THE EFFECT OF AN ORGANEZR COUNSELING PROGRAM QN THE ANN-SOCIAL THEMES ELiClTED BY THE THEMATEC APPERCEPHGN TEST FROM YOUTHFUL PRISON ENMATES Thesis {or H19 Degree of pk. D. MICHEGAN STATE UNEVERSITY Ernest L. V. Shelley 1959 1111111111 1111111111 11111111 12 9301101095654 ————~——-—.._-.—. This is to certify that the thesis entitled THE EFFECT OF AN ORGANIZED COUNSELING PROGRAM ON THE ANTILSOCIAL THEMES ELICITED BY THE THEMATIC APPERCEPTION TEST FRCM YOUTHFUL PRISON INMATES presented by Ernest L. V. Shelley has been accepted towards fulfillment of the requirements for _Ph,§.__degme in Administration and Educational Services (2% ”4112/1ng Major pto’iessor Date M9— 0-169 LI B R AR Michigan State University -II.IIII.III.. 'llrl'l ulnllll1 Illi 5‘ 1'| l‘. Illllllla‘ lilpvllln..t|r!1 A THE EFFECT OF AN ORGANIZED COUNSELING PROGRAM ON THE ANTI-SOCIAL THEMES ELICITED BY THE THEMATIC APPERCEPTION TEST FROM YOUTHFUL PRISON INMATES By ERNEST L. V. SHELLEY AN ABSTRACT Submitted to the School for Advanced Graduate Studies of Michigan State University of Agriculture and Applied Science in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Department of Administrative and Educational Services Guidance and Counselor Training 1959 — F (/ Approved ERNEST L. V. SHELLEY ABSTRACT Objectives This study was concerned with investigating one aspect of the effect of a program for youthful criminal offenders. Its major purpose was to evaluate the impact of an organized counsel- ing program on the anti-social viewpoints of first prison offen- ders under twenty two years of age, during a six-month period in a minimum custody correctional setting. Specifically, an attempt was made to answer these questions: 1. Will exposure to an organized counseling program for six-months reduce significantly the number of anti-social themes given to selected cards of the Thematic Apperception Test? 2. Will this reduction be greater for those individuals who are eXposed to the counseling pregram than for a similar group not so exposed? 3. Will more of the individuals who show the greater reduction of anti-social themes finish parole successfully than will those who make little or no reduction? ERNEST L.V. SHELLEY ABSTRACT The Sampl e The sample consisted of one hundred first prison offen— ders under the jurisdiction of the Michigan Department of Corrections, and living in minimum security camp situations. They were divided into two groups of fifty persons each. The groups were equated for age, I.Q., offense, and extent of crim- inal record. Methodology The experimental group lived, during the study, in a camp where an organized counseling pragram was functioning; the control group lived in a camp where there was no such prOgram during the period of this study. All subjects were given, by the author, cards 3 BM, 8 BM, 13 MF, 14, 17 BM, 18 BM, and 20, of Hurray's Thematic Apperception Test, at the beginning of their camp experience and again six months later. The protocols thus obtained were scored by a specially designed scale for anti-social themes, and an anti- social score determined. This score on the last protocol obtained from each subject was compared with the score on the first and the change noted. The groups were compared as to: 1. Range of change in anti-social score. 2. Mean change in anti-social score. 13118! L. V. SHELLEY ABSTRACT 3. Standard deviation fro-.the lean. 4. Relationship between change of anti-social score, and success on parole. The statistical significance of the differences between the standard deviations was tested by t test and that of parole success by chi-square techniques. 1. 2. 3. 4. Findings A number of subjects in each group showed reduced anti- social scores during the period of the study. The group exposed to an organised counseling prograa.nade significantly greater reduction of anti-social scores than the group not exposed. The group with organised counseling'had a higher rate of parole success. The subjects making the greatest reduction in anti-social score had a higher rate of parole success than those mak- ing little or no reduction. THE EFFECT OF AN ORGANIZED COUNSELING PROGRAN.ON THE ANTI-SOCIAL THEMES ELICITED BY THE THEIATIS APPERCEPTION TEST FROI YOUTHFUL PRISON INNATES By IRNEST L. V. SHELLEY A DISSERTATION Submitted to the School for Advanced Graduate Studies of Michigan State University of Agriculture and Applied Science in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Department of Administrative and Educational Services Guidance and Counselor Training 1959 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The author wishes to express his sincere appreciation to Dr. Walter F. Johnson, under whose supervision and encourage— ment this research was initiated and completed. He is also indebted to Doctors Harry Sundwall, Hans Tech, and Byron Van Roekel of Michigan State University, for their ad- vice and assistance with the experimental design. Grateful acknowledgment is due to Mr. Gus Harrison, Director, Michigan Department of Corrections, who graciously permitted the author to undertake this study using the facilities of that depart- ment. Many thanks are due to Mr. Kenneth Shea, Mr. Lowell Hewett, Mr. S. J. Gilman, for consenting to the use of inmate records. A special debt is owed to Mr. Robert Scott, Assistant Director in Charge of the Youth Division, Department of Corrections for the inspiration of his wise counsel and his faith in the value of what the author was doing and for so generously, as the author's supervisor, making it possible for this study to be carried through. ii Ernest L.V. Shelley Candidate for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Date of Examination: July 22, 1959, 1:30 p.m. College of Education. Dissertation: The Effect of an Organized Counseling Program on the Anti-Social Themes Elicited by the Thematic Apperception Test From Youthful Prison Inmates. Outline of Studies: Major area - Counseling and Guidance. Minor area - Clinical Psychology, Educational Psychology. Biographical Items: Birthdate - January 21, 1908. Allentown, Pennsylvania. Undergraduate Studies - Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, Michigan. Graduate Studies - Columbia University, New York City, summer“: 1934: 1935: 1936: 1937. University of Michigan - 1938. Michigan State University,- East Lansing, Michigan - 1956- 1959. EIperience: Bay Port High School, Bay Fort, Michigan, Principal, 1928-1930. Pinnebog High School, Pinnebog, Michigan, Principal, 1930-1932. ,Burt Public School, Burt, Michigan. Superintendent, 1932. Bridgeport Public School, Bridgeport, Michigan, Superintendent, 1932—1934. Saginaw Public Schools, Saginaw, Michigan, High School Teacher, 1934-1939 School Psychologist, 1939-1946 Consultant to Probate Court, County Health Department, Saginaw, Michigan, 1939-1946. iii Boys Vocational School, Lansing, Michigan, Chief Psychologist, 1946-1955. Michigan Department of Corrections, Lansing, Michigan, Research Psychologist, Youth Department, 1955-1959 Departmental Director of Treatment, 1959- Membership held in Phi Delta Kappa, American Psychological Association, Midwestern Psychological Association, Michigan Psychological Association, American Society of Correctional Psychologists, Michigan Academy of Arts and Sciences. iv Dedicated to my Wife and Children TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page I. THE PROBLEM INVESTIGATED IN THIS STUDY........... Statement of the Problem .................... Importance of this Study .................... Limitations of this Study ................... Definition of Terms ......................... Organization of this Thesis ................ 100‘)me 3-. II. REVIEAYOF T123191 .a'..“.TURE eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee 13 III. METHODOLOGY ..................................... 22 The Population Sample ....................... 22 Distribution of Previous Correctional Experience................................ 23 Age diatriLUtion eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee 23 Distribution of Intelligence ............. 25 Distribution of Offenses ................. 25 InStrument Used eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee 27 Pilot Study ................................. 31 Method of Testing ........................... 34 Scoring of Tests ............................ 3 IVs RESIJLTS OF WE STIJDY 0......OOOOOOOOOOOIOOOOOOOOOO 38 v. SWY O O O O O O I O C O O O I O O O C O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 46 conCIqu-OIIS O O O O O O O C O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 47 htenSions Of this Study 0 O O O O O I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 48 SELECTED BIBLIOQAPHY .0.0.00.0000...OOOOIOOOOOOOOOOOOOCOOO 51 APPENDIXES’ A00.0.0.0...00.000000000000000.00.000.000.00. B COOOOOOOOOOOO0......OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO... \f1\fi ~J #9 vi Table II. III. IV. VI. VII. VIII. IX. X. XI. XII. XIII. Distribution of I.Q. T.A.T. LIST OF TABLES Distribution of Prison Experience ................. we Distribution 0..OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO0.0...O. Distribution of Previous Correctional Experience .. Distribution of Offenses .......................... Frequency of Anti-Social Themes per Card of series 0.0000000000000000000000000..I.00... Scoring Standards on which Anti-Social Score was Based O...O...O...OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO0...... Distribution of Differences Between First and LaSt A-S Scores OOOOOOOOOIOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOIOOOOOO. Distribution of Groups by Growth Categories ....... Parole Success by Growth Categories ............... Parole Success of Control and Experimental Groups . Parole Success of Growth Categories ............... Distribution of Anti-Social Scores of Entire Test sample OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO‘OOCCC0.000...... vii Page 5 23 23 25 25 33 35 38 41 42 43 45 54 CHAPTER I THE PROBLEM INVESTIGATED IN THIS STUDY I. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND In 1954 the Department of Corrections moved a group of seven- ty young'men from the Michigan Heformatory at Ionia into Camp X which had previously been used for older men, and a new kind of pro- gram was inaugarated. This program was planned specifically to meet the needs of the youthful, first offender and had the following characteristics. 1. 2. A coordinated team approach. All staff were encouraged to see themselves as part of the treatment team. Each staff person was informed about the treatment goals which were set up for each individual and his observations and comments were solicited when progress in treatment was being evaluated. Specific diagnostic proceedures. A comprehensive and intensive analysis was made of the needs of each offender coming to the camp and in light of these needs specific treatment goals were established for each individual. This process included a thorough search of the social history: observations by all staff during orientation period: projective personality techp niques to explore basic personality structure. 