1953 Roe Psychologists

Vol. 67, No.
2
Whole No, 352, 1953
Psychological Monographs: General and Applied
A P s y c h o l o g i c a l S t u d y o f E m i n e n t Psychologists a n d
A n t h r o p o l o g i s t s , a n d a Comparison w i t h Biological
a n d P h y s i c a l Scientists1
Anne Roe
New York, N.Y,
I. INTRODUCTION
T h i s is the third and last monograph results of three tests, a Verbal-Spatial-
in a series of clinical studies of re- M a t h e m a t i c a l Test, the Thematic A p -
search scientists. The series of studies perception Test, and the Rorschach. I n
was designed to investigate the existence a d d i t i o n there were obtained, for com-
of relationships between life history, in- parison w i t h these groups of eminent
tellectual functions or personality char- men, group Rorschachs of members of
acteristics, and the selection and pursuit university faculties i n the same fields.
of a particular science as a profession.
The rationale of this approach is discussed in
This has been the first series of its kind the first monograph, which presented the results
in this field, and hence the major ap- of the study of biologists (21). The second mono-
graph (22) is a similar study of physical scien-
proach has had to be observational and tists. This monograph reports the results of the
diffuse. I n so complex a problem, the study of psychologists and anthropologists, and
first need is to get some idea of the a comparison of all of the groups. A short paper
analyzed the interrelations of the tests of indi-
nature of the relationships, if any exist, vidual biologists (17), and another analyzed test
the points at which a direct attack can be interrelations for the total group of scientists
made, and the sort of tools to use. It was (20). A separate paper on the scientists' use of
imagery has appeared (19), and the group
felt that no existent personality theory Rorschach studies have been reported in full
was sufficiently developed, or generally detail in four papers (16, 18, 23, 24).
suitable for the derivation of hypotheses It seems almost impossible to formulate an
adequate expression of appreciation to the sub-
in advance. Now that extensive observa- jects who have served in all of these studies.
tions have been made in this specific Their gifts, not only of time and effort, but of
field, for this specific purpose, it is pos- personal revelation, have resulted in data unique
in psychological annals. It is with profound
sible to set up a number of hypotheses realization of the extraordinary privilege it has
concerning these relationships which can been to gather these data, and with a deep sense
be checked directly in future work. of obligation that I have attempted to organize
the material for others.
The subjects of the study are men who For obvious reasons the names of the subjects
were selected for their eminence in re- have been withheld in these publications, and
although many of them are recognizable from
search, as judged by their peers. The their histories, the test data cannot be related
data comprise verbatim life histories, to these. Present eminence is not a sure criterion
discussion of the work of the men, and of future eminence, but it is evident that the
clinical psychological records of these men
would be of extraordinary interest to biogra-
1 This research was supported by a grant from phers With the consent of the subjects, arrange-
the National Institute of Mental Health, of the ments have been made to leave the full accounts
U. S. Public Health Service. Publication of this to the library of the American Philosophical
monograph was made possible by a grant from Society, where they will be available to research
the Wenner-Gren Foundation. workers in due course.
ANNE ROE
I I . SELECTION OF THE SAMPLE

The sample restrictions imposed in the views.
previous studies were also observed in The original list of anthropologists,
this, so that the subjects are all men, constructed with the help of Dr. Robert
under 61 years of age, American born, Lowie, included 82 men. The raters were
and currently engaged in active research. A. V. Kidder, A. L. Kroeber, R. H.
The preliminary list of 94 psychologists Lowie, A. H. Schultz, and C. F. Voegelin.
was constructed with the aid of Dr. E. G. Of the 13 men selected on this basis, one
Boring and Dr. David Shakow. A few was out of the country, 3 refused, 1 was
other names were added by the raters ill, and the other 8 are included in the
(E. G. Boring, E. R. Hilgard, D. B. study. There are two physical anthropol-
Lindsley, J. W. Macfarlane, D. Shakow, ogists, two archeologists, and four cul-
and L. M. Terman), and the men were tural anthropologists.
ranked on the basis of the combined Although the data for psychologists
ratings. The raters were in close agree- and anthropologists are presented sepa-
ment for the experimental psychologists, rately, these groups are combined for
but agreement was very poor for all of comparison with previous studies and to-
the others, with no close correspondence gether referred to as the social scientists.
between fields of rater and subject. This The term is not very satisfactory, particu-
would seem to reflect a general confu- larly for experimental psychologists, but
sion over standards for research that is is probably better than devising a new
not strictly experimental in character. In rubric.
the final group there are, in broad classi- Excluding from each group those who
fication, 10 experimentalists (compara- were unable to cooperate because of ill-
tive, learning theory, sensory experi- ness or geographical location, the per-
mentation, etc.) and 4 whose major centages of refusals were: biologists,
fields lie in clinical, social, and develop- 13%; physicists, 27%; social scientists,
mental psychology, and testing. Three 22%. The higher rate of refusals among
experimentalists refused, one because of the physical scientists is, I believe, in
serious illness, and one of the others considerable measure due to their heavier
could not be included when illness made schedules.
it impossible to arrange for the inter-
I I I . DESCRIPTION OF THE GROUP

The psychologists have an average age same state, but four came from the East,
of 46.7, the anthropologists 49.4; for all six from the Midwest, and three from the
social scientists the average age is 47.7. West. Four of the anthropologists were
The physicists averaged 44.7 years and born in the East, three in the Midwest,
the biologists 51.2. and one in the West.
Occupation and education of the
Family Backgrounds
fathers of the subgroups are given in
Enough data were gathered on the Table 1. Half of the psychologists and
families of each subject to give some idea three of the anthropologists had profes-
of the general socioeconomic position. sional fathers. Only 4 of the 14 psychol-
No two psychologists were born in the ogists came from families with rather
PSYCHOLOGICAL STUDY OF RESEARCH SCIENTISTS
TABLE i
Occupations and Education of Fathers
No. of Fathers of No. of Fathers of

Occupation Education of
of Father Psychol- Anthro- Father
ologists pologists Psychol- Anthro-
ologists pologists
Physician Elementary ,
Engineer High school [[ 0
College teaching. Some college -
Lawyer College graduate 5
Businessman: Unknown ',
Own
Clerk, agent. .
Skilled labor
Farmer
good incomes, but 7 of the 8 anthropolo- hall (5) also remarked on the high inci-
gists came from families that were well- dence of first-born in their sample of 855
to-do. Incidence of professional fathers scientists. For their group it was possible
i n the other groups was 45% for the to check incidence of first-born in each
biologists and 73% for the physicists family size from 2 to 7 and in all of them
(experimentalists 50%; theorists 84%). i t proved to be greater than chance.
TABLE 2
Number of Children in Parental Family and Birth Order of Subjects
No. of Subjects No. of Subjects

No. of Chil- Position in
dren, Including Family All
Subjects Psych. Anthro. Psych. Anthro. Scientists
35
13
3
3
2
2
2
Average.
Average. 3-0 2.4
2.8
Number of children in the parental Of the 25 scientists i n my group who
family and birth order of these subjects were not first-born, 5 are oldest sons, and
are given in Table 2. The distributions 2 of the second-born were effectively the
are similar to those for the biologists and oldest during their childhoods because
physicists, and birth order for the total of the death of older sibs, one at birth,
group of 64 scientists is also given. Com- one at age 2. Complete data are not
parison of the observed number of first- bom has a binomial distribution with mean
born with the calculated expected num- np — n (1 js) and variance npq — n (1 js) (s — 1 /s).
When we add number offirst-bornfor families
ber shows the incidence of the first-born of different size, the expected number is equal
in these groups to be reliably greater to the sum of expected numbers and since differ-
than chance (p < .01).2 Cattell and Brim- ent families are independent, the variance of
the sum is equal to the sum of the variances.
21 am indebted to Dr. Howard Levene for The mean and the standard error of the total
these calculations. His method is as follows: For first-born will be approximately normally dis-
tributed if the total number of cases is large.
families of size s, and n cases, the number of first-
A N N E ROE
TABLE 3
Age a t M a r r i a g e and Number o f C h i l d r e n
No. of Subjects No. of Subjects
Age at No. of
Marriage Children Psych. Anthro.
Psych. Anthro.
1 0 4 1 1
33 1 1
32 1 0 3
0 1 2 6 2
31 2
3° 1 0 1 4
29 0 0 0 2 2
28 1 1
3 1 1.6 1.6
27 u
26 2 •1 8
25 i i 12 5
24. 1 0
23 2 2
22 0 0
21 0 1
20 1 0
26.5 26.1
available for 3, but for the others the this is probably chance: daughters are
average number of years between the much more numerous for the physicists,
subject and his next older brother was sons for the biologists; for die social sci-
5. The possible significance of this will entists, the difference is slight.
be discussed later.
College and Graduate School
M a r i t a l Status Histories
All of these men are married and most Ages at which these subjects completed
of them have children. Data are given in various stages of their formal training
Table 3. Average age at marriage of all are given in Table 4. The averages are
three groups of scientists is rather late, TABLE 4
which is doubtless in part connected Age at Receiving College Degrees
with the long educational histories. The
B.A. or B.S. Earned Sc.D.
social scientists, however, differ greatly Age at or Ph.D.
from the others in the permanence of Receiving
their marriages. Among the biologists, Psych. Anthro. Psych. Anthro.
there have been three divorces (15%); 32 0 0 0 1
among die physicists, one (5%); but five 31 0 0 0 3
3° 0 0 1 0
of the psychologists (36%) and four of 29 0 0 2 1
the anthropologists (50%) have been 28 0 0 0 0
27 0 0 2 1
divorced, and of these several have been 26 0 0 2 0
divorced more than once. 25 i 0 t 0
24 1 1 S 2
That the psychologists and anthropol- 23 1 2 i 0
ogists have a smaller average number of 22 1 2 0 0
21 6 3 0 0
children than the other scientists may be 20 4 0 0 0
related to the difficult marital histories, Average age. . 21.4 22.1 25.8 28.6
but the differences are slight. The sex Psychologists: 9 took M.A., average age 23.8
ratios of the children are quite different years.
Anthropologists: 7 took M.A., average age 24,4
in the different groups of scientists but years.
about the same as those for the biologists, ber of institutions with which they have
but about a year higher than those for been connected professionally is given in
the physicists. More of this group than Table 5. The distributions and means
of the others took Master's degrees. are similar to those of the earlier groups,
Five psychologists and four anthropol- with the slightly higher mean lor the bi-
ogists received their Ph.D.'s from Har- ologists probably reflecting their higher
vard, two psychologists from Yale, and average age.
one of each from Chicago. The others all Nine of the social scientists had post-
attended different institutions. doctoral fellowships-five National Re-
search Council, one Social Science Re-
Professional History
search Council, one Guggenheim, and
Since completing their formal school- two others. Most of the andiropologists
ing the members of this group have have had grants for field work.
moved about relatively little. The num- Among the psychologists there have
TABLE s been no major changes in field of work
Number of Institutions with Which Subject although several have shifted gradually
Has Been Connected Since Doctorate until they are now rather far from where
they started. There have been greater
No. of No. of Subjects changes among the anthropologists.
Institutions Psych. An thro. Both These seem to have been due to contact
2 2 with particular persons, or to the specific
4 4
3 4 o 4 nature of the jobs which were available.
2 5 2 7 Nevertheless, the general pattern is of
3 4 7
I being able to control to a fairly consider-
Av. no. of able extent the nature of the research
.... 2.4 2.0 2.2
undertaken.
IV. EARLY HISTORY RELEVANT TO OCCUPATIONAL CHOICE

One of the striking differences between background, early family and school life,
the social scientists and the others is the and everything he could remember that
amount of material which was spontane- related to his choice of vocation. I inter-
ously offered in the interview. In part rupted as little as possible, usually only
this may be due to the greater under- to clarify a point or to recall him to
standing among this group of the gen- pertinent material. Later I asked specifi-
eral problem and the relevance of details cally for information on health, religion,
of personal history, but in perhaps larger and present leisure interests, as well as
part it is a reflection of their greater on use of imagery. Sometimes the pro-
ease of verbalization. This means, among jective material suggested questions for
other things, that the life histories for later intervals, but under these circum-
this group must be subjected to consid- stances deep probing is impossible. The
erably more cutting than was necessary combination of projective material and
for the earlier groups. life histories recorded verbatim offers
The interviews were very little struc- excellent cross checks.
tured. The subject was asked at the out- The histories which follow are first
set for information on general family discussed separately for the psychologists
ANNE ROE
and the anthropologists. They are ar- scholarship. My undergraduate major was called
economics but I think I went into psychology
ranged in a chance sequence which bears to find out what one of my professors was talk-
no relation to the code numbers assigned ing about. He intrigued me. There was no doubt
that I had an authentic learning experience,
to each man for presentation of the test although he was totally unintelligible to me. In
data. two years I had my Ph.D. I was pretty imma-
T h e Psychologists ture and the department was really very weak
as I see it now. I went abroad again on a fel-
A. "My father was the ideal of a country lowship. It took me some months to find out
doctoT and he took me around with him on what was going on. But I got oriented a bit and
visits to his patients. He was on the earthy side. I began to learn what to read in the new
Mother was brought up in a highly charged German psychology to which I was exposed.
religious culture but she broadened later. Having to make my own way (intellectually)
"In grade school I wasn't a distinguished stu- meant a lot. I don't like guidance. I don't like
dent. I didn't like school but it wasn't a par- spoon-feeding. I don't like pampering. It's much
ticular problem. I was just doing what I was better to be thrown on your own."
supposed to do. I suffered agonies on the play-
ground because I couldn't chin myself and things
like that; I think it was more my constitutional B. "My father was the son of a businessman
type than ill health. I started something that has in upper New York State. He didn't have to
been a life pattern, to find out what I could do earn a living or do any serious work until he
and do it well. I was very clever at sidestepping was over thirty. He had studied voice abroad
from childhood on. I surrounded myself with and then he took a job as singing teacher in a
those I could do business with and I avoided small college. My mother went to a ladies' sem-
others. I have always avoided fights and com- inary and taught dramatics in public school.
petition but I always had playmates. I wasn't " I went from kindergarten and through
elected to class office but I did become editor of junior high school in a laboratory school associ-
the school paper. ated with the college and I did pretty well all
"In high school I had a girl friend and was the way through there. Then I went down to
a rather happy adolescent provided I could keep the public schools for the last two years of high
out of competition. I made my own world, I school and my marks fell apart. The teaching
always have. The odd thing about me was I had was mediocre and I was less at home. The time
no aspirations at that time. I felt driven to do coincided with the development of heterosexual
the damn best I could but I don't think it was interests and I was much more interested in
because of aspiration or ambition or egotism, going out with the girls than I was in studying.
but I was haunted, driven. Even now I can't I had no intellectual interests. As a boy the
take a vacation without taking work with me. thing I liked was being out in the woods. I was
"I went to college largely because of a brother interested in reading. I read a lot but it was
who was there. My college experience was just mostly Edgar Rice Burroughs and that sort of
a new world. There wasn't any world until then thing.
hardly for me. I just took things for granted. " I started in a teachers' college because we
Intellectually, college was a marvelous oppor- were living right there. I didn't have any am-
tunity, but this was not only intellectual. An- bitions. For a while I was interested in journal-
other element that played a very large part was ism. It was just taken for granted that I would
the experience in social service, I had a boys' go to college. Father had graduated and mother
club and became much interested in social work. had the equivalent of a college education. But
It seemed to release in me an idealism I hadn't after the first two years I said to hell with it.
been aware of before. I got a tremendous kick I'm not going on with college. It was just a
out of doing good and that interest always was source of tension and stress to me. I went to
a close second to my studies. I studied hard, first work on a railroad construction gang and I
because I always felt driven and partly also damn near killed myself to prove that I was a
because Father had given me to understand that man. By fall I decided that earning a living with
I would have to have a scholarship every year, your back muscles wasn't so good, and I went
and I did. If I had vocational ideas through back to normal school. That's when my aca-
college they were in the direction of social demic record improved. I took an English
work rather than science. I didn't know what I
was going to do. It was funny that I wasn't major, probably because of deficiencies. I dis-
worried about the future. liked math and that threw out the sciences
immediately. I wasn't inclined toward art and
" I taught abroad for a year but never thought music was out because of the family situation.
of anything beyond that. Then the family in- I guess I had secondary school teaching in mind.
sisted that I come home and I got a graduate I seemed to have no alternative ideas, and it
was a way to earn a living. I enjoyed my teacher

