion. If the intruder did not attack first they would then start a fight. The

strain of

mice were found

to be intermediate in behavior in that

had only a moderate tendency they friendly advances and when In start other studies to 57 mice and C3H mice were fights. matched against each other and allowed to fight to the finish, the
less aggressive pacific

made few

057'$ had

more

victories to their credit

than

the aggressive C3H mice. This brings to mind certain human exbeen called earlier to the periences in recent decades. Attention has
inheritance by rats of emotional traits, e.g., fearfulness, an observation in line with the Bar Harbor results.

Although it is a stratagem as old as history to study one's enemy from the standpoint of his leanings and tastes, likes and dislikes,

we have

paid scant attention to determining by

scientific

means the

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
distinctive characteristics of those peoples of the

295
are our

world

who
traits

potential enemies or friends. Because of a failure to study individuals and their

by

re-

fined

methods we are

relatively in the dark about racial differences.

Concerning the distinctive traits or potentialities of the Negroes, which would be expected to be distinctive in comparison with those of northern Europeans for example, we have little scientific information.

Extensive application of

Army

alpha and beta

tests at

the time

of

World War I showed fairly conclusively that while white people made appreciably higher grades statistically, the spread within each

was much greater than the contrast between the two racial groups. But these tests were of a catch-all nature and not of the
race
differences in the numerous types of abilities and the of possession significant and distinctive physiological and psychotraits. I do not logical pretend to have a ready-made and realistic
sort to

show

solution of the race problem but I

do think that

in terms of the

and that general principle, knowledge studying the characteristics of the races in an objective fashion will
precedes intelligent action
help.

Among
tions

those

who want

better race relations,

and

better rela-

between majorities and minorities, some would decry any

study of racial differences on the ground that it would magnify our difficulties. They say of a minority group, "If they are different, let's
forget
all belong to a human brotherhood." have great sympathy for the objectives of those who have such an attitude, I cannot help being repelled by the philosophy
it;

we

While

toward unpleasant facts is to hide one's head. To recognize the facts and adjust to them seems safer. Even within a family of blood brothers and
ascribed to the ostrich
that the proper reaction

with marked differences in temperament, it seems obvious that friendly relations will be more likely if these differences are
sisters

recognized and their basis understood. Nothing in the way of better relations will be gained by assuming sameness and ignoring individuality.

Some

of the bitter antagonisms which not infrequently are

296
built

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

up between members of the same family could doubtless be avoided by educating children in early life to expect wide variance of tastes and traits even on the part of their own brothers and
sisters.

A thorough
the sense that

study of individuals from different racial groups, in we have advocated it, will doubtless reveal psycho-

logical differences. Whenever a group of people are sufficiently inbred and sufficiently distinctive to possess characteristic facial or bodily features, it seems reasonable to suppose that study of their

numerous mental

capacities

and

characteristics

would
also.

reveal that

they have psychological

characteristics in

common

Of

course,

every
traits

member

of the

human

family will be found to have mental

which are more or

will be

less distinctive

and so no stigma can be

attached to the mere possession of distinctiveness. Furthermore a

wide spread

group; it will be quite apparent that individuals cannot be described in terms of a set of
racial

found within each

which are the possession of the group. frank recognition of differences, when they exist, and making allowance for them when they have a hereditary physiological basis, is superior as a policy to ignoring them and hoping that they will
characteristics

The old saying "We need more light racial heat" to and less applies problems as well as to others. In the long run social housekeeping which hides unattractive information
not be the source of trouble.

under the bed can hardly be recommended.

of the results of the study of racial differences will be, I feel sure, to discredit forever the idea that there is such a thing as a

One

"master race."

We will doubtless find that certain peoples as a group

traits,

tend to be superior in some physiological and psychological but that others will have their distinctive superiorities, too.
rest assured that

We can

no race or group
is

will

desirable trait.

Harking back to biology, there

be found superior in every is no such thing as a

breed of horses that

is

superior in every way to all other horses, nor there a universal breed of dogs which excels all dogdom in the
traits.

multitude of desirable canine

Races of mankind cannot be

individuals can.

rated as good, better, or best any

more than

We are

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
We

297

not superior to Chinese nor are they superior to us. are different and cannot be measured or compared using a single yardstick. The people of Germanic origin, who are not rated very highly at
present because of the two twentieth-century debacles in

which they

have played a leading part, doubtless have their superiorities, too, but the idea that they are the master race is preposterous scientifically,

regardless of the

outcome of the wars.

thorough search

complete unsoundness of the master race idea and that the thought can be banished from the world. Scientific appreciation of these facts of
life

for the scientific facts regarding the possession of traits viduals and by racial groups will undoubtedly reveal the

by

indi-

will be

good medicine

also for the Japanese to absorb.

beings will not only reveal individual differences but will bring into relief the likenesses that exist. need to recognize that all peoples of the world have a love of
intensive study of

An

human

We

home and

almost as natural as breathing to love the land or region in which one was born and reared. Depreciating another man's native state or country is almost a certain way to gain his
that
it is

enmity.
If

We

all

have our
is

local heroes.