2 3. Comprehensive evaluation of individual progress in treat- ment. The progress of each camper on treatment was evaluated regularly using written reports from all staff who had worked with him; the record of his participation in vari- ous program activities; and re-testing of personality by use of the same projective-type techniques as were used on admission. 4. The creation of the atmosphere of a ”therapeutic community". This camp was characterised in an unique way by; a clim- ate of mutual trust; confidence in the essential decency of people; a conviction that individuals can be helped to help themselves; an interest in people as persons; and a concern to be mutually helpful to each other. The philosophy of Camp x was distinctive. It was based on the firm conviction that these young’men needed help through crea- tive and constructive human relationships to re-direct their lives into more socially desirable channels. It was believed further, that, if given such relationships, these men would respond positively to them.and desirable changes of attitudes and feelings would result. Another facet of this philosOphy was that treatment.is everybody's job all of the time, and that to be effective it must be focused and planned. It could not be a fortuitous result of haphasard and uncrganised activities even though these activities were desirable in themselves. When this program had been Operating for several years it was felt that some of its results should be investigated. Fortun- ately, another Michigan correctional institution, known here as Camp Y, had been operating during this same period, serving a popu— lation similar to that of Camp 1, but with a program which did not have, for a certain period, all of the characteristics listed above. Since the essential difference between the camps was the presence of an organised counseling'and treatment program in one and its absence in the other for a period of about six months, opportunity was pre- sented to use one as a control group and the other as an experiment- al one to investigate the results of such a counseling program. II. STATEIIIT OF THE PROBLEM One purpose of this study was to investigate, by use of a projective personality technique, the effect of an organised coun- seling’program in a minimum security camp setting on the way a group of youthful offenders viewed social relationships. 3y administering the test when the inmate first arrived at camp, and readministering it six months later, the themes could be analysed to see what chang- es had come between these two administrations in the frequency and level of the expression of anti-social attitudes and feelings. In other words, there was an interest in seeing if there was a decrease in the anti-social expression of attitudes or feelings as they were replaced by themes expressing’more wholesome and desirable social attitudes. 4 Another purpose was to investigate the validity of a modifi- cation of a projective personality technique in identifying those individuals who had apparently profited most from this program in‘ terms of certain changes in attitudes about themselves and society, and to see what relationships, if any, existed between these. The hypotheses to be tested might be stated as follows: 1. A six-month period of experience in a minimum security camp setting will produce a decrease in the frequency of anti-social responses to 3 El, 8 BI, 13 HF, 14, l7EI, 18 BI, 20, of Murray's Thematic Apperception Test.1 2. There will be a significantly greater decrease in fre- quency of anti-social responses to the above cards among young men who have had their experience in a camp where organised counseling exists and definite efforts have been made to integrate the entire program into a treatment experience as compared with a similar group who have lived for the same length of time in a camp where this atmos- phere was not present. 3. Those individuals who show the greatest decrease in anti- social scores will also have a higher rate of parole 81100.5. e 1These cards are from the Standard Thematic Appercepticn Test series as published by Harvard university Press, Cambridge, Ihssaohusetts. III. IMPORTANCE OF THIS STUDY An examination of the departmental statistics indicate that 64% of the population of state correctional institutions have had previous experience in these facilities or experience in Juvenile correctional institutions. Of this group, three fourths had that previous experience before age 22. The breakdown is as follows: TABLE I DISTRIBUTION OF PRISON EXPERIENCE Having first adult prison experience 3&% Had previous adult prison experience 64% “toromzz OOOOOOOOOOOOOO. 47% After ‘86 22 OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO 1 313 ' These facts suggest three possible hypotheses about the 4T$ who had their previous prison experience prior to age 22. 1. They were impervious to treatment and could not be changed. 2. They were amenable to treatment, could be changed, but were not because; a. The wrong treatment was used, or, b. The treatment program used was theoretically correct, but was not used effectively. The further investigation of this situation seems imperative if there is to be any significant reduction in the entirely too large number of the penal population who are recidiviste. And, since the data in Table I indicates that most of these recidiviste were first exposed to treatment programs before age 22, it seems that developing effective treatment programs for this age group would make the greatest contribution toward reducing the number who return to correctional facilities for additional terms. The program at Camp x was the first developed for the youth- offenders under age 25 by the newly created Youth Division under Robert.H. Scott at the suggestion of Gus Harrison, Director of Corrections, and his Commission. ichnsequently, after several years of operation it became in- creasingly desirable and necessary to investigate what effect the program had on the attitudes and feelings of the young men who had been exposed to it. An experiment must be evaluated at some point to discover what it is proving, if anything, and how it is working. Another factor which gives this study importance is the in- strument used and the manner in which it was used. Projective per- sonality techniques such as the Thematic Apperception Test by Murray have been used rarely to assess change of attitudes and feel- ings in such a situation and with this kind of a population. In re- cent years the projective devices have been used principally in in- dividual clinical diagnosis where the volume of intake admissions was low enough to allow unhurried investigation and study. Converse- 1y, it has been generally felt that such techniques were too cumbere some for use where intake volume was high and only limited amounts of time seemed available for individual diagnostic work. However, in this situation, it was felt very strongly that projective tech- niques produced more valid and pertinent information about basic personality structure than paper-pencil tests or interview tech- niques for the following reasons. 1. Projective techniques are less susceptible to "faking". 2. Projective techniques avoid misunderstanding of questions due to reading deficiency or semantic problems. Therefore every effort should be made to adapt those which seemed sost apprOpriate to the task of assessing the changes in personal- ity which might hopefully produce greater parole success on the part of the offender. Changes in social attitudes from anti—social to wholesome ones seemed logically to be one of the personality changes most likely to produce success on parole. Hence, it seems important to investigate whether or not one category of response on a projective-type personality measure is related to successful ad- justment on parole. If the results of this study prove promising, it may lead to a greater use of instruments like the Thematic Apper— ception Test as modified here, for diagnostic purposes in the cor- rectional field. 5 IV. LIMITATIONS OF THIS STUDY The following limitations are implicit or explicit in this study: l. 3. 4. The population samples used here are all young — age 17} through 20}. Older groups were not considered here. They are felony offenders and thus may or may not be different in some important ways from the general popu- lation who have no felony conviction. They have had brief and minor criminal experience; hence conclusions of this study cannot be applied directly to either those with no criminal experience, nor to those with a great deal, nor again to those who have committed the most serious crimes. They have all had their prison experience in an open minimum custody camp setting and are not to be compared to those who have had their prison experience behind walls in maximum custody. is stated in greater detail, when the characteristics of the sample are described later, there was a definite rationale for these selective processes but they place obvious limitations on the extent to which the results here obtained can be applied to other groups. 