training and thought I did it well. They gave us bought a farm and I had to transfer several
times (because of transportation difficulties) I
a chance to work out our own plans and I was practically always the top of mv grade in
really enjoyed that. most everything. My social life was unbelievably
"Then this is the way I got interested in ml Dancing, card playing, and movies were
psychology. A fellow who had just gotten his verboten, and even carbonated beverages weren't
Ph.D. came into the psychology department, and quite right.
I first saw the light as far as my personal prob- "There was never any question about going to
lem was concerned. I realized that I wasn't college. We went to the stale university where
deviate and that there was some hope for me. father had gone and started living at the Y
Then he became a father substitute. He let me dormitory. I knew what I wanted to do. I'd
S° to his home and would talk to me on an always been interested in nature. It was about
equal level and he got me very excited about the time of Cene Stratton-Porter and her books
scientific objectivity. I got my B.A. in a depres- about moths of the Limberlost figured very
sion year and there were practically no jobs. At much. I started reading about moths and find-
the same time they had just started giving an ing caterpillars and feeding them and I got to
M.A. and he offered me a fellowship which was be quite an authority on night flying things.
enough to pay Mother for board and room and Then father wanted the farm run scientifically
keep up my self-respect. So I stayed and got an and he had some of the agricultural people come
M A . and I was more and more interested. I had down from the state university. That began to
been reading Lashley, some of which I still don't fascinate me. I realize now that what intrigued
understand and much of which I didn't under- me was the scientific part. Agricultural work is
stand then. I did an animal study all by myself good experimental work and I took that in. So
and no one bossed me around or even helped I registered in agriculture and had every idea
me. By that time I decided I wanted to go into that what I was going to be was a farmer.
professional psychology. "Being of a somewhat emotional and sensitive
" I taught high school for a year and then sort, religious conferences at the Y hit me pretty
went back with an assistantship at another uni- deep and I don't know whether gradually or
versity. I did a very hard job on my thesis, I suddenly I began thinking of the ministry. I
literally lived in the laboratory for the better realized a broad background would be a good
part of the year. The professor didn't give me thing and I changed my major to history. And
any encouragement but indicated indirectly that then, loo, the exploring, the scientific, the
he had confidence in me. He was just the sort scholarly side appealed to me more and more.
of guy who would leave you alone but you "Then I was able to attend a conference
could have contact if you were persistent enough abroad. That was an education, my gosh. That
about it. And he was an eminent man and that stretched my thinking enormously and pretty
made a lot of difference to me." well disabused me of a lot of the narrow re-
ligious ideas I had. It determined me to go to
C. "Father was a construction engineer and some liberal seminary and it strengthened my
finally became very prosperous. He had a good decision to go into the ministry.
mind and a college education but he was most "The motivation was really a service motiva-
certainly not an intellectual, and tended on the tion. Quite a strong one, I should say, and on a
whole to scorn professors and such. Mother went fairly abstract sort of level in a sense. I found
to college but I can't remember if she finished. the seminary an extremely stimulating place.
Any expression of her intellectual side has al- They really believed in freedom of thought and
ways been very much restricted by her strong inquiry and there was a bright group of stu-
primitive religious background. dents and in no lime at all we were teaching
" I learned to read long before I went to school, ourselves. In courses in religious education we
but I have really no idea how. It's characteristic got a good deal of what really would be clinical
of the family situation that the first book I read psychology. That appealed to me very much
was a fat Bible story book. Reading was pretty and sort of shifted my focus to religious educa-
nearly all my life in the early school days, and tion. On the intellectual and philosophical side
writing. I liked all types of school work; look- there was a steady growth in questioning on the
part of the whole group of us. I began to take
ing back on it I liked them too much. I was a courses in psychology and by the end of my
shy youngster. I can't believe I had any social second year I definitely decided on it I was
adjustment in the group. I had enough com- interested in child guidance work and the serv-
panions at home to make it unnecessary. In our ice motivation was definitely dominant.
home, reading was only sort of all right; if you
had done your chores and there was nothing " I changed to educational psychology and 1
else to do it was okay to read. About the time I got a fellowship in child guidance. It was a
was ready to start high school my parents fairly tough year. At the university they were
8 ANNE ROE
rigidly objective, emotions didn't count and the after that I decided to go ahead and find out
Child Guidance Institute was everything from more about it. I couldn't do anything by myself
ultra-Freudian to statistical. That was very fruit- so I took some more courses. 1 felt a certain
ful, that was awfully good training. That year I impotence.
began to realize I have a facility for working "That was a period when the fever started
with people. Then I went to another social developing. One of the professors took a group
agency that gave me a kind of chance I think of us and he thought if we wanted to learn
not enough people get. I just got a snoot full of about things, the way to do it was to do research.
work. I wasn't particularly thinking about what My senior year I carried through some research.
to do next professionally, there was just so much That really sent me. That was the thing that
work to do, so many children to see, so many trapped me. After that there was no getting out.
agencies wanting help with children that I just I tried anthropology and it infuriated me. 1
got deeply immersed in the clinical function, I enjoyed it thoroughly, but I found that it just
just learned how to work with kids. And there didn't satisfy me. That insofar as one could
was none of what I feel has so often killed design anything elegant, it would be banal. At
clinical psychologists, there was no one whom the same time all these things burst up together.
we had to be subservient to." I began to have some sense of what constitutes
poetry. It was another world just opening up
D. His parents came from abroad but were before me, and the same thing happened in
married here. His father made a rapid ascent in music. All this in a period of a half year. I
business, but died when the subject was in his remember I decided that 1 wouldn't go home for
early teens. He went to the public schools but Christmas that year. It was a kind of painful
had a good deal of illness and was left back. thing but I just could not communicate with
" I went through school doing competently, the family so I didn't go.
never being very much engaged. It was never a "By this time I knew for sure that I wanted
really challenging kind of thing to do. I spent a to be in psychology but I didn't know what I
lot of time in the woods and I did a lot of read- wanted to be in psychology. I did some research
ing of very conventional things. After father's projects and it seemed to me all the wonderful
death we moved about a good deal. It was very fiery dogmas of the period were all wrong. That
confusing Iot the next few yeais. I went to about first year of graduate work was heavenly. Then
six different high schools until I was finished I developed a new, more specific kind of promis-
and there was always the problem of establish- cuity. I spent a summer working on operative
ing myself. The critical problem of staying and techniques after devouring Lashley's papers. I
getting a footing became more and more impor- read enormously in physiology and in anthro-
tant to me. I began to develop some special pology and I started working on field problems
ways of doing this. with monkeys. I didn't finish because that
"Then I ran on to the first teacher who really spring I somehow had the feeling that that was
interested me, in a course in European history. getting to be too much of the same sort of
I started reading in the field and I read outside thing and that the field of physiology was not
of school and I became interested in working at quite all I wanted. I read AJlport's Personality
maps. That course was the first real satisfaction and Boring's History and I decided by gosh I'd
I ever got in a course. It represented material go on."
which could be organized, you could make sense
out of complexity. You could see elegant trends. E. " I was born in a town of about 5,000 and
" I wanted to go to college. It was taken for we lived under very restricted financial circum-
granted that I would go and it was somehow stances. I wandered through grade school, but in
assumed that I would take a pre-Iaw course. I high school I was the top of the boys. I expected
did for two years and I was very indifferent and to become a teacher. Socially I was very
uninterested. Meantime I was putting in a lot restricted. My father was opposed to our learn-
of time at writing. Not stories, but essays, trying ing to dance. I didn't date in high school al-
to get my thoughts straight. Writing a lot to the though I would have liked to. I was small and
college newspaper, for example, and one thing the group I went around with was younger, I
and another like that. found I could play football with them. I was
"At the end of my second year I took a course quiet and never caused any trouble. I did my
in psychology and the tremendous comprehen- lessons, my teachers liked me. My oldest brother
sion and dogma intrigued me and infuriated me. thought I was too mild so he taught me to box.
I was intrigued by the fact that he had tried to My brothers were very close. Even in college my
cover so much in one simple theory. I started closest friend was my next older brother. We
thinking and I started reading. Then I suddenly lived close enough to poverty, and always in the
realized that this was the stuff that interested family there was a great confidence in our com-
me and in a curious kind of way, and the term plete intellectual superiority. There was a very
strong intellectual emphasis on this kind of and his friends dominated ihe scene so that I
thing. couldn t compete. I was not interested in gadgets,
" I would say I did a moderate amount o£ although we had a good tool shop and I had
reading. I wasn't a voracious reader. I didn't plenty of opportunities to make things I have
have any particular intellectual interests in high never liked laboratory apparatus.
school. I think college was assumed, and it was " I stayed at home for a year, and then taueht
taken for granted I would go to the one in my grade school for two years before I went to the
home town. Then an older brother went away to university. My teachers encouraged me to go and
college and my aunts financed my going. The my friends were going. I don't think I had very
one thing that surprised me was that I wasn't well-defined objectives. The first objective was
homesick. I had expected to be. There I de- when I took a normal training course with the
veloped my first real intellectual interests. I had idea of teaching. When I started teaching it was
no concept of studying. I t wasn't until I reached with the idea of getting enough money to go
my second year that I found people studied for on to college. My parents were favorable and
exams and it was a shock. The first thing I helped me financially. I was planning then to
found I liked was biology but I was revolted by be a psychologist, but I hadn't much idea of
dissection. Undoubtedly I was just drifting. I what I would do. I guess I knew that most of
gave my major as English because my brother them were teaching.
did. I liked history very much—I liked memoriz- "My course was interrupted by the war and
ing dates, facts, people, when I found out you more teaching and when 1 went back it was
were supposed to do it. When I took psychology with the idea of being a chemist, but also I
I pretty well decided to become a psychologist. started psychology. I did sufficiently distin-
It was interesting like biology and as far as I guished work that I was offered a job as assist-
could see you didn't have to dissect. I was as ant and this changed my vocational plans com-
interested in the physical sciences as in the pletely. That year the clinic was left without
psychological but I had an emotional block anyone in charge and I took over. I had just
against the mechanical aspects. The chairman of had one course in Kinet but I dug in and read
the department thought I had the ability to go everything I could get hold of and 1 learned to
into graduate work and the last year I was given give Pintner-Paterson and other tests. I learned
a teaching assistanship; I had had a job running a lot of psychology that way. I was offered an
rats on an hourly basis. I avoided advanced assistantship elsewhere for my Ph.D. It was a
work in statistics, let's be honest, I was scared course in psychophysics that impressed me the
of it. I don't think I was unusually inept but I most, the exactness and rigor. 7'hat is another
lacked the blind confidence." reason for the mathematical twist. It appealed to
me, it's neat and precise, and probably is the chief
F. "As far back as I know both my parents' source of the direction I have taken since then."
families were farmers with no professional peo-
ple among close relatives. My parents had only G. "My grandparents on both sides were early
a country school education. Father was quite an pioneers in the West. Father ran a wholesale
intelligent man and did quite a bit of reading. electrical jobbing house, and I was just about
My home was favorably oriented, if not strongly finishing high school when he was killed in an
directed. I started school on my seventh birth- accident. Mother died the same year, just before
day but I'm sure I was ready before, and within Father. I had always worked in the business
a year I was in the third grade reading. School with him and I carried it on and then sold it
was easy and I was the first in the community to after about six months.
go to high school. I liked all subjects in high " I had to repeat the first grade in school. I
school, particularly the sciences, and I did very was pretty indifferent as a scholar. I've decided
well in all. In the senior year I took on the now I couldn't read in those days. But I think
normal training course and read James' Princi- it's fair to say that I stood successively higher in
ples and Briefer Course. It was in that course the group from the first year when I flunked
that I first got acquainted with psychology as a out to the year I got my Ph.D. I played outside
subject but I'm sure I was interested in it before after school until I was in high school and then
that because as a child I made observations on I worked, helped out in deliveries and then
perception which I later found out were psy- played around with the kids in the neighbor-
chological. I made observations on depth per- hood at nights. We used to roam the streets and
ception and I read about hypnotism as a child. break into the corner grocery store and steal
things, like cars. 1 never got sent to the reform
"Afternoons during high school I spent mainly school, although I've been in the juvenile court
in reading. I was never active in athletics. I for jerking trolleys off the cars. It was mostly
don't think I had much aptitude for it. I think good wholesome fun, although occasionally we
I was discouraged in early childhood. My brother were in trouble.
being six years older was much stronger and he
io ANNE ROE
" I made a pretty good record in high school. two years my schooling was irregular but after
I worked some on the school paper and I was that I was pushed ahead. Five nights a week
on the debating team. Church was a very im- at 8 o'clock I was put in a Morris chair with a
portant part of our lives. board across the arms and I worked on my
(After a period abroad he returned home and lessons and recited them to my mother until I
started to college, the expected thing in his was letter perfect. I was 12 when I went to high
community.) " I never took anything 1 was sup- school and I graduated at 15. This was not an
posed to. Mainly I was taking many different accredited high school and I had then to do a
courses. The tallest and broadest of the subjects year of prep work. I was handicapped in sports
were the ones that interested me. I had a good but had not much interest in them. I spent all
general education if poking into all sorts of sub- the time I could reading mother's considerable
jects is a good general education. I started in collection of books, mostly fiction. My only other
law but soon talked myself out of that. About interests were in boats and pets. Mother bought
that time I looked into what this medical school a parrot when I was two years old and we
deal was about and I was able to predict what learned our alphabet together, and we were
room I'd be in at what time in the morning four rivals in the family.
years hence, and I couldn't face that much deter- " I think I was an extremely passive, unam-
mination of my future. In my spare time as an bitious, and very obedient child. I was never
undergraduate I began to hang around the psy- punished by my father but was always in fear
chology department a bit. I used to go up to of him. I didn't discover what it was to have
the professor's house for seminars and that liberty until I got away from home. I was kept
seemed kind of interesting. I read Watson. in long curls and short trousers to the point
When I decided not to go to medical school I of making me ridiculous. This was because of
thought maybe I'd study psychology. Of course mother's ambition to prove my precocity.
there was hardly anything I didn't want to be. " I hated high school, the regularity. I have
It was a process of elimination. I talked to never been able to do anything seven days a
people and I remember one of them told me, week. I pretended to have headaches in order
'Well, you go on and become an experimentalist to miss school and I have been missing school
and you can always have a good job.' I think I
was helped a little towards this decision by tak- ever since.
ing the Strong which was coming out about " I went to college in accordance with father's
then. I got myself scored on a few things and I plans for me. I made very few friends and spent
got A in math and A in psychology and B's much time reading alone. I learned to smoke and
in law, medicine, banking and things like that, I learned what it was not to have authority
and way down in salesmanship, and that agreed over me. I was disoriented for a long time until
with my introspection. I found a library. For a while I had a chum and
then in my senior year I was left again without
" I came East without bothering to get admitted close personal contacts. At one time I realized I
in advance and shopped around among courses. was doing very little talking so I kept track of
I took a course in psychology and said I'd like it and I found that in three days I had said
to do an experiment. I was sent up to the twenty-four words. I took no part in class activi-
attic where I set up an experiment. Then I had ties, I wasn't rushed for a fraternity. I had 5>z8
a great insight. I discovered that if you varied a month to live on and I managed to make that
one thing, another one also varied. Oh! what an go.
experience that was. I fiddled around and I " I had no ideas about a vocation except some
had a bright idea how to compensate for this fantasies about civil engineering which did not
effect and I could plot some curves. Then I dis- meet with my parents' approval. It was decided
covered about prelims and I had 100 days to I should finish my bachelor's work before I took
prepare in, and then I was a psychologist."
any special training. I found I liked zoology and
then concentrated on that, and I got an assist-
H. "My father was a clerk in his father's gen- ant's job in the laboratory. From that time on
eral merchandise business. He had had some I lived in the laboratory. I developed quite a
ambition to be a doctor but his father would not fixation on the teacher who became to me the
let him, with the result that he had ambitions ideal scientist. His method o£ instruction was to
for me to become a doctor. He was a rather say to me 'You will find some sheep brains in the
good-tempered, relatively unambitious man, in- laboratory. Go get them and work up a course
terested in politics and a definite extrovert. in the laboratory for the course in neurology.'
Mother was an extremely ambitious woman, and There was a good deal of prestige value in this
a very dissatisfied one. She undoubtedly had the job. I became an authority among fellow stu-
feeling that she was better than the townspeople. dents on biology, including the biology of sex
" I was able to read when I was four, and in which I knew nothing directly. My only out-
started school then. Then we moved and for side interest was in music and this has been a
II
very important part of my life. engineering. I did well in my college work but
" I went to graduate school with a teaching I never really got very much identified with
fellowship in biology and I had no idea of what chemistry. I think the reason I stuck with it was
I was going to do. I was just living in the because it was easy for me. I wasn't satisfied
present, there was no future. I had a purely with it but in the midst of college life it was
passive attitude but with this love of the not so important. Other things, fraternity life
things I was doing in zoology, and no idea of and so on, were more important. I was very-
the possibility of a career in zoology. I have active on the campus, especially with campus
never looked ahead towards goals. It has always publications and YMCA work.
been, here are problems to be solved. I eventu- " I didn't wrestle much with vocational goals
ally majored in bacteriology but with psychology until my senior year. There was pressure from
and psychiatry as minors. After my master's the Y to go on with that kind of work because
degree, I became an assistant to one of the I was pretty successful. I was emotionally in-
psychologists to whom I became very attached, volved in these problems but hesitated because
and I worked with him very closely. When I of the religious angle. My attitudes were scien-
think about how things have gone it seems to tific. The supernatural angle didn't appeal to
me that the little success here and there seems me but the social did. The thought of an ad-
to be a determining factor. That and personal vanced degree never entered my mind, although
contacts. I did some clinical work for a while my chemistry record brought me offers of finan-
but hated it and soon got back to animals. I've cial aid. But I wasn't very successful in scouting
never been interested in people." around for work, which I took as personal re-
buffs, and the places I did see where you could
I. "My father was a physician and my own get jobs in chemistry were uninteresting and in
thought was of becoming a physician and taking places that smelled.
up in my father's footsteps. This was a common "So I took an offer to run the employment
practice. I was pretty timid about the problem office at school and work as a Y secretary. It was
of making a living. I had a feeling of being a curiously reassuring experience that I could
bright but impractical and this seemed a secure become a Y secretary without being threatened
pattern. Mother always talked about wanting me (in prestige). I was getting a little organized in
to be a lawyer or judge, but I think it was her a way. I received a grant to study at a divinity
notion of what profession had the most prestige. school and I had a thoroughly good time for a
We had a sort of noblesse oblige attitude toward year. I was just exploring. 1 just absorbed it.
democracy. We had a feeling of being somebody I did a lot of reading in poetry and archeology,
in our small town. I was invited to the right along with the standard course in religious
parties and all that. We were very good people. education.
Father died in the war when I was fourteen. It "In the meantime I had a job on the side in
wasn't a particularly sad experience in some the student employment office, having some
ways for me, but it was sobering because I took attraction to vocational guidance. I suspect that
a sense of responsibility, being the man in the no one with very clear vocational plans would go
house. But from then on the medical business into vocational guidance. One of my friends was
seemed to be out of the question. writing a book and he needed some statistical
"In grade school and in high school things work done on it, and I got Garrett out of the
came easily for me. I skipped a good deal in the library and did correlations the next day. That
grades. I think this made me a little anti-intel- was kind of interesting and I decided at that
lectual in a sense. I wanted to show I didn't point to give psychology a try. I had only had a
ever study or anything. I didn't read much, half course during my senior year. All I re-
either, and I didn't do much with gadgets. I member is being puzzled at the assistants and
had some kind of psychological advice in high wondering why any one would ever choose that
school, from two people who were sufficiently for a profession. I presently found myself in the
psychology department there. I think by this
contradictory in their appraisal of me that it was time I was somewhat returning to the satisfac-
a little reassuring in a way. The principal told tions of scientific work; I think the notion of
me I was bright but timid and would probably apparatus appealed to me and of mathematical
never be comfortable with people so I should go work. I liked my fling in the other world but I
into scientific work. So I decided to go into liked those correlations."
chemical engineering. It was kind of a romantic
thing and it sounded a little hard-boiled. The
assistant principal insisted I take up debating T "My father was a lawyer with only a law
because I was sure to be a public figure. I was school education and was the author of a book
successful at this; in spite of timidity I had a on compensation law. Mother had been a ste-
good platform manner. nographer and secretary. They both grew up in
" I took my bachelor's degree in chemical the small town where we all lived until I was
ANNE ROK
12
through high school. We all went to the same "During that year at home I read a good deal,
high school and father and mother and I all McCurdy, Watson, Pavlov, Loeb, Broad, Ogden,
finished second in our classes. I simply went and Russell. I was much impressed with be-
through the town school from first grade haviorism as an approach. I had had no psy-
through high school. One o£ the teachers had a chology in college. 1 took biology because science
great influence on me. I had her for twelve years was required, and now I decided I would study
in different subjects. She read 'advanced' books psychology. I wasn't equipped for any other
like Lord Jim and told me about them. She was science and I was always interested in literature.
the only cultural influence in town. I decided that literature wasn't an adequate
" I wasn't much of a person for sports. I method of tackling the problem of behavior, I
went through a phase of living out in the went on to graduate school. I was highly moti-
country, and later I played tennis a good deal, vated that first year. I used to work from six in
generally with older people. I learned to play the the morning until nine at night. Every moment
piano at seven and later played other instru- was accounted for. That first year I didn't see a
ments in band and orchestra. I read a good deal. movie, I didn't have a date. I couldn't stand
Once when we were reading As You Like It, that pace now at all, but I did catch up. I was
father casually referred to the Baconian theory amazed to find that no one in the department
and next day in class I said in a very smart- was a behaviorist. I thought nothing else was
alecky way, 'Shakespeare didn't even write this.' possible. Since there were no behaviorists there,
The teacher said 'You don't know what you're I went over to biology pretty much where I
talking about.' So that challenged me and I went could see some behavior being studied. You
down to the library and looked it up. I read a become a psychologist to find out how to have
lot—all the Bacon I could find—and I must your own way. You want to know how people
somehow have gotten the stuff under my skin behave as they do and partly because you want
because I've been a staunch Baconian ever since. to change them."
I understood it later. At the time, of course,
much of it was way ahead of me. I was always K. "Father was a purchasing agent, but was
writing, too, short stories, poems, essays. As a also clerk of the board of education in this
senior I got a job on the local paper. country town and clerk of the village trustees,
"Father wanted me to be a lawyer and pointed and was greatly respected throughout the area.
out the advantages of being able to come into Mother had been a nurse. I believe that both
his office. I never liked the idea but I didn't of my parents were quite influential in the
openly rebel, and I had no vocational guidance development of character traits. Both were
information whatever. It was taken for granted I proud and sensitive and extremely kindly and
would go to college. I always assumed that. accommodating to everyone. Ours was not a
everyone tried to better his condition and I was demonstrative family; there was very little out-
much shocked in my later years in college to find ward manifestation of affection, but a strong and
that this wasn't always so. Probably my father unwavering sense of loyalty and attachment was
being a self-made man contributed to that. understood by all.
" I wanted to be a writer, but supposed I "Throughout school I participated in athletics
would go into law because I could do nothing of all kinds. We all did a lot of hunting and
else. 1 majored in English and minored in fishing and were all the time in the woods, traips-
Romance languages and I went to college full ing around somewhere. Father often took me
o£ real respect for learning and supposed every- with him on visits to different quarries. I enjoyed
one else was doing the same. It was a lousy col- school very much, both the athletic things as
lege. It was the most unplanned kind of educa- well as school itself. Until about my class there
tion you can imagine. I took courses because my hadn't been people going away to school. I think
frat brothers recommended them. I took a course the main reason I went to college was the high
in embryology and I did a lot of extra work in school principal who was also our coach and was
it, some original research. I made slides and I a great influence on us. He also taught the
had the feel of science. By all odds the great side science courses and I think probably I got some
of my college career was in learning something of my interest in science from his being coach
about the art of living." and teacher. My parents were willing but con-
As a tutor in a professor's family he learned cerned over finances. They thought of college
much about art and music and fine living. This as a means to a business career, and so I majored
intensified his interest in writing and he was also in commerce as well as in psychology. I had all
profoundly affected by favorable criticism of his kinds of jobs. I ate one meal a day, but I was
work by a noted poet, and came to feel that not alone in that.
law was impossible. After college he stayed for a " I was very fortunate. I took psychology my
year at home trying to write but was unable to first semester. The professor was dynamic and
get started. inspiring. During the first year we could take
J3
the experimental lab and I had a good deal of in in philosophy and a better approach than
interest right from the start. At the close of that sociology did. I decided to try to get all the
year the professor's senior assistant was leaving psychology I could and though the experimental
and he offered me that job. I went on in psy- course was very tough I took it. When 1 was a
chology mainly because of the professor's in- senior I worked with a Ph.D. student on a labora-
fluence. He became a kind of scientific father tory problem. I thought this was reallv the stull
at that point. I was almost completely separated in the sense that this is serious as the experi-
from my family as far as educational interests ments in experimental psychology were not, so 1
went and he would take me around wherever he got quite a feeling of responsibilit\ oul of it.
went. "1 went on to graduate work. The family didn't
" I went on to graduate school with the vague object. The professor left students to themsches
idea of becoming a psychiatrist. Again 1 was not giving very much aid. I half liked it and it
fortunate in an inspiring teacher. I majored in half irritated me. It developed a sort of anxiety
clinical psychology and we attended staff meet- in me. I would see some of the other people
ings at the psychiatric hospital. I developed a going ahead and getting something and here I
tremendous interest in the physiological things. was reading at random still. During my first year
I think that's where my interest in psychiatry it wasn't much fun. I guess 1 worked a good
fell out, I felt I had a channel or avenue that deal alone. I spent the year studying mathe-
was really my own. Those days were really very matics and science generally. There was no em-
valuable ones for me, not so much because of the phasis on psychology. All of the students were
training there but because I caught the spirit individualists; there was little homogeneity ol
and enthusiasm for research." interests at all in the whole group."
L. "My grandparents on both sides were small M. "My father was an engineer and had a
farmers, my father a skilled workman. When I polytcchnical training in Germany. He was killed
went to school I had a lot of traumatic experi- in a hunting accident when I was a child. Mother
ences. I had a hell of a time adjusting in kinder- took over his business, and from then on we
garten. But after the first year in grammar school lived in boarding houses, and 1 was left pretty
I went on with not too much difficulty. I played much to myself.
with the kids after school. Mostly we played " I was always a very poor student in all sub-
outdoors, although I occasionally did stay home jects except math, and I could do special prob
and read. We played a good deal of baseball lems. but 1 didn't do too well. I always just
and there were some fights, as kids of course. I managed to get through. I spent a lot of time in
wasn't too aggressive but I got into fights. When my father's shop. I was a little pet around the
I went to high school I didn't particularly get in place, and they let me do everything. I've always
with any group mostly because I worked a lot enjoyed working with my hands. 1 stili would
of the time. My family thought it developed rather do that than cat.
character, it wasn't necessary. In my senior year " I spent a lot of time in athletics; I was in
I refused to work except Saturday and 1 gradu- all the track events in high school and football
ated as first boy in the class. and baseball. Father's plan for me had been a
"College had been projected, of course, from technical education in Germany so after high
the time I was very young. I just accepted it. I school 1 went there. Suddenly the world opened
guess I wanted it, I don't know. I signed up as up, the world of literature and all the rest.
a chemistry major. I guess it derived from There were bookshops on every corner. I read
father's interests. He had wanted me to try to get all of the Russians and then I read all the
into a technical school but I didn't quite have German literature and then I went back to Eng-
the prerequisites. In college I took some part, lish literature. 1 became very much interested in
not too successfully, in athletics, but what I the theater. The first year 1 was sort of outside
enjoyed most was the Glee Club. And I was the picture and I was terribly lonesome and that
editor of the literary magazine. gave me sort of a chance to look back and see
"In my third year I began to wonder what I what it was all about. After the life I had in
was getting out of all this business. I wished I high school where I had been in everything,
had taken philosophy because I was concerned president of the class, captain of the teams, and
with problems of the soul and this bothered me, then going to this life where you didn't have
but there were no philosophy courses and so I to attend any courses. The second year I was
took psychology. Although we were taught Titch- elected to a sportsverein. I was there three
ener pretty much and although even then I years, until the war broke out. That brought
didn't believe it (I thought all of this could be about a general re-examination of what you
described in physiological processes) it seemed wanted to do and I suddenly found that engi-
to make sense and I liked it. It gave an experi- neering did not interest me enough to consider
mental approach to problems I was interested it a life career. I didn't know really what I
»4 ANNE ROE
wanted to do. I was interested in something was one of the rather non-social shy children
that had to do with people and behavior in whom teachers all like. My scholastic interests
more general ways. As closely as I can remember were minimum, except English and drama.
it was a choice between economics and a diplo- " I didn't get along too well with other chil-
matic service career. dren, but always had one or two close friends.
" I came back and went to college. One course I had one difficult year when we moved and I was
in international diplomacy cured me of an in- a stranger and very tall and thin and physically
terest in that, and I soon gave up economics ineffective. I found out what it meant to be a
courses, there was nothing I could hold to, it minority group member. And then we moved
was all verbal. Then I got interested in Freud back and sex had arrived, which was very happy.
and early analytical work and I read everything My high school years were very highly hetero-
in analysis. I had one course in animal behavior; sexually oriented with lots of dating and dancing
this was my first contact in anything like that and great interest in reading and writing. I did
and I got an A. I knew then I wanted something a lot of acting and journalism; I played the piano
in the form of psychology. I had read Watson, and learned to play jazz. I was thoroughly and
I was stimulated from the physiological angle. completely an ingroup member then.
I got my B.A. and when I got out of the service "It never occurred to me that there was any-
I came directly here from the camp and started thing anyone did except go to college. I don't
in. This was the best place I could have picked think vocational plans ever entered my head. By
out. The professor said just go ahead and work, my junior year I decided to become a short story
there will be no courses, just go ahead. So I writer and became quite a Bohemian, interested
went right on, on almost the same system I had in the esoteric and an expert on metropolitan
in Germany. I made arrangements to dissect a speakeasies and on local wines. At the end of
stiff in anatomy, I just did it on my own and I that year I got engaged. She'd had to go to
did the same thing in physiology. I ran all the summer school so I did too and we took Psy-
experiments on my own and then that was the chology 1. We sat in the back row and held
extent of my formal education. Meanwhile I hands and went out and studied together under
did a lot of psychological experiments. Actually the trees. This undoubtedly had a profound
so far as formal education goes I had very little. effect on my interest in psychology. On the
I just managed probably to be lucky and not to other hand, we also took sociology together and
have been forced or unlucky. I've been able to it didn't have any effect on that. I looked on
go ahead in developing my own interests. I was psychology as a refuge from the vagueness and
a poor student, I could never have made the what even then struck me as the amateurish
grade in any formal course. guesswork of English criticism. I was quite dis-
" I had no idea of a career at this point, it was satisfied with the balderdash about motivation
just something that was overwhelmingly inter- and character and so on that you got in that.
esting to me. My professor had a very important By that time I had begun to suspect that I
influence in my whole development, he was tar might not be the kind of short story writer that
and away the most widely-read man, the greatest eats. I liked learning theory and I loved the
scholar I had ever come into contact with. He objective questions. Just this incredible number
had a great fund of information and high ideals of isolated little facts. It provided a certain
and tolerance of all kinds of work. As the work solidity, it was so nice to get things down to a
developed, as I look back I have been stubborn really precise point. And I found some very
and unpleasant because many times he tried to smart, sharp, good people in psychology who
push me in another direction. He had little idea were very much interested in me and who spent
of what could be worked out experimentally. I time with me and gave me interesting things
got my degree in two years, and after I graduated to do, like measuring things and finding rela-
I had a staff position. It was very exciting to tionships. If any one course were to be given
have contact with the patients. It opened up all credit for my final choice, it would be the course
kinds of possibilities." in experimental.
" I went on for graduate work with the notion
N. "My family background is both farm and that I would go only for a year and it would be
fairly good upper-middle-class group. They had nice to get far away from home and fun to see
farm, mercantile and professional affiliations, something of the rest of the world. I suppose this
medical and legal. My father is a very able, hard- was probably about 80% of a decision toward a
working man who put himself through college profession but I can remember I had a feeling
after he married, went on to graduate work and of not having made a decision. I couldn't seem
ultimately became a professor. We moved around to think of any alternative. I didn't like it, if was
quite a lot. I never was particularly interested ghastly, but after two months you couldn't have
in school. I was one of the good boys and I got gotten me out of it. I guess it was like taking
along nicely in school because I was good. I religious orders. Part of it was the enthusiasm of
15
some of the people. I started working with one
of the professors on an experiment; I did a One subject's parents were divorced but
lot of research and then there was just no remarried shortly afterwards. The father
further question." of another died while the son was in
college.
Summary
Inquiries about health during child-
This group came from lower to upper- hood and later uncovered a number of
middle-class backgrounds and the eco- problems, of varying sorts. There is no
nomic level varied from quite poor to record for one. Five stated their health
well-to-do. Many of them had feelings of had always been good but one of these
apartness relative to themselves or their developed migraines when about 25 and
families but it is rare for these to be another developed a number of allergies
colored with inferiority feelings. More in later life. Two have had hearing diffi-
than half of them had some definite sense culties from an early age, and two have
of personal or family superiority, and had some eye problems which have been
family concern with social status, in one corrected. None of these problems seems
way or another (as striving, as recollec- to have been an important early factor.
tion of striving in the parental genera- There were 4 who had quite serious
tion, or as consciousness of belonging to problems which were constitutional.
the "best people"). Two of these were abnormally small and
The earliest vocational decision for 2 were abnormally tall. These were their
any of this group was the sophomore comments: " I was always pretty small
year in college, and over half did not and slim but my coordination was not too
decide until after they had graduated bad. I made basketball (in college) but
from college, several not until they were dropped out, I was too small for one
part way through graduate school. Their thing." " I was always a very tiny boy.
earlier interests were oftenest English lit- When I entered high school I was 4 feet
erature, although some had social inter- 10 inches and weighed 68 pounds. I was
ests and some began in chemistry or en- small and so the group I went around
gineering. The final deciding factor was with was younger. In college I had got-
often the experience of doing research. ten to normal height but I always had
There is no consistent pattern of read- this picture of being minute." "When I
ing interests during childhood and ado- was 15 years old I was 5 feet, 11 inches
lescence. The amount ranges from none and I only weighed 95 pounds. I was in-
to "reading was my life," and there is no capable of doing most of the things re-
concentration of frequencies. In college quired in gym, so I used to get under the
or high school, six of them did some mats or hide behind them and stay there
writing or editing or both. as much as possible." " I was very tall and
School work was always easy for most very thin and my adolescent growth
of them. Only one said he never did well spurt had come at the beginning of 12
in school, but several others did not years so I was very ineffective and I had
make exceptional records. Two were ex- sick headaches. I suppose that they were
tremely interested in school athletics. probably excuses to get home from
Four suffered the loss of their fathers school. My health has always been doubt-
(at 8, 12, 14, and 17 years), one also his ful. I am somewhat hypochondriacal."
mother, but there were no homes perma- One of this group was always an isolate
nently broken by divorce or separation. but the size factor was a relatively minor
l6 ANNE ROE
one in this picture. suppose the aspect that appealed to me was that
it combined both the rugged outdoor life, this
There were other problems. One sub- side that I was always striving to be proficient
ject had diphtheria at 4, followed by a in, with some intellectual content, and I couldn't
temporary partial paralysis, but was just be a ditch-digger but' this was ditch-digging
with an intellectual content and it was glam-
otherwise never seriously i l l . Another orous.
was sickly as an infant, had many serious "College was always taken for granted. The
illnesses as a child but had not had any school advisor didn't know that anthropology
was also archeology, so she could only find a
since. A third suffered from one long small state university that seemed to give it as
series of stomach aches and nosebleeds, a major so I went there. Many of the students
probably because of poor nutrition. An- spent quite a bit of time mending pots or
working around the archeological laboratory,
other said, " I was fairly sickly when I but I never did. I would never go on field trips
was a kid. I t was a very rare year that I during vacation because I wanted to spend my
didn't miss a block of 2 or 3 weeks or time on the beach. Looking back over it, it looks
rather bad, as though I didn't have any honest
more of school because of some illness. interest. I must have been pretty much of a
A n d I must have had ulcers by the time horrible social snob, too. The other students in
I was 15." archeology seemed a little second class socially
to me, and there were times when I thought
I t would appear that health and con- maybe I'd do better to switch back to my earlier
stitution have not played any clear role ideas of being a writer and I took as much in
English as I did in archaeology. During the
in this group generally. I n only one in- year I worked for an M.A. I did quite a bit of
stance does it seem likely that they con- reading and I became really serious. The chair-
tributed significantly to difficulties i n man of the department encouraged me to go on,
somewhat to my surprise. I got a summer fel-
social integration. lowship which opened up a wonderful door for
The patterns of psychosexual develop- me. If it hadn't been for that I would have been
ment are discussed separately, i n Chap- out of luck. I learned a lot and I learned how
little I knew. I worked for two years with a
ter V. man I met on that trip and for the first time
I got to know something. Then I finally got a
T h e Anthropologists fellowship and went on for my Ph.D."
O. "My family background is nationally very
mixed, but it is mostly farming, although father P. "There were no professional people on
was a small businessman. We were definitely in either side of my family and my father was a
the upper-middle class until we moved when I superintendent for a building company. We were
was is, and our status changed to lower-middle not well off, but mother had been a teacher,
class, which was very painful for Mother, I had and she kept up pretty close personal contact
a very unpleasant time in grade school. Mother with all my teachers. I did quite well in ele-
insisted on status differentiation in terms of mentary school. I think I was a pretty conform-
clothes and so on, but after we moved this situa- ing fellow, all the motivations were stacked up
tion changed, and I got into athletics, too. At and mother was interested in grades. I went to .
studies, of course, I was a very bright youngster, a manual training high school because they had
and that was another thing that put me at a a swell mandolin club. I wasn't athletic but 1
disadvantage at an early age as I was considered worked on the school paper and I had a wonder-
