The Personality of a Child Molester
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The Personality of a Child Molester

An Analysis of Dreams

Calvin Hall

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eBook - ePub

The Personality of a Child Molester

An Analysis of Dreams

Calvin Hall

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About This Book

The Personality of a Child Molester argues two main points. The first is that dreams, without free associations or amplification or knowledge of the dreamer, can shed considerable light upon the essential character structure, psychodynamics, and psychosexual development of such individuals. The second is that the frequency of occurrence of a dream element or theme is a direct measure of the preoccupation with that topic in waking life.

Bell and Hall gather their evidence from a wide assortment of data. Such evidence helps increase our understanding of such people, whose life and self-revelations on first appearance seem to merit this special attention. Interestingly, their study involved little collaboration on the part of the authors. In fact, the authors only met each other two years after the project got underway. At that time they reached an understanding as to how the material would be presented.

They decided to demonstrate child molesters' dream content from a theoretical perspective. The theoretical base provided by Freudian theory was used in this particular study because it seemed to provide the kinds of constructs that could be useful in describing the dreamer's personality. The authors attempt to explain why the dreamer who is a child molester is the sort of person he is, and his dreams are the source of evidence for the explanation presented. This study presented here has been used by behavioral researchers for years in trying to understand the personality of a child molester. It remains as relevant today as when it was initially published.

