Volume 13 AUGUST, 1949 No. 4

JOURNAL OFCONSULTING PSYCHOLOGY

PSYCHOLOGICAL EXAMINATIONS OF EMINENTBIOLOGISTS

BY ANNE ROENEW YOKK, N. Y.

THIS paper gives the technical re-ports of Rorschach, TAT and a

special verbal, spatial, mathematicaltest administered to 20 biologists. Themen who served as subjects were chosenfor their eminence in research. All ofthem have made significant contribu-tions to understanding of basic, normallife processes. All were born andbrought up in the United States and allare presently connected with universi-ties or research institutions.

The tests were administered as partof a project to study the lives, personali-ties and work of these men in an at-tempt to isolate any common features intheir personality structure which wouldset them off from other groups, and toinvestigate any relations that theremight be between personality and voca-tional choice and performance. Thestudy has been financed entirely by agrant from the United States PublicHealth Service (Research Grant MH-10), and will be continued during thecoming year, with a similar study ofphysicists. Full details of selection ofsubjects, and results will be reported ina forthcoming monograph.

In addition to the clinical studies ofthe individual men, I have group Ror-

schachs of 196 members of 8 biologicalfaculties in large universities and thatof the National Museum which will alsobe reported elsewhere [4].

This group included 8 geneticists (4 eachplant and animal) 4 botanists (plant physiol-ogy and taxonomy), 3 biochemists, 1 anato-mist, 1 physiologist, 1 paleobotanist, 1 pale-ontologist, and 1 bacteriologist. That thereare no zoologists other than those doing genet-ics primarily is a reflection of present trendsin research. Selection of the men was by thefollowing process. Members in biology of theNational Academy of Sciences and of theAmerican Philosophical Society were listed(omitting those over 60, foreign^born or nowprimarily in administration) together with afew other names of invited speakers at recentimportant symposia. These lists were sub-mitted to a group of raters (Detlev Bronk,Hans Clarke, L. C. Dunn, W. J. Robbins, J.R. Schramm and G. G. Simpson) who ratedthem on a 3-point scale and added other names.The ratings were combined, and from these alist of 23 men was selected. Three of thesedeclined to take part, and the others are re-ported here. Their average -age is 51.2.

All of the men are married; only one hasbeen divorced. Average age at marriage was27.8, and they average 2.2 children each.

Most of them were able to go on to gradu-ate work immediately following their B.A.work. Average age of receiving B.A. or B.S.was 21.8; Ph.D., Sc.D. or M.D. was 26.0.They hold an impressive number of honorarydegrees and have received many prizes and

225

226 ANNE ROE

other formg of professional recognition. Allbut three are members of the National Acad-emy of Sciences and/or the American Philo-sophical Society, our ranking scientific organi-zations.

It is of interest that of the 23 men askedto take part in the study, only three refused,although the time requested was a minimumof six hours. Actually, in most instances con-siderably more time was spent with each man,and many of them were gracious enough to in-vite me to their homes. Social contacts, par-ticularly in the family setting, afford an in-valuable check on interpretation.

The Rorschach was given and scoredaccording to Klopfer's system, [1] andin addition Munroe's Inspection Tech-nique [2] was utilized, this being, in myexperience, the most useful means ofdealing with these data for group re-search purposes. Responses during thetest were taken down verbatim in short-hand ; the inquiry was not always takendown verbatim.

At the beginning of the study, somevariation in the TAT cards selected wasmade, but as the work progressed ninewere settled upon and used for eachman. These were, in the male series, 1, 2,4 (introduced fairly late after late sex-ual development appeared to be com-mon) , 6, 7, 10, 13, 15, 11. For the mostpart these protocols were also recordedverbatim, although occasionally I fell be-hind a few who talk very rapidly andwere difficult to slow down.

The Verbal, Spatial, Mathematical(VSM) test is one compiled for thepurpose by Dr. William W. Turnbull ofthe College Entrance ExaminationBoard. There was no test availablewhich had sufficient ceiling for thisgroup. In fact, it took two attempts toget a verbal section which would serve,although the spatial and mathematicalsections are more than difficult enough.Whether they will prove so for thephysicists next to be studied is anotherquestion. There are, of course, no normsfor this test, but no standardized test

has norms which would be applicable tothis group.

A life history was obtained, and eachsubject's research discussed at somelength before any test was administered.They were always given in the orderRorschach, TAT and VSM.

THE RORSCHACH DATA

Quantitative data1 are presented inTables I, II, III and IV, which will notbe verbalized in any detail.

That the number of responses is a lit-tle low for this level of intelligence isin general, I think, a result of the factthat professionally these men have ar-rived, although not all of them feel com-pletely secure. Although for the mostpart very cooperative, most of them didnot feel constrained to exert themselvesto any great extent. I met with verylittle skepticism, expressed or not, overthe nature of the technique. (One ofthem neatly turned the tables on me bypresenting me, at our second interview,with several nicely done inkblots and ademand that I tell him what they lookedlike.) Except where time did not per-mit, or some other difficulty arose, I wasable to go over the test findings witheach man. There was practically no dis-sension, and frequent confirmation,sometimes of a rather dramatic sort.

The most striking findings are theprevalence of shading and color shockand the restriction of M. In view of the

Administration of the test to 20 was notvery brilliant. It should have been repeatedwith a request for no anatomical responses.This was not done, because he was quite dis-turbed and annoyed that he could see nothing:but pelves and I felt that the suggestion wouldhave been rejected, and might have prejudicedmy being able to administer the other twotests. I am probably excessively unwilling topress subjects under these circumstances. Iam not on the ground long enough, (nor suf-ficiently experienced in therapy to feel secureabout it) to cope with any severe anxiety.This subject, incidentally, had gone out oftown (not on business) and forgotten his origi-nal appointment with me.

TABLE IROESCHACH INSPECTION-METHOD DATA FOE TWENTY BIOLOGISTS

Subject:

K_

T/E.Eefv

Loca

tion

Con

tent

1

Sha

ding

^o ai s

i

•W;Dd._s . -__Sue

pOAtRange.

F%P.;..

ShSh.FK,Fe.c. '. _C'K,k.

FMm ..__SM.

C Sh.FC_._CF.cS C.C:M_ _..

ITS

T%

W%

F%

F+%

1 2 3 4 6

39 33 41 26 23

— —

+ + +11 1

+-f +

- +

+

+++

++,++ +

4

— ++

8 10 10 8 2

23 27 10 8 13

20 21 20 57 26

46 45 63 35 48

83 87 96 89 91

6 7 8

16 19 11

+J

+

+ + •

+V

-- — (M) — (M)— ++ +

4 44 4

++

10 9 10

26 21 18

47 79 45

59 32 36

80 50 75

9 10 11

16 26 11

—

+ (BV)

+1

B+

(VB) B

44 4

++

— (M)

44 14

+ —+

8 9 11

19 4 9

56 39 73

38 31 36

83 100 80

12 13 14

15 23 17

4

B

1

++4-

t

44

— (M) -- -+

44 4 4

5 13 8

7 48 0

52 43 41

47 48 59

100 64 90

15 16 17

23 29 20

4 /

+ + +

1 11

+t

4 <f

(M) r- +

4 4 4

8 8 5

4 10 5

22 24 60

48 34 45

91 80 89

IS 19 20

10 28 15

iUJ1 If

+ ++

+

B++t

+B

44 t

+

—

4

13 3 19

0 0 20

70 60 56

20 25 67

100 100 40

X>g1-4

I

M

W

at— (SB

228 ANNE ROE

TABLE IIEORSCHACH DETERMINANTS USED BY TWENTY BIOLOGISTS

Subj.