teacher's pet. ful time and all that kind of thing. At the end
"Fretty much from the time I was 7 until I of my high school career the college question
was 15 I was quite determined to be a writer. came up. My parents wanted me to go and I
When I went to high school some one had tipped didn't care. I didn't know what else to do. I went
me off that if you want to be a writer and eat to the business school because this didn't require
you ought to take courses in journalism. About passing exams. I took a major in economics and
half-way through high school I don't know how spent a lot of time with the mandolin and glee
it came about, I decided I wanted to go into club.
archeology. I knew very little about it except the "Through contact with social science, the prob-
King Tut tomb stuff. 1 had visited the Chicago lem of. social reform began to agitate my mind
Museum, and I think I heard my father talking a bit. I took no anthropology, I had never heard
about it and I had read something about it. I of it until I met an anthropologist who was r
17
member of my fraternity in my senior year. By Greek. I was doing a lot of reading of Egyp-
the end of college I wasn't interested in doing tology and started learning hieroglyphics but I
graduate work in economics and I didn't want couldn't see that what I was studying had any
to go into business. I had done some volunteer relation to what I wanted to do, so I flunked
social work and I was offered a case worker's plane geometry three times. I didn't like any-
position. Everyone thought it was a funny thing thing except geography and Greek. I couldn't
for me to do at that time. After a couple of do math and I hated history. Languages were
years of this I decided to do graduate work a cinch. I wanted to be an archeologist and an
in sociology and did so while I kept a full-time explorer. I read adventure magazines and all
job. I took some work in anthropology and I those things.
discovered, and this stirred me up intellectually, " I figured it was necessary to go to college,
that as in contrast to sociology, anthropologists and Father picked the place. I wasn't particularly
were very skeptical about social evolution. That happy, I didn't like it particularly and the pro
intrigued me, so I began to read and I got more fessors scared the life out of me and I got
and more interested, and dropped sociology alto- jaundice. I started out to major in the classics
aether. The department was small. The professor but I was disappointed because I discovered the
was the kind of fellow that loved to have people reason I liked the classics at prep school was
hanging around and talking to him, so I got a the teacher. But from then on I was taking
lot of stuff rubbed off outside of the regular mostly anthropology and I was getting around
classwork, and he wasn't concerned about at- with the graduate students mostly so I was much
tendance. happier. I spent several summers abroad. We
" I was still in social work when the psycho- used to see how many borders we could sneak
logical revolution began. That's when I began across, and I got in some field work in anthro-
to read in psychoanalysis. There was no psycho- pology."
logical aspect to anthropology at that time and After a half year of graduate work he went
I had taken only one formal psychology course into the field on a fellowship where he had an
in my life. I gave up social work when I uas assortment of physical mishaps, and illnesses,
offered a fellowship. By then I had determined which put him to bed for some time. However,
to make anthropology my caTeer. At that time I he managed to do some studying and got through
had done no field work, but was soon able to his prelims. Later he went back to the field to
make a few short trips. When I began to do work on his thesis, and had his usual exciting
field work there was practically no psychological time. Again there were illnesses but he eventual-
slant at all. It's hard to make a precise state- ly got back and took his degree.
ment as to how I first brought an old interest
in personality psychology into relation with R. "There is some intellectual tradition in
the study of culture. I knew A. A. Goldenweiser, my mother's family but none in my father's,
Ruth Benedict, and Margaret Mead personally although there were some professional men.
and read all of their publications and I had Mother died at my birth, and when I was about
listened to Goldenweiser lecture on psychoanaly- 5, I went to live with an uncle who became my
sis. Then there were the early progTammatic ar- foster father. He had inherited sufficient money
ticles of C. G. Seligman and Edward Sapir." that he did not have to work, which is not the
custom in a middle-western town. There were
Q. "My father was a business man who did a two distinct social groups in the town, and father
good deal of foreign business and was away a was accepted into the more snooty one, but
great deal but sometimes he took me with him. mother was not.
My mother's family came over in the Mayflower. "In grade school I was very successful as far
They were so bogged down in the haze of myth as grades were concerned, and I had one year in
that I can't make out much about them. My the local high school. I did a lot of reading, and
grandfather took care of me. He told me all I had an active social life and lots of athletic
sorts of stories, so I was brought up on a diet activities. When I went to a private school for
of bloodshed and adventure when I was a my last three years I was young for the group
child. I didn't think much of that until recently and too undersized, and also rather naive. I
but I think it's probably important. wasn't any athletic shakes and this was terribly
" I went to regular school but I was always important. That first year was very bad, but I
getting expelled and sent home. Then I used returned out of sheer stubbornness, and my last
to go out in the woods all the time. I got into year was very pleasant. I was too young for col-
all sorts of trouble in high school. We made lege so I was sent to another prep school. There,
every possible attempt to outwit the authorities. in'many ways I found myself. I found a kind of
I led a stink bomb attack on the faculty and life in my own age grade which more or less
then rather sent me to a private school. I inchoately I had been groping for. A kind of
jraduated cum laude and took first prize in realization of some of my intellectual and liter-
i8 ANNE ROE
ary efforts, and in contrast to before, when I I was going to become an anthropologist. I did
entered as a young squirt, here I entered at 16 this for several reasons. It would give me a
with military school experience and a little chance to be out-of-doors which I loved, and
athletic renown and I got away with being some- it would link my life respectably in a socially
thing of a sophisticate. The more 1 liked it there approved way as opposed to that of a dilettante
the more I immediately started to look down on with the Southwest and then I remember saying,
the first school in intellectual things and I'm 'If I go into anthropology I can study any damn
afraid in class terms I was something of a snob. thing I want to and it will be part of my work."
"College started off very well but I soon got I meant anything related to human activity and
into rather involved difficulties and was sent it will be part of my work."
home. After some time I went West to visit a
relative. This is a nice point of the role of S. "Both of my parents were born in the West,
accident in human life. If my mother's cousin of pioneer families. My father was a lawyer with
had had a ranch in a different place or had been a good practice. The men in the family are
without intellectual interests, the whole future generally professional and mostly lawyers. Father
course of my life would have been very dif- was raised next to an Indian village and was
ferent. This guy had intellectual interests and attorney for a number of the Indian tribes, and
a good library and lived in Indian country. of course I got interested in the Indian back-
Without realizing it, this was inevitably the be- ground.
ginning of my anthropological interests. " I went to a public grade school, then to a
"Eventually I went to another college. I got private high school until my last year when it
along well. I was elected president of my class. failed and I returned to public school. After
I fell in love and I finally decided to finish school I went home and played around the
there. I was thinking of the law but only of an house with neighboring children. In high school
undergraduate degree in it. I got away with I went into the woods and studied birds. I did
murder there, I had a good memory for words an awful lot of reading. The house was full of
and verbal facility and while some teachers were books, my father loved books and I read every-
sincerely motivated and deeply impressed me thing in the public library, particularly nature
and what I did for them was honest, a lot of stuff and military stuff, nature books and travel
my instructors I just used to twist around my books. I read some dime-novels, of course, but
finger. I would throw esoteric references at I don't think I ever went through a period of
them. I did crazy stunts that made me notorious. trash.
1 was president of the male student body and " I don't think anyone thought I would go
chairman of the newspaper. I was out of ath- to college because I was very poor in math and
letics but I led a pretty vigorous social life. languages in high school and excellent in his-
I thought about literature as a career but some tory and English and things I liked, and I
of my teachers had convinced me that while I think the family thought it would be a waste
was not completely hopeless, I was not likely to of time. But I wanted to be a naturalist. I
set the world on fire. didn't know much about how to become one
"During the summers I took pack trips among except that I knew I would have to go to col-
the Indians with friends. I didn't know there lege. I was interested in ornithology particu-
was such a thing as anthropology. Then I got larly. Father was pleased but he said he had
a scholarship abroad and that was quite an never heard of anyone making any money as a
experience for me. I had had an experience of naturalist but that it was all right and if I
four years of being a big shot . . . for the first became good at it he would help me if he had
six weeks abroad no one really spoke to me. I any money.
couldn't get away with anything in my tutorials "Then in my senior year in high school I en-
and I was very much humbled and I realized I listed in the Navy. That experience is im-
had been a fraud intellectually. I decided to portant. I think I would have made a good
stop that, so I worked far harder than I ever officer, but I did not make a good enlisted man
worked in my life. I just worked like hell. After because I was not mechanical. The main thing
the first year I had to some extent caught up I was travelling, but we didn't see anything of
the lost ground so I could hold my own. the world except the ocean. There was an old-
" I came back and tried a few weeks of law fashioned but good library aboard this ship,
school. I thought and discussed things and I did including Darwin's work, and 1 read the Origin
quite a bit of reading and finally I couldn't of Species and the Descent of Man: that made
tell you exactly when or how, I don't remember a great impression on me. It gave me some scien-
there being any sudden revelation about it but tific background for what had been just a col-
somehow the word anthropology had come to lector's instinct and innate love for nature. It
me and I had done a little reading, precious was in the Navy I began to see a difference in
little, in the field and I made up my mind that a very marked way between the officers and the
PSYCHOLOGICAL STUDY OF RESEARCH SCIENTISTS 19
crew, the lines are very sharply drawn. I began " I went to college planning to be a chemical
to see that it wasn't just chemistry and math but engineer. In school I'd never had to do any study-
that there were other things that you could get ing, the general courses were geared to a much
and learn. lower IQ so that it never made me work and I
" I registered as a pre-legal student and later had no idea how much mathematics would be
changed my major to history. I didn't know any- required. I've never been able to do math. I did
thing about taking biology. You can't take a no work my first year in college; out of 34
course in Darwinology and I didn't know what credits I flunked 11 and was conditioned in 17.
these other things were. I collected birds for the My father said he would give me a job but that
college museum, and then in my junior year was the last I could expect from him, and I
had a field trip with a museum party. That was had completely fulfilled his expectations. Of
fascinating. I was doing professionally what I course this made me mad and I made up my
had done by myself and became aware that mind that I would put myself through college,
people did it as a business and at least were so I went back and worked my way through.
able to eat some of the time. Then I had to find Then I decided that if I was paying for my
work and the professor of anthropology gave me education it might as well be something that
a job which involved real research. I became I was interested in and I went into biology,
more and more interested and then I found to which was the only other science they gave.
my surprise that he had put me down as joint There was a period in here when I had difficulty
author of the reports. Once I really got into making up my mind whether to go into writing
anthropology there was nothing more for me. I or biology. It was not entirely youthful enthusi-
think that if any motif runs through, it's that asm because as an undergraduate I wrote well
interest in history because I went from law to and I had several things published. When I
history, it's history that I was interested in in took up biology I was thinking of the great open
high school and the major aspect of evolution. spaces, of collecting and exploring. I had one
I had the interest of a naturalist, too, but dis- course in so-called anthropology and in my
secting left me cold, I was never tempted to go sophomore year went out on a field party, and
on in zoology. My three graduate years were a year later on an expedition. By my junior
without doubt the most exciting of my life. year I had made up my mind, and after gradua-
It was a period of life opening up as more than tion I went right on."
work, and sports and books. We were all poor
and working like hell."
U. "My father was a well-to-do businessman
and we lived in suburbs and had private music
T. "My family on both sides were farmers lessons and other advantages of that kind. I
with a fair education and of moderate social liked school and did very well. I began an avid
status, and I was born on a farm Lhat had been reading career as soon as I was old enough to
in the family many generations. My father was take out a library card, and my other major
a man of great ability, unusual intelligence, and interests were drawing and music. I went to two
violent temper who made and lost at least 3 poor high schools and then to a classical high
fortunes. In the days when I was growing up the school with extremely high standards. It was
family was comfortably fixed but not wealthy. really a delightful school with definite emphasis
1 was never close to anybody as a child. I went on scholastic achievement and to hell with
to a small religious school and there I was in- athletics. You were expected to do three hours
tensely unpopular." (After some years of being a night homework and sometimes more, and the
bullied he developed enough strength to fight pressure and competition were hard at first,
back and in a deliberate campaign thrashed one coming from a regular school. There was lots of
boy a day.) intellectual snobbery. Of course there was an
"From the time I was 10 I worked in my excess of bookish children so I was happier there
father's business holidays and summer vacations, than 1 would have been elsewhere.
although later I took summer farm jobs. In high "There was no question about my going to
school I was an omnivorous reader. The family college, it was always assumed I would go. I
subscribed to various current magazines, like tried to get into Annapolis but was unable to
Harpers, and there was a library in town and pass the physical examination. It was a terrible
I got books From it. I was very eager to learn and blow, I was very depressed and upset. I know
there wasn't much chance to learn. I found ele- now I would not have liked it too well. The
mentary chemistry and physics mildly interest- idea of the freedom the Navy seemed to offer in
ing, 1 think the reason was that it was the getting around the world was probably one of
"vest research subject. I learned about research the factors in my great interest in far places and
from the old Scientific American. 1 knew about in field work. I had no vocational plans when
it very early and I knew I was interested in it, I entered college, although I had thought
but the education in the schools was very poor. vaguely of being an author or a doctor. I started
20 ANNE ROE
concentrating on classics but toward the end of "1 had some difficulty adjusting when I first
my freshman year I felt I had to make a change. went to school but in high school there was no
/ was very snotty about English because I had awkwardness. My interests then were chiefly
already read so much that was required and I literary; I had no particular interest in labora-
thought no professor could teach me anything at tory science but I continued to do natural his-
second hand. 1 had read Darwin and I had read tory. By this time I was writing poetry and so
a little about anthropology so I took a general were a good many of my friends. We were a
course in anthropology and loved it. I really en- somewhat precocious group of literati.
joyed every bit of it. My interest was almost "My college career was interrupted by the war,
immediately in the direction of the biological I enlisted in an ambulance corps and I took a
side. Of course physical anthropology is the most very bad beating. The group was a nice group
precise part. I like things that have a clarity to be with, but they were a bunch of hoodlums,
and a precision and I like the concrete aspects. undisciplined, and the occasion was such that
I like having the materials under your hands. they didn't get any discipline. I first came into
I took a course then in physical anthropology, contact with the way young men really lived.
still not thinking about doing it professionally But I saw hard service also. Then the unit was
but 1 was very deeply interested. I had had a taste disbanded and I just came home. I came back
of business experience summers and decided very much confused and disorganized and this
against that as a career. In my senior year there lasted for some time. I didn't know what I
was another thing. In the usual arrangement wanted to do.
you take courses and the professor comes in to
" I finally started law school and was admitted
lecture and you never see him outside and this
to the bar. I got to a state of great restlessness.
is one thing, but working in a museum where
I didn't like my work. My wife is an enterprising
you ate part oi the apparatus of the department
person and willing to take chances and with
and you get a taste of what ihey were doing
her urging \ took a Iour vacation. We went to
privately, where you see the work, this set-up
a primitive area, anil through an old acquaint-
might very well have been sufficiently entrancing
ance from there we met an anthropologist work-
without my quite realizing it. It's the first time
ing nearby and we became intensely interested
I have thought of it. I vaguely knew that people
and did some field work. Meantime \ was greatly
could do research but that I could do it hadn 't
encouraged bv a professor of sociology and
occurred to mt until then and it was a very
through his influence I became very excited about
exciting prospect. By my senior year I was well
concepts of the science of society. So I became
set although vague as to what and where. But
an anthropologist and went back to school and
I got a fellowship for field work and after that
did more field work. My personal life was open-
there was no question but that I was headed for
ing out very richly and it was wonderful."
a career. Of course there was the whole mental
turmoil and excitement and the drive that comes
with a great absorption, that's understood. I'm Summary
V. " I was conscious from the first of belonging T h e average economic level o£ the
to two pasts because my father's family on the anthropologists is clearly higher than
whole represented an old American family that
had lived in the same place for four generations that of the psychologists, and concern
while my mother's family were all Europeans. w i t h the social status of the family or a
The family was one which was more self- firm conviction of the social superiority
engrossed than most at the time in America.
We developed forms of living which were dif- of the family is evident in all but one in-
ferent from those around us. I had a number stance. This d i d not always result i n the
of serious illnesses as a child and father was very development of a definitely socially snob-
protective. I studied with tutors until I was in
the 8th grade. I made serious natural history bish attitude in the subjects, but there
notes and read a great deal. 1 had lots of oppor- is good evidence that most of them did
tunity for individual experience in following
things out just because I liked them. As I grew consider themselves superior i n one way
older the difference [between him a„d others] or another. A l l but two of them went to
became one of superiority, but along with this private schools, either elementary or
went the feeling of superior responsibility. I
could do things other people could Dot do and secondary, and this would certainly tend
therefore I had to do them. I knew early that to foster these attitudes.
you could have a career as a biologist and that
was my first plan. T w o of this group decided o n their
vocation i n h i g h school, three i n the later
years of college, and three after graduat- importance of the discovery of the pos-
ing from college. Their earlier interests sibility of doing research as a factor in
were somewhat varied. Four mention choice of vocation is clear.
outdoor and athletic interests as having
Comparison w i t h Other Scientists
been of importance and a factor in the
choice o£ a profession involving field Although there is not much difference
work. Two with natural history interests, in the general socioeconomic background
one with an interest in science generally, of the different groups of scientists (ex-
and three with interest i n the classics cept for the subgroup of dieoretical
could continue to find these interests in physicists, 84% of whose fathers were
their profession, as could those whose professional men, as contrasted with
earliest professional interests were soci- about 50% in each of the ouier groups),
ology and law. Six of this group at one there does seem to be a difference in
time or another had a special interest in their social attitudes. Among the biolo-
literature and writing. gists and physicists I encountered no
Reading interests are varied. Most of direct expression of feelings of personal
them did excellently in school, or at least superiority, and there were very few by
did so in those subjects in which they inference. One of the physicists did say
were interested, and characteristically that the family considered themselves
put little effort into the others. They extra privileged in spite of their extreme
have, however, a general dislike for math- poverty; there are a few others who
ematics. probably had some vague feelings of
Health during childhood and adoles- family superiority on one basis or an-
cence was apparently good for only three other, and there are some who were con-
of them. Another had good health until scious of their intellectual superiority,
an attack of rheumatic fever during but they seem not to have translated
secondary school, with some sequelae, this into social terms. It is, of course,
which have not interfered in his field not certain whether this is because these
work. There are five who apparently had groups don't think in such terms, and
constitutional difficulties. Three were hence it would not occur to them to
underweight or undersized, and in addi- mention it, or because they actually do
tion one of these had a number of al- not have such attitudes. I think it is pri-
lergies and the other had a number of marily the latter, although the former
serious illnesses, sufficient to have af- may play some part in it—it is an aspect
fected his early schooling. One was over- of their rather general indifference to
sized ("I don't know whether it was or avoidance of personal interaction. But
pituitary or overeating, because eating among the social scientists, in at least
was about the only satisfaction I had"). half of the psychologists and in most of
Another was always the tallest in his age the anthropologists, a feeling of social
group which sometime gave rise to awk- superiority has definitely played a role
ward situations. Another said, "My in their development. I n some instances
mother or at least I, had the idea that I this feeling is a product of the family's
was always a sickly child and I was or particularly the mother's strivings (or
always having to go to bed but there was a paternal grandmother's). Further data
nothing really wrong with me." on this point will appear in the next
As in the case of die psychologists, the section.
22 ANNE ROE
In the matter of early interests (the it can be as early as high school and as
term refers to spontaneous activities) late as postgraduate years. It is later for
this group differs markedly from the the social scientists and particularly for
physical scientists, almost all of whom the psychologists. Psychology is en-
displayed early interest in mathematics, countered late in school, and lacks the
chemistry, physics, or gadgeteering, and popularization given King Tut and
very few of whom were ever interested other archeological stories, and the ad-
in literature or the humanities. Two of venture aura. But very few in the total
the psychologists and one anthropologist group did any long range vocational
began in chemistry but quickly shifted. planning.
Literature and the classics, and less fre- Among the biologists, 5 lost father or
quently social welfare interests, were mother before the age of 10, and the
common among both anthropologists parents of two others were divorced
and psychologists, as were some natural (when the subjects were g and 16).
history interests, particularly among the Among the physicists, 5 lost a parent by
anthropologists.3 The biologists included death (at ages 5, 6, 9, 15, and 17) and the
men whose early interests had been in parents of one were divorced. There was
natural history, in literature, and in only one divorce among the parents of
chemistry or physics, although the latter the social scientists (and they remarried),
interest seems to have been aroused but the mother of one anthropologist
\axge\>j became these vjete the otiYy sci- died at his, birth and 4. psychologists lost
ences available in high school. In the their fathers by death (at 8, 12, 14, and
histories of the social scientists and of 17) and one also his mother at 17. In the
the biologists the importance of the dis- case of the biologists and physicists where
covery of the possibility of doing re- the losses occurred very early, it seemed
search is highlighted, and this was often possibly to be a factor in the acceptance
the factor that gave the final determina- of isolation by the subjects, but among
tion to their choice of vocation, or that the psychologists and at least one of the
fixed them in it once it was chosen. This
physicists whose losses were later, the
particular aspect did not appear among
effect seems to have been more one of
the physical scientists, but this may well
increasing the problems of adolescent re-
be because the difference between
action to authority, and this effect seems
gadgeteering and experimental work is
to have been greater in the case of the
really a matter of degree and emphasis;
psychologists who have been more con-
the possibility of doing things yourself
cerned with personal relations from the
is obvious, whereas in the other fields
start.
it is not. It would seem that this may
be an indictment of the pedagogical A special factor, occurring generally-
techniques in general use. only in the theoretical physicists, was the
apparent effect of severe childhood ill-
For the total group of scientists the nesses which contributed to personal iso-
median point of decision on a vocation lation. In all of the groups there are a
is in the later undergraduate years, but number who had developmental prob-
lems related to constitution-abnormali-
ties of size or general weakness. Unfortu-
'Baas' study of interest patterns of psychol-
ogists on the Kuder showed that all psychol- nately I have been unable to find com-
ogists groups had high scores on the literary as parative figures for the general popula-
well as the scientific scale (s). tion.
23
V. PSYCHOSOCIAL D E V E L O P M E N T
I n this chapter an attempt w i l l be he enlisted without telling his family until after-
made to summarize for each of these sub- wards.
One reports, " I was never punished by my
jects something about the family climate father but was always in fear of him. A threat
and discipline, and their relations to of punishment was always held over me. Mother
their parents, as well as their general used a fire shovel on me. I had a considerable
mother attachment and great antagonism to
social development. There is a good deal Father. He never gave me any explanation of
of information for most of the subjects. anything. He was completely authoritarian. I
Each paragraph refers to a different sub- took it as a matter of course until I went away
from home."
ject; the paragraphs have been arranged Another says "Mother carried embittered feel-
in groups to illustrate special situations. ings about how people had looked down upon
her because of the poverty of her childhood. She
One subject lived away from home during looked on her marriage as a vindication. She
much of his schooling and was off on his own was a very strong-minded woman and was domi-
when he was 18. His parents seem to have been nant in the family. Father is quite a passive per-
thoughtful and helpful but there is no feeling son. I was always in conflict with her but there
of closeness. He grew up very much to himself was a great attachment."
and was early discouraged in athletics because (Those whose fathers died when they were
he could not compete with his older brother who quite young are grouped below.)
"dominated the scene." Discipline for one was "liberal but with fairly
(A number of the families were self-isolated. rigid standards, but coercion was subtle. We were
These include the next 5. In the fourth and fifth all good children, we never had a hand laid on
the isolation resulted from the mothers' attitudes us. We were indulged, we never did any chores.
of superiority.) Mother kept us dependent on her in some ways
In one xamUy relations with the other rela- and she could get us to do what she wanted us
tives, as well as with the immediate family, were to. We developed a pretty strong sense of moral
very close. " I never saw my father and mother oughtness."
quarrel. It was a completely false family picture After the death of the father another family
of idyllic bliss. I think the family were com- moved about a good deal because the mother
pletely protective and it's always puzzled me as to had never established any roots. The early
why. Mother was very close. I always thought period had been very different, although the
father was tremendously fond of his family but father was away a good deal. "You have the im-
completely unaware of them. He definitely domi- pression of this strong dominant father coming
nated the family. He would read at the table. home and everything getting organized and there
They had no social life of their own. The would be dinners and so on and then he would
family was essentially socially self-ostracized." leave and things would quiet down." He went
Another family pattern was "kind of incred- through a difficult adolescence with generalized
ible. We were a family that kept completely to rebelliousness, which got him into trouble at
itself. They were very adept at thinking up school. "It probably should have been more
things for us to do. They seemed so good that directed against Mother. It would have been
it was very hard for the children to rebel. The more relieving but it could not be because she
notion of not coming directly home from school is a sort of unstructured person. The death of my
would never have occurred to any of us." father was crucial because it came when I was
The family of another were also self-isolating, working out authority relations and I had no
in part because of living in a country place one to take over as a surrogate."
much of the year, and in part because of the Before the death of his parents another says
personalities of the parents. "Mother was in- he was much closer to his mother, although a
tensely sensitive and extremely fastidious. My long illness kept her very restricted. "Mother was
father was intensely protective of his family. His very popular and sweet-spirited. Father was quite
idea was to save them all trouble, to keep them taciturn and strict in a sense and kind of a
all from harm, to keep them secure from the compulsory, demanding person. He was strict in
world and to provide them with material com- the sense that I would get hell for not taking
forts. The only conflicts I had with aay father care of my bicycle; I never felt I was picked
were over this. As I got into my teens my form upon. I respected him. His weaknesses are my
°f reaction was to become uncomfortable at the weaknesses. I don't know what would have hap-
overprotection. I can only remember a few in- pened if he had not died at that time. I remem-
stances where there was any open conflict." But ber taking his reprimands more seriously when
24 ANNE ROE
I was younger. When I got to high school, we tween him and his father, who certainly gave
regarded each other as individuals." him considerable vocational encouragement, but
One subject spent a good deal of time at his it may "be that his early enlistment served to
father's place of business until his death. " I think avoid this. " I was very innocent and protected
I took his death fairly naturally, although I was when I went in, I was just 18. At first I was
upset of course. And it meant Mother had to kicked around. I would write in a diary and read
step right into the business and I was alone a books and everybody thought that was very
lot and had to shift for myself. We hadn't been funny. At first it bothered me the way they car-
close but I had spent so much time in his busi- ried on about it, but after I took up boxing and
ness and we did a good many things together. made a place for myself they left me alone. I
Mother and father had violent disagreements realize now I had been looked after too much,
and I was bothered that my father was a rigid that there has been this pattern of extended
person and I must have been beginning to rebel protection not only because 1 was an only child
against that set way of doing things. Of course but Mother had her own ideas and she was
then mother and I were very close for many anxious to bring me up in the right way. Father,
years. But she let me go off to school, she never I realize now, was pretty much under my
restricted me, she never seemed to be jealous of mother's thumb. It's undoubtedly true I had a
the things I did." Since he did a very good job very close attachment to her and revolted, but
of shifting for himself, and was very popular in it didn't come to any actual crisis, there was a
his age group, the net result seems to have been general withdrawal. I was away for so long."
that he avoided a serious conflict in adolescence. "Dad let Mother be the boss in spiritual and
(In the next few, there were no overt prob- moral matters but he was a titanic person in
lems. Note that two make the point that their his own way. There was a division of labor that
being away from home eased the situation.) seemed authentic and all of us children felt that
One says that his father had a very mild tem- our parents were adequate. There was no re-
perament, and he does not recall ever seeing him jection and unstructuredness about it. There
angry or being particularly disturbed over him was a time when I hated my father, at least 1
or any of his sibs. "We had a great deal of hated his sort of crudeness. I had quite a rebel-
freedom. We used our own judgment but we lion thinking he was a hard man and not under-
knew what the ideals were and what kind of standing. I think I had a normal amount of
things they would want us to do and didn't adolescent separateness and rejection. But I was
want, but they never told us outright. Looking away from home and I didn't have the friction
back on it, it's kind of a mystery to me. We and I was making my own way."
were never overtly praised but there was a subtle (In the rest a variety of problems appear,
awareness on our part that our parents were some of them of great severity.)
appreciative. There was perhaps a tendency to " I didn't see a great deal of my father. I
play down success a little bit to prevent becom- guess I took Mother's side. I liked him when
ing cocky or too self-satisfied. I don't think I he was nice to me. I was always a little afraid
ever became rebellious; I suspect the small local and upset by him. I recognize now it wasn't so
environment was restrictive as much as the much by him but the situation involving mother.
family." Later on it looked as though my aunt and
The family life of one subject was apparently father were battling to see who would be head
relatively placid. His mother was a gifted person of the family. I'm afraid I adopted a retreating
who sang and composed quite spontaneously and attitude,"
was very social and warm. About the only open " I think family discipline was very strict as I
pressure put on the children was an attempt to look back on it. I think father was a very strict
make them practice two hours a day but this was person and I'm sure I had very strong fears of
given up, largely apparently because of the fight his censure. I went through a religious period
put up by an older brother. "My father was a about 13 or 14, it was very intense, then I re-
man who values independence and self-reliance jected my father and God all in one fell swoop.
and he is anxious to see his sons have it," To It stuck for God but not for Father. I don't
this end he gave the son a good deal of support, believe I ever rejected him or his authority. I
both personal and financial, and there is no never fought the battle out with Father. I never
evidence of any serious problems arising. Their tried to argue with him. I just shut up and
present relations seem closer than any others in hoped he would not ask questions. I think all
this gToup. I have done has been kept this side of a line to
Another reported differences in parental inter- avoid his displeasure but I didn't feel any relief
ests. "He was a very austere and intellectual at his death a few years ago."
person and she was a warm, affectionate one. I The history of one subject is of revolt against
suspect there was some unhappiness there." I one authority after another, although it is not
have no record of any particular difficulties be- altogether clear just how his family figure in
*5
this. "Mother was pretty much under my father's unpredictable. I could never tell, when he came
thumb. I was generally fairly antagonistic to her, into the room, whether he was going to be nice
she was always trying to stop me from trying to to me or knock me down. My mother was very
do things. There was always a lot of argument intelligent but sweet and negative, and never
about drinking. Mother didn't approve but father interfered on my behalf as far as I knew as a
invited us to drink with him in the cellar." child. She simply stood aside, and of course
"In my opinion a great deal of the pattern of while I was fond of her I had little respect for
my life is to be understood as a reaction forma- her. So the situation was I had a feeling from
tion against my father." The family situation was a very early age that I had to be completely de-
socially and personally a complicated one, and pendent on myself, which resulted in a diminu-
this subject is probably correct in his interpretation of emotional affect. I was never close to
tion. The forms of his revolt were also compli- anybody as a child. The thing that saved me
cated, but before he went to college there was from more serious psychological involvement was
open enough friction between him and his father that I hated my father overtly."
that a family friend interfered.
For another subject relations with his father I t is clear that patterns involving over-
were of considerable importance. " I had great protection and firm, if not overt, control
respect for him. I thought he was one of the
smartest and most successful people I had ever are very common in the group. They
known. I also had very little affection I can recog- are commoner among psychologists than
nize. He instilled in me the feeling that I was among anthropologists among whom
bad, so I grew up with the impression that I
was the sort of person people did not like to there was more overprotection and more
have around, and if I walked down the street and open hostility. Over half of this group
one of my companions was across the street and reacted with more rebelliousness than is
didn't happen to see me and didn't speak to me,
I just took it as further evidence of the fact that generally usual, and of these a number
people didn't like me. Mother never gave in to are still angry or rejecting or disrespect-
me but at the same time she was much gentler f u l of one or both parents.".
and more understanding, and even if she didn't
understand she would go along with me."
Comparison w i t h O t h e r Scientists
"Father seemed to me to typify a rather clear
culture pattern that existed through the Middle The data on intratamily relations are
West, the pattern of the good moral family, hard- more complete than for the other groups,
working and making their own way. He is a tense
man, rather stern, affectionate, but terribly partly because of the fact that these
pressed with ambition. He was very punitive groups are professionally more aware of
about aggressive behavior and very rigid about the possible significance of such relations
sex and probably a very anxious person and in-
secure in his social relations. My mother is a and are generally freer in such discus-
very neurotic woman, hypochondriacal and hys- sions. But there is additional, if inferen-
terical. There was nothing stern about her, she tial, evidence from the T A T protocols,
gave in to us. Her methods of discipline were
via the channel of idealizing and I think my and I think there is no doubt that the
lather used that, too. 'You don't love me' sort groups do differ i n these respects. Both
of thing. They had a device for putting serious the physicists and the biologists early
arguments about things in a semi-joking way.
I don't recall seeing any direct anger between developed ways of life which involved
them ever, and I think that has played an very much less of personal interaction,
important role in my development. Then my
brother got all the attention and I had a rough and neither group shows anything like
time but I guess I gave him a rougher one. I the extent of rebelliousness and family
revolted violently in adolescence but as a rebel- difficulty that the psychologists and an-
lion it wasn't conscious at all. I never phrased
it as that." thropologists show.
There are also many more in the other
Another had a history of serious family prob-
lems from the start. His maternal grandmother groups who were isolates as children, or
lived with them and set herself to make trouble who had only one or two close friends,
between the parents and particularly between and the age of beginning heterosexual
him and his father. "My father was exceedingly
hostile where I was concerned and exceedingly interests is very different. Among the
26 ANNE ROE
biologists and physicists it is rare for grossed homes, speak of being shy for a
there to have been any extensive dating time, shyness was rarely the serious prob-
in high school or early college. Half of lem that it was with many of the biolo-
the social scientists began dating in high gists and physicists.
school and dated happily and extensively I n the earlier monographs some space
from then on. Only four of them did was devoted to consideration of present
very little or no dating until they were recreational interests. Inquiry was made
through college. T w o of the psychologists about these in the social scientist group
apparently never dated any girl but the also, but as they differ from the others
one each married (rather late in life), only in their generally greater interest
and have never had much social life since. i n social life, which is a continuation
These are very atypical for the group. of the patterns reported above, further
Although a number of the social scien- details are not given.
tists, particularly those from self-en-
VI. RELIGION
There are two Jewish families i n the went to Sunday School and had the best necking
of my life, but I don't think I've ever been in
social scientist group, one devout and the a church since.''
other non-practicing. The others are all "Both parents were church members but Dad
Protestant families, w i t h most of the never went. Mother was an Episcopalian and
major churches and several of the smaller still goes sporadically. I was encouraged but not
forced to go to Sunday School and I went fairly
groups represented. The parents usually regularly. At 10 I shifted on the basis of the
attended church, but frequently for social basketball court. I never joined a church and I
reasons. Only two of the subjects ever go never wanted to. After contact with a psychology
professor and reading This Believing World
to church now and one does not do so which I got hold of somehow, I felt this isn't
for religious reasons. for me. Religion has never been a source of
conflict for me in any way."
About half of the parents of psycholo-
gists were personally uninterested i n re-
Five others were quite active i n various
ligious matters (as demonstrated i n
ways, i n young peoples' societies, in the
church attendance), but only two fami-
YMCA, in teaching Sunday School,' and
lies made a point of not attending
continued their interest through college
church. Nevertheless it was customary to
or beyond. Three of these were profes-
send the children to Sunday School and
sionally interested, one actually serving
all of the Protestant children did go for
as a missionary for some time and two
at least a time, even the son of free-
studying religious education. For ex-
thinkers. Seven of the subjects stopped
ample:
going fairly early, and while two en-
countered some family opposition i n "There was very much church influence. My
withdrawing there was no personal crisis parents were very religious and belonged to a
group where the religion is quite emotional. I
or conflict over religion. Several quota- couldn't understand what was going on and
tions are illustrative. couldn't appreciate it, I was bewildered and
sometimes frightened. Church attendance was re-
"Religion was one thing we were saved. Mother quired and Sunday was very strictly observed
went to church when she was asked to sing and in our family. At college I attended church serv-
usually went once more for every time she was ices and Sunday School and was a leader in
asked. Father would go occasionally with her Christian Endeavor for a year or so. But I had
because it was the proper thing to do. And I no serious crisis. I had never taken the funda-
mentalist point of view, I had always questioned some time, but have no church affiliations
it and tried to analyze religion as such."
One subject went through an intense religious now.
phase in the early teens of a rather extreme sort.
This was not closely connected with any or- Comparison with Other Scientists
ganized church activities but a very personal
matter. "I wrote a Bible and then carefully Of the 64 scientists studied altogether,
folded it up and hid it, because I was very
much afraid that my brother would find it. I whose religious backgrounds were not
had several miracles happen to me which I known when they were selected, none
can't explain even now. I wrote them all out in came from Catholic families. Five came
Biblical prose. I certainly had some kind of
sense of history and destiny. I suddenly threw from Jewish homes, and all of the rest
it all over but there was no struggle." had Protestant backgrounds. These in-
The one psychologist who now attends church clude two Mormons and two Quakers.
regularly, for religious reasons, states, "I find
more wisdom concerning mind, values, conduct, Among all of them the picture is
and therapy in Christian doctrine than 1 do in much the same. Most went to Sunday
our beloved but still puerile science of psy- School; very few now have any church
chology."
connections. Two biologists are very ac-
Among the anthropologists the picture tive in church work; another contributes
is similar. One of them who came from to a church but does not attend. Among
a Jewish family had a little religious the physical scientists none is personally
schooling, but it was not important to active in any church, although there are
his parents or to him. One was the son five who have maintained some church
of parents who had a family tradition connections, usually to please their wives.
of agnosticism on both sides, and religion Among the social scientists, one is still
never was a concern to him. The other personally interested in church, one goes
six were all sent to Sunday School, al- ocassionally, but not for religious reasons,
though the parents of two were per- and one pays dues but never attends. A
sonally uninterested. Four of these soon few of them are militantly agnostic, but
dropped out, usually because of boredom, for the most part they are just not inter-
but the other two retained interest for ested.
VII. T H E VERBAL-SPATIAL-MATHEMATICAL TEST