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Information

Publisher
Routledge
Year
2017
ISBN
9781351477482
Subtopic
Criminology
Edition
1

One Introduction

The present study was undertaken with two aims in mind. The first aim was to determine the relationship between what a person dreams while he is asleep and recalls in the morning and his behavior and personality in waking life. The second aim was to identify and to describe the specific variables that constitute the character of a pedophile (child molester) and to attempt to discover the origin of his sexual preoccupations and outlets.
The present study is one of a series of investigations, two of which have already been published. In the first study (Hall and Domhoff, 1968), the dreams reported by Freud and Jung in their writings were analyzed, and the results obtained from these analyses were compared with biographical and autobiographical material pertaining to the two men. In the second study (Hall and Lind, 1970), similar comparisons were made between the published dreams of Franz Kafka and his character and conduct. An added feature of the Kafka study was to compare the results of the dream analysis with a content analysis of some of his literary works. In both studies, the correspondence between dreams and waking behavior was striking. Freud, Jung, and Kafka displayed many of the same traits, interpersonal relations, preoccupations, conflicts, and complexes in their dreams as they did in waking life. In certain instances, information obtained from the dreams helped to illuminate the underlying motivations for their waking behavior.
This study differs in several respects from those conducted previously. The subject is not a famous person. He is neither a writer like Kafka nor a psychoanalyst like Freud or Jung. On the other hand, he is no ordinary person either. A more important difference is that the dreams in the present study were subjected to a content analysis without any knowledge of the dreamer except for his age and sex. It must be noted, however, that a certain amount of factual information is inevitably picked up from the dreams themselves. For example, it soon became apparent while reading through the dreams that the dreamer had been convicted and institutionalized for molesting children. Occasionally the dreamer’s comments on a dream provided additional, outside information but these comments were rare. After the dreams were scored by two scorers (Florence Strong and Calvin Hall), Hall reported to Alan Bell the findings and the inferences drawn from them. After Bell had read this report—and before Hall was told anything about the dreamer—he raised a number of questions about the dreamer which Hall attempted to answer on the basis of the content analysis.
Another important difference between this and the previous studies was the large number of dreams that were available for the present analysis. Over a period of some three and a half years—between September, 1963 and February, 1967—the dreamer had recorded in approximately 50,000 words more than 1300 dreams. In the previous studies, only 28 of Freud’s dreams, 31 of Jung’s, and 37 of Kafka’s, were available for the analysis which was conducted. Certainly in this respect, the present content analysis is the most ambitious ever undertaken using the system developed by Hall and Van de Castle (1966). While it is probably not necessary to use so many dreams in order to obtain a valid and reliable description of a person, the fact that there are so many recorded over a considerable length of time has made it possible to note any changes in the dreams which occurred over that period and to correlate these changes with other changes in the dreamer’s life and personality.
Norman recorded his dreams from September 15, 1963, to February 8, 1967. During that period of almost three and one-half years, between the ages of 34 and 38, Norman spent approximately two years and nine months, or 80% of the time, in an institution. Although in most instances only one dream was recorded upon awakening, sometimes more than one and as many as seven different dreams were recalled the next day and entered in his diary. There were short periods of time or certain days in which Norman could not remember his dreams or failed to keep a record, but this was infrequent.
Norman’s dream diary contained 1,368 dreams which could be classified and studied through a system of content analysis developed by Hall and Van de Castle (1966). This system consists of counting the number of times a particular element or class of elements appears throughout the dreams. Some of these elements are: dream characters classified by age, sex, and relationship to the dreamer; the dreamer’s interactions with these characters; other activities; objects subdivided into 28 classes and subclasses; success and failure; good fortune and misfortune; and emotions. These are called empirical categories because they are in the dream reports and not derived from any particular theory of personality. Theoretical categories may also be formulated, but they, too, comprise elements which are in the dream reports. For example, if the dreamer dreams of breaking his leg this is scored empirically as a misfortune, but it can also be scored theoretically as castration anxiety. The dreamer’s scores, treated quantitatively and converted into proportions and other indices, are then compared with those of an appropriate norm group1 in order to determine the individual features of his dreams from which inferences regarding the dreamer’s character and conduct can be drawn.
The dreams are then read through to see if there are any predominant themes that have not been identified by the Hall-Van de Castle type of scoring. During this step a search is also made for dreams in which special symbolism seems to be present. Additional inferences are then drawn from these themes and symbolic dreams.
The analysis begins with two presuppositions: first, that dreams, without free associations or amplification, or knowledge of the dreamer, shed considerable light upon the essential character structure, psychodynamics, and psychosexual development of the dreamer; second, that frequency of occurrence of a dream element or theme is a direct measure of the dreamer’s preoccupation with that topic in waking life. For example, if a person has many sex dreams the prediction is made that he is also preoccupied with sex in waking life. He may engage in many sexual activities or may think a lot about sex or may read erotic books and attend erotic plays and movies.
Only after the first two steps have been taken is any attempt made to view the dream content from a theoretical perspective. In this particular study the theoretical base provided by Freudian theory has been used because it seemed to provide the kinds of constructs which were most useful in describing the dreamer’s personality. In addition, an attempt has been made to explain why the dreamer is the sort of person he is as seen through his dreams. It may be objected that this is precisely what psychoanalysts and other psychotherapists who use dreams in their practice have been doing for years. The objection is well made; however, the methodology devised for this particular series of studies is quite different from that employed in the usual psychotherapeutic situation. The psychoanalyst assists the patient in interpreting elements in his dreams through the use of free associations or amplifications provided by the patient. In attempting to understand the meaning of each dream reported to him, the psychoanalyst is aided by his knowledge of the patient acquired from their long and intimate association. Inevitably, such a procedure involves a good deal of subjectivity and selectivity on the part of the therapist. Due to the requirements of psychotherapy —whose chief aim is to benefit the patient and not to advance science—such subjectivity and selectivity may be entirely appropriate. The aim of the present study, however, has a scientific orientation, and for that reason a reasonably objective methodology has been employed.
