Evening star., 1936-11-01

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In the same way an age scale could
be built on numerous features of child
activity. But once the children were
placed in the frustrating situation, DR..
Levin found, their behavior began to
revert to lower age levels to degree
commensurate with the amount Of the
Illustration they had experienced.
Children who had reached the point
Of long imaginary conversations over
the toy telephone went back months
in their behavior scale and used the
instrument as a rattle once more.
Those who had been drawing neat
pictures Of houses began covering
sheets Of paper with meaningless
scrambles OF lines, as they had done
months earlier.
The children also were tested on a
scale Of moods based on the fact that
the younger the child the less respon-
sible Is its behavior. The small infant
tries to get what it wants by temper
tantrums and crying. As 1t grows older
it replaces these with argument and
persuasion. The rate Of these changes
can be measured for any particular
child.
DR.. Levin and his aides used two
degrees Of Illustration. With the most
severe test they found that the chill
dren regressed as much as 26 months
in the play scale and as much as lis
months in the mood scale. With the
milder test the children averaged three
months repression in play construc-
tiveness.
In no case, DR.. Levin stressed, was
the experiment carried to the point
where it was cruel to the children and
all quickly recovered when restored to
normal conditions once more. They
were not allowed to play in the lux
urious set-up long enough for it to
make permanent impression on them,
The significance of the test, it was
stressed, lies in its philosophical i'm
plications. The idea of repression as
a basis for various types of insanity
long has been a favorite one with
psychoanalysts. They contendd that
when an individual is confronted with
an unsolvable problem, a natural way
to get out of it is by psychic flight"
back to happier days of childhood.
then back to the still more untroubled
days before birth, and then even fur
their back to complete non-existence
when, OF course, there were no trou-
bles whatsoever. This is known as
the death drive" and supposedly
often ends in actual suicide. Step by
step the 1ntegration Of the personality
which has been built up with .ncreas-
ing experience breaks down. II also
Is noteworthy, it was stressed, that
the adult who goes to pieces" or into
temper tantrum when affairs 60
wrong is reverting to the types OF
behavior which always worked in
early childhood when weeping at
tracted the attention of its parents
who did for it what it could not dc
for itself.
Frustration Magnitude.
For the first time, in the Uni
versity of Iowa experiments, not only
has this been demonstrated as a fact
but a means found Of actually meas
uring the rate Of repression and the
demonstration made that its speed
depends upon the magnitude Of the
Illustration. The measurements re-
ported were averages. Many differ.
ences were found between individuals
A few Of the children. especially ir
the mild Illustration experiments, DEM
onstrated another mechanism stressed
by the OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES Of sub.
limation. When they found that they
couldn't get at the cherished toys
through the wire screen, they pro.
ceeded to make themselves substitutes
either actually out Of the materials
at hand or in their imaginations. These
corresponded to the type of persons
apparently very few in number, who
thrive on adversely.
This first actual measurement Of one
| Of the psychoanalytical drives, it was