This test (VSM) was compiled for the Results are given in terms of sigma
study by the Educational Testing Service. scores, in Table 6. The scores for the psy-
The verbal test contains 79 items in two chologists are based on the distribution
sections, in each the task being the selec- of psychologists, for the anthropologists
tion of antonyms. Time limit was 15 on the distribution of anthropologists.
minutes for the two sections. The spatial Two of the anthropologists declined to
test comprised 24 items, with a time attempt the spatial and mathematical
limit of 20 minutes. The task was to sections. The difference in means be-
select from four stimuli, the two views of tween psychologists and anthropologists
the same figure. The mathematical test is not significant for the verbal test, but t
comprised 39 items, of mathematical for the difference between means for the
reasoning. Time limit was 30 minutes. spatial test is 6.88 and p < .01; for the
Examples are given in the earlier publi- mathematical test, t is 6.68 and p < .01.
cations (20, 23). All but one of the experimental psy-
28 ANNE ROE
TABLE 6
The Verbal-Spatial-Mathematical Test Sigma Scokes
Psychologists Anthropologists
Subject Subject
V S M V s M
Ps I +0.32 + 1.10 An 1 +0-S7 — 0.04 —0.67
-o-SS
Ps 2 —0.21 -0.55
+0.80 An 2 +0.77 +0.84 —0.06
Ps 3 +0.17 -0.78
+ I.25 An 3 + 1.22 -1.15 + I-I5
Ps 4 +0.24 +0.41
-°-53 An 4 -j-0.26 -0.49 +0.85
Ps 5 -1.83 — 0.07
— 0.90 An s —0.14 -0.71 -1.58
Ps 6 +0-39 — 1 .26
— 0.90 An 6 +0.5S + 1.S1 +0.24
Ps 7 +0.14 + 1.36
-0.08 An 7 — 2.03
Ps S —-2.05 —0.07
-0.68 An 8 — 0.12
Ps 9 +0.54 +0.89
+ I-54
Ps IO + 1.13 + 1.8+
+ 1.69
Ps I I +0.17 +0.6S
— 1.12
Ps 12 +0.32 — 1.02
-0.53
Ps 13 +0.84 -1.50
— o.go
Ps 14 +0.61 +0.65
-0-S3
Mean S7-7±3-6 11.3 + 1.1 15.6+1.8 61.1 ±3.2 8.2 + 1.8 9.2 + 1.4
SD i3'5±2-5 4.2 + 0.8 6.8 + 1.3 8.9 + 2.2 4.5±i-3 3-3±°'9
chologists has a higher sigma score for The mathematical test was not difficult
either spatial or mathematical than for enough for the physicists. Differences be-
verbal. Two of the others have their high- tween the means of the different groups
est scores on the spatial test and two on are small and not significant. I t should
the verbal, the difference in one instance be noted that there is a large difference
being very slight. No tendencies are evi- between the subgroups of physicists on
dent among the anthropologists. the verbal test, the experimentalists
averaging 46.6 and the theorists 64.2.
TABLE 7
On the spatial test, their averages are
Comparison with Other Scientists on the
Verbal-Spatial-Mathematical Test 11.7 and 13.8 respectively. I f comparison
is made by analysis of variance for five
Biologists Physicists Social groups, experimental physicists, theoreti-
Test Scientists
(AT = 22) cal physicists, biologists, psychologists,
Verbal anthropologists, F approaches the 5%
N right, range 28-73 8-7S 23-73
Mean 56.6+2.8 S7-3±4-l 50. o-1- 4.2 level, even i n these small groups.
Spatial
N right, range 3-20 3-22 3-iQ Intercorrelations for the total group
Mean 9 - 4 ± l . ° 13.0+ 1.2 10.4+ o.g*
Mathematical are given i n Table 8. Correlation w i t h
N right, range 6-ay 4-27
Mean I6.8±i.4 I3-7±l-5* age is significant only for the spatial test,
*2V=20 with a p < .01. Of test intercorrelations,
T h e inter correlations for the social only the verbal-spatial reaches this level.
scientists on this test are: verbal-spatial, I t is clear from descriptions by the sub-
+ .18; verbal-mathematical +.27; spatial- jects that the spatial test can be done i n
mathematical +.36. None is significant. various ways, and i n part by verbal
reasoning. The total distribution for the
Comparison w i t h O t h e r Scientists
verbal test is strongly positively skewed;
Table 7 presents the material for com- the spatial test distribution is platykurtic
parison w i t h the other groups studied. and the mathematical is bimodal.
PSYCHOLOGICAL STUDY OF RESEARCH SCIENTISTS *9
TABLE 8 tions, but were combined in computing
Inter-Test Correlations, and Correlations equivalents on the scholastic Aptitude
with Age: T o t a l Group
Test.
Variable Age Verbal Spatial From the correlation matrix it would
seem reasonably clear that the verbal test
Verbal
— . 11 used here is a measure of the same func-
r
N 59 tion tested by Lorge's total verbal meas-
Spatial
-.40 + •33 ure. Both the spatial and mathematical
r
N 57 57 tests seem largely independent of the
Mathematical
r + .00 + .14 + .21 verbal test and of each other, the mathe-
N 39 39 39 matical less so.
Transformation of scores on the VSM
Comparison w i t h Graduate Students
to Scholastic Aptitude Test scores is
Through the courtesy of Dr. Irving given in Table 10. The SAT equivalents
Lorge of the Institute of Psychological of various percentile scores are given for
Research at Teachers College, Columbia each subtest. The normal mean and
University, the VSM was given to all can- standard deviations for this test for ap-
didates for doctoral degrees i n either plicants to college as undergraduates are
philosophy or education i n February, 500 and 100. For doctoral candidates at
1951. A t the same time a number of Teachers College these figures are 570
other tests were administered to these and 130. These figures are not available
174 students. These data are presented i n for any other school. VSM equivalents
Table g. They throw light on the nature for this average SAT score are 32 on the
of the test used in this study and make i t verbal test, 11 on the spatial test, and 8
possible to transmute raw scores on the on the mathematical. Five of the scien-
VSM to scores on the Scholastic Aptitude tists are below the mean on the verbal,
Test. The two sections of the verbal test 29 on the spatial (but i t must be remem-
were handled separately in the correla- bered that this test correlates — .40 with
TABLE 9
Correlations of VSM with Other Tests
Verbal Mathe- Spatial SD

