Pathology of Lying, Etc.

W >> William and Mary Healy >> Pathology of Lying, Etc.

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About the developmental history we had the assurance that it was
entirely negative as regards serious diseases. Pregnancy and
birth were said to have been normal. For long, Robert had been
very nervous and frequently slept an unusually small number of
hours. Sometimes he would go to bed very late and get up early.
Although he was a very small boy he was accustomed to drinking
six or seven cups of coffee a day. No suspicion from any source
of other bad habits or of improper sex experiences. The boy's
home was clean and decent. The father was accustomed to
celebrate once a month or so by getting intoxicated, but
otherwise was a well behaved man.

On physical examination we found the boy in fair general
condition, although very small for his age. Weight 80 lbs.;
height 4 ft. 7 in. Well shaped, normally sized head. No
prematurity or other physical abnormality. Somewhat defective
vision. No complaint of headaches. All other examination
negative. Regular sharp features. Much vivacity of expression.
A nervous, alert, responsive, apparently frank and humorous type.
Speech notably rapid.

Our acquaintance with this boy on the intellectual side proved to
be a great treat. He was only in the 4th grade. His retardation
was the result of having been changed back and forth from
foreign-speaking to English schools and having been sent away to
an institution for truancy. In spite of his backwardness Robert
had a fund of remarkably accurate scientific and other
information which a mature person might envy. We found our
regular series of tests were all done unusually well, except
those which called for foresight and planfulness. It was
interesting to note that when a problem in concrete material was
given that required continuous thoughtful effort he proceeded by
a rapid trial and error method and without the application of the
foresight that many a slower individual would show. He
consequently did not always make a good record.

It seems an important fact that on the ``Aussage'' Test this
exceedingly bright lad gave a fairly good detailed narrative
account of the picture and proved himself not in the least
suggestible, but he added a number of items which were not seen.

It was in the field of general information, obtained from a
really wide range of reading, that this young boy shone. We
found that he remembered an unusual amount of history he had
read, that he had a lot of knowledge picked up from the
newspapers, and that he had digested considerable portions of
scientific works. He described correctly the main principles
involved in the use of telescopic and other lenses, he knew well
the first principles of electricity, and he could draw correctly
diagrams of dynamos, locomotives, switchboards, etc. We noted he
had read books on physiology, astronomy, physics, mechanics, etc.

It seems that neither his school nor his home offering him much
intellectual satisfaction, he had frequented the public library,
sometimes being there when he was truant from school, and staying
there in the evening when his mother supposed he was out in a
street gang. In regard to his selection of reading: he had
perused novels and books on adventure, but ``I wanted to read
something that tells something so that when I got through I would
know something.'' He copied plans and directions, and with a
hatchet, hammer and saw attempted at home to make little things,
some of which were said to have been broken up by the parents.
The boy had much in mind the career of great men who had
succeeded from small beginnings, and he spoke often of Benjamin
Franklin, Morse, and Bell, all of whom had started in the small
way he had read of in their biographies. Robert had not been
content with book knowledge alone, but had sought power-houses
and other places where he could see machinery in actual
operation.

Our acquaintance with Robert began and continued on account of
delinquencies other than lying. He had run away from home at one
time, he had stolen some electrical apparatus from a barn and was
found in the middle of the night with it flashing a light on the
street. He also had taken money from his parents and had
threatened his mother with a hatchet. After much encouragement
and help he yet stole from people who were trying to give him a
chance to use his special abilities, and he began various minor
swindling operations which culminated in his attempt to arrest a
man at night, showing a star and a small revolver. Before we
lost sight of him Robert had gained the general reputation of
being the most unreliable of individuals.