Our

local

pride which

if

not

carried too far

as relatively harmless, is

widespread as geography.

atmosphere of Edinburgh we become imbued with the conviction that Sir Walter Scott was supreme in the field of

we

live in the

letters and Simpson, who early used chloroform as an anesthetic, was supreme in the field of science. If we move to Oslo or Heidel-

berg or Paris we find others there equally devoted to the local gods. There are not a few discoveries for which several countries claim
the credit and the proponents of each candidate for the honor are

sure that they are right. in the United States need to appreciate that every world inhabitant has a right to his own loyalties. Our adoption of the term

We

"Americans" to designate ourselves

is

a case in point, and

if

we

knew and
hemisphere
use
it

other people in the western appreciated the feelings of we would officially repudiate the term. Whenever we

we

say in effect,

"We are the Americans;

little.'*

others

on the Ameribe,

can continents count for

However important we may

298

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

We

have no right, this is a gesture which is highly unbecoming. because of Canada, Mexico and the Central American countries, to
designate ourselves even as the
to citizens of

(pronounced analogous to U. S. A.
Chest thumping
is

North Americans. Perhaps "Usians" Asians) would be a good term to apply

and
it is

puerile

hoped
it

that intercommunica-

tion

and

travel will lead us to avoid

it

in ourselves as

we

dis-

countenance
abilities

in others.

Thorough

exploration into the traits

and

and

of our world neighbors will lead to higher appreciation consideration. Knowing ourselves and our neighbors better

will be conducive to wider sympathies

loyalty to

and lead

to

a universal

humanity on a

realistic basis.

While we have emphasized

differences,

because relatively they have been neglected,

human

beings have all the fundamental urges in common. Enlightened human brotherhood should be our goal.

Epilogue
There
exists in the

world today a gigantic

reservoir of

good

will.

WENDELL

L.

WILLKIE

npHE
J-

PERFECTION OF

MAN
to

has been a philosophic ideal throughout

the ages.

In order for

man

capacity for formulating his ideal, (2)

improve himself (i) he must have the he must have the will to

follow through, and (3) he must

purpose. The value of

know how
lies

to accomplish his

human

exploration
to the

tion to the third item

problem of

principally in its contribuhow to accomplish our

have accepted prevalent ideals and purposes. In our discussions, we values and have taken largely for granted the existence of these
as well as

an urge

to attain

them.
is

Observation leads to the belief that in humankind, there

vast reservoir of

good

will

and an idealism which

in general ex-

achievements. This being the case, our progress is often limited not by our lack of ideals or lack of desire, but rather by
ceeds
its

our lack of technique. Particularly is this apparent in the prevention of war. So many peoples in so many lands devoutly wish for peace, but again and again they are trapped, and peace eludes

them

for lack of

We

knowing how to achieve it. cannot rely on the scientific method for

the formulation of
is

our ideals nor for the motive power which will urge us on. This
the province of religion. If

we

believe that
299

man

has in

him

idealism

300

THE HUMAN FRONTIER

will that

and good
ideal
to

can be cultivated,

terms) in the

immanence of God. But

if

we believe we take

(in theological for granted the

and the urge, we are still confronted with the problem of how improve ourselves and our social order. This we cannot accom-

plish without

human

ingenuity and without science.

Art, music and literature are not the products of science. Neither is religion. But the efficacy of art, music, literature and religion in

modifying human existence can be demonstrated

scientifically,

and

science can help us greatly in the appraisal of human progress toward established goals. Science cannot tell us where to go or why,

but

it

can

tell

us

much

about where

can travel toward the goal once

we must we have set it.

start

and

how we

If

we wish
rule,

to be

more
it

tolerant,

insight that will

make
far

easier to

humanics can readily give us the be so; if we wish to follow the

it

golden
well
If

how

we

attain to

will be determined

by

how

can see into our neighbor's life. wish to be well mentally as well as physically, scientific ourselves and others can vastly improve our techniques for of study accomplishing our aim. This is especially true of those whose
traits is

we we

assortment of physiological and psychological

tive.