I II 111 IV
Completion .716 .621 .204 • 369 510.8 140.6
Vocabulary .800 •7i5 .056 • 254 555-° 128.7
Eng. Place Voc. .823 .683 .178 .289 554-8 147.9
Reading .652 .546 .322 .409 5°4-9 167.6
Total Verbal .796 .681 .268 .416 531-2 132.6
Information • 3*8 •i77 .287 .299 587-4 "5-7
Arithmetic .382 .278 • 344 .764 593 • 5 122.1
English Usage .662 .506 .283 •35i S6i-7 i34-°
Reading Comprehension • 54o •399 .284 • 363 532-5 157-6
Reading Speed •423 •331 .256 .276 534-5 140.4
VSM, Verbal I • 79S .060 .299 22 .0 n-5
VSM, Verbal I I — .091 .211 9-4 6-4
VSM, Mathematical •37S 8.0 5-1
VSM, Spatial 10.7 6.6
3° ANNE ROE
TABLE 10
Scholastic Aptitude Test Equivalents for VSM Raw Scores
Percentile Verbal SAT SAT Math. SAT

I and II Spatial Equivalent
Equivalent Equivalent
IOO 75 892 22 784 27 1042
75 67 833 15 651 22 918
S° 6i 788 10 556 13 694
=5 52 722 7 499 10 619
o 8 39S 3 423 4 470
age) and 3 on the mathematical. able importance, that there are among
I t is clear that the average ability of the scientists a number who are not facile
the scientists is very great. This is not at the types of tasks presented by the
surprising. On the other hand, it is VSM, but who have been able to make
surprising, and a matter of very consider- contributions of great value to society.
VIII. THE THEMATIC APPERCEPTION TEST

This test, devised by Murray and his know nothing about the test, although
associates (12), is a technique for per- a few have seen the cards around.
sonality analysis. It consists of a set of The T A T is difficult to handle as a
pictures, the task of the subject being research instrument, since the scoring is
to tell a story about each picture, in- not well codified, but it supplements the
cluding the events leading up to the mo- interview material elegantly for indi-
ment pictured, what is going on, what vidual analysis. As in previous studies
the characters are thinking and feeling, (16, 22), I have again followed Wyatt.
and what is going to happen in the fu- The basic data are presented in Tables
ture. Only 9 of the usual 20 cards in the 11, 12, 13, and 14. In all of the tables the
series were used in this research. They entries in the columns are the numbers
are cards 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 10, 13, 15, and 11, designating particular pictures. Numbers
presented in that order, from the male are placed in parentheses when the col-
series of 1943. The T A T was always umn heading applies to part of the story
given after the Rorschach. but not all of it (e.g., if the story has an
These social scientists have little unusual twist, but is not entirely un-
knowledge of the T A T and there is no usual).
one among them who is expert in its In Table u the first series of entries
scoring and interpretation. One of the refers to the relative amounts of narra-
psychologists and one of the anthropolo- tion (S) and description (D). Purely
gists do have a considerable acquaintance descriptive responses, usually a form of
with T A T theory, and the anthropolo- noncompliance, are uncommon.
gist has given, but not interpreted, the
Perceptual distortions were so rare that
test. Seven of the psychologists and one
they have not been tabled. The columns
anthropologist have read about the test
under the heading Perception refer to
or heard discussions of it, but have no
details disregarded or given considerable
technical knowledge, and the others
prominence,
(Numbers in the table entries refer lo T,\T caruso For explanation of column heauings, see text.)
StOl"Y Perception Time Trend
CI
0
-0
a
H
H
E
^
m
Q
i
•1
Psycho(o- ------.D"e-sC-Cri-P . - : - ) - - - - - -----,--------,-1-------:-1 ----
u cq
«
gists Refuse SD DS D Omh' Detail DQviation Past, Present Present, Future Past Only
to
~ Pas~u~~;~ent,
1---"'7,----;-,---/----c-,---
, £
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___ ~: :~~:~'7~:~~:3 l_'
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stories) , , I
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GU Ph GU P-
tn
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4 ^
IT 2.6
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14 1 :2:2 I II II 1,4 l' 6,13.15, II j' 2,7.10

^
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(E P- cs"3
pologists
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32 ANNE ROE
T A B L E 12
Thematic Apperception Test ( T A T ) : Summary, P a r t I I
(Numbers in the table entries re/er to T A T cards. For explanation of column headings, see text.)
Outcome Certainty of Outcome Personal
Psycholo- Reference -
gists None _ r ^ Unsolved None or ? or
Possible Defeat Tension Given Certain Probable Possible Opinion
Pa
Ps 2 6, 7, jo, n ,
IS, i l
Pa 3 6a, is i, 2, 4, 6, 7, 6a 6b
io, II
Ps 4 i, 4, 6, io,
Pa 5 1,6 i3abc i, 2, 6,
i3abc
Ps 6 i, 2, 6, 13 . 7. 15. I, 2, 4. 6, 7
13. 15, I I I
Ps 7 i, 4. 6, 7. 151
Ps 8 I, 2, 4, 6, 10, 13 IJ 2, 4, 6, IO,
1 13, '5
Ps o i, 2, 6. 7 1.4. 6, 13
Ps io i, 6
Ps i, 2, 13, 4,6 I, 2, 4, 6
4. 7, io, IS2, 6, 15 2, 4, 6, io,
PS 12 13. I I 13, IS, 11
Pa 13 6, 10 6,13
Ps 14 1, 2, 4, 6, all but (11)
10, 13, IS, 6,7
Anthro-
pologists
An 1 j 1, 2, 7t>. 1 1 6abc, 7a, I 1, 7b, IO, 2.4 i
110, II 1 13. is n
An 2 1, 6, 7, 13. 10 2. 4. 15 1, 6, 7, 10,
11 13. 11
An 3 4, 10 II iab, 2, 6, 4, io, n
7.13.15
An 4 2, 4,10 13 1 1. 6,7, IS •2, 4, IO, 13 I, 2
An s 4. 6,7 » 1. 2, 10, 15, 4.6.13 7
11
An 6 10 2, 6, 13. II 1. 7 4* IS 2, 6, 10, 13 7- it 1
An 7 13 1, 11 2, 4. *J, 7. 13. II 1
10, 15
An 8 2.4. 7 1 6, 10, 13, 1.7 2 4
15. 11
Deviation refers to unusual stories. lowed instructions to give a full time