123456789

1011121314151617181920

R

3933412623171911162611152317232920102815

M FMm

3193311123

11263425

58444

3313124217136

11

1

11

1

2

1

k KFK P

6 181526

91110

1 64

1 1 61 8

1 41 7

11101110

1 91 21 7

10

Fc c C'

27

2221 12 133 12121 1352

13 12

FC

2124332

231241232142

CF C W

1

2

121

311

1

1

878

1567

1569

1088

1075787

178

D

1717248

166455

1437

118

11158274

d

573

1

2

123

I

726312

12

21544122

S P

2 566466643336475866

2 82

O

1362755245242

112350269

T

994234423111

110031008

TABLE IIIRORSCHACH DETERMINANTS (IN PER CENTS), TIME, AND TURNING OF CARDS

BY TWENTY BIOLOGISTS

123456789

1011121314151617181920

R

3933412623171911162611152317232920102815

W%

2021205726477945563973524341222440706056

D%

44515831693521415315427484847485240202928

Dr%

186

15124

1209

1300096

221420104

14

F%

4645633548593236383136474859483445202567

F*+

838796899180507583

10080

1006490918089

10010040

T

8585988196884273758163807494957990709660

A%

3645492939474855383146473959265550603918

Last3

3639364256412736313536474835432840203927

Turning

nonono

on Iyesyesyes

VIII & IVnonono

on IVyes

IV, Vnoyesyesnonono

T/R

—92530

—574565SO2849443139393136783828

Ave.RT7.97.49.6

17.519.119.511.128.310.52.58.7

33.511.9

9.626.813.922.928.6J11.117.0

RTRange

5-145-173-258-274-644-403-293-1001-301-41-198-1021-452-221-794-461-654-632-252-85

d%13217006000800069

100000

of form responses onlytF+% of all responses$On 8 cards only.

PSYCHOLOGICAL EXAMINATIONS OP EMINENT BIOLOGISTS 229TABLE IV

CONTENT IN THE ROBSCHACHS OF EMINENT BIOLOGISTS

I1

2845

67 _...Sg

10.. _U_1818.14.15181718- .1920

K

4

1933

12123

31142313

•aW <!

2 8

1 135 111 53 8

77656579

1 63 41 10

106

1 102

36

2931

11

12

426

!ii212

2

111412

8212121

3

2

5

13

1

1112

7

42

110

W) OT ^J O PH 55 O <! Q !q *3, e/2 4n 3 £J &

1 6 1 2 5

1 8 2 1 1 13 23 1 1 8 2 1 1

1 1 1

1 31 1 2 2 21 I

1 1 2 13 1 1 1 2

1 1 12 14 1

1 11 2 1 1

3 1 1 21 1 1 12 1

1 3 5 11 i

« n i JiPuddle

1

refuse

1

11 1

fountain1

,

1

importance of the former, I have listedbelow the responses of all of the mento Card VI on which shading shock isusually clearest, when it occurs. I aminclined to think that eventually a dis-tinction will be made between shock de-termined by grayness or blackness andshock determined by tone variations, ortexture. The latter is the commonerform in this group.2 Material from theinquiry is indented.

VI. 2" 1. Another peculiar kind of ani-mal. I suppose it's the bilateral symmetry thatmakes me think of animals. Plants don't haveit, nor do mountains. An impossible kind ofmonster, head like a caterpillar.

2. The rest is sort of amorphous, like arug.

I suppose animal if torn up.3. Lower down if you will pardon my

crudeness, testes.

VI. It seems to me almost all are animal

2C' was never used as a determinant andPC' very rarely as a main determinant. Inthese men F'C' seems to be associated with acertain amount of passive stubbornness andopposition which does not get expressed in Sresponses.

rather than plant life. I don't know what thatlooks like.

64" 1. Looks like an insect emerging froma skin on which it has perhaps been feeding.Maybe it hatched there and grew to maturityand is coming out. There isn't any insect ofthat kind, hut I —

Belonging to the cat family (the skin)

VI. 14" 1. pretty . . . . the front partlooks like a very peculiar flying animal ofsome sort.

(Front?) Going in that direction, thewind alignment I guess.

2. The main part is like a rug, fur, animalskin rug.

Shape rather than anything, the legsand — sprawled out.

3. Bather good face on each side half waydown with a projecting set of chin whiskers.

4. Top of middle part, two little embryos,heads and trunks looking at each other.

VI. 10" 1. Well that part here looks tome like the larvae that's been dissected, vari-ous parts of it but the rest of it doesn't comein at all, this part down here, just a lot ofink.

Such as a Drosophila larva. As marked.Of course the shading there gives you the

230 ANNE ROE

. . . . it suggests that different organs arepresent in the larva.

VI. 8" 1. Now this, the front part re-minded me > < (slowly) A somewhat of aflying fish, the shape, 2 of them opposed,whereas this I haven't diagnosed, it makes itdifficult. . . .

It even has eyes, as fluttering, they don'tnormally hold their fins out otherwise.It's not a good image, especially thewings, they aren't tattered like that.

2. Because it looks to me so like a sacrumor that part of the bony structure. The wingsare too broad. I think I'll let it go at that.(Starts to put card down but pulls it back.)

3. There are some flat worms that looksomething like that; some quite broad flatworms that are blotchy but not with a headlike that or such pronounced appendages onthe side.

VI. 12" 1. A sea robin escaping from apatch of sea weed.

A sea robin is a fish, rather good of it,it has wings and legs.

2. Also looks like a skin, very much, againupside down, the tail up.

It looks soft.I don't seem to have so many ideas.

VI. 5" 1. A hide pinned out. A wolfpelt.

Wolf partly because we had been talkingof them. The shading, too, and the spreadlegs.

VI. 24" 1. This part is certainly theskin of some kind of an animal, sheep skin forwant of something better and . . . .

Sheep? Association with one I have onthe blanket roll which is more or less thatshape but is still not so dark as that.

2. This is an insect which I can't name.The larval form of a mosquito or some-thing, an aquatic type. (Wings?) I don'tthink they have wings while in the water.Took the whole thing together with a largegrain of salt.

VI. 17" 1. Again like a stretched skinexcept for that uppermost part, or a rug lyingflat, from an animal skin.

Clear. It felt like the fur side.2. Upper part like the head of a tape worm

a little bit.Nothing in the rest.

a. There could be two heads facing eachother, might be worm or caterpillar orsomething of that sort. The whiskerswould be more in place then.

VI. 7" 1. That's the skin of an animal.Whiskers. Has 4 legs. I don't know whatkind, I never saw that kind, but some kindspread out. I suppose it could be used as arug but would make rather a queer one butspread out in a rug fashion.

I don't think I would have thought of itas furry if I hadn't been struck by theshape in the first place. Wing effect issome kind of fur coming out of head.

VI. 20" 3 A 1. A coon skin stretched outon a barn door drying. He's got a funny headbut . . . .

It's tacked out or it's been tacked out andbeen dried in position, nailed at thestretched out points. It's the shading alittle bit, this pattern in here isn't quiteright for a coon skin but a definite pat-tern that suggests a hide.

VI. 5" 1. A stuffed skin of leopard, or. . . . calls back African Hall at Museum.

I mean flat, not stuffed. It's stretchedout, pulled. I don't know why I said leop-ard, some exotic animal.

2. Head of some sort of very indeterminatecreature.

3. Contour map with a valley runningdown it.

4. A cleared specimen in oil of wintergreento show the vertebral column. What annoysme is all this stereotyping. Wintergreen be-cause that's used to make the specimen trans-parent.

