Personality And The Frontal Lobes

AN INVESTIGATION OF THE PSYCHOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF DIFFerent Types

Asenath Petrie, Petrie, Asenath

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN: 9781138882393
• eBook ISBN: 9781136298752
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Medicine
• Subtopic: Health Care Delivery

This is Volume IV of nineteen in a collection on Abnormal and Clinical Psychology. Originally published in 1953, this study is an investigation of the psychological effects of different types of leucotomy.

APPENDIX A

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF TESTS

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF TECHNIQUES USED

To facilitate easy reference we are including a detailed description of the administration of each of the personality tests, the results of which have been described in Chapters II, IV and V. The order used will correspond as closely as possible to that in which the results have been reported. It is hoped that other workers will use them. But the descriptions given here, although sufficient for those desirous of following our results, cannot enable those unfamiliar with the tests to administer them. It is essential that the tests should be given in a standardised manner and this requires some special training.

Details of the Wechsler Bellevue Scale (1946) and the Porteus Mazes (1933), our two main intelligence tests, will be found in the references given, and will not be repeated here.

The six proverbs which patients were asked to explain the meaning of were as follows:

‘A burnt child dreads fire.’

‘He who eats the kernel must crack the nut.’

‘A drowning man will catch at a straw.’

‘No wind can do him good who steers for no port.’

‘We only know the worth of water when the well is dry.’

‘Don’t judge a book by its cover.’

The same proverbs were presented before and on two occasions after the Standard operation. Samples of answers are presented in Chapter III.

TESTS RELATED TO NEUROTICISM

1. Suggestibility. Body Sway Test and Static Ataxia

The Body Sway test of suggestibility was introduced by Hull (1923). The subject is told to stand quite still and relax with his eyes closed, and the amount of sway is measured during the period of one minute. This is the Static Ataxia score and sway without suggestion. While still in the same position, the suggestion is made to the subject that he is falling forward. It is made in the form ‘you are falling forward, you are falling forward, you are falling forward all the time, you are falling, you are falling forward, you are falling forward now, you are falling forward …’ and so on. This is continued for a period of two minutes. The amount of sway resulting from this suggestion is measured.

The measurement of sway is achieved by means of a thread which is pinned to the back of the collar of the patient, and which passes over a smooth hook and ends in a weight. The weight is in such a position that it swings up and down on a scale marked off in half-inches which is attached to the wall. The following scores resulting from this test were utilised:

1. The amount of sway occurring prior to any suggestion being made.

2. The amount of sway occurring during the period of suggestion.

3. The difference between the amount of sway occurring with and without suggestion.

2. Disposition Rigidity. Tests of Perseveration

(a) Alternation of a habitual and non-habitual activity

This test of perseveration is described by Cattell (1946B). The patient is asked to write the figures 2, 3, 4 on a sheet of lined paper as quickly as possible during a period of one minute. A demonstration is then given of writing the figures 2, 3, 4 with reversed stroke, starting each figure at the opposite end to that which is customary, 2 and 3 being written from the base upwards. The patient is given one trial to make sure that he knows what is required. He is then asked to write 2, 3, 4 with reversed stroke as quickly as possible in a period of one minute. The perseveration score is arrived at by comparing his output in the habitual activity with his output in the non-habitual activity. If he has great difficulty in the non-habitual activity, and his output is therefore much lower on this than on the habitual activity, he has a high perseveration score.

(b) A test of perseveration involving an alternation between wr...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• CONTENTS
• INTRODUCTION
• ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
• I. HISTORY OF THE OPERATION OF LEUCOTOMY AND OUTLINE OF INVESTIGATIONS TO BE REPORTED IN THIS BOOK
• II. THE EFFECT OF POSTERIOR STANDARD LEUCOTOMY ON TEMPERAMENT AND CHARACTER
• III. THE EFFECT OF POSTERIOR STANDARD LEUCOTOMY ON INTELLECTUAL ASPECTS OF PERSONALITY
• IV. THE EFFECT OF BILATERAL AND UNILATERAL ANTERIOR ROSTRAL LEUCOTOMY ON PERSONALITY
• V. A COMPARISON OF THE EFFECTS OF ANTERIOR ROSTRAL AND POSTERIOR STANDARD LEUCOTOMY
• VI. SYNTHESIS AND CONCLUSIONS
• APPENDICES
• BIBLIOGRAPHY
• INDEX OF NAMES
• INDEX OF SUBJECTS