Given splendid chances to use his special capacities, his other
qualities made it impossible for him to take advantage of them.
His wonderful ability was demonstrated in the school to which he
was sent; there the teacher said that if she had the opportunity
she really believed she could put him through one grade a month.
His mental grasp on all subjects was astonishing and he wrote
most admirable essays, one of the best being on patriotism. But
even under the stable conditions of this school for six or seven
months the boy did not refrain from an extreme amount of
falsification and was much disliked by the other boys on account
of it.

Robert had continued his lying for years. At the time when we
were studying his case his prevaricating tendencies were shown in
the manufacture of long and complicated stories, in the center of
which he himself posed as the chief actor. These phantasies were
told to people, such as ourselves, who could easily ascertain
their falsehood, and they were told after there had been a
distinct understanding that anything which showed unreliability
on his part would militate against his own strongly avowed
desires and interests. After special chances had been given this
boy with the understanding that all that was necessary for him to
do was to alter his behavior in respect to lying, on more than
one occasion new fabrications were evolved in the same interview
that Robert had begged in fairly tragic fashion to be helped to
cure himself of his inclination to falsify.

A great love of the dramatic was always displayed by this boy,
which may largely account for the evolution of his lying into
long and complicated stories. When truant one day he boldly
visited the school for truants, and when under probation, after
having fallen into the hands of the police two or three times, he
impersonated a policeman. The latter was such a remarkable
occurrence and led to such a peculiar situation that much notice
of it was taken in the newspapers. The incongruity between
apperception of his own faults and his continued lying,
considering his good mental endowment, seemed very strange. One
day he sobbed and clung to my arm and begged me to be a friend to
him and help him from telling such lies. ``I don't know what
makes me do it. I can't help it.'' Over and over he asserted
his desire to be a good man and a great man. This was at the
same time when some of his most complicated fabrications were
reiterated.

No help was to be had from his parents in getting at the genesis
of this boy's troubles; we had to rely on what seemed to be the
probable truth as told by the boy himself. It is only fair to
say that in response to many inquiries we did receive reliable
facts from the lad. My assistant also went into the question of
beginnings and was told at an entirely different time the same
story. Robert always maintained that his lying began when he was
a very little boy, when he found out that by telling his
grandmother that his mother was mean to him he could get things
done for him which he wanted. Later it seems he used to lie
because he was afraid of being punished or because he did not
like to be scolded. We found there was no question about the
fact that his parents never were in sympathy with his library
reading and his attempts to learn and be somebody in the world.
At first, then, there seemed to be a definite purpose in his
lying. At one time he pretended to be hurt when taken in custody
and thought because of this he would be allowed to go home.

On many occasions this boy made voluntary appeal to us,
describing his lying as a habit which it was impossible for him
to stop, and implored aid in the breaking of it. Up to the last
that we knew of him he occasionally made the complaint to
strangers of mistreatment by his family, which in the sense in
which he put it was not true at all. The dramatic nature of his
later stories seemed to fulfill the need which the boy felt of
his being something which he was not, and very likely belonged to
the same category of behavior he displayed when he attempted to
impersonate a policeman in the middle of the night, and to pose
as an amateur detective by telling stories of alleged exploits to
newspaper reporters. A long story which he related even to us,
involving his discovery of a suspicious man with a satchel and
his use of a taxicab in search for him, was made up on the basis
of his playing the part of a great man, a hero. When we ran down
this untruth (it was long after he had told us what a liar he
was) it seemed quite improbable that he had suddenly improvised
this story. It was too elaborate and well sustained. Later,
when the boy again tragically begged to be helped from making
such falsifications, he said the incident had been thought out
some days previously and it seemed an awful nice story about the
things that he might do. Daydreaming thus masked as the truth.

---------------------------------------------------------------
Environmental maladjustment: Case 10.
incongruity between Boy, age 14 yrs.
supernormal ability and home
conditions.
Innate characteristics: nervous, active,
dramatic type.
Stimulants: excessive use of coffee.
Mental habit-formation.
Delinquencies: Mentality:
Lying excessive. Supernormal in ability.
Petty stealing.
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CASE 11

Summary: An orphan girl of 10 had been in several institutions
and households, but was found everywhere impossible on account of
her incorrigibility. The greatest difficulty was on account of
her extreme lying which for years had included extensive
fabrications and rapid self-contradictions, as well as defensive
denials of delinquency.