most

distinc-

accept the ideal of choosing a mate with whom one may live continuously in loving relationship, humanics, especially when it is further developed, can be of vast aid.
If

we

If it is

our desire that children be reared for

maximum

develop-

ment, and that their education be directed along lines distinctively suited to their needs, these desires are liable to be frustrated unless

we have a scientific appreciation of their distinctive attributes. If we want our leaders to be most suitable for their tasks, scientific

study can help us choose

them

successfully. If

it is

our ideal
it

to

have society organized so that the individuals within

have a

EPILOGUE
chance for the

301

fullest achievement, only a study of individuals can us the give insight that is essential. If our inner urge makes us wish for peace on earth, we must use our human ingenuity to build the kind of social order that will

promote peace.
as

To do

this

we must

learn to adjust to each other

itself.

we

really are.

Humanity must understand

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E. A. Hooton,

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al.,

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W.

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II

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3.

4.
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Leo Loeb, The

Springfield

Alcoholic Intoxication, Stanford University Press, 1941; H. W. Haggard and E. M. Jellinek, Alcohol Explored, Doubleday, Doran and Co., 1942; and R. S. Banay, "Pathological Reaction to Alcohol," Quart. Jour. Stud, on Alcohol, 4, 580, 1944
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Haven Emerson, Alcohol and Man, Chap. XI, The Macmillan

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W.

W.

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Lamoreux and

1939

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III

F.

N. Low,
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Science, 97, 586, 1943

S. Ross, Jour. Expt. Psych., 35, 57, C. Halstead, Science, 101, 615, 1945

2.

C.

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T. G. Atkinson, Visual Field Charting, Professional

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4. L.
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D. Morgan, Ilium. Eng.,

40, 275, 1945.

Maitland Graves, The Art of Color and Design, McGraw-Hill, 1941

CHAPTER
1.

IV

2.

C. E. Seashore, Psychology of Music, McGraw-Hill, 1938 Alec Washco, Jr., Effects of Music upon Pulse Rate, Blood Pressure

and Mental Imagery, Temple

3.

W.
R.

University, Philadelphia, 1933 E. Loch, Laryngoscope, 53, (5)347, 1943. See Biol. Abst. 23809,

1943
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J.

Williams, Science, 74, 597, 1931

Blakeslee, Science, 81, 504-7, 1935

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A. F.
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A. F. Blakeslee, Proc. Nat'l Acad.

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Sci., 48,

Jour, of Heredity, 23, 106, 1932

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C. T. Morgan, Physiological Psychology, Chap. XII, McGraw-Hill,

1943

CHAPTER V
1.

E. A. Hines,

Jr.,

and G. E. Brown, American

Jour. Heart, //,

i,

1936
2.

G.

3. J.

J. Rich, Jour, of Abnor. and Soc. Psych., 23, 158-175, 1928 L. Caughey, Amer. Rev. Tuberc., 48, 382-405, Dec. 1943; J. W. Thompson and W. Corwin, Arch. Neurol. and Psychiat., 47, 265,

1942
4.
5.

W. H.
W.

Howell,

Textboo\ of Physiology,

W.

B. Saunders, 1940

N. Kleitman, Sleep and Wa^efulness, Univ.

A. C. Williams,
Jr.,

of Chicago Press, 1939

6. J.

French, Jour. Expt. Psych., 34, 494, 1944

Jour. Psych., 6, 187, 1938
J.

7.

8. J.

W.

Coyne, H. E. King,

Zubin and C. Landis, Jour. Expt.

Psych., 33, 508-511, 1943

9.

D. B. Lindsley,
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Science, 84, 354, 1936; L. E. Travis

and A. Gottlo-

ber, Science, 84, 532, 1936; L. E. Travis

and A. Gottlober, Science,

10.

A. B. Gottlober, Jour. Expt. Psych., 22, 193, 1938; E. T. Raney, Jour.

Expt. Psych., 24, 21, 1939

BIBLIOGRAPHY
CHAPTER
1.

305

VI

R. G. Hoskins, Endocrinology, p. 82,

1941

W. W.

Norton,

New

York,

2.

L. V.

Domm

and H. B. VanDyke, Proc. Soc. Expt.

Biol.

and Mcd.,

30, 35i-353> 1932 3. E. I. Evans, Proc. Soc. Expt. Biol.

4.
tials
5.

and Med.

30, 1370, 1933

C. R. Moore, Biological Symposia, IX,

of Endocrinology,
J.