VI. 40" 1. Could be the beginning of amedical drawing but it isn't very meaningful.

Just a vague form. You have differentia-tion up in here, there is something differ-ent both in shape and quality, and a littlebit of a thing here in the center (Couldn'tbe more specific about what it seemed tohim to foe)

VI. 7" 1. This has much more of a facesuggestion, a cat with whiskers, but also hasinsect relationships.

This diaphonous material is part of whatsuggested an insect, like a butterfly wing.

2. Primary node and streak of an embryo.Somewhat inaccurate.

3. Spread of a puddle; flow of something

PSYCHOLOGICAL EXAMINATIONS OF EMINENT BIOLOGISTS 231

spilled as though it was ink.(Not including upper D)

VI. 29" 1. Well, the principal part sug-gests somehow a suture that might have beenin the body of some animal that was laidopen but that isn't a very strong suggestion. . . . (pause of 68"). That's the only thingthat occurs to me as though it might be asuture and some kind of vein or gut or some-thing of that sort exposed.

(Cutoff W). It gives a sense of depth asthough there was a trough there, there issome perspective.V a. This suggests possibly some of thosesticks that the African medicine men carryin their hands.

VI. 5" A 1. Having spoken of a chickembryo, you get them everywhere with theneural plate at the end, in this case sproutingwings.

It's the axis and the differentiated regionlaterally.

2. Oh, I see, that looks like some sort ofbear skin leaving out that front part here,spread out on the floor.

(Fc clear in inquiry)3. Some sort of a jet-propelled missile go-

ing out here shooting out sparks laterally, sug-gested of something shooting out here fromsome sort of a take-off, you have the impres-sion of a trough, but I don't know just what.

Something going out, not quite an animal,running along a trough spurting flamelaterally. It suggests flame spurting outof something.

VI. Oh, heavens.20" 1. A symbol that might be used by a

Navajo to represent in a schematic way agrowing corn plant or perhaps a highly sche-matic animal in a Navajo sand painting.

W. The symmetry of the design remindsme of the sand painting. Would have tobe very schematic. It's the color andshading.

2. The top of it looks like an insect headwith bristles, the rest of it doesn't remind meof anything.

Upper D. Side pieces could be wings orpossibly ?

VI. 7" It doesn't look like anything . . . .

30" 1. Something with whiskers on and

Upper D. Can't specify animal, just some-thing but sort of head here . . . .

'2. This looks like a vagina but it doesn'tfit with that.

3. This is like a piece of the United Statesflopped over or something .but it very stronglysuggests a pattern.

Flopped because it didn't fit any knowncoast line.

VI. 25" Well that doesn't look like muchof anything I ever saw before . . . . 55" thathas me stumped, I'm just trying to think whatit could look like. Trying to make somethingout of the . . . . something with whiskers on.

100" I think that's a new species of (?) ofillustration. I just see it as a nioe symmetri-cal figure with out very much meaning. Youcan see a resemblance between certain partsand certain things but take the thing as awhole it doesn't look like anything I'm famil-iar with.

On inquiry said readily he had seen sev-eral things in it, and gave them asa. head of tarsius, and> b. Animal. A rigid pose, could .be alamb except for the face. See chart forboth.

VI. 15" Well, now this doesn't remind meof anything. Are you interested in knowinghow it makes me feel? 40" I never saw any-thing that looked like this, it has the old steerhide look, looking at this much but all the restof this it doesn't look like anything at all; itdoesn't remind me of anything.

Pur because of color, dark along the back,the color tone. Fc.

2. Except the designs you see on wall pa-per or linen, I never saw one like this ofcourse.

V 3. Actually these look like the ovaries ofa bird that makes it sort of a bird, beak, tailsand feathers, but that's reaching for it, theanswer is it doesn't look like anything.

If these were colored I might feel more, orhave more answers. (This in response to in-quiry into how it made him feel. Could notelicit any statement of feeling tone in reac-tion to the card.)

Mild degrees of color shock are notuncommon in normal groups. It issomewhat less prevalent than theshading shock and I think of considera-

232 ANNE ROE

TABLE VANALYSIS OF WHOLE RESPONSES IN THE ROBSCHACHS OP BIOLOGISTS

Subj.

123456789

1011121314151617181920

W

778

1568

1559

1088

1075787

177

W%2021205726447946563973524341222440706356

Cards

I,II,V,VI,VIII-VI incl.I- VI incl.all but XI-VI incl.all but II & XallI,II,V,VI,VIIall but VI, VIIIall but IXall but III.VII-VII incl.all but XI-VIi,n,m,vi,vnI,II,IV,V,VI,IXI-VIIall but IV.IX.Xall but Xall but I.VII.X

LevelBetter than

Combinatorial Popular

11222

33

116

2126223132411232212

Popular orequivalent

84432472251544244282

Poor or vagueforms

11

4

2521

4257

11315

bly less importance unless strong.In their research it is difficult to argue

that these men are not creative. Theirmajor contributions have been, for themost part, too significant to be judgedotherwise. Nevertheless, as was thecase with the artists I studied, M re-sponses may be very few, and when ade-quate in number are often remote incontent or restricted in activity. Thisis almost as often associated with a cor-responding lack of FM as it is with anexcess. The FM responses also tend tobe very mild.

Some other points are of interest.W% is not particularly high, althoughabove average; excess of unusual de-tails (almost always dr) is much com-moner, although there are four protocolswith none of these. The nature of W inthis group is particularly interesting,and an analysis is given in Table V.

One subject gave many more com-binatorial W's than did any of the othermen. His situation is a rather curious

one. It is difficult for me to assess hiswork in this respect, but he does notappear to have very broad interests. Onthe other hand (and he is the only onein the group who makes a consistentpractice of this) he invariably starts apaper with a statement of the generalbackground and a very lucid expositionof how this particular piece of researchfits into it which enormously simplifiesthe reader's task. He stands apart fromthe group in a number of respects. Forone thing he seems to have become ascientist because he couldn't help him-self, having the sort of mind he has,with really extraordinary powers of or-ganization, rather than because sciencemet an inner need, as seems to be thecase with most of the others.

It is rather presumptuous of me torate these men in terms of the breadthof their abstractions and theories, butI have made an attempt in all humilityin order to try to check this againstsome Rorschach data. If the group is

PSYCHOLOGICAL EXAMINATIONS OF EMINENT BIOLOGISTS 233

divided into two parts on the basis of arough Rorschach measure, constructedof the number of W better than P butnot elaborate combinatorial, plus twicethe number of the latter, plus one pointfor M over 3, and compared with a roughdivision on the basis of more or lessbreadth of abstraction, only two menare diiferently placed on the two bases.One is a man whose emotional difficul-ties are likely adversely to affect hisjudgment and the other is one who doesmuch less generalizing than he might(perhaps because he is so very well bal-anced and controlled a man). This isvery crude, and there are so manysources of error that it is included withmisgivings, but only to suggest an ap-proach to analysis of these relationships.What is perhaps more significant isthat I was able for three of the last menI saw, after reading their work and be-fore seeing them, to make not too badpredictions of the percent and qualityof the W responses which would begiven in the Rorschaeh. Again, this isonly suggestive. One should probablyalso consider combinatorial Dr. Theseare not common, but probably have asimilar meaning, perhaps with a specialsignificance for limitation.

Technical responses (T) are ratherfew in this group, and in general moreare given by anatomists than the othersas might have been expected. Some ofthem, e.g. pollinium of a milkweed toD 12 of Card X were given by severalsubjects. Responses scored sci are notalways T, the latter designation beinggiven only when technical knowledge isclear.

