The family-investigation of the pseudologist

Abstract

The writer made a study of the family line of a pseudologist and found that there were at least 18 persons with degenerative dispositions in the three generations investigated. The results may be summarized as follows : 1st generation : 1 psychopath 2nd generation : 2 “mehr” schizothymies 3 alcoholics 3 sexual anomalies 1 psychosis 3rd generation : 1 feebleminded 6 psychopaths 1 psychosis The pseudologist in questicn belongs to the third generation in this family line, The investigation revealed further that his brather, father and aunt were also pseudologists. However, the writer failed to discover any environmental influences in this connection. It would seem that, since they all came from the same line of degenerative family, their disposition is hereditary and constiuttional in nature. It was impossible, on the other hand, to decide whether or not this tendency to make false statements were causally related to other degeneratine tendencies running throngh the same family line. © 1950, The Japanese Psychological Association. All rights reserved.