4, 1942;

A. Grollman, EssenCo.,

B. Lippincott, 1941

R. G. Hoskins, Endocrinology, p. 202, York, 1941

W. W. Norton

New
York,

6.

Margaret Mead, Sex and Temperament,

W. Morrow, New

7.

M. A.

Goldzieher, The Endocrine Glands, p. 860, D. Appleton-Century Co., 1939. See also J. Bauer, Jour. Crim. Psychopath., 2, 188-

8.

197, 1940 C. T. Morgan, Physiological Psychology, Chap. XXI, McGraw-Hill,

9.

H.

1943
i,

A. T. Rasmussen, Amer. Jour. Anat., 42,

,

1928

Endocrinology, 8, 509-524, 1924 Endocrinology, 12, 129, 1928

10.

S. Barahal, Psychiatric Quarterly, 14, 319,

1940

11.

R. G. Hoskins, Endocrinology, p. 131,

W. W.
1935

Norton Co.,

New

12.
13.

York, 1941 W. Freeman, Arch. Intern. Med., York, 1941

g, 444,

R. G. Hoskins, Endocrinology, p. 186,

W. W.

Norton Co.,

New

CHAPTER
1.

VII

2.

G. W. Allport and H. S. Odbert, Psych. Mono., 211, 1936 T. L. Kelley, Essential Traits of Mental Life, Harvard Univ. Press,

3.

4.

, Amer. Jour. Psych., 53, 75, 1945 L. L. Thurstone, Primary Mental Abilities, Univ. of Chicago Press,

1935 R. B. Cattell, Character and Personality, 13, 56, 1945

1938
5.

G. W. Allport, Personality: H. Holt and Co., 1937

Psychological Interpretation, p. 150,

6.

7.

E. C. Tolman, Science, 101, 160, 1945 substantial number of traits listed here are discussed in Allport's
Personality (Reference 5 above).

3<>6
8.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

9.

H. Cason, Common Annoyances, Psych. Mono., 182, 1930 R. B. Hersey, Workers' Emotions in Shop and Home, Univ. of Penna. Press, 1932. See also Redboot^ Magazine, November, 1945
For material on
articles

10.

this subject the

reader

is

referred to

numerous

over a period of years appearing chiefly in the Journal of

Parapsych ology.
11. Material

on

"idiot-savants" has been collected

is

An
12.

important source

from several D. C. Rife and L. S. Snyder,

sources.

Human
Doran

M.

Biology, 3, 547, 1931 E. Broadley, Square Pegs in Square Holes, Doubleday,

13.

and Co., 1943 See "Facts" Magazine, June, 1945.

CHAPTER
1. J.

VIII
J.

L.

Woodward and

R. L. Sutherland, Introductory Sociology,

B.

2.

Lippincott, 1940 P. A. Sorokin, Sociocultural Causality, Space, Time,

Press, 1943

Duke Univ.

3.

4. Bull,

Ralph Linton, Science, 87, 241, 1938 of Yale University Series, 35, No.
R. B. Cattell, Editor, et al,

27, 1939

5.

Human

Affairs,

The Macmillan

Co.,

1937
6.
7.

Human

Biology, Warwick and York, L. R. Dice, Science, 99, 457, 1944

Inc., Baltimore.

8. J.

Brozek and A. Keys, Science, zoo, 507, 1944

CHAPTER
1. Sinclair

IX

2. J.

Lewis, Wor^ of Art, Doubleday, Doran and Co., 1934 D. Houser, What People Want from Business, McGraw-Hill, 1938

CHAPTER X
1.

R. B. Cattell, Editor, et
Co., 1937

al.,

Human

Affairs, p. 141,

The Macmillan
and School,

2.

P. R. Mort, Individual Pupil in

Management

of Class

3.

4.

Co., 1928 L. Kandel, Professional Aptitude Tests in Medicine, Law and Engineering, Teachers College, Columbia Univ., 1940 See one of the biographies of Edison, for example, F. T. Miller,

American Book

Thomas A.

Edison,

J.

C. Winston Co., Chicago, 1931

BIBLIOGRAPHY
5.

37

6.
7.

An Autobiography of Abraham Lincoln, compiled Stephenson, Bobbs-Merrill Co., Indianapolis, 1926 Carl Van Doren, Benjamin Franklin, Viking Press, 1938 H. E. Barnes and N. K. Teeters, New Horizons in Criminology, p.
See for example

by N.

W.

109, Prentice-Hall, 1943

8.

E.

H.

Sutherland, Principles of Criminology, p. 627-8,

J.

B. Lippin-

cott Co., 1939

CHAPTER XI
1.

F.