F% is not generally excessive, but itshould also be noted that responses inwhich F is not the dominant determi-nant are very rare. All of the C', e.g.are FC'. The m and the k are more of-ten Fm and Fk than mF and kF. Forthe most part F+% is high. Qualitative-

ly, also, there are indications of greaterthan usual care with form in commentson inadequacies or inaccuracies, eventhough they may have been accepted.Also it was not uncommon during theinquiry to have a response recalled thathad been rejected because it didn't quitecome up to acceptable accuracy of form,e.g. two of these men considered but de-cided against frogs in the lower detailof VIII on this ground.

These men have much the same un-aggressive, rather restricted sexual de-velopment and limitations of its expres-sion that appeared in the study ofartists, and that seems to be rather typi-cal of professional groups in our culture.There is one outstanding exception, whocan quite accurately be termed a "wolf"and I should think a very successful one,but this is probably the obverse of thesame basic situation. One of the othersinsisted he had never been shy withgirls but I am not too sure of this. Therest all gave, or admitted to, if asked, ahistory of social awkwardness, shynesswith girls, and very frequently nodating to speak of until late college orgraduate school days. An interestingadditional point is the very commonfailure to give any response for thelower D in cards VII and VIII.

There is a considerable element ofegocentricity in many of them which isdetermined more by disinterest in otherpersons, social uncertainties and lackof warmth, which are characteristic ofmany of them, than by any aggressiveintroversiveness, although it may some-times have the appearance of ruthless-ness.

THE TAT RESULTS

After experimenting with several"systems", I finally scored the TAT pro-tocols following Wyatt [5], with only afew changes or additions. The basicdata are given in Tables VI to X, which,

TABLE VISUMMARY OF ANALYSIS OF THEMATIC APPERCEPTION TEST PROTOCOLS OF BIOLOGISTS

toCO

Sab}.

1

2

3

4

E

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

1«

17

18

18

20

Story

S

6

6

2,6,7,10.13

4,7,10,13,15,11

1,4,6,7,15

4,6,7

1,2,6,7,10

2,6,7,1013,15,1110,13,15

1,4,6,7,10,13,15,111,6,10

1,2,4,6,7,10,13,15

1,2,6,7,10,13,15

4,6.7,10,13,15

2,7,10,13,15,11

1,2,4,6,710,13,15

1,4,6,7,16

1,2,6,13,15,11,106,7,13,11

4,6

SD

7,13

1,2.4,10,15.11

1,2,6

2,10,13,11

2

4,13,11

1

6,7,11

2,4,7,13

11

1,2

1,6

13

7

DS

2,10

7

13

1,2,4

2

11

11

11

2,10,11

1,2,10

2,7,10,18

D

15,11

1,10,15,11

15

15,11

15

1,15,11

Perception

Omit

2

2

1

1

1,4

1,2,4

1,13

1

1

1

Distort

2 church

10 sexes

lO.sex

10 sex

Descrip.Detail

(1) accident

(1) (2)

2,4

(1) 7,13

(1) (7)

1,2,4

11

6,10,13,15

13

Deviation

13 (11)

1,10,11

(7) (10) 13

(2)(4)(6),7,(13)

(1) 4,10

4 (7)

<O(7)

(2)10

(1) (4) (10) (13)(15)(H) 6(6) (13) (15) 11

(2) 6a (10) (15)

(13)

(1) (2) (6) (7) (10)

13,15,11(6a)(13)

(2)(6a, b)(7)(10) 15

(4) (7) (15)

2 (4) 7, 10 (13)

(7)(15)(11)

2 (6) 10

Time Trend

Past, PresentFuture

13

1,6

2,10

2,13

6,7,10

4

1,6,7,10,13,15,11

1,10,15

1

2

Past andPresent

7

4b,6,15

13

1,15

15

6a

2,13

Present andFuture

1,2,6,7,10,15

6,7,10,13

1,4,6,10,13

1,2,10,11

2,4,11

1,7,15,11

4,6,7,10,11

1,2,4

l,2,6b,7

1,6,15,10

2

1,2,4,6,7,10,15112,7

4,6,15

4,6,7,11

1,6,10,13,15,11

2,6.7,11

4

Presentonly

2,6,7,10,13,15

4,11

2

2,11,15

7

All

7,10,13

e

13,11

4,10,13,15

7,11

13

6,13,11

1,2,7,10,13,11

2,10,13,15

2,7

1.10.13,15

6,7,10,13

M

§

PSYCHOLOGICAL EXAMINATIONS OP EMINENT BIOLOGISTS 235

again, will not be extensively verbalized.Entries in the table are the numbers ofthe cards.

Description was resorted to chieflyfor Card 11. The vagueness of the cardwas unpleasant and rather disturbingfor many of these men who have a de-cided preference for the nonamorphousand factual. It has been noted in con-nection with subject 20 that he showedconsiderable disturbance. His TAT islargely descriptive, but nevertheless in-dicated that the depression he was suf-fering was not psychotic. Subject 6thought it was all the "bunk"; althoughhe went through the motions, he wasbasically noncompliant.

The omitted detail, listed under Per-ception, was most often the sheet of

music in card 1. Distortions were: Sub-ject 1, interpretation of barn in card 2as church; Subject 2, reversal of usualspecification of sex in card 10, and awoman leading a boy into evil; Subject8, card 10 taken as mother and daughter,whereas Subject 17 took it as a monkand a boy.

Entries in parentheses in the columnhead Deviation refer to stories whichare not uncommon themselves but havean unusual twist. Other entries are forunusual stories. It should be statedthat the reference point is my own ex-perience, which is pretty well limitedto superior normal adults.

The time trend is extremely curtailed,more so for the past than for the future.

Level is dominantly concrete-factual;

TABLE VII ASUMMARY OF ANALYSIS OF THEMATIC APPERCEPTION TEST PROTOCOLS OF BIOLOGISTS

(Continued)

Subj.

1234

5e

789

10

11

12

18

14

15

16

171819

20

Level

Concretefactual

61

2,6,7,10,181,2,4,7,10,13,11 (6)

2,4,6,7,10,181,2,4,6

6,7 (13)7,13

1,2,6,7,10,13,11 (4)

1,2,4,6,7,10,IS

1,2,4,6,7,10,13

2 (1), (4)

1,2,6,7,10,13,16

1,2,4,6,7,10,13,16

1,2,6,7,10,13,15

2,4,6,7,10,13,15,11

1,2,4,6,7,106,7,10,16a (1)

2,10,13,11

2

Endopsychic

2,7,10,132,6,7.10,15 (1)

(10)6 (1) (13)

1,16 (13)

1,4,10,131,2,6,10,16 (13)

4,15

15 (1),(4),(10)

(1) (10)

1,4,6,7,10,13,15

(1),(2),(3),(10),(13)(1)

(1). (10)

1 (2), (6), (7),(16)

13,15 (,2),(7),(10)l,16b

1,6,7,15

1,4,6,7,10,13 (2)

Symbolic

1511

(7), (11)

15

2,16?(15)

11

15

2 11?

Mythical

15

1111

11

Make-believe

11

11

11

11

Dll

11?

Conditional

4(1)

(1).(4),(7)7,10,13,11

(1)(1)

6.13

(1)

(6). (7)

(2). (8)

(6)

(6)

11(IS), (15)

(1), (10).(13)

(7)

Oi

TABLE VII BSUMMARY OF ANALYSIS OF THEMATIC APPERCEPTION TEST PROTOCOLS OF BIOLOGISTS (Continued)

Subj.