5e 6. The test protocols used in this study, it should be point- ed out, have been gathered by using seven rather than twenty of the T.i.T. cards. These test protocols have been analysed for only one gen- eral category of response - anti-social or socially acceptable expressions. V. DEFINITION OF TERMS In this report there are some terms used in a special way and others which are special in themselves. So that the reader and the writer may communicate adequately and accurately, and to mini- mize misunderstandings which may grow out of the various meanings which these terms may have to different people, they will be defin- ed here so that it may be clear what meaning they have in this sett- ing. Youthful Offender. As used in this context, "youthful of- fender" refers to those young'men, subjects of this study, who have been convicted of a felony in the adult criminal courts of Michigan and sentenced to prison. Since this study was made in facilities used exclusively for men and do not receive any female felons, it is assumed that the person referred to as a youthful offender is a male offender. ‘Eiggt_0ffender. As used in this study the phrase "first offender" refers to the individual who is now having his first prison experience. He might have had arrest experience previously, have been on probation to either juvenile or adult courts for pre- vious offences, have had some jail experience in city lockpups or county jails, or finally, in a few cases, have had juvenile insti- tutional experience. It is extremely difficult to ascertain in any accurate way whether or not an individual has had any of the above lO experiences or the extent to which he has had them because record- keeping in these areas is far from complete or customary and the individual is not always completely reliable in the information which he gives. But appearance in the state penal system is easily verifiable and hence the criterion of the present situation being the first state prison experience for the individual was chosen. Miggg_0ffender. By "minor offender”, as used here, reference is made to those individuals who have not been convicted of the serious offenses of murder (in any degree), assault, robbery armed, narcotics, traffic, or sexual deviancy. Actually, the specific off- enses of which these young men were convicted were: larcency, theft of automobiles, breaking and entering, uttering and publishing. This last covers all of the offenses for which this group was serving and since they are essentially offenses against property rather than against persons, they are characterised here as "minor". Anti-Social {A-s} Theme. Under this term, as it will be used here, will be classified all themes in the T.A.T. stories in which , any person is seen as committing, contemplating, planning, or feel- ing like committing any of these acts: Arrest Drunkenness Adultery Escape from prison or police Assault Fighting Being tried in court Forgery Breaking and entering Gambling Def r ending Hal d-up ll Anti-Social (A-sz Theme, (continued) Homosexual act Rape Imprisonment Shooting a person Illicit sex Stealing Murder Suicide Prostitution Threatening a person either physically or verbally Probation or parole situation Imprisonment Parole Success. is used in the context of this study, parole success will mean that the paroles completed his period of parole without violating its provisions to the point where his parole off- icer deemed it wise to return him to prison or without being con- victed or sentenced for any new offense. This admittedly is a crude measure of successful adjustment in society in that it does not take into account adequately the many degrees of adjustment as well as its many facets. Although probably over-simple and unrefined as a definition of successful parole, it was chosen for two reasons. First, it is more easily verifiable and clearly recognised. Second, this is the primary measure which the public uses to assess the success of correctional treatment programs. 12 VI. ORGANIZATION OF THIS THESIS This thesis is organized according to the following plan: Chapter I describes the background in which this study de- veloped and the problem it sought to investigate. The factors which give the study some importance are enumerated and the limi- tations of the investigation are detailed. Chapter II is a summarisation of the very few studies which have previously been made and are related to this investigation. None have used the same kind of group as was used here but several have used population samples somewhat similar to this and the same instrument, the T.A.T. has been used in several of these prior studies. Chapter III is concerned with methodology. It describes the population sample used, the instrument by which the data were gath- ered, the process used in obtaining the data, and the statistical proceedures by which the data were analysed. Chapter IV presents the data of this study in tabular form. Each table is followed by a brief note of explanation and evalua- tion. Chapter V summarises the study very briefly, presents the conclusion based upon its results and suggests implications for further research growing out of this investigation. 13 CHAPTER II REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE When one searches the literature for studies in this field one is amazed to discover that in the past fifteen years precisely two studies have been reported where the T.A.T. cards were used with adolescent offenders. They are described more fully below. In addition, only three other studies are even remotely related by using T.A.T. cards with younger offenders or using tests similar to the T.A.T. on offenders of this age group. Even the Glueck study (2) which was an attempt to do a most thorough investigation of the factors characterising a group of de- linquents used only the Rorschach from among the projective tech- niques to assess the dynamics of anti-social behavior. Since they were looking for psychopathology and unfortunately had tied their system of personality assessment to psychiatric nomenclature and diagnosis, they were forced to use a projective technique primarily designed for identifying pathology. Had their search been oriented differently, they undoubtedly would have used different instruments for personality diagnosis, and the T.A.T. might well have been among them. The most thorough, comprehensive and most scientifically adequate plan of research to evaluate effects of treatment in a correctional setting at the present time is the Pilot Intensive Counseling Organization Plan,8(known as Pico) being carried on at 14 present at the Dual Vocational Institution of the California State Department of Corrections by a staff gathered specially for this purpose. In this project the instruments used are the California Psychological Inventory, the Minnesota Mhlti-Phasic Personality Inventory and the Inventory of Personal Opinions. No projective type techniques were included because of the elaborate statistical methods which were to be used on the dita. Projective techniques do :ct lend themselves to the kird of detailed objective scoring which is necessary if the intricate cross-Correlaticrs with multiple fac- tors is tc be done. This is probably the major reason why projective techniques like T.A.T. have been avoided in research studies with delinquents. The traditional methods of scoring have been laborious, difficult, and require a great leal of training and experience. Pencil-paper objectively scored tests can be scored by any accurate clerk. This makes them highly attractive if speed, ease and objectivity of test scoring are desired. It is almost incredible that there appears in all of the literature since 1940, only three studies where the T.A.T. was used with criminals or delinquents. The first of these studies, that by Kutash (4), reported in 1943 is of very little value to us in the present research project since his subjects were, (a) all feeble-minded, and (b) all diag- nosed as psychopathic by psychiatric interview. One wonders how an 15 individual who is classified feeble-minded on the basis of valid psychometric testing could, by any stretch of the imagination,be also diagnosed psychopathic. This term, by accepted clinical defin- ition is generally applied to those who have intellectual endow- ment sufficient to profit from experience but are prevented by absence of normal emotional reaction. The feebleqminded individual is widely characterized by his emotional lability and efferscence. At least, the results of administering the T.A.T. to feeble-minded individuals who also are diagnosed "psychopathic" dare not be drawn upon very extensively for a study like the present one where the subjects fall within the "normal" intelligence range and present no emotional pathology. Kutabh presented fifteen of the twenty cards in the T.A.T. series to each of his sixty subjects. He counted the responses per card per individual to discover the stimulus value of each card used. A ”response" was defined as a "thought whole". He obtained a total of 2,405 responses with an average of 40.08 responses per subject and an average of 2.67 responses per picture per inmate. He found little real difference among the cards in capacity to elicite responses from his subjects, but it must be remembered that his subjects were very dull intellectually and hence of very limited perceptual ability. Another limiting factor was that he did not apply any statistical test of significance or variance to his data but treated them largely as raw data without refinement. The second study reported in the literature where the T.A.T. 16 was used with delinquents or felons is that of George H. Weber,in 1950. (13) His population was very small, consisting of only fif— teen boys and they were chosen because they all had stolen auto- mobiles. Just why he was interested in this offense rather than any other is not made clear. His goal apparantly was not a com- parative study since he had no control group of any kind. The other characteristics of his subjects, aside from the fact that they had all beer guilty of stealing cars, wee thrt they all fell in the age group of 15-16 years; were all members of the white race; all came from low income families and from cities of 10C,COO pOpulation. In addition, they all fell in the "average" I.Q. range, (not defined by Webb); were medically and neurolOgb ically cleared through examination and had previous criminal records. At the time of the study these boys were all residents of the Kansas Boys‘ Industrial School at Newton, Kansas. This study was made during the first three weeks of their admission and the data used were gathered from three sources. First, a study Br case material; second, Wechsler-Bellvue Intelligence Scale; third, Rorschach Test; and finally, the T.A.T. It is the material from this latter source in which we are interested. All twenty of the T.A.T. cards were administered according to the directions in Rappaport (9), and scored according to the scoring proceedure described and recommended by Murray and by Sanford. Complete protocols were kept and analysed for common characteristics. Those discovered are listed on the following page. 17 As a group, their test protocols revealed that they saw the following pressures in their environment: 1. Disorganization of living situation. 2. Much family conflict. 3. Pressure from corrupt associates. 4. Low and insecure financial situations, both as individ- uals and as a characteristic of their families. 5. Poor relationships at school. 6. Poor relationships with the community. The records of their test responses indicated that as a group they saw themselves reacting to these presses in the environ- ment in the following ways: 1. Retaliation by anti-social behavior. This most commonly took the form of murder, fighting, theft, blackmail or kidnaping. And the sequence of action was generally, (a) deveIOping the idea of action or crime; (b) commiting the crime; (c) escape; (d) capture by police; (e) attempt to escape blame; (f) prosecution; (g) conviction; (h) incarceration; (i) regret for act. This regret, interestingfly enough, often took the form of regret that he was caught or punished, that he had blundered, and occasionly, regret that he had caused injury. This last regret was expressed infrequently and at not a very deep level. 