W. Burgess and L. S. Cottrell, Predicting Success or Failure in Marriage, Prentice-Hall, 1939

popular
article

2.

on the general

subject of marriage counseling

is:

Lees, Colliers, 109, 26, June 27, 1942 Psychologist Loo^s at Love, Farrar and Rinehart, 1944 3. T. Reik, M. Bolles and D. A. D'Esopo, Human Biology, 12, (4) C. Landis, 4.

H.

559-565, 1940

CHAPTER
1.

XII

H.

E. Barnes and

N. K.

Teeters,

New

Horizons in Criminology,

2.

Prentice-Hall, 1943 F. E. Inbau, Lie Detection

3. J.

and Criminal Interrogation, Williams and Wilkins, Baltimore, 1942 A. Larson, Lying and Its Detection, Univ. of Chicago Press, 1932

CHAPTER
i.

XIII
Press,

Commission on Medical Education Report, Columbia Univ.

2.

Commission on Graduate Medical Education Report, Univ. of Chicago Press, 1940

Allan Gregg, The Furtherance of Medical Research, Yale Univ.
Press,

3.

New

Haven, 1941

4.

5.

Advertisement appearing in Jour. Am. Med. Assoc., Oct. 20, 1945 C. H. Best and N. B. Taylor, The Physiological Basis of Medical Practice, Williams and Wilkins, Baltimore, 1943
L. S.

6.

Goodman and A. Gilman, The Pharmacological Therapeutics, The Macmillan Co., 1941

Basis of

7.

The Biology of the Individual, Williams and Wilkins, Baltimore, 1934 8. G. Draper, C. W. Dupertuis and J. L. Caughey, Jr., Human ConAssoc. for Research in Nervous and Mental Disease,
stitution in Clinical Medicine,

Paul B. Hoeber,

Inc.,

New

York,

1944

BIBLIOGRAPHY
9. S.

H.

Kraines,

The Therapy

of Psychoses

and Neuroses, Lea and

Plant, Philos. Lib.,

Febiger, Philadelphia, 1943 10. G. Seiffert, Virus Diseases in

Man, Animal and

York, 1944 n. E. S. Gordon, Chapter in Biological Action of the Vitamins, E. A. Evans, Editor, Univ. of Chicago Press, 1942

New

CHAPTER XIV
1.

G. W. Allport, Personality: A Psychological Interpretation, H. Holt and Co., 1937. Quotations from A. E. Wiggam, The New Decalogue of Science, p. 42, Bobbs-Merrill Co., 1923; J. B. Watson, Behaviorism, p. 82, W. W. Norton, New York, 1925 L. L. Thurstone, Sci. Monthly, Feb. 1946 Margaret Mead, Sex and Temperament, W. Morrow, New York,
1931 C. Squires,
Gesell,

2.
3.

4. P.

Amer.

Jour. Psych., 38, 313, 1927

5.

A.

Wolf Child and

Human

Child, Harper

and Brothers,

1940
6.

H. H. Newman,

F. N. Freeman, and H. J. Holzinger, Twins: A Study of Heredity and Environment, Univ. of Chicago Press, 1937

CHAPTER XV
1.

P.

J.

W. Pigors, Leadership
The

or Domination?,

Houghton

Mifflin

ComNor-

2.

pany, 1935 W. C. Alice,

ton,

Social Life of Animals, Chapter VI,

W. W.

New

York, 1938

CHAPTER XVI
1.

2.

E. Broadley, Square Pegs in Square Holes, Doubleday, Doran and Co., 1943 For material and references with respect to accomplishments in this
field,

M.

see for

example

J.

Tiffin, Industrial

Psychology, Prentice-

Hall, 1943
3. F.

K. Berrien, Practical Psychology, p. 496, The Macmillan Co., 1944. See also material in same volume regarding accidents.

CHAPTER XVII
1.

F.

2. J.

J. Taylor, Air News, June, 1945 P. Scott, Jour. Hered., 33, n, 1942

Index

"Abnormal" individuals, 210 Accident prone individuals, 283 Acquisitiveness, 149 Addiction to alcohol, 33 Adrenal
cortex,

Autonomic nervous system, 86 Average man, 12, 167, 199

Balance, sense of, 67

Biochemical genetics, 21
Bisexuality,

109

no

glands, 109, 113

medulla, 114 Adrenaline, 114 Acetyl choline, 115

Blood groups, 26, 232, 248 Blood hounds, 25 Blood pressure, 87

Brain waves, 101 sleep and, 94 Breathing patterns, 88
Buerger's disease, 30, 236 Butyl mercaptan, 75
Caffeine, 30

Air sickness, 29, 67 Albinism, 24 Alcaptonuria, 24 Alcoholism, 33 Allergy, 35, 237

Altruism, 146

Amblyopia,

30,

237
Science, 169

Carcinoma

gall bladder,

242

Amer. Assoc. Adv.