The last step of this particular dream analysis consisted of two parts. First, the dreams were considered chronologically in order to see if any systematic changes had occurred over the three and a half year period. Second, the implications of findings derived from this longitudinal analysis for the dreamer’s future functioning have been considered.
The reader who is interested in the more technical aspects of this procedure (that is, the selection of categories, how the size of the unit to be scored is determined, the reliability of scoring, the use of norms, and so on) is referred to Hall and Van de Castle (1966), Van de Castle (1969), and Hall (1969a, 1969b). The techniques of content analysis and their various applications were the topic of a conference held in Philadelphia in 1968 (Gerbner, 1969). Another useful reference is The General Inquirer: A Computer Approach to Content Analysis (Stone, Dunphy, Smith, and Ogilive, 1966).
With regard to the second aim, it was believed that the unusual amount and kind of data made available to the authors offered a remarkable opportunity to explore and to explain the mind and purposes of a person whose sexual interests and activities remained something of an enigma to himself and even to the professionals who knew him. While it is impossible to view the entire range of cause-effect sequences in the life of anyone, or to see how strands of influence combine in such a way that their final outcome could have been predicted, it is possible to view in retrospect those circumstances in a person’s life which reasonably relate to that person’s ways of functioning. And it is this which the authors have attempted to do in the case of a person who shall hereafter be referred to as Norman (his name and all other identifying information have been changed in order to preserve Norman’s anonymity).
In addition to the contents of Norman’s dreams, there were other sources of information upon which we could draw. First, there was Norman’s own account of himself which he gave to Bell during what could be termed an extended intake. These data included the following kinds of information: Norman’s family background; his early familial experience; his relationships with others beyond the family; a history of his sexual feelings, attitudes, and behaviors; and his variety of incarcerations. While serving his psychology internship, Bell made a partially successful attempt to learn more about Norman, who was at that time hospitalized where Bell was training. It took several months for Norman to trust the relationship sufficiently that he could enter into what was for him a most unaccustomed dialogue. Although there were many other sessions, most of the information obtained from Norman in this way was gathered from approximately twenty meetings held over a seven month period, from October, 1966 through April, 1967. In the present study, direct quotations from these counseling sessions have been used wherever possible as illustrative material.
Second, there was the information provided by nine different psychological tests which were administered to Norman during the seven month period. They included the 1) Rorschach Inkblot Test, 2) Thematic Apperception Test, 3) Adjective Check List, 4) Index of Adjustment and Values, 5) Edwards Personal Preference Schedule, 6) Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, 7) Rotter Incomplete Sentences Blank-Adult Form, 8) Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, and 9) Study of Values. (See References, p. 124.) No more was sought from the test data than evidence of the extent to which Bell’s clinical impressions of Norman were or were not confirmed. To a lesser extent, they were used by the investigator to help him in ordering those impressions according to the confidence he might have in reporting them. These psychometric data were assigned only a subsidiary role. Where only partial evidence of certain characteristics on the part of Norman was provided by tests, no efforts were made to speculate beyond that evidence.
Third, in addition to Bell’s personal and test-related impressions of Norman, each of the five institutions in which Norman had been confined off and on from 1949 to 1966 was contacted for information pertaining to 1) the reasons for his admission, 2) his behaviors during the time that he was institutionalized, and 3) the diagnosis which was made. Several of these reports included diagnostic work-ups which the authors of the present study were able to compare with their own findings. This additional information also contained certain details of Norman’s history which were not available elsewhere and served to make the present report more comprehensive.
The last source of data which provided the authors with information, particularly with regard to Norman’s current functioning, is a series of nine letters received from Norman since September, 1967. Their contents have been used as illustrative material throughout the book, but they have also been considered as evidence of the direction in which Norman seems to be moving intrapsychically and interper-sonally.
There are five different kinds of information — dreams, interviews, tests, institutional reports, and personal correspondence—but the authors have ordered and used them differentially. The dream material has been given the role of principal datum. Examples of the dream content provide the starting points in a series of considerations which forms the substance of the book. An analysis of the dream content, involving a comparison of Norman’s dreams with those of the norm group as well as inferences and speculations drawn from that comparison, provides the reader with a perspective from which he may view the other data.
In the second chapter, Norman’s personal history is discussed. This helps provide the reader with enough knowledge of Norman’s background to understand more readily the data which are subsequently presented. In the third chapter an analysis of Norman is presented which is based upon 1) his dreams and 2) the other data derived from his waking behavior. Additional observations are offered in the fourth chapter. In the fifth chapter, impressions of the dreamer based upon the analysis of his dreams are then compared with the impressions of him which were derived, from the other data, and the relationship between our findings and those of other researchers is discussed. In the sixth chapter, Norman’s current adjustment is described, and an attempt is made at prognosis. The seventh and final chapter contains a description of the values of dream analysis as it has been conducted in this and other studies.
By way of summary, the present study represents an attempt to glean from a wide assortment of data the kind of evidence that helps to increase our understanding of a person whose life and whose self-revelations appeared to merit this special attention. The study has involved little collaboration on the part of the authors. In fact, it was not until two years after the project got underway that the authors met each other, and then only to reach an understanding of how the material would be presented. Hall’s primary interest is in the relevance of dream analysis for investigations of human personality and behavior. Bell is primarily interested in psy-chosexual development and in learning more about the different ways in which people come to terms with their sexuality. It appeared that the interests of both authors could best be served in a study of this kind. Each has drawn his own inferences from the material and few efforts have been made to have their impressions of the subject coincide. Disagreements between them have not been glossed over but, rather have served as an opportunity for the authors to raise new questions about the person whom they have sought to understand as well as about their own methodologies.
1 The normative male dreams consist of five hundred reports obtained from one hundred young adult males. The results of a content analysis of these five hundred dreams are given in Hall and Van de Castle (1966). Although Norman is about fifteen years older than the average age of the norm group, this difference in age has not been found to be of great significance in determining the contents of dreams.