We were asked to decide about this girl's mentality and to give
recommendations for her treatment. We need take little space for
describing the case because the facts of development and heredity
and of earliest mental experiences are not known by us. The case
is worthy of short description as exemplifying a type and as
showing once more the frequent correlation of lying with other
delinquency, and especially with sex immorality.

We found a girl in good physical condition, small for her age,
but without sensory defect or important organic trouble.
Hutchinsonian teeth. High forehead and well formed features.
Expression old for her years and rather shrewd, and notably
unabashed. No evidence of pelvic trouble. Clitoris large. All
the other examination negative.

Mentally we found her rather precocious. Tests well done. Reads
and does arithmetic well for her age, in spite of much changing
about and other school disadvantages. No evidence whatever of
aberration. The examiner noted that she seemed a queer,
sophisticated child, laughing easily and talking fast and freely.
Evidently tries to put her best foot forward. Cooperates well on
tests.

On the ``Aussage'' test this little girl did remarkably well both
as to the details and general ideas expressed in the picture.
Absolutely no suggestibility shown. The examination was made
before our later methods of scoring this test, and the
inaccuracies were not counted, but even so the positive features
are of interest, namely, the good memory and non-suggestibility .

We found this youngster all along to be evasive, shifting and
self-contradictory, even on vital points. She glibly stated
anything that came into her mind, and ideas came very rapidly.
She told us stories that with a moment's thought she must have
known we could discover were false.

This child was a foundling, and was adopted by people whose
family was broken up by death when she was about 6 years old. By
the time she was 8 years old she was expelled from school and was
generally known as an habitual liar and a child who showed most
premature sex tendencies. She then went much with little boys
and was constantly in trouble for stealing as well. Occasionally
good reports were made of her, but sometimes she was stated to
have a perfect mania for taking things. A number of people who
have tried to help her have spoken of the elaborateness of her
verbal inventions. At one place she destroyed letters and took a
check from the mail and tore it up. She talked freely of sex
affairs to many people, particularly to women, and showed
evidence of intense local feelings. At one time she expressed
great desire to be spanked, probably from a sex impulse. One
intelligent person reported her as being simply animal-like in
her desires. In a country home a thoroughly intelligent woman
was unable to cope with her and she was finally delivered into
the hands of an institution.

Through dearth of reliable information about the antecedents in
this case we were unable to make a card of causative factors. It
is sure, however, that the pathological lying and other
delinquencies sprang from a background of congenital defect,
probably syphilitic in nature, of lack of early parental care, of
precocious sex desires, and sex experiences.

In the school for girls, where this unfortunate child remained
for four years, it is stated that her tendencies to prevarication
were mitigated, but never entirely checked. Her school record
was decidedly good; she was regarded as a bright girl, and
advanced rapidly to the eighth grade. She was tried again in the
world midway in her adolescent period with the most untoward
results. She found temptations offered by the opposite sex
irresistible and began a career of misrepresentation concerning
her own conduct. Through her lies, proper oversight was not
given in the home which received her once more. Pregnancy ensued
and again she had to receive institutional care.

CASE 12

Summary: An extremely interesting case showing strong
development of a tendency to swindling on the part of a young man
of curiously unequal mental abilities, a subnormal verbalist.
Pathological lying in this case quite logically developed into
swindling. The main behavior-tendencies of this individual
closely follow the lines of least resistance, the paths of
greatest success. As a matter of fact, the use merely of his
general subnormal abilities would never have led to as much
advancement as he has enjoyed. His special capabilities with
language have brought him much satisfaction at times, even if
they have also led him into trouble. An astonishingly long list
of legal proceedings centers about this case, illustrating very
well the urgent need for cooperation between courts.