2. Ambitious efforts to succeed in spite of social disorgan- ization. The most common theme was that of vigorous, angry denuncia» tion of the environment and its restrictions and description of the 18 person succeeding in spite of it. Another group of themes showed superficial adjustment to environment and attempts to produce socially acceptable responses of a shallow type. The last and less frequent themes dealt with a serious concern about the situation and very strenuous efforts to use socially acceptable means which are finally, after much hard work, crowned by success. 3. The use of vivid fantasies where the solutions are pro- vided by outside forces such as luck or religious miracles. The protocols revealed the following feelings; being domin- ated, denied, rejected and misunderstood or neglected by parents; strong sibling rivalry; associations with undesirable companions; being victims of social injustice; aggression; hostility; constant conflict; irritability, restlessness and pro—occupation with thoughts of anti-social activities. Guilt and concern about one's actions were minimal and shallow and the heroes of the stories strive hard to avoid blame or punishment. Their heroes showed little introspection but exhib- ited a strong need for recognition from others, achievment of suc- cess in what they are doing, and, successful acquisition of material things. In their stories the central figure felt inadequate and inferior as he compared himself to "normal" people and expected to be rejected by them. Therefore, he turned to the anti-social group where he felt accepted and where his status was very important to him. 19 When the hero failed it was not due to his own efforts so much as to the influence of socio-economic status which was stacked against him and determined everything. The third study was by the same author (14), in 1949, the T.A.T. was one of a battery of tests (Rorschach, Wechsler-Bellevue, Zondi) administered to a 16 year old delinquent boy who was an American Indian but claimed to be an Italian war orphan. weber found that the themes for the T.A.T. pictures for this lad were characterized by being meager, evasive and guarded. Repetitious, contradictory, and often irrelevant details were interjected into them. Because of the role he was playing the lad gave many war stories filled with gory details. This is significant to the present study in view of its contention that the individual uses themes in his T.A.T. stories that grow directly out of his role- playing, even though these themes may. in themselves, be socially undesirable. Another finding of Weber in this case which is of great interest in this study, was that there were many experiences of hostility and anti—social attitudes appearing in the T.A.T. stories of this delinquent boy. One case does not, of course, prove anything conclusive about delinquents in general and one certainly would not want to generalize too far from the single case. The study is cited because it is one of the few studies where the T.A.T. has been used with delinquents or youthful offenders, and because its results point in the same general direction as do those of this study with a greater number of cases. There are so few studies where projectives 20 were used on this group that each needs to be examined carefully for whatever light it can throw on what is being attempted in this research. In an unpublished study reported at the 1957 meeting of the APA Division of Clinical Psychology, Harold Lindner (5) compared a group of imprisoned sexual offenders with a group of non-sexual off- enders at the Maryland Home of Correction. Trying to examine the hypothesis of Pruner and Portman that perceptual sensitization is related to the personality problem of the individual, he exposed both groups to (l) a series of ten anatomical drawings, each being progressively more complete and ending with a complete picture and (2) incomplete pictures of ten ambigously drawn pictures depicting sexually stimulating situations. He obtained statistically a signif- icant differences between the groups which tended to support the Bruner and Portman hypothesis and concluded that "Sexual Offenders show a perceptual sensitization and orientation to sexually stimu- lating items more consistently than do non-sexually-abberant matched controls. Perceptual sensitization is a valid diagnostic factor in sexual deviation". (5) (pg. 89) These findings with the sexual offender do not, of course, transfer intact and with validity to the present group of youthful offenders, but they do lend some support to the hypothesis that the kind of adjustment problems which one has, sensitizes him to how he will perceive drawings and pictures and causes him to perceive them rather consistently in a given direction. 21 As reported in 1949, Helen Jackson (3) constructed her own test-oThe Test of Family Attitudespaalong the same general rationale as theT.A.T. series but depicting family situations exclusively. The pictures were chosen to stimulate reactions to parents, siblings and general home emotional atmosphere. For the purpose of this study the chief interest is in noting that one of her experimental groups was thirty delinquent children; the other experimental group was forty neurotic children and the control group was forty ”normals". The age range of 6-12 years does not permit any close comparison with the group used in this study and the fact that one half of all groups were girls is another important divergence from the popu- lation sample used here. However, it is more interesting to note that Jackson found that the delinquents produced stories of seri- ously disturbed home situations and showed the hero or heroine quite detached from the family emotionally. They were unable to see any resolution of the situation in the future and saw the children in these stories continuing in conflict with the family and confused. Again, it must be pointed out that this is of only general signifi- cance in this research since the pictures used were not the T.A.T. series and the age and sex of the subjects being very different from those of the group used here. Again it is emphasized that the paucity of research in this field with this instrument makes it necessary to give greater attention to each related study than one would do if the literature was more replete with studies somewhat similar to the present one. 22 CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY TEE'POPULATION SAHPLE. The subjects for this study were one hundred young men convicted of felonies by adult courts and sentenced to prison. They had been judged to be good security risks by the Classification Committee at the Diagnostic-Reception Center and were assigned to either Camp X or Camp Y according to the rules regulating selection for the Prison Camp Program. To be eligible for these camps they had to meet these qualifications; 1. Not been convicted of murder, a sex offense or drug addiction or traffic. 2. Be under 25 years of age. 3. In general, be a first offender, this being their first prison experience as described in section on "Definition of Terms". 4. In general, have no previous record of serious truancy from institutions or other branches of the Armed Forces. In order to hold constant the variables of age, intelligence, offense, previous criminal record, the groups were equated in these areas as the following tables will show. The rationale for such sampling will be explained in each case. 23 TABLE II AGE DISTRIBUTION Age Number in each age group Camp x Camp Y 17 years, 6 months to 18 years 3 2 18 " " 19 " 13 l4 l8 " 6 months to 19 " 14 ll 19 " " l9 ", 6 months 11 12 19 " 6 months to 20 " .JZ ll 50 33 Although social and emotional maturation does not correlate perfectly with physical maturation, there is a correlation of sorts and if one group was markedly older than the other, the fact of greater maturity would contaminate the date and one would not be dealing solely with the results of a treatment program. TABLE III DISTRIBUTION OF EREVIOUS CORRECTIONAL EXPERIENCE Camp X Camp Y Juvenile probation only 3 4 Juvenile probation and correctional institution experience 6 4 Adult probation only 9 13 No probation or previous institutional experience _}g_ 2% 50 24 As stated before, it was decided to limit this study to a group of first offenders defined as those having their first adult prison experience, for these reasons: 1. 3. Having had less experience in crime they would seem to be more amenable to treatment and show more clearly the results of treatment progress. If recidivism is to be reduced appreciably, this is the best point at which to start. The more effectively the first offender can be helped so that he does not come back to prison the greater the impact that can be made on reducing prison pcpulations. The programs at Camp x and Camp I were theoretically designed to meet the needs of the first offender. All phases of the program had been planned carefully and deliberately to meet the treatment needs of the first offenders. However, upon closer examination, it was found that while this was the first adult prison experience as far as could be discovered for these young men, there was a variation of previous correctional experience among them. The above table illustrates this. .25 Intelligence-—to hold relatively constant the factor of capacity to learn from experience. If one group was significantly more intelligent than the other, they could logically be expected to learn more from the treatment exposure. Intelligence is widely accepted in clinical circles as an important factor in amenability to therapy. TABLE IV DISTRIBUTION OF I.Q. I.Q. number of Hen Camp X Camp Y ov.r1200.00.00.0000000000000...... 2 1 110.119 00......OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO... 5 5 100-109 .0COCOOOOOOOOOO0.0.0.000... 23 29 90.99 eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-g-O- 1i 0 50 The two groups were equated for mental ability as much as possible and seem to be similar in this respect as indicated by the distribution in Table IV. TABLE V DISTRIBUTION OF OFFENSES Offense number of Men Camp x Camp Y Breaking and entering ............. 15 ll Unlawfully driving away an automObiJ-e OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. 38 47 Lfirceny eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee 45 39 Uttering and Publishing ........... 