Cards 15, 11, and 10 are the ones most span significantly more frequently than
often entered under this heading. the anthropologists did (chi square was
Time trend is given in the last section 5-57- P < -02), with more of the anthro-
of the table. If a subject omitted part of pologists omitting the future. About half
the time span he was asked about it but in each group gave no past.
not pressed for it. The psychologists fol- In Table 12, outcome of the stories
... .1. " LLJ.J.l.U ... ' 'C, ~.. "- . . ' - "-L"'IJ~ '" ~ ,-
*
3
Level Tone
__,
c
H
--_._--- ---- -----
1
Psychol-
X
•§«
Condi- , Detached Cheerful
—
Endo- Make-
1
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Aggres-
1.2
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s
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Symbolic Tense
2a
I
25
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rf
Mythical Con- \ dramatic
Melo- \ SardonIc
&
psychic tlonal !
D°
>•
believe
•e
ychlc
£
Factual
M
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u*>
sive
2S
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dv
\ Anxious \ Morbid
—
Serene I Unhappy
u
I
T3
£
I I I templat. I I
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Ps I 1.4.1. 13. 2.6,10, (n) n 4 I. 2.6.1 10 I
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n 15 I
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(1.4.6) 2. II
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--I
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P. 10 I 10.13 I II I I
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6, II I, 2, .;" 7. II
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pologist.
<
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7a, II 1.2,4. I, 2, 10 6abc, ,a, 4. II
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6abc. 1b. I I
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II I I b,I3
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0
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4
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0
An 8 all but IS IS 4.13. II

4
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1 I I I
34 ANNE ROE
and the certainty with which the out- rarely scored anything but literate.
come is stated are recorded. Half of the In Table 14 are given the types of
stories of the anthropologists and a third personal relations described for the char-
of those of the psychologists do not give acters in the stories, and the nature of
an outcome, or give an unclear one. In the process attributed to the situations.
both groups a successful outcome is pre- For both groups, formal relations (e.g.,
dicted about one third of the time. Defeat father, son; husband, wife) are a little
and unsolved tension make up the re- commoner than emotional ones (e.g.,
mainder in about equal amounts. But of lovers, friends). There are some differ-
the stories to which an outcome is given, ences in presses, which do not quite
the anthropologists have a higher degree reach significance at the 5% level ( 5 X 2
of certainty in their statements. This may chi square table, with chi square 9.85).
just mean a balancing of their greater The anthropologists give more un-
caution in giving an outcome—they give friendly and the psychologists more inter-
it only when they are sure. Stories with nal presses.
personal references occur rarely. There are a few themes that seem to
In Table 13, level of the stories is re- recur with considerable frequency, the
corded, as concrete-factual (C-F); en- most evident being one of general help-
dopsychic (E-P); symbolic (Sym); mythi- lessness in the face of severe problems.
cal or past (Myth); make-believe (M-B); This is sometimes very general and some-
and conditional (Co.) There are no dif- times seems to be limited to the male
ferences between psychologists and an- figures in the stories in contrast to the
thropologists in these respects. Stories female figures. There is also a considera-
that are dominantly concrete-factual are a ble feeling of dependence on parent fig-
little commoner in both groups than are ures, and while there are some stories of
stories concerned primarily with what the successful rebellion without serious guilt
characters are thinking and feeling. The feelings, there are more stories of char-
other levels are rarely used. acters who rebelled only with guilt and
General tone of the stories is also re- general unhappiness. At the same time
corded in Table 13. The first column in there are a few who seem to have a
this section includes stories scored as strong sense of responsibility with regard
indifferent, detached, or contemplative; to human relations.
the second column, those labelled cheer- The details on heterosexual relations
ful or serene. The other columns are un- are usually fairly full. This group of so-
happy, tense, anxious, morbid, aggressive, cial scientists is not particularly conven-
melodramatic and sardonic. Tones la- tional in its approach but is definitely
belled unhappy, tense, and anxious are much concerned with interpersonal re-
chiefly differences of degree, and inci- lations and finds it relatively easy to
dence of stories in these groups is con- verbalize them.
siderably higher for the psychologists There are some among them who
than for the anthropologists, who have find contemplation of death a serious
more recourse to the melodramatic and problem. In two instances this concern
sardonic. with death may be a major factor in their
For the social scientists quality of stor- professional activities.
ies has not been tabled, since they are
T A B L E 14
Thematic Apperception T e s t ( T A T ) : Summary, P a r t I V
(Numbers in the table entries refer to T A T cards. For meaning of column headings, see text.)
Personal Relations Presses
Psychol-
ogists Formal Emotional Not None
Stated Friendly Unfriendly Impersonal Internal ?
Ps 1 1,6 2.4. 7. 10, is 1.4,6, 7 10 2, 7. 11 is
13, it
Ps 2 2,4.6,7 10, IS 13 1,11 4, 7. 10 11 is 1, 2,6, 13
Ps 3 2, 4, 6, 7,13, 10, 11 1 2 6b 1.4, 7, 13 6a 10, I I
15 is
P9 4 2, 6, 7,10, 4 13 1, 11 10 all but
15 10
Ps 5 1, 2a, 4, 6, 7, 2b, 13DC, 11 1.4. 7 2ab, 6,11 10, i3ab, 13c
10. 13a, 15 15
Ps 6 2, 4, 6 7, 10, 13, 15. 1 11 6, 7, IS 1, 2 4. 7, 13
11
Ps 7 4.6.7 1. IS (i 4 i ! 1, 7, IS
Ps 8 1 2, 4, 6, 7, 10, 15- 11 1. 7 2, 13 6, to, 15, 4
13 II
Ps 9 ; 1, 2, 6, 7 10, 13, TI I I, IO 4,6
Pa 10 2. 6 J 4, 7, 13 2, 4, IO 7 I 6
Ps I I I. 2, IO 4. 6, 7, 13, 11 IS 4 1 7 6, 10, i i *. 14, 15 1
PS 12 I, 2, 6, TO 4, 7. 13 IS. 11 i IS 2. 4,6, 7. 1.13
IO, I I
Ps 13 2, 4, 6, 7, 10 13 I, IS. II 7 ! Iz 6, 10, rs 1, 2.4- 13
Ps 14 2, 6, 7. is 4.13 TO I. II IS 1 4, 6,13,11 10 1. 2 7
Anthro-
pologists
An 1 1, 2, 6c, 7a, 4. 6ab, 7b, ! 1.4, IO, 13 2. IS 6abc, 7ab,
13, 15. 11 11
TO
An 2 6, 7, 10, 15 1. 4, 13, 11 2 I, 2, 7 4, 10, I I IS 6, 10 !
An 3 ia, 4, 6, 7 2, 10, 13. IS ( ib,11 ia, 10, 13 TI 7. 15 ib, 2, 4. 6 '
An 4 2, 4. 6, 10, 13 1. 7 IS 6,7 I, 4, 10, 13 2 ] IS
An s 6. 7, 10 2. 4. 13 1, IS- 11 7 2, IO, 13, 6 1, 11
IS 4 i
[
An 6 1, 2, 6, 10 4- 7, 1.3 15^ 11 1 1,2 4, 6, 10, 1 7,15
13. 11 i
An 7 I, 2,6,7, T5 4. 10. 13 J II 1. 2, 4- 7. 6, 13, 15, 1
11 i
1 IO
An 8 1, 2, 6, 7, 10 4. 13. 15 | i II 1 4, 7 , l 3 . n io, 15 ' 1 6
Comparison w i t h O t h e r Scientists length of the responses to each card dif-

fers considerably, w i t h the social scien-
Data on the earlier groups are reca-
tists giving significantly longer stories
pitulated i n Table 15.4 T h e average
(p < .05) than the other two groups,
4 Some minor discrepancies between the totals
shown here and in the tables pubiished in the who do not differ materially from each
earlier monographs are accounted for by slight other. This is in accord with the gen-
changes in scoring practice; e.g., earlier, if a erally greater verbal productiveness of
story seemed to fall equally well into two cate-
gories, it was entered for both; now it is entered the social scientists and undoubtedly as-
for one only. sociated w i t h the fact that more of them
ffi ANNE ROE
TABLE 15
Comparison of TAT Data f o r ' t h e Three Groups
Biologists Physical Scientists Social Scientists

Total number of stories 176 169 200
Ave. length of stories* per man.. 12.8 ±1.8 13.8 ±0.9 20.6 ±2.6
JV % N % N %
SorSD. 142 152 90 93
Dsor D. 34 19 17 10 15 7
Unusual stories. 22 12 15 31 15
Unusual twists. 37 21 3° 31 15
Time range complete. 23 13 46 28 74 37
Past omitted 129 72 92 55 i°5 22
Future omitted 69 39 84 50 83 41
Present only 58 33 55 33 62 31
No definite outcome. 82 47 79 47 81 41
Success 54 3i 54 32 67 34
Defeat 21 12 26 J5 31 15
Unresolved tension. . 19 10 10 6 21 10
Outcome certain... 35 37 54 60 70 59
Outcome probable. 45 48 34 3« 43 36
Outcome possible.. 14 15 2 2 6 5
Level:
Concrete-factual 103 58 81 48 96 48
Endopsy chic 47 27 62 37 82 41
Symbolic 8 5 8 5 5 2
Past or mythical 4 2 3 2 7
Make-believe or dream. 6 3 9 3 3
8 9
Conditional 5 6 4 5
Tone:
rndiff., detached, contempl.. 13 7 18 11 6 3
Cheerful, serene 16 9 37 22 21 10
""A •fcq VI "LI"]
Morbid, aggressive 7 4 14 & 24
Melodramatic, sardonic. . 26 15 9 5 22
Personal Relations:
Formal 77 44 79 46 9° 45
Emotional 58 33 42 25 71 36
None, or not indicated 41 23 48 28 39 J9
Presses:
Friendly 44 2S 46 27 43 21
Unfriendly.. 25 14 14 46
Impersonal. 53 49 8 53
23
33 30 29 27
Internal.. . . 19 21 12 35 17
21 39 23 12
12 23
* Number of lines of typescript.
than o f the other groups t h i n k verbally usual twists to common stories.

(19). T h e greater l e n g t h of response may The full time range, which is signifi-
also reflect general testwiseness, b u t this cantly commoner among the social scien-
is h a r d t o check. T h e r e is practically n o tists (chi square for 3 x 2 table gives
difference among the groups i n the pro- p <.oi), may also be related to the social
portions o f unusual stories o r of u n - science group's willingness to verbalize
at greater length. The biologists omit the Both biologists and physicists are much
past more than the others do. Description less interested in interpersonal relations
of the card or a story relating just to the generally, and more inclined to handle
immediate moment was the only response them in distance-getting ways than are
about a third of the time in all groups. the social scientists, although many of
The prodding possible in usual clinical these are uneasy about them. But the
practice is clearly inappropriate with unease is of a different sort and a mani-
these subjects. festation of a considerable concern with
There are no differences among the such relations, rather than a dislike for
groups with regard to outcome—the pro- them. Both biologists and physicists show
portions are remarkably similar. But a considerable independence of parental
there is a marked difference with regard relations, and without guilt, particularly
to the certainty with which any outcome in the case of the physicists, whereas the
is predicted, the biologists being signifi- social scientists show many dependent
cantly more restricted in this regard than attitudes and much rebelliousness, ac-
the others. companied frequently by guilt feelings.
In all groups the major levels are con- The attitudes of helplessness so notice-
crete-factual and endopsychic, with the able among the social scientists are much
biologists giving more stories character- less common in the biologists and physi-
ized by the former. This accords with cists. The biologists are definitely more
other aspects of their general attitudes, restrained than the other two groups in
such as their greater interest in form on their expression of aggressive attitudes;
the social scientists are the freest in this
the Rorschach and their generally better
respect.
emotional control, or emotional flatness.
There are no marked differences in tone, What is most striking about these re-
in personal relations, or in assignment of sults, however, is the fact that the T A T
presses among the groups. rarely gives any indication that the sub-
In these comparisons what is most no- ject is a man of considerable attainments.
ticeable is tVie great over-aYV similarity. Sometimes, some amount of drive is
However, analysis of content shows more shown, but for the most part this is not
striking differences. The biologists are very evident in the stories, nor is there
the only group whose T A T protocols any clue in them as to what has made it
give any indication of particular mean- possible for these men as a group to have
ingfulness to them of the paternal role. achieved as conspicuously as they have.
IX. T H E RORSCHACH METHOD OF PERSONALITY DIAGNOSIS

The Rorschach was given and scored ance. Three have read none of die litera-
according to the directions by Klopfer ture. There are three with some scoring
and Kelley (9), and also by the Munroe experience—an anthropologist who was
Inspection Technique {13). The latter administered and scored a great many, a
system makes the results easier to handle psychologist who has scored a few, and
as a group and makes some allowance one who had a 10-day course in 1941 but
for variation in response total. has never used the test. The rest have
Knowledge of the Rorschach test varies read varying amounts of the literature-
in the group from none to fair acquaint- usually just enough to permit them to
3» A N N E ROE
T A B L E 16
Rorschach D a t a
Subj. JJ Jtf FAf m * X FK F Fc £ a FC CF c W D d DR S P 0 r
Ps I 40 4 4 0 I 0 1 16 3 I 0 6 4 0 10 IQ 1 7 3 4 4 0
Ps 2 12 .1 4 0 0 1 0 19 2 2 0 3 4 0 8 as 4 0 1 0 1 0
Ps 3 0 8 9 0 0 1 43 5 2 1 1 £ 0 8 38 II 20 3 6 41 0
Ps 4 us b IS 3 0 1 4 65 6 s 3 4 I 2 7 40 9 32 27 8 S7 0
Ps S 32 2 S 0 2 0 0 10 7 2 0 2 2 O 18 8 2 4 0 S 9 0
Ps 6 92 7 9 9 3 0 0 IS 13 3 1 6 b O 24 30 14 14 1 6 33 1
Ps 7 18 1 0 0 0 0 0 10 I 3 0 2 O I b 9 0 3 0 2 1 0
Ps 8 .16 2 8 2 0 0 0 IS S 0 2 1 I O 11 22 2 I 0 b 2 4
Ps 9 53 7 S I 3 1 0 21 5 1 2 3 4 O 13 28 4 5 2 7 s 0
Ps IO 186 7 16 16 8 1 5 <9 24 16 2 13 17 I 40 OS 18 40 b 9 72 0
Ps I I 67 16 12 3 2 1 3 II S 0 3 8 .1 O 9 24 8 25 1 S 23 0
PS 12 70 IS 12 I 2 0 2 24 7 1 1 7 4 O 8 35 7 21 5 7 20 0
Ps 13 38 (1 4 I 4 0 1 7 4 0 1 4 6 O 17 17 0 2 2 6 0 0
Ps 14 S3 5 3 1 1 0 1 2b 4 3 0 2 2 8 28 7 8 1 4 9 0
An i 116 7 9 3 4 0 2 67 16 0 2 3 2 I 12 4<i 19 36 3 0 40 11
An 2 121 18 22 13 3 1 2 33 12 6 0 5 0 O 43 47 10 19 4 6 sr s
An 3 I°5 b 12 6 4 2 0 40 IS 5 1 8 6 I 19 43 18 20 3 0 2S 7
An 4 12 2 2 0 0 0 0 4 1 0 0 0 3 O 8 1 1 Q 0 3 I 0
An s 100 S 12 3 4 0 0 30 19 2 8 6 II O 24 42 6 18 10 7 52 11
An 6 10 4 O 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 1 0 2 O 10 0 0 Q 0 S I 0
An 7 45 II 6 0 0 0 0 13 7 0 0 8 O O 8 26 f> 0 6 8 0
An 8 40 5 5 0 0 0 0 13 4 S 0 6 2 0 14 17 1 b 2 7 10 2
include a brief statement, i n one of their entries an excess of the item (the n u m b e r
courses, about the i n t e n t of the test. of each indicating degree) relative to the
T h e usual test data are presented i n total protocol of each i n d i v i d u a l . Ex-
three tables. T a b l e 16 gives absolute cessively poor or vague forms are noted
values for all determinants, T a b l e 17 as B or V, either w i t h respect to whole
percentages and various other informa- or original responses i n particular, or to
t i o n , T a b l e 18 the content of the re- all responses i n general. Checks indicate
sponses. T h e M u n r o e Inspection Tech- refusal of a card or presence of shading
n i q u e date are given i n T a b l e 19. or color shock. Other entries are ex-
Discussion of the results is organized plained later. I t e m by i t e m discussion
a r o u n d the Inspection T e c h n i q u e data obscures the interdependence of all items
i n T a b l e 19. T h r o u g h o u t the table minus i n i n t e r p r e t a t i o n ; I have kept these rela-
entries indicate a deficiency, and plus tions i n m i n d but to have made them
TABLE 17
A d d i t i o n a l Rorschach D a t a
Sub- R W% D% Vr% F% p l + % F'+% A% Last Ave. RT
ject 3 T;'R RT Non-F
Range d% s% 0% Dom.%
Ps 1 40 2 5 48 18 40 94 8S 4S 40 18" 8' 5-19* 3 8 10 13
Ps 2 38 20 06 76 42 34 3-9 1-10 ID
80 10 48 0 5° go SI t 3 3 19
PS 3
Ps
Ps 54 U32S S"6 3
25S 25
28 54
Sb 80
31 83
82 76
72 36 4-5
20' 26.4 8 SI 10
Ps 6 92 26 43 13 80 31 27 64' 9-78 6 0 28 19
38 75 33 44 3-4 !-i3 IS I
Ps 7 18 33 SO 16 5<i 100 78 33 28 22* 8-3 0 36 15
Ps 8 36 30 61 42 95 47 45 33" 2-27 0 22
Ps 9 S3 24 53 16
11 40 93
95 84 30" 6 3
Ps 10 186 26 35 66 3S 43 so' 14. Q 4-30 8 4 1 0
193 3= 83 38 19* I 3 39 15
Ps I I 07 13 37 16 100 82 27 45 28
Ps 12 76 10 1 1 30 80 71 35 33 42' 16. 7 7-28 12
9
2
6 34
10
Ps 13 38 45 45 28 18 56 56 35* 6.3 10
Ps 14 53 15 54 165 49 81 79 34 47 t
36' 14.2
2-13 5 26
16 26
An 1 116 10 40 go 90 32 39 80 4-17 14 2 17 13
An 2 44' 3-27 168
121 35 39 32
14 58
27 59 74 31 18' 4-9 4-23 35 4
An 43 112 18 41
05 b7 21
0 39 80 28 35 27' 1-13 17 3
3 4242 16
19
An s 100 24 25 33 7S 33 42
18 30 100 77 34 44
25" 5.9
33" 10.0
2-IO 8 0
& 10 52 8 25
An 6 10 100 4^ 0 10 67 80 18
An 1 45 18 S0« 13 29 OIO 97 SI
3° 96'
29 13.8 32-37
25 0 0 1810 20
An 8 3 7' 2.0 7-23
40 35 43 IS 31 IOO 80 31 43 1-4 3 0 25 0
S 18
explicit in each instance would have
£ ! OoOlJOOOOSvJOOOOOOgOOOOO tripled the length of this section.
I CD.tn tr.
Total number of responses (R) ranges
OOOoOÔOO OOOOOOOOOwOOO
from 10 to 186; the mean for psychol-
OOO10OOOOO O O O O O O O O O O O O O ogists is 66, for the anthropologists 69.
These means are both very high, the
OOHOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOO usual total being 30 to 40 (3, 9). This
group tends also to make more than
O O ^ O O h O O c i 000*-<000w0000**- usually rapid responses, time per re-
< OO Ow o o <o«o*i-nooooo sponse (TjR) averaging 33 seconds for
psychologists and 39 seconds for anthro-
pologists. Only one subject refused any
< O O "< O O i-l i i t O m O ' - i O O O O O O O h
card.
^^ OOOOOOOOO OHO'-'Oi-'OOOwoOO Location entries. There are 4 entries
referring to the portion of the blot in
which concepts were seen and the se-
< o o <* o o o JOOt-iOÔOOOO
quence in which these were used. Use of
O0Oho«O0« nooi the whole blot is recorded as W, of un-
^ usual areas as Ddr and of white space as S.
J2 h m O O O h o O O m i - O O O O D w O h o O O Succession (Sue) refers to the orderliness
with which different areas are used. In
lOOOOMO'OO summary there are no major differences
between psychologists and anthropolo-
OOO'OOw'OO" -tOOmOi
gists with respect to their use of locations
rO ~> •* in O O ' HOOi^rOwOOrTOO> in the blots, and a particular pattern
seems to be characteristic of most of
fe;
(O^-CHWOO^ O'^^tHW'N^ÔOwO' them. They produce an absolutely large,
but relatively small, number of whole
t O m 'G t i-OrJ-OOOO^H responses—they can deal with large con-
cepts, can generalize adequately, if some-
o
times sweepingly, but are usually more
OHOOÔOOO NWMMH^lÔOOOOQ
interested in smaller, and less often
noticed details. They are quite good ob-
MMOînroOOH toOOOH-tOÔ^-00>H servers, and tend to look at things which
are not likely to strike most people. They
-5 are, however, quite casual and unsys-
tematic in the way they go about things,
o sometimes to the extent of considerable
disorganization in the approach. They
are so productive, and so many responses
+ « O>0 w,\c iflrfw WOO 6 n 1 l O l » n ' t O
occur to them so rapidly that they make
It! rtnKNMMfln^ QC * 0 moo &Oh«i o ' t " no attempt to sort them out, nor do they
need to rely upon any technique of
•* f~,^ ^ ^ h H a h t- tOOO «)W)t» Oi33 WOO «* w v,
procedure to stimulate further responses.
Content. This section refers to the
40
..;:..
o
ANNE ROE
0 + + + + + -
+
1 1
c in i + " 1 + > 1 *"* 1
•A •-
1 + i + ++ > 1 + O
'
2 + + | \ > + 1+ +
n —
n u + + + + > t^
%
' •=' § + + « n + >
+ + + >
PS
1 ! :* J , ' J 1 -11 I 1 > 1 +1
II r J 1" T i +1 1"
+ =3 > + + T + +u
1 + | 11'
*rll II (0 1
i n 1 11
>« + =3 + > +1? + «
' " I
1 1l' H 1 vO 11 1 11 + \ 1 1 1
S3 +
+ \A'A+ l l H I I1>1 \ \ 11= |
* i 1 1 ! 1 ! 11 II 1 i II
** n- + S + + + 1 ll> +] +11 °l
fo II 1 i ii 1
oua D
O
w > + + -f I'J
a 6. 1 J+ 1 1 I ll
H 1 1 "^ ii i
+ i a I
fc A* + + + j f-i
1 +11 ii 1 1 Ii 1
H ii
W H TO "O 1 ++ n + ca > 1+1 1
j+l 1 !|
(B 5z
->
Ah fi
O
w
, + 1 1= 1 + + u > + +• j + ++ 1 +1=
EU ^ 1 I 1 1 1 1 1 1 CO 1 11 1 ii
a £ '- ir l +J
+' > +1 > IS
w
o r1 1 j 1 i i
1 i l
(
H ) ) ) W-) ) } > ) ' ) ) ) i : } ij f
11 i
II ?/•/ / > / W / / / / / H W W / / • ' / • / /'/ / /'/ /
1 (1 1 a 1+ + + + >
!! 1 II r •*\ 1 * 1> l I I I > I 1 1 1 '=
* + + + + > >
> + , »
1 1
•o i 1 +1+ + >a 1
fu + + « + u + >
"1
o 1 + i + ma
+ •o + 1 i 00
00 i
SO + + > >
J -| b > +i
01i + + i > 1 I
£ J > o
1 »I | ru 1
SI 1*
*\ 6i « r a y to ft. o *5 1\ ft, ft. u a 1 R II t^ y h 11 u
I 1 'no IX* JOJI X!vMXNOA MS(M I ' avjiS
)NI r SAC8 1 <?I II U HO101y
f -; 1 I
nature of the responses, rather than to is 5.51 for clothes and 3.44 for food; for
the formal aspects, to what they see, p of < .05 chi square is 3.8.
rather than how they see it. Entries are Form. Form responses are those in
for popular responses (P), original re- which the concept is determined entirely
sponses (O), anatomy and sex responses by the outline of some blot area. Check-
(At), and range of types of content, (t list entries refer to the relative number
entries indicate thematic perseverations.) of these (F%) and to the accuracy of
All of the social scientists give an ade-
form for all concepts (not just those
quate number of popular responses. A scored F). Form quality is an indicator of
number of them tend to considerable use the general soundness of thinking, and
of original responses, about which they more extensively of the soundness of the
are likely to be rather uncritical. Anat- subject's contact with reality in general.
omy and sex responses are relatively com- Half of the group do not rate very high
mon, and are used by almost half of the in this respect, since they receive entries
group to an amount considered excessive. for excessive use of poor or vague forms.
The range of responses is a rather cur- The point may be the nature of the
ious and interesting one, since it is cus- "reality." Psychologists are generally less
stomarily very broad in terms of number concerned with what may be called ex-
of categories, and at the same time may ternal reality than they are with inner
show stereotyping or restrictedness of realities (e.g., motivation) and must often
some sort. This is more often in terms disregard the apparent reality and search
of particular individual perseverations of further. (Is this rationalization?) This
themes, but the restriction may be in may be less true of anthropologists.
terms of excessive use of animal and Whatever the explanation, the fact is
human responses. The wide range would that social scientists are relatively uncon-
be associated with their general produc- cerned with formal qualities. This is also
tivity and must also indicate a pretty gen-shown by the 15-1% average of responses
eral receptivity. That it does not mean which are not dominated by form. (See
an undesirable diffusion of interests Table 16.)
would seem to follow from the fact that Shading. Shading responses are those
they are also restricted, as well as from in which the tonal quality of the blots
their actual behavior. The frequent em- is used as texture or vista. Shock is scored
phasis on human responses may well when disturbances in the level or time
have vocational significance. or quality of responses appear on the
The content categories (human, ani- shaded cards. It is supposed to indicate
mal, plant, geography, etc.) utilized by serious anxiety. I have suggested that it
the two social science groups are very may be a reflection of an insecurity re-
similar. A comparison of the number in lated to early failures, or loss of inter-
each group using each of 26 different personal relations which have been ac-
content categories yielded a rank correla- cepted or somehow coped with; and that
tion of -f .88. The largest rank differ- it is not necessarily, by itself, a serious
ences were for the categories food and indication (see 23). It occurs in about
clothes, these ranking 12 th for the psy- 50% of this group and is severe in about
chologists and 19th and 23rd for the an- half of those who show it at all. There
thropologists. Chi square for frequencies are only scattered entries for excess of
42 ANNE ROE
any particular variety of shading re- have considerable empathic capacity.

