The Influence of Personality on Social Non-Conformity

Abstract

The social area in which a person can adequately function seems to be largely dependent upon the aggressiveness, gregariousness, security, and general of the individual involved. Conversely, social non-conformity occurs when the is unable to function adequately in the social setting in which it lives. The problem of social adjustment, then, becomes one of placing the in a favorable environment or of effecting a change in the so that it can be properly integrated in the social milieu. If the relationship between the and the social setting is one so functionally interdependent, then it is reasonable to suppose that differences would at least partially determine the social area in which the person is unable to make a proper adjustment. These differences may be sufficiently great so as to be reflected in the results of a standard testing device. It was a practical and recurring situation which gave rise to speculation in this area. While routinely interviewing all incoming prisoners at the State Prison of Southern Michigan, the writer found himself making subjective evaluations as to the nature of the offenses of many new men as they came through the office door. These subjective evaluations seemed to be based on interpretations of overt mannerisms which conveyed to the interviewer an air of self-confidence or insecurity, of dominance or submission, of gregariousness or seclusiveness, and similar traits. The purpose of this study is to determine whether or not differences in measurable traits among criminals are accompanied by differences in the areas of social non-conformity. No type has been discovered. Personality is not fixed, but complex and dynamic, difficult to measure. Many factors bear on personality. Metfessel and Lovell reviewed a series of studies correlating tendency with intelligence, physical traits, race and nationality, age, sex, and other factors, including traits.1 With regard to factors, they found that the literature regarded as important, but that there was so much overlapping that a criminal personality could not be specified. Generally,