Carcinoma, pancreas, 242

Carnegie, A., 194 Castration, 118
Catalysts, 21, 257 Changeableness, 132 Charlatans, 279 Children

"Americans," 297 Amnesia, fake, 101, 207 Amytal, 222 Androgeny, no

Androsterone, 113

Anemias, 36 Anesthesia, 237 Aniseikonia, 50 Anger, 119 Anosmia, 25, 76

Anthropological investigations, 261 Anthropology, 10, 170 Appetite, 22, 113 Applied science-humanics, 5, 125 Aptitude examinations, 190, 279 Arithmetical ability, 136, 154, 156 Artichokes, 73 Arthritis, 243 "Asthenic" physique, 233 "Athletic" physique, 233 Auditory acuity, 69

education, 185
individuality, 187

unusual, 153
Cholesterol, 27

Choline, 38 Chorea, 243 Chroma, 56 Cinchophen, 29

Circulatory systems, 87 Clairvoyance, 151 Cold pressor test, 83 Collectors, 149 Colds, 82, 241 Color hearing, 151 Colors, reaction to, 59 Common sense, 139, 141

memory, 69

309

3io
Competitiveness, 147 Complexity of human
169, 174

INDEX
beings,
16,

Consonance, 64, 66 Constipation, 85, 247 Constitution clinic, 240 Convalescence, 243 Coronary sclerosis, 242
Corticosterone, 113 Creatine, 70 Creativeness in art and music, 67 Cretinism, 106

Education, 185 Egocentric, 146 Egoism, 146 Eidetic imagery, 151 Electrocardiograph, 88 Electroencephalograph, 101 Embryonic development, 252 Emergencies, 114 Emotional cycles, 134 element in music, 65 rats, 122

Emotions, strong and weak, 134

Empathy, 143
Employee's wants, 179 Employment, 276 Endocrine glands, 103
Engineering, aptitude for, 190 Environment, 251 Epilepsy, 33 Epileptics, 33 "Epileptoid" personality, 121 Eunuchs, 118

Criminality, 213

Crowd

psychology, 143, 183 Cultural factors, 14, 131, 261 Cultures, 261 "Cycloid" personality, 121
Cystinuria, 24

Dartmouth Eye
Deafness, 69 Deduction, 139

Institute,

50

Examinations, law, medicine, engineering, 190 Expansiveness, 131 Extroversion, 145

Design appreciation, 55 Determinism, 17, 175 Developmental progress, man's,

Devotion, 148
Diabetes, 36, 243, 256 Dictation, 97
Dictators, 271, 274, 275
Digitalis,

16

Eye

characteristics,

42 et seq.

-minded, 59, 69
Fat metabolism, 22, 27
Fatalism, 17, 175
Fatigue, 90 Fear, 122, 134

29

Diphtheria, 36

Diplomacy, 289
Directional

memory

sense, 68

Divorce, 198

Dominance, 133
in animals, 272

Feeblemindedness, 25, 152 Feral children, 263 Fertility, 211

Fighting in mice, 294 Finger tremors, 98
Fist (radio operator), 98 Flicker fusion, 47 Fluorescent lights, 51

Dramatic tendency, 150

Drives, 130

Drug
action,

27

dosages, 28
idiosyncrasies, 29, 232, 235

Fovea, 43 Franklin, B., 191, 193

new, 231, 250 Duodenal ulcers, 242

Frequency
sex desire, 210 Freudian concept of love, 208
Frustrations, 178 Fuel, 20

Dwarf

mice, 120

Ear-minded, 69
sensitiveness,

62

Edison, Thos., 191

Fundamental drives, 130 Fundamental metabolism, 20

INDEX
Gall stones, 243
Galvani, 15 Galvanic skin responses, 99, 100
Idiot-savants,

152, 258

Imbecile, 153 Incrimination,

176

Games and

sports

Individuality, biochemical, 21 et seq.

competitiveness in, 147 Gastric juice, 85

Genetics, Biochemical, 21 Genius, 90 Geriatrics, 243 Goiter, toxic, 242 Golden rule, 177 Gout, 242 Grafting tissues, 25 Gray hair, vitamins and, 39, 246

Induction, 138
Industrial psychology, 281 Inebriates, 33 Infantile paralysis, 36, 240