1234

56

789

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

171819

20

Tone

Indifferent

la

H

1

1.11

Detached

6

Contemplative

2,15?

2

2 ?, 16 ?

1

Cheerful

2

11

1,2,13,15

2

Serene

2

17,10

2

(10)

2,7,10

Melodramatic

13,11

7,1315

10,112,4,6,7

10,13,151111

11

4

15,11

11

11

4,6

11

Unhappy

10,156,10

6,10,13

6,13,15

6,1313,1510,15

4,10

1,6,710,134,6,710,13

3,10.13,15

l,2,6b,10,13,15,11

1,10,134,6,7

7,10,1313,15

4,10,13

Tense

7,104,7,11

1

2,4a,71

10,71,2

2,6,7

6,7,13,15

1,2

7,10

2

2,15,11

1,21,6 (7)2,7,10,

156,15

Anxious

1,62?4,7

Ib

46

4,11

1

6

6

6a

116,13

7

Morbid

1713?

15 T

13a

Aggressive

11

4b

7?

7?

Sardonic

(7) (15)

(13)

(15)

(15)

(15)

15(4)

TABLE VIIISUMMARY OF ANALYSIS OP THEMATIC APPERCEPTION TEST PROTOCOLS OF BIOLOGISTS (Continued)

Snbj.

1

2

84

5

6

78

9

10

11

12

IS

14

15

16

17

1819

20

Quality

Simple-*Literate

1

2All

11

10

7,10,16

1,2,4,18,15,11

1,2,15,11

1,2

1,2,4,15

15

All6

All

Simple

6

10 (7)2

4,6,7

1,2,6,13

6,7,10

4,6,7,10,13

7

6,7,10,13,11

1,2,4,1013,11

1,10,13,11

Literate

2,6,7,10,13,15

2,4,7,10,15,11

All

1,2,15,11All

All

All.

All

6,10,13,15,11

2

Cliche

(7)

6,7W

(7)

Col

(7)

6,7,13

1,2,4,6,7,10,13,15

(6)

Cr

(6) (7)

(10)

(D.(7),(10), (13)

18(4)

(2)

(2). (4),(6), (7)

(7)

(7)

(2)

Ev.

(15)

Personal Relations

Formal

2,6,7

1.2,6

6,101,2,6,10,

156,13,15

2,6,7

6,71,2,6,7,10,

132,10,15

1,2,4,6,7,10

l,2,6b,10,13

1,2,6,7

2,6,7,10,11

2,6b,7,10,13,15

l,2,6a,10,13,156,7,13

1,6

2,6,7,106

2,6,10,13

Emotional

13

7,10,11

2,7,137,13,11

2,4,7,10,11

2,4,10,15

4,10,13

2,4,6,7,13

13,15

4,6a,7

4,10,13,11

l,13,lS

4,6a

2,6b,7

2,4

2,4,7,10,1513

2,7,10,13

4

NotStated

10

4

13

215

10

13

1,15

7

None

15

15

1

1,11

1,15,1111

1,11

11

15,11

11

1,11

11

1,15,11

11

1,15,1111

1,15,11

Presses

Friend-ly

7

2,6,7

1

4a, 7b

4

4,6,71,2,6,10

7

1,4,6,7

1,4,7

1.6,7

1,2.7,13,15

1

1,10

6,7,101

4?,6,7

Un-friendly

10,11

7.1311

2,3b,7a

2

117

6

15

116,11

6a,7

7

2

2,4

132,7,10

Impersonal

10,13

2,6.106,10,13,15

13,16,11

7,13

1313,15,11

1,10,11

2,10

6a,10,13,15

10

2,10,13,15,11

2,6b,10,13,15

6,7,10,13,11

6,7,18

15,118.11

2,10,13

Internal

2,15

15

4

1

1,10,15

1,10,15

2,4,13,16

13

2

2,4,10,13,15

1.4

1,15

15

1.213,16

?

6

1,4

2,7

6,10

11

2

11

11

11

11

1,15,11

1Wp

IM

t-4

I

to

TABLE IXSUMMARY OF ANALYSIS OP THEMATIC APPERCEPTION TEST PROTOCOLS OF BIOLOGISTS (Concluded)

Subj.

12

346

6

7

8

9101112IS

141516171819

20

OutcomeNone ' ~ ~ ~

Possible

15,11

1,6,7,10,13,15,11

7

6a,13,15

136b,13

1313,152,7

1,13,15

Success

1,2,6,7

134,10,11

10,13 ?,4b

1,2,4 man11

2,7,10 for 1

2,111,2,10,11

7,26,15

1,2,7,10,13,11

1,6,7,1014

4,6,7,111,6,10,11

2,4

Defeat

10,15?

7,10111

4 girl 611 others

11

134,7,13l,6b

4,11

6

157,11

UnsolvedTension

62

15

6,76

1,46 (7),(10)2,15

2,10,1515

1,10132

By rule

13

10

10

7

116 (2)

None or ?given

2,6,7,10,134,11

2,62,7,15

l,4a,6,7,15

2

10,13,15

6

15,113,11,1510,11,4

2,7,13,15,1115

(13)6a,ll

1,2,7,102

1,10,15,13

6,7,10,11

Certainty of Outcome

Certain

1,2,6,7,10,15

1310,11

2,6

10

61,2

1,6,151,6,10,

13,15,111,2,615,266

13,116

4

Probable

7,101,4,6,134b,10,13,

11

4,11

2,7,11,15

2,4,6,71,4,7,10

7,6b4,10

4,5,11104

4,7,111,6,102,7,13,

112

Possible

2

1

1,10,11,132

2

7,101.715

15

PersonalReference

1,2,6,7

10?1

All but 15

7

1,7,10,15

7

1

Refused

1(11)

(11)

PersonalOpinion

6,74,7

(4)7

4,13

2,6,7

2,4,6

7

2,7,10,1311

I

PSYCHOLOGICAL EXAMINATIONS OF EMINENT BIOLOGISTS 239

the exceptions are men who are present-ly most concerned with specific emo-tional problems. Entries preceded by aplus have the meaning of additionalscores on the Rorschach.

Tone is dominantly unhappy andtense. Melodramatic stories are usuallylimited to cards 11 and 15, and reflecttheir way of handling stimuli whichseem to them rather unrealistic. Thisgroup for the most part, draws a verysharp line between fact and fancy, andthey take a rather caustic view of thelatter.

Quality is chiefly simple to literate.Personal relations are somewhat of-

tener formal than emotional; pressesmostly impersonal. I have introducedthe category "internal" here to takecare of situations in which the pro-tagonist is impelled by inner needs.

Outcomes that are given are moreoften successful than not, but for manyin which no outcome is given a continua-tion of tension is implied. Degree ofcertainty is usually not great.

Cards invoking specific personal ref-erences or opinions of the characters ortheir behavior are also noted.

Themas for each card have not beenlisted. Instead it has seemed more use-ful to give all of the reponses to onecard, and I have selected card 10 forthis purpose. These are reproduced asthey were taken down.

Qualitatively, outstanding aspects ofthe protocols are the generally non-aggressive attitudes, the mildness of het-erosexual interests and feelings, and atthe same time the importance of and se-curity in marriage. Paternal attitudesare sympathetic. Some of the protocolshave a strong feeling of determinationand resulting success; but not all showthis. There is, however, an almost totallack of any expectation of or reliance onluck, or fate, or any other nonpersonalintervention as an aid. The nonaggres-

sive attitudes are firmly entrenched, butthere is a hint of underlying resentmentor rebelliousness, which, however, isgenerally attached to characters in earlymaturity, and which is usually not ex-pressed in action and if it is, resultsunfortunately for the one expressing it.On the whole, there is a strong conven-tionality in most of the protocols, theonly common break in this being inconnection with religion, conventionalforms of which most of them have dis-carded.