2 3 100 100 26 Type of 0ffense--This is important so as to exclude the factor of patholOgy. It is generally true that those indi-- viduals who commit the serious assaultive offenses of mur- der, assault, rape, or are guilty of sexual deviations or drug addiction have a much greater amount of psychological pathology than those committing the common offenses against prOperty. One would certainly not expect individuals with great pathology to respond as rapidly or extensively to treat- ment as those with little. Hence, only those individuals con- victed of the offenses against prOperty were selected for this study. In an effort to control the variable of the kind of offenses which the man had committed, for what ever importance this might have for the results of this study, those individuals whose offences fell in the following catagories with the frequency noted in Table V. were chosen. Extent of Criminal Record—-Although there are, of course, important individual exceptions, a rather widely accepted viewpoint in the correctional field is that the greater the number of offenses which an individual has committed, the deeper-set his pattern of criminal behavior and consequently the more difficult it will be to instigate changes in his attitudes. Therefore, only those who were appearing in prison for the first time were selected. As noted earlier, inadvert- antly a few persons who had juvenile correctional experience 27 were included. Another selective factor was that the subjects in this experiment were members of the camp no less than six and no more than nine months. This held fairly constant exposure to treatment program and prevented the results from being unduly distorted by data either from individuals who had been in camp for a very short period, or from those who had been there for an unusually long time. The papulation used in this study was selected also on a final factor - each had no fewer than three anti-social themes on the first administration of the abbreviated T.A.T. The reason for this was that one of the issues of this study was to see how greatly the number of anti-social themes decreased between the test admin- istered when the subject came to camp and that administered before he left. In light of this, if the subject had only one or two of such themes in the first administration, he would obviously have little opportunity to show much change by diminution of themes. This helped guard against the distortion of results by an artifact which might spuriously influence the trend of the data. II. INSTRUIENT'Q§§2, Seven of the cards of the Thematic Apperception Test by Murray ( 6 & 7) were used. This test was developed at the Harvard Psychological Clinic by Dr. H.A. Murray and his colleagues and the cards used here were selected from the series which was finally settled upon by the author in 1936. By presenting a series of pictures to a subject and encourag— ing him to tell stories about them, invented on the spur of the 28 moment, he often reveals significant components of personality. This fact is dependent on the prevalence of two psychological tendencies; first, the tendency of people to interpret an ambigb uous human situation in conformity with their past experiences and present wants, and the tendency of those who write stories to do likewise; second, to draw on the fund of their experiences and express their sentiments and needs, whether conscious or uncon- scious. If the pictures are presented as a test of imagination,the subject‘s interest, together with his need for approval, can be so involved in the task that he forgets his sensitive self and the necessity of defending it against the probings of the examiner and, before he knows it, he has said things about an invented character that apply to himself, things which he would have been reluctant to confess in response to a direct question. The rationale for using pictures to elicit stories rather than just requesting the subject to make up a story is stated by Hurray (7,9,11). Although it is, of course, possible to get along without any pictures by simply directing the subject to "make up a story", it has been found (1) that pictures are effective in stirring up the imagination; (2) that they serve to force the sub- ject to deal, in his own way, with certain classical human situa- tions; and finally, (3) that the advantages of using standard stimuli are here, as in other tests, considerable. (page 34). 29 A projective-type test was used because it was felt, for several reasons, that this type of test was a more valid instru- ment to get at basic social attitudes than questionnaires or inven— tories. (9, 10, 12). In the first place, a projective technique does not involve reading. The median reading level of the lads used in this experiment is Grade 4.8. This means that much of the vocabu- lary of the typical questionnaire is beyond their adequate compre- hension. In addition one had the problem of the widely different concepts that different individuals get from the same words so that one can not be sure what the question or statement mean to another person. A further objection to pencil-paper, verbal instruments in this situation is the negative conditioning which most of these lads have to the printed page since they have had long and bitter exper- iences of failure, inadequacy and ridicule from family or peers for their inability to handle it. A second advantage of the projective instrument is its unthreatened and unstructured stimuli. The offender is typically defensive and easil; threatened by interviews and testing, so that the relative frerdou of this kind of material engenders a greater feeling of comfortablenese .nd security which encourages him to produce more extensively and with less inhibition. A third value of the projective approach is, of course, that it illicites depth material. Not all anti-social attitudes are blat- antly paraded by their possessor for the world to see. Often they are over-laid with protective and defensive material and may even 30 be essentially unrecognized by the individual. Or again, verbalized attitudes per as may be quite different from those brought forth by actual situations and problems. A fourth characteristic which made these tests especially useful in this situation is that they are less susceptible to "faking" than questionnaires and verbal scales. Since the individ- ual has greater difficulty recognizing what would be the socially- approved responses he has less success in giving a deliberately distorted picture of his feelings or attitudes. This factor is im- portant in correctional work not only for the purpose of this study but more broadly for purposes of decision as to the readiness of the inmate for parole and return to society with some assurance that he will not be involved in further anti-social behavior. For the above reasons, it seemed desirable to use projective techniques rather than verbal, pencil-paper inventories or question- naires. But why was the T.A.T. used in preference to Rorschach, Figure Drawing and other projective techniques? This choice was made previously because a pilot study on delinquents at the Boys Vocational School and adult offenders in this department had indi- cated that the T.A.T. produced more useful material than the other projectives with these groups. In addition, the interest here was in tapping social attitudes and the pictures of the T.A.T. series illustrating relationships between people, are ideal for eliciting interpretations on the part of the subject of these situations and thus revealing his basic responses of feeling and action in social 31 situations in which he finds himself. An incidental consideration which led to the choice of the T.A.T. over other projective methods was the desire to eventually develops a group application of one of the widely used projective instruments for use in the Reception Diagnostic Center at Jackson. The T.A.T. seemed theoretically highly adapted for this use and there was a desire to investigate its usefullness with a group of the penal papulation for some evidence of its values in this direc— tion. III. ADAPTATION 93 _@ INSTRUMENT _T_O_ _T_H_I__S_ SITUATION. As stated in the manual (7),‘the orthodox administration of the T.A.T. consists of presenting a series of 20 cards to the sub- ject. Eleven of the pictures are presented to all subjects and the remaining nine will vary with the age and sex of the subject. This, of course, is time-consuming and many diagnosticians working under the pressures of large intake, wonder if the series could not be abbreviated without sacrificing its productivity or validity. A pilot study was devised where the productivity of each card for anti-social themes was checked to discover if some elicited few,if any, of such responses while others elicited significantly more. All twenty cards were administered according to Hurray's direction to a group of fifty members of Camp x using every other new admis- sion to the camp, and the protocols checked for the following anti- social themes. 32 Anti-social themes. Adultery Hold-up Arrest Imprisonment Assault Illicit Sex Being tried in court Murder Breaking and entering Prostitution Defrauding some one Probation or parole situation. Drunkeness Rape Escape from prison or police. Shooting some one Homosexual act Stealing Fighting Suicide Forgery Threatening someone, physically or verbally. Gambl ing The frequency of these responses per card was tabulated and appears in Table V. 33 TABLE VI FREQUENCY OF ANTI-SOCIAL THEMES PER CARD OF T.A.T. SERIES Card Number Number of anti-social responses in 50 protocols leeseeeeeeseeeeeeeeeeeeseeseeeeeeeeeeeeeee 3 2eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee 2 3B“eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee 28 4eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee 10 5eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeseeeeeeeeee 7 63M eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee 18 7meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee13 83M.00....OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOCOC0.000.000... 21 9m0.0.0.000...00......00.000.000.000... 9 10.00.000.0000000000......00.000.000.000... 3 11.00.0000...OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO 5 12‘ OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO00.00.00.000... 12 13“ OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOCOOOOOOO 39 14.0.0000...OOOOOOIOOOOOOOOOOIOOOOOOO0...... 32 ISOIOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO 13 16eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee 8 17 BM eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee 29 183M00.0.0000...OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO00...... 