293 Insomnia, 95 Institute of Human Relations, 171 Insulin, 103

Intelligence quotients limited value of, 155, 188, 206, 265,

Infectious diseases, 238, 256 Inheritance, 14, 119, 214, 251,

Group

religion

observance, 183

269
Interbreeding, 292 International politics, 289 Intellectual abilities, 135 et seq.
Intestinal

Hate, 182 Hayfever, 35, 237 Headache, migraine, 244 Heart rate, 87, 234 Hemophilia, 257 Heredity, 14, 119, 214, 251, 293 Hermaphrodites, no Hitler, 273, 292 Hives, 35 Hobbies, 149, 165 Homogentisic acid, 24 Homosexuality, 112

movements, 85

Intolerance, 46, 54, 176 Introversion, 145

Intuition, 139 I.Q., limitations
of,

155,

188,

206,

265, 269
Irritations,

132

Itching, 241

Jealousy, 149, 181

Hormones, 103
House's experiments, 220 Hue, 56

Jews
lack of alcoholism, 34

Human Human Human Human

Affairs, 171

beings, "unknowns," 4, 163 Biology t 171 Engineering Laboratory, 279 Humanics, 5 Humility, 17 Hunger hormone, 113
acid,

Judgment of distance and Judgment of time, 150

Ketosis, 22 Kidneys, disease of, 87

angles, 55

Kinship with animals, 21

Kretschmer's concepts, 233

Hydrocyanic
saliva,

74

Hydrogen ion concentration

84 Hyperchlorhydria, 85 Hypochlorhydria, 85 Hypochondriacs, 250 Hypophysis, 106, 116
"Hysterical" individual, 47
Identical twins, 22, 102, 263 et seq.
Idiosyncrasies, 29, 232, 235

Law, aptitude for, 190 Leadership, 268 Lie detection, 218

Lincoln, A., 192
Linguistic Society of America, 169 Lipids in blood, 27
Literary ability, 96 Liver, disease of, 87

Longevity, tobacco and, 31 Loyalty, 148

312

INDEX
26
relations,

M factors,

Maladjustment in sex

209

Malingerers, 101 Man-in-the-abstract, 10, 167

Niacin (nicotinic acid), 37, 229 Nicotine, 30 Noises, sensitiveness to, 62

Novocaine, 29

Mannose, 72
Marriage, 198

Number

Mead Johnson &

"Master race," 296 Co. award, 230 Medical Research, 226 Medicine

facility, 136, 154 Nutrition, prenatal, 253 Nymphomania, 118

Occupation, importance

of,

178, 282

Odor
body, 25, 75 skunk, 75 verbenas, other flowers, 74 Old age, 243 Olfactory sense, 74 Orderliness, 142 Orientation, 68
Osteomalacia, 242
Ovaries, 108, Oxygen lack
effect

Memory,
Mental

aptitude, 190 135, 246

abilities

and

traits,

125

hygiene, 175 Metabolic patterns, 25

traits,

20

Metabolism

and

disposition, 23

no
vision,

fundamental, 20 Migraine headache, 244

on peripheral

46

Milk

secretion, 108

Mind

reading, 151
,

Pack

Moods, 134 Monophasic (sleep) 91 Moral equivalent for war, 288

Morale, 179'

rat, 149 Pantothenate, 39, 246

"Paranoid" personality, 121

Parasympathetic nerves, 115 Parathyroid gland, 113
Parents' vocational advice, 191
Partial

Morphine
idiosyncrasy, 29

asymmetry

reversals,

264

Mother

interest,

108

Pathological intoxication, 33
Pearl's studies, 31

Moving
Music
effect

pictures,

49

Peck order, 272

Penicillin, 29,

on pulse rate and blood pressure, 65

230

Pentosuria, 24

Musical aptitudes, 64 taste, 66

Musk, 74, 75 Myxedema, 243

factors, 26 National Acad. Sciences, 169 Research Council, 169

Perceptual facility, 139 Perimeter, 43 Peripheral vision, 44 Peristalsis, 85 Pernicious anemia, 36

Persistence, 132

Personality

complexity

of,

58

Narcolepsy, 95 Natural scientists, 167 Negroes, limited knowledge about, 295 Nephritis, 248 Nerves, 77, 79 Neurasthenic
individual, 47

differences, 157

Perspiration odor, 25, 75 Phenyl ketonuria, 24

Phenyl pyruvic acid, 25 Phenyl thiocarbamide taste reaction,

.