I should like to comment on the long-est story reproduced below. Long, rath-er dramatic narratives were the rulein this protocol, which is completely dif-ferent from all the others. Furthermorethere were several stories which showthis same repetition of the scene whichis unique in my experience and of thesignificance of which I am not certain.It may be an indication of the repetitioncompulsion which is characteristic ofmany neurotics, although I do not havelife history data of a sort to indicatethat this is particularly strong with him.He has more, and more obvious difficul-ties than many of the men, a more ir-regular professional history, and cer-tainly a much richer affective life.

Responses to Card 10.10. I don't know why I think it's Russian,

it's in the face of the woman and the eyes ofthe man, Central European. The age of theindividual involved bespeaks an affection last-ing late in life. That she isn't young isshown as skilfully by the way her hair is doneas by her face. It is, however, a story of veryfirm irrefragable affection. Maybe he is a Rus-sian general going off to war (?) I don't thinkthe author need be concerned with that be-cause he has no answer to that.

10. (Long pause.) My first reaction is a bitof resentment that the drawing is so bad Ican't tell if this is a man or a woman. The firstreaction is that this is ardently erotic, affec-tionate kissing, but it's more idealistic. I tookat right a man, at left a woman, kissing browrather than lips, a certain amount of childish-

240 ANNE BOB

ness in that E with rounded cheeks, the poseof the hand like a child's hand on the mother.But the left looks wicked. Something notright about this pose. This a question of evilis some way? This gives me much vaguerimages than the other one. (?) This one on theleft will take charge of that one and lead himinto evilf Not a contemporary though the badcompanion. Older woman taking charge ofa childish boy and he's being misled and willfall for it because not strong enough to resistit.

10. 15". These are getting progressively nobetter . . . . Is this a graded series and theyget worser? ....!' 15" I don't get much of thisone, well I'd say it was a husband and wifescene in a family with pretty complete confi-dence and considerable affection among themembers although they have been married fora long time. The husband has been havingphysical difficulties or he has been ill or some-thing and has just been told he has a diseasethere isn't much hope for and is breaking thenews to her. She is broken up but bucking upand taking it in good style. She needs comfort-ing from him. I haven't any future, I expecthe is going to up and kick the bucket some-time fairly soon but this is a matter of months.

10, I think this is probably not a romanticscene because the man and woman involvedare not very young any more. I think theyare probably married and have been for sometime and probably have a considerable familywhich she has to stay home and take care ofstill. The husband is departing on a long tripto foreign parts and possibly from the natureof his expression he might be an army officerand might be an explorer. In any case he'sgoing away for a long trip and as he leaveshis family he is embracing his wife and sheis clinging to him and they aren't kissing eachother with sensual enthusiasm, but they arejust clinging to each other while they saygood bye and I think the wife is feeling worsethan the husband is. I think it's all going tocome out all right. He'll come back home. Imight say by way of explaining that last re-mark that I say that because he isn't youngand whether an army officer or explorer hewill not do anything very dangerous. If anarmy officer he won't get into anything danger-ous because he is a big shot and if an explorerhe has been around enough and he will comehome perfectly whole.

That's a puzzler. Well we have here a ladywho is respectable but not too determined anda gentleman who is old enough to know bet-ter. The lady has a comfortable nest egg laidaway. The gentleman has learned about itand has reached the point of making a propos-al to the lady that they marry and he is kiss-ing her quite chastely on the forehead andshe has laid her hand up on his chest, closedher eyes and I think is going to consent. Theshadows are not quite right in this picturewhich makes it a little bit difficult. The shad-ows here. (Points out that the deep shadowon her face would indicate that the light iscoming from a different direction than seemsto be the case from the rest of the picture.)

10. That's quite a good drawing. Theblack background leaves an awful lot to theimagination the way the faces are cut off.Well, it could either be very chaste and re-spectable or heavy necking as far as I cansee. A fond farewell. It need only involvethe higher passions. I don't care much for agirl with such short fingers. If I were in sucha clinch I'd rather have a different girl. Butit doesn't matter much to them. (?) Theydon't seem particularly happy so that's why Ithink it wasn't the grand passion.

10. This gets worse and worse. These areonly details. Well, these are two lovers thatdon't have much of an opportunity to see eachother and now they have met and have sunkinto oblivion. That's about all I can say forthat. You could spin any number of yarnsbefore and after but it isn't suggested by thedrawing itself.

10. The lower figure is definitely a woman.The upper figure I think probably is, too. uh..That's possibly, well, I'm not sure whether tocall it a prodigal daughter, well, we'll call itthat. Perhaps a daughter who has been away,has gotten into difficulty, has lived on theBowery or that sort of environment and hasfinally come back home and mother has takenher to her arms and is forgiving her so thatit is a reconciliation and forgiveness and allhappy there ever after.

10. Um, oh, they are a married couple andsomething has happened, maybe her motherhas died. I don't know what, anyway she hascome to him for comfort. And I assume thattime will lessen her distress. If you wouldlike me to think up more lurid situations I can.

10. (Long pause, turns the card around) 10. Hmm. Well, this is a husband and wife

PSYCHOLOGICAL EXAMINATIONS OF EMINENT BIOLOGISTS 241

who just heard of a very terrible tragedy thathas happened to one of their children probablyand they turn to each other. They probablyhave been married long enough and have got-ten along and will share each other's grief.They probably will have other moments likethis in their lives and will share it and keepgetting closer to each other because of it.

10. Well, this I'd say was a goodbye, fare-well scene. A man is leaving on a trip, maybecalled into the service, mobilization, or some-thing and that's his wife and she's just re-alized what a hell of a fine fellow he is afterliving with him all these years, so she's veryheartbroken and of course he's very sad tooabout leaving his family. A very nice picture.Yes a touching scene. Reminds me of a pic-ture which was in Life a while ago, a mancoming home, it was the real thing. . . .(?)Pfft. A matter of probability, what are theodds of getting killed?

10. Oh, gosh, you are getting them moredifficult, aren't you? Gee, you ought to giveme some that aren't so sad, these all look sadto me. Well, this is a woman and her husbandor equivalent, her man any way, and she isvery sad about something and he's trying tocomfort her. I don't know what she is sadabout. It could be a million things and I don'tknow what is going to happen. I suppose shewill get over it, people do. I can't say howthey got into this situation or what the out-come is going to be.