sponses and these are not of special im- Color. Color entries refer to the way
portance in the group picture. These in which the subject makes use of color
groups seem to have fairly effective tech- in developing his concept. Color shock
niques for handling anxiety. is analogous to shading shock; I have
Movement. Responses are scored for found it of little significance in these
movement when humans (M), animals groups and recent work throws some
(FM), or inanimate objects (m) are seen doubt on its usefulness. Color responses,
in motion or in attitudes of tension. The generally, refer to the subject's desires
M responses are supposed to indicate for contact with other persons and his
stabilization factors and resourceful ca- method and capacity for implementing
pacities, but I think their primary mean- these. In general the picture for the so-
ing is simply interest in persons (or self) cial scientists is a well-balanced one (FC
as persons. Excess suggests too much self- is usually larger than CF and there are
preocccupation and the quality of these very few C responses). The group as a
responses is particularly important. (The whole shows a fairly rich reactivity to
letter entries, B, r, etc., indicate inade- immediate external stimulation, with
quacies here.) It is striking that only two good emotional control and without im-
psychologists and two anthropologists poverishment of reactivity. In individual
give optimal numbers of good M re- analysis the content of the color re-
sponses. sponses is also of importance.
Some of the anthropologists start a re- The last entry in the table (C:M) refers
sponse with free action and then tone the to the relative numbers of responses us-
action down so that it becomes very re- ing any color or movement. There is
stricted. This is not characteristic of this much greater tendency in this group to
subgroup generally, and does also hap- emphasis on color ("plus" entries).
pen among the psychologists although The Inspection Technique Score (ITS).
less frequently. It suggests as a possible This measure (the total number of
interpretation a need to repress too direct entries for any one person with each part
an interest in persons. Anthropology of a complex entry counting as 1) is a
would be a good vocation for those who very rough measure of adjustment. In
feel this way, since the interest in persons my experience it correlates adequately
can be followed in a somewhat de- with clinical adjustment of the subject
personalized way. To some extent, this rather than with social adjustment. (See
is also true of experimental psychology. reference 23 for fuller discussion.) It
I n summary, the use of human move- shows, that is, what the amount of stress
ment in these subjects would indicate has been rather than the degree of ex-
consistent interest in persons, but an in- pression of it in behavioral terms. Ob-
terest which has been frequently re- viously the lower the score the better the
stricted in some way and which is some- adjustment. Range in this group is 6-18,
times carried to extremes. The subjects with an average of 11.4 for the psycholo-
tend to excess, rather than deficiency, in gists and 12.5 for the anthropologists. In
any movement category, but not to over- spite of some high scores it is clear that
all excess in the whole movement area. all of these subjects are functioning ade-
It is not the picture that they are gen- quately, to say the least. For some of
erally self-absorbed, but rather that they them, however, this appears to be at
43
TABLE 20
Rorschach Comparison Averages f o r D i f f e r e n t Scientific Groups
Entry Biologists Physicists Social Entry Social

Scientists Biologists Physicists
Scientists
JV 20 19 22 M 2.6 2.g 6.7
R 22 .1 33.7 67.0 FM 3-i 3-6 7-9
W 8.7 9.9 15.2 m °-45 1-3 3-2
D 9.6 14-3 28.2 k °-55 0.8 1 -9
d I .2 2-3 6.6 K 0.10 °-5 0.4
dr 2-3 6.3 13-3 FK 0.10 o-5 1.0
S O. 2 0.9 3-4 F 9-7 14-3 25.5
Fc 2.3 2.9 7.6
P 5-2 4-9 5-8 c °-i5 0.8 2.6
0 4.8 6.7 21.6 C °-i5 °-5 r-3
FC 2.2 2.4 4.6
F% 43-1 40.9 36.9 CF °-7S 2.9 3-9
A% 42. S 39-6 32-9 C 0 0. 2 °-3
F+'7o 83.8 8S.6 86.9 Sum C 1.8 4-3 6.7
Non-F
dom% 7.0 17-4 151
T/R 3°-9 3»-9 30.8
RT 1C.7 14.1 8.7
ITS 8.9 11.2 12.1
Age 5T-2 44-7 47-7
quite a cost a n d i t is this t h a t these scores nance and authority is common. There is
indicate. also evidence, particularly among the
Q u a l i t a t i v e aspects. Perhaps the com- psychologists, of needing to hold and to
ments most frequently found in the in- feel nurturant attitudes.
dividual analyses refer to the general
productiveness of the men in these Comparison w i t h Other Scientists
groups, to their rather uncritical atti-
tudes, and a sort of haphazard use of The Rorschachs from these 22 social
rational controls—that is, that they can scientists can now be compared with
be rational when they wish to be but those obtained from the 20 biologists
generally feel no compulsion to make a and the 19 physical scientists previously
point of being so. A very great sensitivity studied. Means for each group for the
is also extremely noticeable in almost all various Rorschach determinants and
of the records and it usually implies a some other data are given in Table 20.
great awareness of other persons. It may The great difference in average num-
sometimes result in an easy irritability, ber of responses between the social sci-
but I think more often not. In most of entists and the others makes direct com-
the protocols, there is evident fairly free parison for mean frequencies of little
aggression, which is clearer and stronger value, and most percentages are also so
generally among the anthropologists, and affected by total number of responses
more obviously oral among the psycholo- that they can also not be fruitfully com-
gists. There are a number in which there pared. The F + % (the percentage of re-
seems to be a strong consciousness of sponses which are good form) and the
hidden things, but this is not always ac- non-F dominated responses (total of mF,
companied by anxiety. Most of the sub- cF, CF, C, etc.) as well as the ITS are
jects are fairly warm persons, but this is not so affected. Analysis of variance of
not always the case. Conflict over domi- these scores gives the following results:
44 ANNE ROE
P The contrasts between physicists and

R 13-33 <.001 social scientists in use of W, between the
F+% -52 .10 social scientists and the others in use of
non-f dominated % 5.84 <.01
<.ooi M, and between the-physicists and biolo-
ITS 9.58
gists in use of CF do seem to be sustained
Referring to Table 19, it appears that by this analysis.
the social scientists are significantly more Differences between the scientist groups
productive on the Rorschach; that the in content categories can be expressed
biologists use relatively fewer responses over-all by the use of rank correlations
not dominated by form than the others; (on 34 categories). These are: biologists-
and that the biologists, by Munroe's physicists + .739; biologists-social scien-
measure, are definitely the best adjusted. tists + .713; and physicists-social scientists
The two latter differences are certainly + .769. These are not high. Major dif-
related, since the nature of the adjust- ferences are greater use by biologists of
ment shown by the biologists is one in the categories science, animal anatomy,
which rational control and caution are and abstract; by physicists of art and
emphasized. design and emblem; and by social scien-
In Table si are listed the checklist tists of clothes and food.
entries which show some differentiation Some qualitative differences may be in-
among these groups. Only entries for dicated also. The biologists are the least
which chi square has a p of nearly .05 or freely aggressive; the social scientists, par-
less are given. Although the checklist ticularly the anthropologists, the most so,
scoring is adjusted for length of the in- and with greater likelihood of oral
dividual protocol, some of the observed elements. There are great differences
significant differences are related to dif- between the biologists and physicists in
ference in length. Succession cannot be their handling of anxiety, but the social
scored in short protocols, and range is scientists show no consistency in this
more likely to be great in longer proto- respect.
cols. Where very few M are given no In the over-all picture the similarities
entry for restricted M (r) can be made. are greater than the differences. This is
TABLE 21
Comparison of Checklist Entries for Different Groups of Scientists
(3X2 tables, except as noted.)
Frequency for-
Entry x' P
Biologists Physicists Social Scientists
N 20 19 22
W+ 3 8 4
W- 0 2 6 12.02* <.Ol
Suc, I or U 6 7 17 11.05 <.OI
0+ 2 1 7 6.13 <-05>.02
2 13 <.OI
Range+
F, BV 31 7 11 19.36
5-76 >-°5
Mr 6 2 10 6.00 •OS
M+ 1 0 5
M- 10 9 2 17-37* <.OI
CF+ 0 7 2
CF- 7 I 2 14.28* .01
* W, M, and CFare checked by 3X3 tables, the rows being +, no entry, and
45
TABLE 22
Comparison of Individual and Group Rorschachs of Social Scientists
Means
Individual Group P
N 22 129
Age 47-7±I-38 41 .i±o.87 4.04 <.oi
R 67.oi9.08 42.0+1.65 2.66 <.oi
ITS 12.1 ±0.74 8.2+0.35 4-73 <.oi
F+% 86.9+2.56 83.4 + 1.71 1-13 >.o5
iS-i + i-53 10.1+0.58 3-°5 <.oi
Non-^dom.
Checklist Entries
Frequencies for—
Entry X2 P
Individuals Groups
W- 6 10 7-56 <.OI
Dd% 17 60 7 .12 <.OI
0+ 7 0 35-76 <.OI
0,BV 5 4 12-73 <.OI
At, Sex 9 15 12.05 <.OI
Range+ 13 23 17-53 < .01
Range— or t 11 32 5-86 .02>p> .01
F BV 11 37 3-94 .0$>p> .02
C:M+ 6 12 .05>£ > .02
C:M~ 2 7-6S
27
to be expected from the fact that there the individual and group studies. Age
is considerable heterogeneity within the difference is a result of the selection of
separate groups, and from the fact that the men for individual study. The very
these men are all functioning adequately. large and significant difference in mean
number of responses makes comparison,
Comparison w i t h Group except by the checklist, possible for only
Rorschach Studies a few items. Differences in ITS and in
The group Rorschach was given to non-F dominated % are significant.
104 psychologists and 25 anthropologists, Only 9 checklist items show significant
members of university faculties. A full differences; these, if they can be accepted
report is given elsewhere (23) but the at face value, would indicate that the
data for the total group are used here eminent group, in addition to its greater
for comparison with the men studied productivity, used fewer whole and more
individually. There is a major difference unusual detail responses, were both more
in the proportions of types of psycholo- original and less controlled, produced a
gists in the two groups. Among those wider range of responses, including more
taking the group Rorschachs there were anatomy and sex responses and more
25 experimentalists, 33 clinicians, 27 concept-dominated series of responses,
working in social, child, and personality and finally, tended to proportionately
psychology and 19 in industrial and sta- more color than movement responses.
tistical. Some differences were found for These can be subsumed under a general
these subgroups, but these are relatively attitude of greater productivity and re-
few. activity, more originality, and less con-
Table 23 gives comparative data from trol.
46 ANNE ROE
There is quite close correspondence in important differences were found.
use of content categories, rho being Comparisons on the checklist between
+ .88. There are no major differences all of the eminent men and all of those
among responses most commonly given, who took, the group Rorschach show a
except the anatomy responses. few major differences which are not re-
Comparison of eminent biologists with lated to the longer individual protocols.
other biologists produced a different Among these the most marked are the
picture—the more eminent men had greater use of unusual blot areas by the
rather better controlled, if somewhat eminent men, and their freer use of
more restricted, protocols. Here the op- anatomy and sex responses and of per-
posite is true. In the case of physicists no severating responses.
X. DISCUSSION
The direct study of eminent men raises scientific vocations. A more serious limi-
numerous and very difficult problems. tation is the lack of any control group
One clearly does not have the complete of relatively unsuccessful scientists, men
freedom of a biographer writing cen- who had the training and appeared to
turies after the lifetime of the subject. But have the promise, but who have pro-
these difficulties are more than compen- duced little or not at all in research. This
sated for by the value of direct clinical is the next most important step and a
and test data. In the first study of such prerequisite to the satisfactory develop-
a nature, much time must be spent in ment of hypotheses about choice of sci-
exploratory work and the first mono- ence as a vocation and success in it. One
graph pointed out that at this stage, cannot always be certain whether the
"All that one can hope for in such work situations noted in this study refer to
is to get some idea of the nature of the choice of vocation or to success, or to
relationships, the points at which a direct what extent they are affected by high
attack can be made, and the sort of frequency of a middle-class socioeco-
tools to use" (21, p. 1). I feel that this nomic background.
has been accomplished. Before explicit As in all research with people, the
discussion is presented, however, some- complexity of the situations encountered
thing should be said about the limita- makes the determination of direct causal
tions of the study. relations practically impossible. What
I n the first place the sample is small in has been accomplished, however, is not
absolute numbers although relatively only the accumulation of test data on a
very large. The subjects are the best re- hitherto practically unstudied group, but
search men in each field and they com- also the identification of situations which
prise a high percentage of the men who recur with high frequency.
could be so designated. The conclusions It is evident that the family back-
drawn, however, apply directly only to grounds of the 64 scientists studied are
the first-rate scientist, and only indirectly, by no means randomly selected with re-
and with some qualifications, to scientists spect to the population at large. Accord-
generally. The group Rorschachs have ing to census reports for 1910, only 3%
offered useful confirmation, however. of the gainfully employed men in the
We lack comparable groups in non- country were professional men. In this
group, however, 53% of the fathers of have not developed educational tech-
the subjects were professional men. One- niques which foster this.
eighth of the group came from farm I have reported a greater than chance
homes; and the fathers of 31% were in incidence of first-born among these emi-
business, many of them owning their own. nent men. The problem of birth order is
Only two fathers were skilled laborers. an extremely tricky matter statistically,
None of the scientists came from homes and I would not be inclined to pay much
in which the father was an unskilled attention to this finding in a group of
laborer and none came from families of 64 were it not that Cattell and Brimhall
very great wealth. Cattell and Brimhall reported the same finding in a group of
(5) in 1921 found a 5 1 % incidence of 855 scientists. It could be argued that the
professional fathers for the 66 leading point here also is that intelligence levels
scientists they studied. are higher in the first-born, for which
What seems to be the operative factor there is some evidence, but it seems much
here is that in practically all of these more probable that both of these facts
homes, whatever the occupation of the are results of the same cause, whatever
father, learning was valued for its own that is.5
sake. Its concomitants in terms of pos- Certain aspects of the data offer evi-
sible better income or social position dence on the basic importance of the
were not scorned, but it was rare for need to achieve, or to keep independ-
these to be the most important. This ence, which is so well met by a career in
certainly was a major factor in the facili- research. There are no Catholics in the
tation of intellectualization of interests. group. The Protestant churches to which
In my opinion this, rather than the prob- all but five of the scientists' families be-
able associated intellectual levels, is the longed have varying degrees of insistence
important aspect here. "Overintellectu- on the authority of the church over its
alization" may be a middle-class char- members' interpretations of life, but all
acteristic and it may interfere with libid- but three of these subjects have dismissed
inal development in other spheres, as organized religion as a guide and usually
some psychoanalytic writers have pointed had done so by late adolescence. In this
out. Yet it seems to me doubtful whether respect, also, they have achieved inde-
one can develop the sort of intense per- pendence. The dearth of Catholics in re-
sonal involvement which is characteristic search science is corroborated in other
of these scientists without some degree of studies (11, 29) and the Wesleyan survey
this, if a channeling of energy in one found that production of scientists from
direction means a lessening of it in
others. There is a serious problem here. " Two hypotheses come to mind. One is that
first-born are likely to be overprotected, espe-
Unquestionably overintellectualization is cially in families where social status is impor-
frequently a technique for escaping emo- tant. These men, then, may be compensating in
tional problems, especially those bound terms of seeking greater independence. The
other hypothesis is that eldest sons may have
up in interpersonal relationships, but it more responsibility for themselves and have it
is not necessarily so. I believe it is pos- earlier than is the case for other children; they
sible to concentrate upon intellectual also have been spared the discouragement of not
being able to compete with those just older.
activities without having a relatively Hence they are just continuing an early pattern
sterile life emotionally, but we certainly of independence.
4» ANNE ROE
Catholic institutions is uniformly low acteristically neither. It is a related fart