32 19..OOOOOIOOOOOOOOOOOOOIOO0.0000000000000IO 10 20.00.000.000000000...OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO 41 These results led to the selection of cards 3 EH, 8 BM, 13 HF, 14, 17 BM, 18 BM, 20, for this study since the others stimulated so few anti-social themes as to make the extra time involved in their administration relatively unproductive for the purposes of this research. Had this research been focusing on factors other than anti-social attitudes or had there been a desire to seek a more general constellation of attitudes, other cards in the T.A.T. series or perhaps even the entire series might have been selected. 34 IV. METHOD Q§_ADMINISTRATION. The seven cards of the T.A.T. series as listed on the previous page were administered individually to each new admiss- ion to either camp by the writer as part of the customary intake proceedure. By doing this, the testing was part of general admiss- ions testing and was not singled out for undue emphasis or atten- tion. It was felt that most of the reactions of suspicion or concern about the purpose of the testing which probably would have develop- ed if the test had been administered apart from the rest of the admission experience were thus avoided. Murray's directions, as stated on page three of the manual (7) were used verbatim with the exception of the last two sentences which were deleted since each subject was given as much time as he wanted to complete the test. Because only seven cards were used this was possible. The directions given to the subject were: (page 31) (Form A, suitable for adolescents and for adults of average intelligence and sophistication). "This is a test of imagb ination, one form of intelligence. I am going to show you some pictures, one at a time, and your task will be to make up as dramatic a story as you can for each. Tell what has led up to the event shown in the picture, describe what is happening at the moment, what the characters are feeling and thinking, and then give the outcome. Speak your thoughts as they come to your mind. Do you understand?". 35 The above process was repeated as part of the pro-release proceedure in both camps. Again, this insured against this process attracting undue attention or significance. As on the original testing, the tests were administered individually by the writer. V. TREATMENT OF TEST PROTOCOLS. The test protocols obtained by the method described above were then evaluated and scored by the writer on the following basis: TABLE VII SCORING STANDARDS 0N WHICR ANTI-SOCIAL SCORE (A'S) WAS BASED. Theme, Scored 3:2 points. Murder, Serious assault, (with or without weapon). Fighting, escape (from law). Rape, deviated sex act, shooting someone. Suicide, armed robbery, or hold-up, (either these acts or attributing feeling or intent to do these acts). Threats, arrest, prostitution, adultery. Immorality, forging, breaking and entering. Theme, Scored one point. Drunkenness, gambling, stealing. Escape, (not from law), defrauding. Court trial, parole or probation situation. Imprisonment, (attributing to a person in the picture either one of this as acts or the feeling or intent to do one of them). Each time one of the above was attributed to any character in any of the pictures it was scored apprOpriately. 36 A total of these scores for each theme on the individual protocol was computed and this total entered as the anti-social (A-S) score for that individual. Every fourth protocol was passed along to a colleague who had an H.A. Degree in Clinical PsycholOgy, had five years of ex- perience in clinical work with adolescents and had used the T.A.T. regularly in his diagnostic work. He was given the above scoring table and asked to score the protocols in this manner. No knowl- edge of previous scoring was available to him. The resulting agreement was complete agreement on score in forty six of the fifty sample protocols and only a one point variation in the other four. This close correspondence in scoring was undoubtedly due to the simplicity of the scoring scheme, its clarity and its lack of ambiguity. Had a more complicated or detailed analysis of the protocols been required the agreement would certainly have been far from this high. This proceedure indicated that the scoring was reliable and not influenced by any bias of the experimenter. The next step was to compare the A-S score for each indi- vidual on his initial admission testing and on the test adminis- tered before he went home, to see if it had increased, decreased, or was unchanged. In each case the A—S score on the last test was compared with that of the first test to see if it was smaller, the same or greater. This was done for the groups from both camps. The next step was to tabulate these changes of scores for each group and to compute, (a) range of change, (b) mean change, 37 (c) standard deviation from the mean for each group. The third step was to compare the groups for the signifi- cance of differences and to compute the level of confidence of these differences. A final step was to test the significance of relationships between changes of A-S scores and success on parole. These data appear in tables contained in the next chapter. 38 CHAPTER IV RESULTS OF THIS STUDY TABLE VIII The data having been gathered as described in the preces- ding chapter was organized and analysed for further investigation evaluation and appropriate stptistioal treatment. The results appear below. DISTRIBUTION OF DIFFERENCES BETWEEN FIRST AND LAST A-S SCORES A-S Score Differences Frequency (last compared to first) Camp X Camp Y Increase of 5 points ...................... l - Increase or 4 points eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee -— .- Inorease Of 3 pOintB eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee .. 1 Increase of 2 points ...................... l 2 Increase of 1 point ...................... 4 7 NO Chmge 0.0.0.0....OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO... 4 17 Decrease of 1 point ....................... 8 12 Decrease of 2 points ...................... 6 5 Decrease of 3 points ...................... 6 5 D00r°&39 0f 4 points eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee 2 '. Decrease of 5 points ...................... 5 l Decrease of 6 points ...................... 6 - Decreafle Of 7 Paints eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee 3 .- Decrease of 8 points ...................... 3 - D.cr°aae Of 9 points eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee .- -- Decrease Of 10 points eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee - -. Decrease of 11 points ....................._1__ _: 50 50 Median .............. 3 0 (no change) Moan eeeeeeeeeeeeee2e42 1e12 Standard Deviation ..2.56 1.12 T - 2.98 (.01 level of confidence-2.660 with 80 deSTOOB fr00d0m.) 39 An examination of Table VIII reveals that the APS Difference Scores for Camp 1 distribute themselves quite evenly throughout the range from.an increase of two to a decrease of eight, while those for Camp I are very unevenly bunched around the ”no change” point, (an increase of from one to a decrease of one). Almost three- fourths, or 72% of the Camp I scores are in this area. The table shows clearly the fact that this group, (Camp I) made little reduction of A—S scores. They obviously must have made A98 scores on leaving camp very similar to those they made on ad- mission. Their experienoe had produced little effect on these scores. Even in this group, however, more individuals showed decreases in Aps scores than showed increases. By contrast, the Camp x.had only 32%.or one third of the scores clustered around the "no change” area. Thus two thirds of the group made markedly lower A-S scores when tested at the end of their experience in camp as compared to the scores made on admission. The camp experience had affected these scores in a very decided way, and in the desired direction. The differences in standard deviation of the two groups also bear out the trend noted above. This difference is significant at the 2% level of confidence and indicates the greater spread of the dis- tribution for Camp X when compared with that of Camp I. There is also a large difference in the means of the two groups. This is significant statistically although it is affected by the ”no change” scores which of course are 6 and grossly affect 40 a mathematical operation such as that used to establish the mean. Perhaps the great difference between the two groups is evi- denced most noticeably in the difference between the medians of the two distributions. The median for Camp X, when compared with the median of "O" for Camp Y, shows quite clearly that the majority of the Camp x group made markedly lower anti-social scores on the T.A.T. after six months in camp than they did on the test given when they arrived. Since the median is the mid-score, by consulting Table VII we can see that one half of the group from Camp X decreas- ed A-S scores by more than three points, whereas one half of the group from Camp Y made no change at all or actually increased the A-S scores. The "T" score test of the significance of the differ- ences between the groups shows that those differences are very significant statistically and could occur by chance only once in one hundred times. The data in Table VIII brings into sharper focus the great difference between the groups from Camp X and Camp Y. By inspection one can see the "bunching" of difference in scores for Camp X at the lower part of the distribution where the scores of greatest decrease are found. By contrast, note how the different scores for Camp Y "bunch" at the upper end where increases or no change at all are indicated. Only ten cases from Camp Y appear at or beyond a de- crease difference of two or more, while thirty two of the fifty cases from Camp X are in this area. This situation is made even more clear in the next table. 41 TABLE IX DISTRIBUTION OF GROUPS BY GROWTH CATEGORIES A. Group Category Camp X Camp Y ‘ Cases Cases No. 76 No. A. Group who had higher A—S scores at end than at beginning. .......... 6 12 10 20 B. Group who made no change of A-S score 4 8 17 34 C. Group who made small decreases of A-S scores (1 or 2) ................ 14 28 ll 22 D. Group who made great decreases of A-S scores. (3 or more) ............ 2.6 2 lg 34. so 100 o 100 x2 . 