10. It's a little hard to see just what's there,it's going to be a little difficult. This womanis such an indefinite age that I don't knowwhether it's meant to be his sweetheart, wife,mother . . . . or even sister. (His voice droppedon this.) You see he looks somewhat youngerthan she (is it she or her? I can't remember)and yet one can't see him very plainly either,so—(E: You can have it the way you wantit.) Well all right, she's not quite the typeI'd pick for a sweetheart. This looks like amuch more commonplace story to me. Onecould imagine that.. . . that they are a marriedcouple and that he has had some. . . .well atany rate it might be that he's got to go awaysomewhere and leave her and that they arepained at parting. His work probably istaking him away; we won't say it's war butany way some work that takes him far awayand he might be for instance, be a .... it's hardto make it plausible I wanted to say that he hadrsucceeded in getting a position on a ship that

he long had been wanting to get and that theyhad been living together in town at someclerical work he didn't like and he had alwayslonged to get away and get some work in whichhe had a real interest. He has perhaps beenworking in the office of a shipping companyhe hardly to me looks the type for an engi-neer. They look like rather commonplacepeople, that is commonplace occupations, andhe has had a desire however to have a job ona ship as, let's say as purser, and has finallygotten this job but it's a ship that takes himto the orient and will take him away on longjourneys. He's perhaps gone on short onesbut it's painful parting because she hasmeanwhile become pregnant and he will beaway for many months and the baby will beborn in the meantime and she regards it asdangerous because there is danger of warbreaking out and all ships will be in dangerso they have mixed feelings. Both of them. Heis glad to have the job but is sorry to be awaywhen the baby is being born. She doesn't likethat either and is worried about him beingin danger. Then we pass on from the picture.He does go off from her on his ship. Hewrites to her but the letters take a long time. .and she to him. . and. . . . shortly before herbaby is to be born war does break out and heis interned by the enemy let's say in Japan butshe has no news of him and doesn't know whathas happened to the ship. She has a terribletime in childbirth and doesn't know whetherher child has a father or not, alive, but theson is born, she receives payment from thecompany and manages to get along and yearspass by and she hasn't been able to get anynews of him . . . . until one day before the waris over a wild looking man with a beard ringsher door bell and she finally recognizes him.He managed to escape from internment andget off on a Chinese junk and through veryexciting adventures around the world getsback, and then the question arises what heshould do and she doesn't want him to go againbut now he is resolved to go and after beinga little while at home together he starts offagain because the merchant marine is veryimportant and there is another parting butthis time he's determined to help . . . . to helphis country is dominant in him and he, he haseven a feeling of joy in going. Now we mightperhaps leave at this point.

10. Trying to settle on the age, there, that'sa main problem. Well I would guess thatthat is a, — that they aren't too young. It'spresumably a husband and wife and there has

242 ANNE ROE

been some difficulty, shall we guess with thechild? Possibly died or there has been someaccident and they are comforting one another.As for the future I guess they will get over it.

10. (Long pause.) I would say that theevents preceding the picture were these. Thisseems to me to be a young man here on theleft and that he had been away from home fora long time either in some hazardous under-taking such as war which isn't indicated at allby the picture so far as I can see, or that hehad not been heard from and it was fearedthat he was in bad company or getting intotrouble one way or another. This pictureshows him returning home with the great re-lief of his mother, I would say, greeting himwhile he still has a rather jolly, carefree ex-pression as much as I can see of his face, soshe's the one expressing emotion as far as Ican see, he just shows a little awkwardness,so he's not so completely carefree. I wouldsuspect if my guess about the earlier part iscorrect the outcome would not be so happy.He would be likely to get into the same situa-tion again unless it was a case of war whichis also likely again but not for the same reason.

10. I can't even be quite sure of the sex ofthe various people involved here. I supposea man and woman here but not sure of that,first impression wasn't that. He's kissing hercheek. Well, I suppose you could say that theyhave heard bad news and he's trying to com-fort her, something of that sort I'll let it go atthat (firmly.)

10. Oh, that's tougher. (Long pause) WellI suppose they intentionally leave out enoughso you can't be sure what it's intended to be.I'm going to guess that the left hand characteris a monk or a priest and that he's trying toprovide some comfort for this broken heartedlad on the right but that is a poor diagnosis, itdoesn't fit much of anything. I don't knowwhether priests are in the habit of comfortingyoung men who are in trouble or not, my ex-perience being so limited.

10. Well there is a great deal of affectionhere. I presume this can be interpreted as ahusband and wife, at least it would be acharacteristic pose, the wife with her head onthe shoulders of her husband. Whether happi-ness or grief they are certainly sharing thesituation. (?) I should think favorable out-come, I should think those two would findstrength in each other.

10. I don't think it's happened yet but Ithink it will before very long. I don't just seewhy they should have such a brilliant light.Might be a headlight of a car that arrived atan unfortunate time such things do happen.I don't think any one would stand there onpurpose. Might even be one of these flash-light pictures that gentlemen with low mindstake sometimes.

10. I would interpret that as grief strickenparents after the loss of a baby. They seem tobe relatively young which would fit that idea.To me the attitude indicates they are tryingto comfort each other.

THE VERBAL-SPATIAL-MATHEMATICAL

TEST (VSM)

This test was compiled by the CollegeEntrance Examination Board from sev-eral of the most difficult of their tests.The verbal section consists of two parts,comprising 79 items in all. The secondpart was added when it was apparentthat the first did not have enoughceiling for this group. It had been hopedthat this would be an adequate powertest, but in some instances at least, itis primarily a speed test. The problemin each set is to find the antonyms; inthe first part four words are given, fromwhich the two antonyms must be select-ed, in the second part 6 words are given,and the task is to find which of the lastfive is opposite to the first. Time limitwas 15 minutes.

The spatial section comprised 24items, each item consisting of 4 viewsof solid figures. The task is to select thetwo views which are of the same figure.This particular test was suggested bythe Board, because they believe it to bethe purest space test they have. Timelimit was 20 minutes.

For the mathematical section, 39items from a 60-item test were selectedso as to omit some of the items ateasier levels of difficulty. The originaltest was given with a 60-minute time

PSYCHOLOGICAL EXAMINATIONS OP EMINENT BIOLOGISTS 243

TABLE XNUMBER TRIED, RAW SCORE, AND SIGMA SCORE OF BIOLOGISTS ON A

VERBAL SPATIAL MATHEMATICAL TEST

Raw Score

Subj.

1234567891011121314151617181920

MeanSD

V

71797979686079777979

—706379527755506960

69.8 ±2.39.89 ±1.6

TriedS

24221419232421181124—24222281010151224

18.2±1.35.63 ±0.9

M

22182825122215242227

—262826233020152121

22.3 ±1.14.63 ±0.8

V

50737068585159686171

—505765446948285238

56.6 ±2.812.15 ±1.9

RightS

61010153759920

—15818878794

9.4 ±1.04.42±0.7

Sigma ScoresM

111218221186102118

—222419222714131918

16.6±1.45.94 ±1.0

V

— .54<r

+1.35+1.10+.94+.11—.46+ .20+.94+ .36+ 1.18

——.54+.03+.69—1.03+1.02—1.12—2.34—.38—1.52

S

— .77<r+.14+.14+1.27—1.45—.54—1.00—.09—.09+2.41

—+1.27—.32+ 1.95—.32—.54—.32—.54—.09—1.22

M

—.95—.78+.24+.91—.95—1.45—1.79—1.11+.74+.24

—+.91+1.25+.41+.91+ 1.76—.44—.61+.41+.24

limit, but only 30 minutes was allowedfor this administration and no subjectattempted more than 30 items.

There are no norms for these tests,nor any comparative data. On the otherhand, there are no standard tests whichhave enough ceiling for this group, norany with norms which would be applic-able to this group even if there wereenough ceiling. The data were securedfor information on individual differ-ences within the group and for compari-son with other groups of scientists.

The test results are given in Table Xwhich lists for each of the 19 subjectswho took this test, the number tried, thenumber right and the sigma score foreach subtest. Sigma scores are neces-sarily computed on these distributions.

