Journal of Abnormal & Social Psychology

Sanford, R. Nevitt; Conrad, Herbert S.

doi: 10.1037/h0050374pmid: N/A

The principal purpose of the present study is to explore the relation between "morale"--as indicated by Harding's "Scale for Measuring Civilian Morale"--and certain personal-social characteristics. A second purpose of the study is to check on the reliability and homogeneity of Harding's morale scale. The general point of view underlying the study is that a person's "morale" with regard to a given situation or problem will be influenced not only by factors of intellect and propaganda, but also of personality. Dependable control of morale, it is considered, requires an understanding not only of such commonly recognized factors as propaganda, the role of leaders, etc., but also of factors more basically and distinctly personal. The Harding morale scale and a rather extensive, specially prepared Questionnaire were administered to 100 men and 173 women at the University of California. The results fall into two classes: first, those relating to the individual's group-memberships; and, secondly, those relating to more distinctly personal characteristics. It is the writers' conviction that personality factors constitute one of the most difficult barriers to all kinds of social improvement, whether of morale, marital harmony, or the achievement of a just and lasting peace. It seems fitting to stress, at this point, both the importance and hopefulness of research attacks in this field.

Dennis, W.

doi: 10.1037/h0059037pmid: N/A

"Ninety-eight Hopi children between the ages of twelve and eighteen years were given a standardized interview with respect to animism and also a standardized interview with regard to moral realism, and 69 of them were further questioned with respect to the attribution of consciousness to objects. The Hopi subjects were more animistic and expressed more belief in the consciousness of objects and in moral realism than do white American subjects of the same ages. The concepts of the Hopi children, however, are of the same types as those found among white children . . . . The differences in the rate at which early ideas are abandoned in Hopi and white communities may be due to a variety of cultural factors which at present cannot be separated."

Spoerl, D. T.

doi: 10.1037/h0054365pmid: N/A

College freshmen raised in bilingual homes were equated in age, sex, and in some cases socio-economic status with control students. Emotional adjustment differences were measured by: (1) college mortality, (2) interviews with the personnel office (3) the Bell Adjustment Inventory, (4) the Allport-Vernon Study of Values, (5) the Bogardus Test of Social Distance, (6) a modified Kent-Rosanoff association test, and (7) the Morgan-Murray Thematic Apperception Test (modified). The results indicate consistently greater maladjustments among the bilingual than among the control students. Detailed differences between the groups are presented.

Thomsen, A.

doi: 10.1037/h0057544pmid: N/A

College freshmen in psychology courses were asked to present papers analyzing their vocational preferences and indicating their expected incomes 10 and 20 years after graduation. It was found that college students expect to receive a much higher income than there is any probability they will receive and that vocational information probably reduces the expectation of income. The relation between paranoia and unfulfilled expectation is discussed, and an interpretation of the Korzybski theory of happiness is offered.

Cantril, H.

doi: 10.1037/h0054069pmid: N/A

A representative cross section of the national population classified themselves into social and economic groups in which they felt they belonged. The subjects were rated by the interviewers for economic status, and the subjects themselves gave data on their actual incomes. Among the findings were the following: (1) The majority identify themselves socially and economically with the middle class. (2) There is no one-to-one correspondence between social and economic identification. (3) The lower income groups tend most of all toward a middle class social identification. (4) There is a tendency to regard one's social class as higher than one's economic class. (5) The disparity between social and economic identification increases up the social and down the income scale.

Maslow, A. H.

doi: 10.1037/h0054634pmid: N/A

Similar to frustration, there are two types of conflict situations: non-threatening and threatening. The former are quite unimportant, since ordinarily not pathogenic; the latter are important, because often pathogenic. The essential pathogenic characteristics of conflict and frustration are threat of thwarting of the basic needs of the organism, threat to its integrity, threat to its integration, and threat to its basic mastery of the world. The feeling of threat is in itself a dynamic stimulation to reactions.

Boynton, Paul L.; Walsworth, Barrier M.

doi: 10.1037/h0053302pmid: N/A

This study does not seek to generalize with respect to the possible differences between delinquent and nondelinquent girls, or even between a particular group of delinquent and nondelinquent girls. Its primary purpose is the analysis of the results of a series of tests of emotionality, or personality, when they are applied to two groups of girls who are manifestly different, on the average, in their personality adjustments. One of these groups was composed of 47 girls, aged 16 and 17, who were in the Tennessee Vocational School for Girls, ordinarily called the State Reform School, to which girls are committed by court as a result of one or more delinquencies of some type. This was the entire population with the designated ages. The other group was composed of 50 girls in West End High School, in Nashville, a public high school which is located in a somewhat favored portion of the city, both from an economic and social point of view. These girls were selected at random from the 16- and l7-year-old girls in the latter school.

Sanford, F. H.; Holt, R. R.

doi: 10.1037/h0058626pmid: N/A

From "such empirical studies of morale as are at present available," an outline of morale-determinants is presented. Under foundations the chief headings are (1) physical health, (2) mental health, (3) economic health, and (4) sound family and religious values. Under war attitudes are listed (1) something to fight for, (2) something to do, (3) realistic knowledge, (4) confidence in leaders, (5) togetherness, (6) reasonable faith in ultimate victory, (7) reasonable fear of possible defeat, and (8) hostility toward enemy.

Warren, R. L.

doi: 10.1037/h0054856pmid: N/A

"The Church hymns come closer to being the American counterpart for the [Nazi] Party hymns than any other group of songs in America . . . . Although they employ similar psychological means, their ideological ends are vastly dissimilar . . . . They [both] make appeals on a social psychological level which are employed to a certain degree by all social movements: The appeal to enemies to solidify the ingroup, the appeal to dead heroes, the sanction of eternity, the employment of symbols, the imminence of victory as a bolster to morale, the rallying around a leader, etc . . . . The Party songs, despite their employment of the sanction of eternity, emphasize deeds and this-worldliness, while the Church hymns emphasize faith and the world to come."

Wechsler, D.

doi: 10.1037/h0060613pmid: N/A

"Psychopaths with modest IQ's (90-100) frequently show an excellent ability to manipulate their environment, . . . whereas neurotics, with considerably higher IQ's, often fail badly in managing their own lives . . . . The difference . . . is largely the result of differences in amount of non-intellective intelligence possessed by each." These non-intellective factors "include all affective and conative abilities which in any way enter into global behavior." Total intelligence cannot be measured until the tests also include some measures of the non-intellective factors.