Adolf von X., now just 21 years old, we, through most unusual
circumstances, have had more or less under observation for a
number of years. Correspondence with several public and social
agencies has given us close acquaintance with his record during
this time, and earlier. Our attention was first called to Adolf
in New York, when he was a boy under arrest in the Tombs. A fine
young lawyer, a casual acquaintance of Adolf's through court
work, asked us to study the case because he felt that perhaps
grave injustice was being done. Before his arrest the boy, who
seemed to be most ambitious, had been about the court rooms
looking into the details of cases as a student of practical law.
He had attracted attention by his energy and push; he earned
money at various odd jobs and studied law at night. At this time
the boy was under arrest charged with disorderly conduct; he had
beaten his sister in their home.

We found a nice looking and well spoken young fellow who said he
was 17. Although he had been in this country only three years
from Germany, he spoke English almost without an accent and did
quite well with French also. He had been brought up in Hamburg.
His statement added to that previously given by the lawyer
aroused in us great interest concerning the constructive
possibilities of the case. It seemed as if here was an immigrant
boy for whom much should be done.

``I was taking up law suits, little law suits. There was a case
on before Judge O. and I wanted a new suit of clothes to wear to
go to court in. My sister said I could not take my brother's
suit. He told me to take it and bring it home in good condition
at night. My sister is supposed to be the plaintiff, but she did
not make the complaint. The landlady came in and hit me three
times in the head with a broom. My sister called her in and then
she threw a piece of wood after me. Sister started crying, but
she did not get hit. The landlady got hit. When I fell down I
striked her with my head and hurt my head bad. I think I hit her
with the left side of my head. The landlady made complaint in
German to an Irish policeman. He could not understand. The
officer did not do what the law tells because he took a complaint
from a boy of the age of 6 years. He translated for her.

``The trouble started because I wanted to get my brother's suit
because I wanted to appear before Judge O. to protect a party in
the hearing of a case. I took a few lessons over in the Y.M.C.A.
class and in a law office I read books through. I have books at
home, rulings of every court. I know I got a good chance to work
up because I know I have a good head for the law. My father he
wont believe it, that's the trouble. I know I could stand my own
expenses. I said, `Officer, wait here a minute. I'll explain
how this is.' He began stepping on me. He threw me on the
floor. I wanted to go out the back way so nobody would see me.
He kicked me down the front way. There was a big crowd there.
Another rough officer pinched my arm. At the station when the
officer said this boy hit his sister, my sister said, `No, he did
not hit me,' but she said it in German.

``I was in court awhile ago because father thought I would not
work. I was paroled. I was trying to find a position. This man
that had the rehearing said, `You wont lose anything.' He made
as much as a contract with me. He said to another person in my
hearing, if that fellow wins my case I will pay him $10 for it.
The first case I had was in X court. I was interpreter there. I
want to make something out of myself. Labor is all right, but I
like office work or law work better. I tell you, doctor, if I
come up before the judge I will tell him just the same story I
tell you. I can remember it just that way.''

This young man told us he had graduated from intermediate school
in Hamburg; in this country he had attended for about a year and
a half and, in spite of the language handicap, he was in sixth
grade. There is a brother a little older and an older sister.
Mother has been dead for 5 years. His father is an artisan and
makes a fair living.

We soon found means of getting more facts concerning this case.
The first point of importance was concerning his age. It
appeared that he at present was lying about this, probably for
the purpose of concealing his previous record in the Juvenile
Court and in other connections. There had been previously much
trouble with him. He had been long complained of by his father
because of the bickering and quarreling which he caused in the
household and on account of his not working steadily. He had
shown himself tremendously able in getting employment, having had
at least twenty places in the last year and a half. He was known
to lie and misrepresent; on one occasion when he was trying to
get certain advantages for himself he falsely stated that he was
employed by a certain legal concern, and once he tried to pass
himself off for an officer of a court.