Two Norman’s Background

Norman was born in 1928 in a large Midwestern city where he grew up and attended school until the age of 15. After working at a series of jobs in order to augment the family’s relatively meager income, Norman entered the United States Army in 1946 at the age of 18 and was given an honorable medical discharge 15 months later. Norman was first institutionalized in the spring of 1949 at the age of 20 and, until the age of 37, spent approximately seven years in five different mental institutions. Despite his difficulties Norman received a high school diploma through a correspondence course at the age of 23 and, when he was not in an institution, continued to live at home with his mother and sister and to work in a series of jobs in the printing field. When first seen by the senior author, Norman was 37 years old and was about to be discharged from a mental institution. He has not been institutionalized since that summer of 1966 and is presently attending college full-time.
The following account of Norman’s life is given so that the reader can make better sense of the materials which follow. Where information about certain aspects of Norman’s developmental history has been gathered from the dreams themselves or when it has been discussed at length in connection with the dream analysis, it has usually not been included here. This chapter is based either on personal conversations with Norman, his responses to a questionnaire, or on information from hospital records which included conversations with Norman’s mother as well. From time to time certain of Norman’s dreams have been included to illuminate further the experiences which are described.
Norman’s maternal grandfather was German; the grandmother was Polish. A compromise of sorts was reached by speaking Polish in the home and sending their daughter—Norman’s mother—to a German school. But there ends any evidence of a conciliatory spirit in the grandparents’ household during the time that Norman’s mother was growing up. Although her father’s parents were wealthy, her father had done nothing to capitalize on these fortunate circumstances. He did not pursue his education and, even though he was a baker, he hardly ever worked because of vague ailments. His incapacity or disinclination for work, which made the family’s financial condition somewhat precarious, was one of many irritants to his wife and to his daughter who also came to consider him a failure. His violent arguments with his wife were interrupted from time to time by the physical abuse of his children. His most strenuous insistence was on modesty; any evidence of sexuality on the part of his daughter was strongly censured. This was one of the few paternal attitudes which his daughter, Norman’s mother, was to assimilate. He also was strict about neatness, and since his wife was not particularly tidy, arguments erupted over this. Later, their daughter, reflecting upon the familial maelstrom which she had barely survived during her childhood and adolescence, was prompted to say to her mother, “I think you could have done a better job.” The mother’s answer perhaps indicated otherwise. She replied, “At least we didn’t kill you!”
Norman’s mother went to work at the age of thirteen to help support the family. For understandable reasons she was determined not to marry. This resolution, based upon the experience she had o...

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