(10). that the social scientists do not show the
In the life histories of many of these type of psychosocial development char-
men there are factors which indicate a acteristic of the other groups-that is, a
feeling of apartness from others which pattern of general avoidance of intimate
takes different forms and seems to have a personal contacts, a considerably later
number of different causes. Ten of these than usual development of heterosexual
men suffered the death of a parent before interests, or at least of their expression,
they were 10 years old, 7 others in their and even at the present time, a decided
teens. Among most of those whose loss preference for a very limited social life.
occurred early, this was apparently a The biologists and physicists show a
factor in the acceptance of isolation. For considerable present independence of
several of these men, this early loss ap- parental relations, and without guilt for
pears to have had an indirect effect upon the most part. This has also been noted
vocational choice. There may have re- in business executives (8). The social
sulted an intensified problem over the scientists, on the other hand, are much
acceptance of the inevitability of death. less free of parental ties, in the sense that
Study of life processes and study of an- a number of them still harbor resent-
cient civilizations (reassuring in the con- ment and rebellion, even though they
tinuity of mankind if not of a man) may have achieved an outward independence.
be a technique, and an effective one, for It is more than possible that this differ-
coping with this. But not every biologist ence is a major factor in the choice of
has strong death fears, nor is every vocation. An unresolved conflict over
archeologist concerned with survival parental relations could as easily be dis-
problems. placed to a concern with personal rela-
Among the theoretical physicists, there tions generally, as an unresolved conflict
was a very high incidence of severe child- over death could lead to study of living
hood illnesses which certainly contrib- processes.
uted to isolation.0 It was only among the More of these men than not, as boys,
social scientists that this feeling of apart- pursued rather independent paths—play-
ness characteristically carried a tone of ing with one or a few close friends, in-
superiority. With the other groups it ap- stead of with a gang, following their own
pears to be sometimes inferior, but char- particular interests (shifting or not) with
somewhat more than the usual intensity.
81 should like to offer the suggestion that There are some to whom this does not
there may be a hint here as to how the theo-
retical physicist is able to divorce his concep- apply, but it is fairly characteristic, and
tion of size from any relation to the body image. such interests were more often intel-
In view of the fact that the physicist may be
dealing with galaxies one day and atoms another, lectual than not, except among the ex-
it is clear that the concept of size must be a perimental physicists and biochemists. It
completely abstract one, and I have some direct is, of course, true that their high level
interview material to this effect. Since, however,
for most persons, size is directly related to the of intelligence would, in itself, have some
body image, some explanation is needed for of these effects.
being able to get away from this. It is possible
that a very unsatisfactory body image might There is no one general pattern by
have resulted from the early illnesses, and this which they approached science as a
very unsatisfactoriness made it easier to discard career. The modal age at which the
it.
decision was made was during the last
two undergraduate years, but in some Being curious plays a major role—a
cases it was made in early childhood or trait which many aspects of our educa-
as late as the second year of graduate tional practice tend to discourage. It is
work. The introduction may have been of crucial importance that these men set
through natural history interests, through their own problems and investigate what
gadgeteering, through interest in labora- interests diem. No one tells them what to
tory sciences as found in high school think about, or when, or how. Here diey
courses, or, for the social scientists, have almost perfect freedom. Their limi-
through dissatisfaction with literature as tations are only diose of equipment and
a means of studying the behavior of time, and the limitations of their own
people, or through a service motivation. understanding. (It is certainly true that
When die decisive point can be deter- the free flow of their work can be in-
mined it was usually the discovery of the hibited by emotional problems, but I
possibility of doing research, of finding believe that this could be dealt with
out things for oneself. For some this was directly. It would be worth while to try.)
understood very early—as with those ex- Certainly diis is one vocation in which
perimental physicists who spent much of man can most nearly approach what he
their childhood playing with erector sets, can be, and one that satisfies both auton-
radios, and all the other sorts of equip- omous and homonymous drives (1).
ment that permit manipulation and con- That die need for diis sort of inde-
struction. For odiers, it came as a revela- pendence is one with deep roots can be
tion of unique moment. Once it was fully seen in situations remote from that of
understood that personal research was research science. It is clear from the
possible, once some research had actually report of the Michigan survey (a 8); it is
been accomplished, there was never any made most abundantly clear in the
question. This was it. The educational studies of client-centered dierapy, of stu-
implications are obvious enough. There dent-centered teaching, and in the varied
has been no question since. From then studies from die Tavistock Institute (25).
on, absorption in the vocation was so I t is, I think, precisely the sort of inde-
complete as seriously to limit all other pendence that democracy alone can pro-
activity. I n the case of the social scien- vide.
tists, at least for diose for whom people The position diese men have reached
themselves provide the data, this did not has not been reached easily, and one
limit social participation; for the others must ask why this particular group has
it intensified an already present disin- made so great an effort. It must be noted
terest. Although a few of diem have cut that this effort has usually been directed
down somewhat on their hours of work quite specifically toward the immediate
as they have grown older, it is still the problem rather dian to a long-term goal
common pattern for them to work nights, of eminence. There is some evidence that
Sundays, holidays, as they always have. a basic insecurity of perhaps more than
Most of them are happiest when they are the usual proportions is present in many,
working—some only when they are work- if not most, of this group, but die causes
ing. In all these instances, other aspects for this insecurity appear varied. (This
—economic return, social and profes- would tend to support the hypothesis
sional status—are of secondary impor- diat the need for independence in this
tance. group is generally compensatory.) That
5« ANNE ROE
intellectual channels were sought to al- able, fairly early, to work out an adap-
leviate it must be in large part because of tation not nearly so dependent upon per-
the family background, but there is no sonal relations, but rather strikingly in-
question that the research aspect is of dependent of them. Certainly psychology
more importance than the general intel- to some extent, particularly social psy-
Iectualization. cholgy, and andiropology to a large
The question also arises as to why extent, particularly cultural anthropol-
one subject chose one field of science and ogy, offer an ideal vocation to the person
others chose other fields. Apart from the whose conviction of personal superiority
often overlooked matter of necessary con- is not accompanied by asocial characteris-
tact with the field, there is some further tics; they permit a somewhat Jovian sur-
evidence from the study. The problem of vey of their own society as well as others,
coping with early affectional loss has and maintain the social scientist in a
been mentioned. It would also appear state of superiority just because he is
that there are some, particularly among able to make the survey. (This accounts
the experimental physicists, who seem nicely for the observation that some
early to have formed direct relationships rather paranoid indications in the test
with objects rather than people, not com- material are not accompanied by forms
pensatorily. In others, a generalized anx- of paranoid behavior, except perhaps as
iety, of unknown cause, and possibly regards their own colleagues.) The ex-
only an exacerbation of normal anxiety, perimental psychologists are generally
is alleviated by concentration on a par- less concerned with people as people,
ticular field. For example, I know bio- although this is by no means true of all
chemists who seem to me to live in a of them. The further observations that
very dangerous world—they are always a conflict over dominance and authority
conscious, of the presence about them of is common in the group, and that in a
dangerous micro-organisms. They toler- number of their homes the mother was
ate this in part because they are able to dominant indicate the possibility of diffi-
manipulate these organisms to some ex- culties in achieving masculine identifica-
tent professionally. I am sure, however, tion.
that to them psychologists live in an In this respect it would seem very
equally dangerous world, surrounded by probable that the physicists, particularly
irrational emotional people, a situation the experimentalists, were able to iden-
which they would find quite intolerable. tify more easily with their fathers than
The social scientists stand apart as the other groups and hence to follow
having been more concerned at an comfortably a science which has rather
earlier age, about personal relations (or more of a "masculine" tinge in our
as being willing to tolerate this concern culture than the others do.
as such, without translation). This may It must be pointed out that it is likely
reflect an unconscious uncertainty over that the kind of person who has gone
the consciously felt superiority that char- into social science may have had a bias-
acterized half of the psychologists and ing effect on the theories produced by
most of the anthropologists. It is also social scientists, particularly with regard
certainly related to their difficulties in to the desirable or the mature person-
freeing themselves from their parents. ality. Practically all current psychological
The other groups seem to have been theory of development stresses strongly
the central importance in any life of the Briefly, the biologists and experimental
richness of personal relations as a basis physicists tend strongly to dependence
for "adjustment." But the data of this upon visual imagery in dieir thinking;
study demonstrate, and it seems to me the theoretical physicists and the social
quite conclusively, that a more than ade- scientists, to dependence upon verbaliza-
quate personal and social adjustment in tion or similar symbolization in theirs.
the larger sense of an adjustment which Nothing is known about die develop-
permits a socially extremely useful life ment of these modes of thinking, but it
and one which is personally deeply satis- seems probable that they were developed
fying, is not only possible, but probably early (they are associated with father's
quite common, with little of the sort of occupation) and played a part in the
personal relations which psychologists choice of a science. Further, it was shown
consider essential. Many of the biological that those scientists whose preferred
and physical scientists are very little con- mode of thinking differed from that
cerned with personal relations, and this characteristic for their science also dif-
is not only entirely satisfactory to them, fered in some aspects of their early his-
but it cannot be shown always to be a tory, and in the things they did or the
compensatory mechanism (nor are com- ways they went about their work. (This
pensatory mechanisms necessarily un- is good reason for not using such a
desirable).7 It can also apparently be factor selectively—their contributions
satisfactory to others who are closely as- have a special place.) The domination of
sociated with them. That divorces are so the formal qualities of the blots in the
much commoner among the social scien- biologists' Rorschachs, which the others
tists is of interest in this connection. do not show, is in accord with this, as
Problems with masculinity and domi- is the generally much more fluid verbali-
nance must be important here; but also, zation of the social scientists.
where much more attention and emotion Doubtless, also, some intellectual fac-
are invested, demands are certain to be tors enter. So far as the test used is a
greater and more specific, and hence measure of these, it is clear that the
failure commoner. theoretical physicists surpass all other
Another finding of considerable im- groups on both verbal and spatial tests.
portance is the differences of imagery The experimental physicists are high on
which are associated with the different the spatial and relatively very low on the
fields of science, and which accord with verbal test. Psychologists are at about die
and perhaps explain some of the test data. mean for this total group on all three.
Anthropologists are high on the verbal
'The fact that a satisfactory life has been and lowest on both spatial and mathe-
achieved on this basis does not mean that a matical. These patternings are probably
more satisfying one could not be achieved. It is, of importance in selection of vocation—
indeed, a great pity that so many men have less
rich lives than they might, but again, I speak particularly the relatively low nonverbal
from the standpoint of a psychologist. It is, how- abilities of die anthropologists and the
ever, probable that a concentration which is relatively low verbal ability of the ex-
basically neurotic will also limit the possible
breadth o£ vocational activity and it will fre- perimental physicists.
quently interfere, in the long run, with the I suspect tiiat the verbalization so char-
man's enjoyment o£ his vocation, as is witnessed
by the not infrequent depressions experienced acteristic of the social scientist has also
in the face of the greatest recognition. exerted some bias on his activities. This
52 ANNE ROE
is probably most obvious in the field of honor recipients are not limited to stu-
testing where the emphasis still remains dents with high psychological tests scores,
on verbal tests, although other tests have and many students who make high test
come into general use. But psychologists, scores fail to win honors" (14, p. 499).
and educators who are probably much Clearly a certain degree of intelligence
like them in this respect, are in a posi- is a necessary condition for a career in
tion which makes possible the operation research science, but it is not a sufficient
of this bias to keep out of college many one.
adolescents who are verbally inept but The strength of the achievement drive
have other capacities of equal value to which these men have shown is rarely
society, and for whom college could be reflected in the T A T in any direct way,
important. This bias may have affected and there are a number of Rorschachs
the development of techniques of teach- which give no indication that the subject
ing and of therapy. The effect in the first is capable of great accomplishment. In-
is obvious. In therapy it may well be a deed there are a number of subjects for
factor in the common insistence on whom none of the test material would
verbalization of insights as essential to give the slightest clue that the subject
therapy. was a scientist of renown.
That verbalization and intense interest There are Rorschach protocols which
in persons are related has long been would occasion no surprise in a clinic
noted peripherally. This relation is ac- for the maladjusted. It is certainly true
companied by some cultural sex differen- that those who work only with persons
tiation. Girls test higher verbally than whose lives show considerable disruption
boys; the M-F (or masculinity-femininity seem to have no idea of the extraordi-
indexes) for certain occupations which nary range of tolerance of difficulty
have culturally a strongly feminine tinge which "normals" show. A number of these
are very different from those with a men are particularly good examples. It
culturally strongly masculine tinge, and should also be pointed out diat for many
these are also associated with verbaliza- of these subjects, the career itself has
tion. See, for example, Table 29 in served as a technique for handling the
Strong (27). Quite likely the develop- personal problems. In some instances the
ment of verbalization is higher among basic problem has been, in a sense, ex-
those interested in persons, because it is trapolated into a more general one, and
the chief means of communication. the subject has then settled down to
The range of test intelligence in this working on the general problem. This
group is also of importance. All of the is a very neat and effective method. In
evidence confirms Cox's remark: ". . . other instances, absorption in the career
high, but not the highest intelligence, has made possible the encapsulation of
combined with the greatest degree of the difficulty in such a manner that it
persistence, will achieve greater emi- can be almost ignored by the subject.
nence than the highest degree of intelli- The price he may pay for this is another
gence with somewhat less persistence" matter. There is nothing in these data
(6, p. 187). Portenier noted that "It to suggest that any measure from these
would seem then that while there is a or other projective techniques, or from
positive correlation between psychologi- intelligence tests, would be nearly so
cal test ratings and honor awards, the adequate in predicting their success as
the fact that they worked long hours in this?) I t is easier to give assignments in
graduate school, many more than the terms of so many pages to be read than
course requirements, and that they pre- in terms of problems to be solved by
ferred to work on their own. (But I do whatever means can be found. The point
not know how many less successful sci- is crucial, and it is as important in the
entists have worked hard and preferred elementary and high schools as in col-
independence.) lege.
Nevertheless the tests have contributed Most of these subjects were fortunate
materially to our understanding of what enough somewhere along the line to have
sort of men these scientists are, and have found a teacher who induced them to
also offered essential clues as to how and find things out for themselves, or who
why they have become what they are. let them do so, or who insisted that they
These now can be followed up in more do so because he did not want to be
direct fashion. bothered. Once intellectual independ-
It would seem tfiat nearly all educa- ence was really tasted, nothing else mat-
tional systems tend to stultify any at- tered much pedagogically; bad teaching
tempt to learn how to do things or to then was only an irritation. But how
learn things for oneself. It is much easier many are there who have never learned
to teach dogmas, of whatever variety, to to rely upon themselves, to find how
require only rote learning (instead of valid their own thinking may be? Cer-
only so much as is actually necessary as tainty of his own worth is any man's
a tool), and to forget that even our tools greatest need. Though some of them may
are only conventions. It is easy to penal- find it only there, scientists do find this
ize independent thinking. (How much certainty in science.
have our "rapid check" tests, helped in
X I . SUMMARY
This monograph has presented the life age at marriage was 26.5 for psychologists
history and test data of 14 eminent psy- and 26.1 for the anthropologists. Five of
chologists and 8 eminent anthropologists, the psychologists and four of the anthro-
and compared them with the biologists pologists have been divorced at least
and physicists previously studied. This once.
summary will omit the comparative ma- They received their B.A.'s at an aver-
terial. age age of 21.4 for psychologists, 22.1 for
Selection was by peer ratings of men anthropologists; their Ph.D.'s at an aver-
presently doing research. Average age is age age of 25.8 for psychologists, 28.6 for
46.7 for the psychologists, 49.4 for the anthropologists.
anthropologists. The majority of both Early interest in literature and the
groups came from lower to upper mid- classics was common among both groups,
dle-class backgrounds. The economic and there were a few with early natural
level was generally higher for the anthro- history interests. The psychologists were
pologists. The fathers of half of the psy- relatively late in determining upon a
chologists and of three of the anthropolo- profession, largely because psychology
gists were professional men. was not taught in high school or early
All of the subjects are married and college.
most of them have children. Average Among both groups, particularly the
54 ANNE ROE
anthropologists, early feelings of per- of unhappiness and guilt with regard to
sonal or family superiority on a social this relation. The group is strongly con-
or intellectual basis were common. Pat- cerned with interpersonal relations, fairly
terns involving overprotection and firm, free in discussing heterosexual ones, and
if not overt, control were frequent, and not particularly conventional.
strong rebelliousness was usual. A num- On the Roschach the social scientists
ber of the subjects still show resentment are remarkably productive, rather un-
over family discipline or interference. critical, and somewhat haphazard in
All but two of the men came from their use of rational controls. They are
Protestant homes, none from Catholic very sensitive, intensively concerned with
homes, and most had some religious persons, rather freely aggressive, and
training. Only two are now interested in often troubled with conflicts over domi-
church. nance and authority.
Average raw scores on the verbal test The group Rorschach records of 129
were 57.7 for psychologists, 61.1 for another psychologists and anthropologists
thropologists. On the spatial test they have a much lower average number of
were 11.3 and 8.2 respectively, and on responses and a significantly better ad-
the mathematical 15.6 and 9.2. justment score. The eminent group used
On the Thematic Apperception Test less W and more Dr, were both more
both groups gave relatively long stories, original and less controlled, produced a
and manifested generally a similar pic- wider range of responses, including more
ture. A common theme is of general help- anatomy and sex responses, and more
lessness in the face of severe problems. concept-dominated series of responses,
There is considerable dependence on and tended to proportionately more
parent figures, and a number of stories color than movement.
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(Accepted for early publication March 2, 1953)

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Vol. 67, No.

Psychological Monographs: General and Applied

I I . SELECTION OF THE SAMPLE

I I I . DESCRIPTION OF THE GROUP

No. of Fathers of No. of Fathers of

No. of Subjects No. of Subjects

IV. EARLY HISTORY RELEVANT TO OCCUPATIONAL CHOICE

was a way to earn a living. I enjoyed my teacher

VII. T H E VERBAL-SPATIAL-MATHEMATICAL TEST

Verbal Mathe- Spatial SD

Percentile Verbal SAT SAT Math. SAT

VIII. THE THEMATIC APPERCEPTION TEST

*C3 • - "i *rt

P. ,1 2 (6), (10) 2.6 I II 7,15

14 1 :2:2 I II II 1,4 l' 6,13.15, II j' 2,7.10

"S "3 "3

I stories) -----1·----1 ' (4). (6).

13, IS 1----'1' ------1-------1------ ------1-------

(13) 2,13 I, 6.1, 4. IS

--:-:.....:-.1-----( ;~:.;: :'1--: --1--'-5-- \'--I-O--I=======I=~=-=-·=~==I~:~--i

Deviation refers to unusual stories. lowed instructions to give a full time

2,7. 13 1.4.6,10 IS 10, II 13

An 8 all but IS IS 4.13. II

Comparison w i t h O t h e r Scientists length of the responses to each card dif-

Biologists Physical Scientists Social Scientists

than o f the other groups t h i n k verbally usual twists to common stories.

IX. T H E RORSCHACH METHOD OF PERSONALITY DIAGNOSIS

any particular variety of shading re- have considerable empathic capacity.

Entry Biologists Physicists Social Entry Social

P The contrasts between physicists and

Catholic institutions is uniformly low acteristically neither. It is a related fart

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