8.48 ( .02 level of confidencei-5.841 with 3 degrees freedom.) In Table VIIII, it is seen that six cases at Camp I increased their APS scores between first and second administrations of the test and ten. cases did so at Camp Y. Thus only 11% of the popula- tion from Camp I had higher APS scores at the end of the study than they did at the beginning, but 20% of the Camp Y population had higher A-S scores at the end. Only four individuals, (8%) at Camp X showed no change of score at all after a six month interval but seventeen people, or 349; from Camp Y showed no change. Thus four times as large a group at Camp Y as compared to Camp x showed no change in A-S scores as a result of the camp experience. In the group which made small decreases in APS scores be- tween the two administrations of the test we find the two camps quite similar. There is no appreciable difference between them 42 either in number of cases or percentage of population although there are slightly more cases in Camp Y than Camp X which showed small decreases in A—S scores. It is in the last grouping, showing those who made large decreases in A-S scores between the two administrations of the test, that the great disparity between these groups becomes most sharply evident. In the Camp X group, twenty six people, (or 52%) made much lower A—S scores the second time they were given the test than they did the first time. While in the Camp Y group, only six people (12%, or about one fourth as many) accomplished the same result. Over one half of the Camp X population fell in this category but only slightly more than one tenth of the Camp Y population are found here. The Chi-Square test of the significance of the differ- ences between these groups shows that the differences could only occur about three times in a hundred by chance and hence are statistically significant. TABLE X PAROLE SUCCESS OF GROWTH CATEGORIES Growth Category Percentage succeeding on parole Camp X Camp Y A. A-S Score increased ................. 5 3 B. A-S Score unchanged ................. 22 24 C. A-S Score decreased somewhat ........ 72 69 D. A-S Score decreased greatly ......... 87 86 x - 7.563 (.02 level of confidence - 5.841 with 3 degrees of freedom.) 43 A study of Table X shows that those who failed on parole by and large also had increased or unchanged A—S scores between the two admissions of the test. Very few of those whose A-S scores were unchanged or where an increase occurred finished their parole successfully. On the other hand, the great prOportion of those men who showed decreases in APS scores successfully completed their parole period and were discharged. There is an obvious and very significant increase in parole success as the A-S scores decrease. TABLE XI PAROLE SUCCESS or CONTROL (CAMP Y) AND EXPERIMENTAL ( CAMP x) GROUPS Camp X Camp Y Finished parole succeszully ......... 89% 71% Sent back for parole violation ....... 8%» 20% Returned for new offense ............. M 100p ICCm Table XI shows that the cases used in tuie study had a very satisfactory recor< of paro1e success since in one camp 89% fin— ished their parole period and were discharged from parole and in the other camp, 71% were able to do so. The criteria of success here used is admittedly gross, consisting primarily of whether or not the individual violated a sufficient number of parole regula- tions or violated frequently enough so that the supervising parole officer felt it wise to return him to prison as a violater unable or unwilling to follow the rules of parole. In a few cases, the violation of parole regulations was serious enough to cause such 44 action to be taken even though the violation was not extensive or the rate frequent. The other action which was deemed parole failure was if the man committed a new offense or offenses and was tried, convicted and sentenced on new charges. These are the standards customarily used to evaluate parole success. Admittedly, they leave much to be desired both in precision and adequacy. It is, of course, possible that some of the individuals who are here rated as "successful" may simply be undetected in their violations or may be exhibiting other undesirable behavior while not actually violating specific parole rules or conditions. But, when using only the gross measure of "did he violate enough to have parole revoked", or, "did he commit a new offense for which he was finally sentenced", it is encouraging to find a record of reasonably successful adjustment. It is also interesting to note that the individuals in the groups from both camps, who failed on parole, did so mostly by violating parole regulations rather than by commission of new offenses. This, I believe, is also a healthy sign indicating that when they fail, it is not because of continuing in obvious criminal behavior but more through laxity of attention to general rules of conduct. The difference of 18%lin parole success experience between the two camps is interesting and important. 45 TABLE XII PAROLE SUCCESS 0F GROWTH CATEGORIES Growth Category Succeeded on Parole Camp X Camp Y Cases 76 Cases A-S Score increased ............. 3 7 2 6 A-S Score unchanged ............. 5 ll 4 11 A—S Score decreased somewhat .... 8 18 7 21 ( one or two points) A-S Score decreased greatl ..... 28 65 2g. §g_ ( three or more points‘ 22' 100 35 100 By inspection it can quite easily be seen that there is no significant difference between the experimental and control groups where success on parole is related to changes on APS scores. In both groups, the majority of those who succeeded on parole showed great decrease in A-S scores and only a small minority who succeed: ed on parole showed no change nor an increase in A—S scores. 46 CHAPTER V SUMMARY Two matched groups of youthful offenders living in Minimum Security Camp facilities of the Michigan Department of Corrections were compared for changes in anti-social scores during a six-month exposure to the programs of their respective facilities. The prim- ary difference in program between these camps was that one had an organised counseling pregram while the other did not during the period of this study. Selected cards from Murray's Thematic Apperception Test were used for the study. They were administered during the subject's first weeks in camp and repeated approximately six months later. The anti-social score of each protocol was obtained by apply- ing a simple and clear scoring scale and the score of the test given last was compared with that of the test given first. These data were treated statistically to discover if there were any significant differences between the groups and a parole— success study was made to investigate the relationship between success on parole, program exposure and change in anti-social score. The results indicated: (1) a number of individuals in each group reduced their APS scores. (2) a significant difference existed between the groups in changes of anti-social scores. The group exposed to the organized counseling programs made significantly larger reductions in APS scores than the group not exposed to such a 47 program. (3) the camp with organised counseling had a higher rate of parole success. (4) the individuals making the greatest reduc- tion in A-S score had a higher rate of parole success than those showing little change. CONCLUSIONS An examination of the results obtained in this study reveals that each of the four hypotheses proposed in Chapter I, under "Purpose", on page three was sustained by the evidence. Each will be considered in turn. HYPOTHESIS _I_ An examination of Table I will show that about 67% of the subjects from Camp X made a markedly smaller A-S score on the second administration of the test than on the first. The same thing is true of the 46% of the subjects from Camp Y. This is conclusive proof that a six month period is sufficient in length to produce lower A-S scores in most of these individuals. Hence this hypothesis is sustained. RYPOTHESIS‘LI According to Table III in Camp X where organized counseling and an integrated treatment existed, 52%vof the subjects made large decreases of A—S scores and an additional 28%»made some decrease. Thus a total of 80%.made noticeably smaller A’s scores in themes from these T.A.T. cards the second time they were presented as com- pared with the first presentation on admission to camp. 48 On the other hand, we see that at Camp Y where no organized counseling program existed and where treatment was not coordinated by all the staff members, only 6% made large decreases in A-S scores and 40% made some score decrease. Thus a total of 46% made definite- ly smaller Ass scores at the end of their camp experience than at the beginning. These data conclusively support the hypothesis that individuals in a camp setting, where organized counseling extsts, and where total program has a planned treatment orientation, make significantly smaller APS scores when tested after six months than they did at the beginning of this period. HYPOTHESIS‘III The data in Table V indicate that in both groups a minority of those who showed no decrease in A-S scores finished a parole period successfully. As we move from the group which showed no decrease in A-S scores to the group.which showed definite decrease, the percentage of parole success quadruples. These differences are sharp and obvious—5% compared with 86% at the extremes. Surely there can be little doubt that this evidence established the hypoth- esis that those individuals who give definitely fewer Ass responses when tested after a six months' experience in camp have a much higher rate of parole success than those who give about the same number of these responses as they did at start of their experience. _POSSIBLE EXTENSIONS OF THIS STUDY From this research, four extension studies seem to be suggested. All would be interesting amplifications or applications 49 of the study described in this report. All would also be of value to the Department of Corrections by throwing some light on several important questions concerning the efficacy of programs in those of our institutions serving the youthful offender. If these studies were carried forward, we would have some interesting data by means of which programs in each of these institutions could be compared. One study suggested by the experience and data of the present research would be to follow the subjects used in this research for a longer parole period. The best technique would be to follow each case until it had completed parole or had violated and been returned either as a parole violator or for a sentence on a new offense. It would be interesting to administer the same T.A.T. cards to those subjects who returned to prison and note the A—S scores made by them so that these scores could be compared with those made by these same individuals on admission the first time and just before release on parole. A second study would be to apply the same methodology as used in this study and compare this group from Camp X with a similar group from the Muchigan Reformatory at Ionia to study the effect of an experience in a maximum security prison. A third extension of this research would be to compare, through the same methods as used here, a representative group of subjects currently at Camp Y and experiencing an organized counsel- ing program there with the group used in this study, who went through the program at Camp Y before organized counseling was 50 established. A fourth way in which this study might be replicated in a valuable and.interesting way would be to compare the results of this study with a similar one done at the New Median Security Correctional Institution at Ionia. Here we have a pepulation of individuals of higher intellectual endowment than in any other institution; a staff carefully selected and trained to be a total treatment-oriented staff; and counseling being done largely by volunteer lay-leaders from the surrounding community. As time permitted, the methodology develOped, tested and used here could be applied in the different ways described above to provide a means of comparing some of the results of these other programs in different settings to assess their strength and weaknesses. SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY 1. Fry, Franklin, "A Normative Study of the Reactions manifested by College Students and by State Prison Inmates in Responses to the Minnesota Multi-Phasic Personality Inventory and the Thematic Apperception Tests", Journal of Ps cholo , 348 34-41, 1952 2. Glueck, Sheldon and Eleanor, "Unravelin Juvenilggpelinquincyfl, Harvard university Press, Boston,Massachusetts. 