There are some extremely interestingdifferences in pattern of scores on thistest. Those whose sigma scores are

highest on the verbal test include all butone of the botanists, the two anatomistsand the physiologist. Those with high-est scores on the spatial test include theother botanist, two of the plant geneti-cists and one animal geneticist. Thegroup highest on the mathematical sec-tion includes all of the rest of the gen-eticists of either variety, and two of thebiochemists. The other biochemist andthe bacteriologist have spatial and math-ematical tests practically equal, with theverbal test lower. Although the groupsare small the pattern is a consistent one.It is not surprising that those most adeptin nonverbal functions go into geneticsand biochemistry, branches in whichthese skills are put to good use, whilethese are avoided by the dominantlyverbal group. It is interesting, however,that all but two of these men (one bot-anist |8 and one geneticist $15) say

244 ANNE ROE

that they do the majority of their think-ing in terms of visual imagery; only twohave dominantly auditory verbal im-agery.

TABLE XIINTERCORRELATIONS OP BIOLOGISTS' SCORES ON

THE VERBAL-SPATIAL-MATHEMATICAL TEST

Vs

Number RightS M

+.445* +.129+ .369

Tried/RightS M

+ .273 —.014+.885

*For this sample, f is .05 for a correlation of .44.

Intercorrelations on the test are givenin Table XI. These were run for num-ber tried in each instance to see whetherthere seemed to be any factor of speedof work, and for the ratio of right totried as a crude measure of cautiousness.Only one correlation in the table is sig-nificant at the 5 per cent level, that be-tween number right on the verbal andspatial tests.

COMPARISONS OP THE THREE TESTS

Although the group is small, thisseemed a unique opportunity to makesome comparisons of responses on thesethree tests. An attempt has been madeto compare any elements which seem tohave meaningf ulness. In part, of course,this has been conditioned by the aspectswhich could be put in quantifiable form,or in terms of frequencies.

It was thought that there might bean underlying factor of productiveness,or general energy output which could bemanifested in the amount of work doneon each test. For the VSM this couldbe taken as number tried; for the Ror-schach the number of responses, for theTAT the average number of typed linesper story. (This last is fairly crude, andis predicated upon my having gottendown the whole story verbatim. Thiswas almost always the case. In the very

few instances in which I could not keepup, the average length will be a littleshort, but in these terms the differencesfrom actuality are very slight and Ithink insufficient to distort the results.)These correlations are given in TableXII. None is significant.

TABLE XIIINTERCORRELATIONS OF MEASURES OF PRODUC-

TIVENESS ON RORSCHACH, TAT, AND VER-BAL-SPATIAL-MATHEMATICAL

TESTS OF BIOLOGISTS

Rorschach TATN Average

Responses Length

Rorschach 4-.149TATV TriedS Tried

V Tried

+.364—.012

S Tried

—.016+ .198+.210

M Tried

+.276+ .31S+.804—.089

TABLE XIIIINTERCORRELATIONS BETWEEN SCORES OF VER-

BAL-SPATIAL-MATHEMATICAL TEST ANDW%, F%, AND F + %, ON THE ROR-

SCHACH FOR BIOLOGISTS

w%F%F+%

V Right

—.460*;+.001+.OS5

S Right

+.001—.105+.487*

M Right

—.145+.025+.140

*P is between .OB and .02.

It seemed of some interest to corre-late number right on the VSM testswith some of the Rorschach factors, andfor this purpose W%, F%, and F,+%were chosen. The results are given inTable XIII. There is, then, a low signi-ficant negative correlation betweennjumber right on the verbal test and W%;and a low positive correlation betweenF+% and number right on the spatialtest.

"Originality" on Rorschach and TATas measured by 0% on the Rorschachand a measure of 0% on the TAT se-cured from the number of unusualstories or additions that are unusual,correlates +.031.

An attempt was made to compare at-

PSYCHOLOGICAL EXAMINATIONS OF EMINENT BIOLOGISTS 245

tention to details on the two tests. Sub-jects whose use of detail on the TATwas particularly noted in the interpre-tations were compared with the restas to D%, Dd and W%. The two groupswere practically the same on Dd; themore detailed group on TAT was some-what lower on D% and higher on W%,The measure on TAT is a very crudeone. Nevertheless, it would seem thatthe perceptual attitude in this respectvaries considerably with the materialinvolved.

Munroe's [3] studies of verbal andnonverbal ability as measured by theACE and Rorschach pattern showed inthe students with higher nonverbalability a significantly greater tendencyto use of F responses, better form quali-ty and less use of M responses. In thisgroup this is not confirmed on F%,averages for the subgroups having high-est verbal, spatial and mathematicalperformances being respectively 47.0,39.5 and 46.1. For F+%, however, asmight have been expected from the cor-relations, these averages are 80.3, 94.7and 76.1 respectively. There is no ap-parent association with the use of M inthe subgroups. Numbers of M for thehigher verbal group are 1,1,1,1, 3, 3, 9;for the higher spatial, 1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 4;for the higher mathematical, 0, 1, 2, 3,5, 6. Munroe found subtler differencesin the elaboration of responses, and theuse of color but these are not quantifi-able. Protocols of this group are so dif-ferent throughout from those given bySarah Lawrence students that the sub-tler criteria which made it possible todifferentiate the higher verbal and non-verbal groups from their Rorschachprotocols cannot be applied to this group.Whether the difference in the protocolsare at least in part reflections of the agedifferences, which is considerable, or ofsex differences, cannot be judged.

SUMMARY

Data from three tests, the Rorschach,the Thematic Apperception and a Ver-bal-spatial-mathematical test given to20 eminent research biologists havebeen presented. Wide individual differ-ences appear on all of the tests.

On the Rorschach there is some ten-dency to increased. W and also to in-creased Dr. There is some restriction inuse of human movement, but no gen-eral restriction in that area; there ismore general restriction in the colorarea. Although F% is not particularlyhigh generally, there are extremely fewcompound responses in which F is notthe primary determinant. Shadingshock is generally prevalent from mildto severe in degree. The group is a gen-erally very unaggressive one, and withvery little interest in interpersonal re-lations.

On the TAT there is further confir-mation of the generally slow and some-what restricted psyehosexual develop-ment, and indications that most of themtend to avoid emotional and interperson-al situations. They are usually unwillingto go beyond the data presented andhave a general distaste for the imagin-ary and a strong preference for con-crete realities. Most of them are ratherconventional, and have a fairly strongsense of responsibility.

On the VSM, they show all possiblepatterns of superiority of score on oneor the other subtest, but there is a clearseparation between those with highestverbal ability and the rest. The firstgroup include all but one of the botan-ists, and two anatomists and the physi-ologist. The geneticists and biochem-ists are without exception better ateither the spatial or mathematical testthan they are at the verbal.

Except for a correlation of .445 be-tween the verbal and spatial tests, no

246 ANNE BOB

significant relationships were demon-strated between the VSM tests. Butthere was a low, but significant, nega-tive correlation between W% on theRorschach and number right on the ver-bal test, and a low but significant posi-tive correlation between F+% on theRorschach and number right on thespatial test.Received January 7, 1849.

'REFERENCES

1. KLOPFER, B. AND KELLEY, D. M. The Ror-

schach technique. Yonkers, N. Y.: WorldBook Co., 1942.

2. MUNKOE, RUTH. The inspection technique:A method of rapid evaluation of the Ror-schach protocol. Rorschach R&s. Exch.,1944, 8, 46-69.

3. MUNBOE, RUTH. Rorschach findings on stu-dents showing different constellations ofsubscores on the ACE.. J. consult. Psy-chol., 1946, 10, 300-315.

4. ROE, ANNE. Analysis of group Rorschachsof biologists. Rorschach Res. Exch. and J.proj. Tech., 1949, 13, 25-43.

5. WYATT, F. The scoring and analysis of theThematic Apperception Test. J. PsychoL,1947, 24, 319-330.