7i

Philosophy, 9, 138 Phospholipid, 27

INDEX
Physicians
Saccharine, 71
of,

313

number

226

Saliva, 84
Satyriasis, 118

training, 227 Physiological basis

of psychology, 121, 158 of marriage, 202 et seq. Pitch discrimination, 64 Pituitary gland, 106, 116

Scarlet fever, 36, 239 "Schizoid** personality, 121

Schizophrenics, 90 Schools and education, 185

Plethysmograph, 94 Poliomyelitis, 36, 240 "Polyanna" attitude, 291 Polyphasic (sleep), 91 Porphyrinuria, 24 Prenatal nutrition, 253 Primary mental abilities, 128, 135
Prolactin, 108

Scopolamine, 220 Sea lions, 151

Segregation of pupils, 197 Selection of pilots, 288
Self
ability to

laugh

at,

148

appraisal, 147

love of, 147 Senses

skin,

Proprioceptors, 79
Psychiatrists, 232, 235, 243

77

Sex
alcoholism, 34 glands, 108, no

Psychoanalysis, 266

Psychological
abilities and traits, 125 conditioning, 72, 79, 185, 293 differences, importance, 165, 178

hormones, 113 precocious behavior, 107

relation to love, 208 relation to marriage, 208
reversal of,

Psychology, importance, 174 Psychoses, 33, 235 Psychosomatic medicine, 235 Pulse rate, 87, 234 "Pyknic" physique, 233 Pyloric stenosis, 242
Quiet, desire for, 62

no

Sickle cell anemia, 36

Skin grafting, 25, 238 senses, 77

temperature, 81 Sleep changes occurring during, 92, 94 requirements, 93

Quinine,

taste,

71-72

Races, 293 Rapport, 143

rhythms, 92 Smokers, longevity

Social

of, 31

Reaction patterns, 80

Reading
eye difficulties and, 50 Reclusiveness, 131 Recognition, desire for, 179, 180
Recreation, 147, 149, 165
Religion, 175, 299 Respiratory patterns, 88 Retina, 43

behavior and sense of sight, 42 control, 162

engineering, 7
institutions,

psychologists, 170

Science Research Council, 169 Sciences, 162

Sodium

amytal, 222

Spatial imagery, 136

Rh

factor,

26

Spirograms, 89

Rheumatic fever, 243 Rheumatoid arthritis, 243

Riboflavin, 38
Riley,
J.

Sphygmograms, 88
Starch digesting power, 84
Statistical

man,

W., 194
love,

Steatorrhea, 24

Romantic

208 et seq.

Stomach

contractions, 85

314
Subliminal stimuli, 99 Submission, 133 Sugar, sweetness of, 71 Suggestibility, 144 Sulfa drugs, 29, 229 Sulfanilamide, 229 Swings (moods), 134 Sympathetic nerves, 114 Sympathin, 114
Synesthesia, 151

INDEX
Tremors, finger, 98 "Truth serum," 221 Tuberculosis, 36 Twilight sleep, 220

Typhoid

fever, 238

carriers,

238

Typing individuals (medicine), 248

Tyrosinosis, 24

Underlying
metabolism, 20 Urinary products unusual, 24 Urticaria, 35 "Usians," 298

Tact, 151 Talkativeness, 95

Taste

artistic

sense of, 55, 66 Teachers' individualities, 187

Teeth, 257, 258 Temperature, body, 92

senses, 77 skin, 8 1

Value (color), 56 Verbenas, odors of, 74 Virus diseases, 242 Vision

amblyopia, 30, 237 42 et seq. peripheral, 44 Visual
characteristics,
fields, 48 imagery, 59, 69

sleep

and body, 92

Tempo, 150
Testes, 108,

no,

118, 121

Testosterone, 113 Tests

aptitudes,. iox>,

279
135

mental
traits,

abilities,

memory,
Vitamin Vitamins
effects,

125

59,

69

requirements, 39, 230

Thiamin, 37, 39 Thyreotropic hormone, 113 Thyroid gland, 105 Thyroxin, 106
Ticklishness, 78 Time, ability to judge, 150

245
requirements, 38

functions, 36

human

variability of requirements, 39,

245

Timing (music), 64
Tobacco
amblyopia, 30, 237 Tolerance, 175

Voices, distinctiveness, 67 Vocations, choice of, 178, 282

War,

roots of, 290

Tonal dips, 69 Tonal intensity, 64 Tonal memory, 64

Transplantation experiments, 25

Wood Word

technology, 126, 174

familiarity, 137
of,

Words, manipulation

137

Work, choice of, Wolf children of

178, 282

India, 262