129-138, 1949- 3. Jackson, Lydia, "Emotional Attitudes Thward the Family of Normal, Neurotic, and Delinquent Children", British Journal of Ps cholo , 173-175, 1950. 4. Kutash, S.B. "Performances of Psychopathic Defective Criminals on the Thematic Apperception Test", Journal of Criminal Ps chopathology 5, 319—340, October 194g. 5. Linder, Harold, "A Study of Perceptual Sensitization in Imprisoned Sexual and Non-Sexual Offenders", unpublished paper given at meeting of American Ps cholo ical Association, August 317—1951. CHicago, Illinois. 6. Murray, Henry A., ngplorations in Personality", Oxford university Press, 1943. 7. Thematic Apperception Test Manual, Harvard University Press, 1943. 8. Pilot Intensive Counseling Orgggization, Ca 1 orn a State Department 0 Corrections, 1959- 9- Rapaport, D8Vid, "Digggostic Personality Testing", The Year Book Pu lis ers, Volume II. 395-459, 1946. 10. Shneidmen, E.S., ll. Stein, M.Q., 12. Tbmkins, 8.5., 13. Weber, G.H., 14. 52 "Thematic Test Analysis", Crune and Stratton, New York, 1951. The Thematic A erce tion Test Cambridge; Addison-Wesley Press, Inc., 1949. The Thematic A erce tion Test, Grune and Stratton, Haw Tori, 1947. "Personality Study of Juvenile Automobile Thieves", Transaogions of Kansas Acadegy of Science, 533 4 ’5 9 19 O- "The Clinical Application of a Battery of Psychological Tests in the Study of Delinquents", Transactions of Kansas Acade of Science, 5 3 9'493e 1949' APPENDIXES A APPENDIX A 54 DISTRIBUTION OF ANTI-SOCIAL SCORES 0N SEVEN CARDS* OF THE THEMATIC APPERCEPTION TEST TABLE XIII CAMP.X Case 5.: OWCD-Q Qw‘fiWNH FHHFJ uimuu 14 FHH own hua own H \O ‘20 wwmmmmmmmmm vdcanaea Anti Social Score Initial Final 00.000.00.00.0000.0000000000 .0..000....000.00.000.000... .00..000.0...00.....0....00. 0.0.0.0...0000000.0000...... .00.0.0.000...000.000.0000.. 00.0.000000000000.000.000.00 .0....0..........0.0.0000... 000000000000...0.0.0.0000... 00.000.000.000...0000.00.00. .00.0000.00.00.000000000000. .00.0.0.0.00000000000000000. 0000.00.00.0000000000.0.00.0 0000.00.0000000000000000000. 00.000.00.000....0.........0 0.0.00.0...0000000000.0.0... 000.000.00.000.00.000.00.000 .00 ......... 0.00000 ......... 0. ...... 0......0.....0.000.0. ....................0.0.0.... 000.00.0.0.0....000000000000 00....0000000000000000000000 0000.00.00...0.0.0.000....0. .00.0.0....00000000.00...... 0000.00.00.00000000.000.000. 00.000......0....0...000..00 0.00000000000...0.0.0.000... ..0000.00.00.00000.00.00.00. 0.00.00.00.0000000.00.0.0... H H H H MOQNQQNQ®WWHNUODQ$HUCI>¢N¢O\O\\fl oxw-qxom Nwmoxo-qomuwwommo ONNWWKDWbW-P-éetbw#\flb\n Difference —1 -5 -2 +1 -3 -1 -2 -2 +5 -3 -l -3 O -6 -2 O —8 -1 -5 -11 +2 -6 -5 O -7 +1 —8 —6 -2 -7 -3 55 TABLE XIII (CONTINUED) 32 ....................... ..... 33 eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee 34 e eeeee eeeeeeeeeee eeeeeeee see 35 eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee 36 eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee 37 eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee 38.eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee 1 39 eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee 40 eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. 41 eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee 42 eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee 43 e eeeee eeeeee eeeee eeeeeeeeeee 44 eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee 45 eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee 46 eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee 47 ............................ 48 eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee 49 eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-eeeeeee Lei-p O\-l CDWUUO‘GDWQNWQO‘WWQ NuO-thflbO\\nAw4>->w04>«bblfl I .p. 50 0.000.00.00.00000000000000.0 CAMP Y Case Anti-Social Score _ Initial Final Difference +2 0 -1 +1 0 -3 O -1 O -2 +3 +1 -3 O -1 -2 0 -2 O 0000000 00.000.000.0000000000 l 2 3 4 5 eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee 6 ...... ...... ................ 8 eeeee eeeeeee eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee 9 eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee 10 eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee 11 eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee .12 eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee 13 eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee 14 eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee 15 ............................ 16 0...00.00.000.00000000000000 17 00.0.0....0000000000000000.0 18 000000000000000 00.00.00.000. 19 000000 00000....0000000000000 O\O\O\m\fl#m-§b\flm~l-1m0\w0\-§n§ O\J> mmhhwmdumm-qwmsmho‘ TABLE XIII (CONTINUED) 20 eseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee 21 eeeeeeeeee eeeeee eeeeeeeeeeee 22 eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee 23 eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee 24 eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee 25 eeeeeeeeee eeeeee eeeeeeeeeeee 26 eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee 27 eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee 28 eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee'eeeeee 29 eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee 30 eeeeee eeeeeee eeeeeeeeeeeeeee 31 ...... ......... ............. 32 eeeeeeee eeeee eeeeeeeeeeeeeee 33 eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee 34 eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee 35 eeeeeeeeeeee eeeeeee eeeeeeeee 36 eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee 37 eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee 38 eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee 39 eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee 40 eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee 41 eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee 42 eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee 43 eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee 44 eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee 45 eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee 46 eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee 47 eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee 48 eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee eeeee ee 49 eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee 50 eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee *3BM, 83M, 131m, (D-bdm-QO‘W O\\fi O‘s-d-b QWNWQWWNWONWUNNO‘mb-lah 14, 17 BM, -1-¥=~0\O\-)\fl#-)«> mmmwbbmwwmmmmmmmmdw CD-bb-O 18 BM, 20. 56 57 APPENDIX B SAMPLE TEST PROTOCOL INITIAL TEST Anti-Social Score CardI 3 HM. "This boy has just shot his father because he kept bawling him out for getting low marks in school. When the father turned his back to go out of the room, he shot him. New he realizes what he has done and is crying because he didn't realy mean to do it." Card 8 HM. "This boy is dreaming about how someday he will graduate from college and be a famous doctor. He will operate on people and make a lot of money. He feels he can just do this." Card 13 ME. "The guy just ggt done "shacking:up" with this girl. He met her at a dance and prOpositioned her so they went up to his apartment. He feels tired and "beat". She just went to Sleep satisfied. Boy, what a picture!" Card 14 s "This guy is breaking into a_place at night. He feels very "jumpy"-scared I guess. He is doing it because some guys dared him to. He gets caught of course." F1 l\) 58 Card 11_BM. "This guy Was in jail and he just sat around feeling bad about it and wanting to be outside. A pal smuggled a rcpe in and he is escaping;over the wall. He is very nervous and worried but gets away. Of course he gets caught later, they always do." Card 18 BM. "Well, this is sure quite a sight! This poor guy was walk- ing down a dark street and some "hoods" "rolled" him. They grabbed him, knocked him on the head and took his dough. He lays there for awhile and another guy stumbles on him and reports it to the police." Card 20. "This is a "hood" and he is standing on a street corner on a cold foggy night and waiting for somebody to come along to rob. They do finally and he robs them. He takes the money and serene out of there." Total FINAL TEST Card BM. This girl has just been told by her folks that she can't go out with her boy friend. She is real sad about it and cries. They still don't let her go. Card 8 EM. "The boy, like I said before, wants to be a doctor when he grows up. He is wondering if he can make it—-all the hard work you know. He wants to help sick peOple. I guess he makes it, probably." Card 1} ME. "They just got done having_sex. No, they arent married-- just one of those things. He talked her into it but feels real sorry now because he realizes that she feels bad about it." Card 14. "He is sneaking out of the house after his dad sent him to his room without supper. Going to run away, feels real lonesome. Looks to see if coast is clear. He changes his mind because he is afraid." Card 17 BM. "This is at Annapolis and he is passing one of the requirements-a rcpe climb-~and is on his way down. He is looking at one of his friends to see how he is doing." Card 18 BM. "This guy is just drunk and passed out. His friends help him home and put him to bed. The next morning he has a hangover." Card 20. "The "hood" still waiting for somebody to "knock- off"--to rob, you know. He gets caught doing it." Total. if 57““; gratin 084 ' at I .3 Mi .2" a; a ”3‘ L?" t it“ r- ;— . n . n .1 #1. f O . . NTS QTE UNI V. 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