The father willingly came to see us and proved to be a somewhat
excitable, but intelligent man of good reputation. We obtained a
very good history before studying the boy himself. Mr. von X.
began by informing us that we had a pretty difficult case on our
hands, and when we spoke of the boy's ambition he became very
sarcastic. He stated that up to the time when the boy left
school in Hamburg he had only been able to get to the equivalent
of our third grade. To be sure, it is true that Adolf had
learned English quickly and much more readily than any one else
in the family, and in the old country had picked up French, but
``he hasn't got sense enough to be a lawyer.''

Both the older children did very well in school, and the father
and mother came from intelligent families. All the children are
somewhat nervous, but the two older ones are altogether different
from this boy. They are quiet and saving. A grandfather was
said to have been a learned man and another member of the family
very well-to-do. The mother has one cousin insane and the father
one cousin who is feebleminded. All the other family history
from this apparently reliable source was negative. Both the
father and mother were still young at the birth of this child.
The mother died of pneumonia, but prior to this sickness had been
healthy.

The developmental history of Adolf runs as follows: His birth
was preceded by two miscarriages. The pregnancy was quite
normal; confinement easy. When he was a few days old he had some
inflammation of the eyes which soon subsided. Never any
convulsions. His infancy was normal. He walked and talked
early. At three years he had diphtheria badly with delirium for
a couple of weeks and paralysis of the palate for some months.
After this his parents thought the boy not quite normal. He had
slight fevers occasionally. At 9 years he was very ill with
scarlet fever. Following that he had some trouble with the bones
in his legs. Before he left Hamburg he had an operation on one
leg for this trouble which had persisted. (It was quite
significant that in our first interview Adolf had told us his leg
had been injured by a rock falling on it, necessitating the
operation.) Up to the age of 14 this boy, although apparently in
good physical condition, used to wet the bed always at night, and
sometimes during the day lost control of his bladder. Also lost
control of his bowels occasionally after he was 10 years old. He
sleeps well, is moderate in the use of tea and coffee, and does
not smoke.

When young he played much by himself. After coming to this
country his chief recreation was going to nickel shows. He was
fond of music as a child. He had been a truant in Hamburg. As a
young child he was regarded as destructive. The general
statement concerning delinquency is that Adolf is the only one of
the family who has given trouble and that the father was the
first to complain of the boy to the authorities. Before he
reported it there had long been trouble on account of frequent
changing of employment and misrepresentations. The boy had
forged letters to his family and others. In the office of a
certain newspaper he once represented himself to be an orphan,
and there a fund was raised for him and he was outfitted. The
father insists that the boy, in general, is an excessive liar.

Further inquiry brought out that other people, too, regarded
Adolf as an extreme falsifier. The principal of a school thought
the boy made such queer statements that he could not be right in
his head. In the office of a clerk of a court he represented
himself to be employed by a certain legal institution and
demanded file after file for reference. Everybody there was
friendly to him at first, but later they all changed their
attitude on account of his unscrupulous and constant lying.

Physically we found a very well nourished boy, rather short for
his age. Weight 121 lbs.; height 5 ft. 1 in. Musculature
decidedly flabby; this was especially noticeable in his
handshake. Attitude heavy and slouchy for a boy. Expression
quite pleasant; features regular; complexion decidedly good. A
North European type. Eyes differ slightly in the color of the
irides. Noticeable enlargement of breasts. Well shaped head of
quite normal measurements; circumference 54.5, length 18, breadth
15 cm. No sensory defect, nor was anything else of particular
interest found upon examination.

The mental study, particularly the testing for special abilities,
has been of very great interest. Fortunately for the scientific
understandings of the problems involved we have been able to see
Adolf many times at intervals and to check up previous findings.
Our first statement will be of the results obtained at the
earliest study of the case.

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