Study of Association in Insanity | Page 5

as far as possible strictly objective criteria for distinguishing normal from abnormal associations, and for this reason we have made no attempt to determine by means of introspection the causes of variations of reaction time.
It would seem that the importance and magnitude of the problem of association time are such as to demand not merely a crude measurement of the gross reaction time in a large number of cases, but rather a special investigation by such exact methods as have been used by Cattell [1] and others in the analysis of the complex reaction. It would be impracticable for us to employ such methods in a study so extensive as this.
[Footnote 1: Mind, Vol. XI, 1886.]
In view of these considerations we discontinued the recording of the reaction time.
If the association test is to be useful in the study of pathological conditions, it is of great importance to have a reliable measure of the associational value of a pair of ideas. Many attempts have been made to modify and amplify the classical grouping of associations according to similarity, contrast, contiguity, and sequence, so as to make it serviceable in differentiating between normal and abnormal associations.
In this study we attempted to apply Aschaffenburg's [1] classification of reactions, but without success. Our failure to utilize this system of classification is assigned to the following considerations: (1) Distinctions between associations according to logical relations are extremely difficult to define; in many cases there is room for difference of opinion as to the proper place for an association, and thus the application of a logical scheme depends largely upon the personal equation of the observer; that even experienced observers cannot, in all cases, agree in placing an association is shown by Aschaffenburg's criticisms of the opinions of other observers on this point.[2] (2) Logical distinctions do not bring out clearly the differences between the reactions of normal subjects and those of insane subjects; logically, the reaction _bath--ink_, which was given by a patient, might be placed in the class with the reaction _bath--water_, although there is an obvious difference between the two reactions. (3) Many of the reactions given by insane subjects possess no obvious logical value whatever; but since any combination of ideas may represent a relationship, either real or imagined, it would be arbitrary to characterize such a reaction as incoherent.
[Footnote 1: Experimentelle Studien uber Association. Psychologische Arbeiten, Vol. I, p. 209; Vol. II, p. 1; Vol. IV, p. 235.]
[Footnote 2: Loc. cit, Vol. 1, pp. 226-227.]
The criterion of values which is used in this study is an empirical one. As has already been explained (p. 8), every word contained in the frequency tables possesses a value of at least 0.1 per cent, and other words have a zero value. With the aid of our method the difficulty of classifying the reactions quoted above is obviated, as it is necessary only to refer to the table to find their proper values: the value of the reaction _bath--water_ is 33.9 per cent, while that of the reaction _bath--ink_ is 0.
Logically the combination _health--wealth_ may be placed in any one of four classes, as follows:
/ intrinsic / causal dependence health--wealth / \ coordination \ \ extrinsic / speech reminiscence \ sound similarity
But since our table shows this association to have an empirical value of 7.6 per cent, it becomes immaterial which of its logical relations is to be considered the strongest. It is mainly important, from our point of view, to separate reactions possessing an empirical value from those whose value is zero.

�� 6. AN EMPIRICAL PRINCIPLE OF NORMAL ASSOCIATION.
On a general survey of the whole mass of material which forms the basis of the first part of this study, we are led to observe that the one tendency which appears to be almost universal among normal persons is the tendency to give in response to any stimulus word one or another of a small group of common reactions.
It appears from the pathological material now on hand that this tendency is greatly weakened in some cases of mental disease. Many patients have given more than 50 per cent of individual reactions.
It should be mentioned that occasionally a presumably normal subject has given a record very similar to those obtained from patients, in respect to both the number and the nature of the individual reactions. A few subjects who gave peculiar reactions were known to possess significant eccentricities, and for this reason we excluded their records from the thousand records which furnished the basis for the frequency tables; we excluded also a few peculiar records obtained from subjects of whom nothing was known, on the ground that such records would serve only to make the tables more cumbersome, without adding anything to their practical value. The total number of records thus excluded was seventeen.
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