Persoonlijke documenten en de constructie van de levensloop
Allport (part 1, page 3-64)
Chapter 1 Uncritical Use
Origins
The origins of the personal document in psychological science may be said to lie primarily in 1.) the
tradition of phenomenology and introspection which produced the great foundation stones of
mental science; in 2.) the growing influence of biological positivism that required the use of subjects
(other organisms) for study and in 3.) the discovery and featuring of individuals differences in the late
nineteenth century. With these major lines of influence lesser trends seem to have converged: 4.)
the flowering of interest in morbidity and genius, with its emphasis on autobiographical materials
and in its case reports-Krafft-Ebing, Lombroso; 5.) the development of the psychological novel, 6.) the
breakdown of Victorian reticence and taboo upon the revelation of intimate feelings in letters,
diaries, and autobiographies-Havelock Ellis, Bashkirtseff.
It was these conditions that set the stage for the first great book in psychology to rest its case
entirely upon the use and interpretation of personal documents.
James felt himself inevitably driven to employ personal documents as the most feasible method of
approach to psychology of religion. No other method seemed to him available for discovering the
fundamental ways of men coming to terms with the universe.
Stanley Hall: ephebic literature should be recognized as a class by itself, and have a place of its own
in the history of letters and in criticism. Young people should be encouraged to keep confessional
private journals to teach them self-knowledge and the art of self-expression.
Sigmund Freud: seems to regard a single case as an exemplification of general truths known to him
through his acquaintance with many cases. This attitude is characteristic of clinicians who, although
they often cite a single instance, do so because they regard is as typical of many. Unlike James, Freud
does not first present his cases and then draw his conclusions. He seems to use cases es
exemplifications of theories previously formed. Freud repeatedly warns his followers against
breaches of professional secrecy. The anonymity of a case, he insists, should be scrupulously
preserved.
A mind that found itself and the literature of suffering
Clifford Beers (21) wrote the vivid and absorbing story of his experiences, after recovering from a
manic-depressive breakdown and months of institutional treatment. This document led directly to
the founding of the mental hygiene movement in America, and to the elimination of many of the
institutional evils depicted in the story.
The fact is that this well-known document utilized no independent sources of information, failed in
any formal sense to establish its reliability or validity, failed to demonstrate the representative
character of experience, and yet with all these limitations, it became a classic in mental science,
universally accepted as a significant clinical document and admired for its beneficial effects upon
psychology, psychopathology, and social welfare.
,The Judge Baker Foundation
Dr. William Healy and Dr. Augusta Bronner have performed a service to social science in their long-
standing insistence upon the inclusion of the “child’s own story” in their many records of delinquent
cases.
A history of psychology in autobiography
In the three volumes of autobiographies appearing under his editorship between 1930 and 1936
Murchinson has provided an unexpected touchstone for the psychologist’s use and evaluation of the
personal document. From the methodological point of view, Murchinson’s unique undertaking
demonstrates in the decade of the thirties that a.) several outstanding living psychologists were
markedly attracted to the task of writing their own autobiographies for publication; b.) that no
standard technique was available to them for use (although most of the contributors would know
how to go at other scientific assignments in a uniform way); and c.) few had much of importance to
offer regarding the methodological aspects of the undertaking.
The Psychological Clinic
Withmer in 1907 founded The Psychological Clinic. Although problems of mental and moral
retardation were to receive primary attention it was planned that the journal should provide outlet
for account of the development of individual normal children as well. Not one single critical article on
the method of the case study was published, and nothing beyond the most incidental and pedestrian
use of personal documents is to be found in its files.
Conclusions
Our survey thus far has brought to light a motely array of studies involving the use of personal
document. They have constantly increased in number ever since historical conditions became
auspicious approximately have a century ago. The studies reviewed in this chapter have as common
features their directness and enthusiasm of approach and their prevailing lack of concern with
technical perplexities. It is because this trend is growing more and more marked that critical
attention to the improvement of method is in order.
Chapter 2 Critical and Experimental Studies
The Polish Peasant as a turning point
It was unquestionably the availability of The Polish Peasant that began torn the attention of
sociologists – and somewhat later of psychologists – to the methodological problems involved.
Blumer’s critique of The Polish Peasant
The definition of human document as “an account of individual experience which reveals the
individual’s actions as a human agent and as participant in social life” betrays this fact: from the
psychological point of view a human document does not necessarily reveal the individuals as a
“participant in social life.” There are non-social forms of thought, of imagination, reflections of
temperament, of behaviour in solitude, surges of religious feeling, and other intimate states of mind
which represent little or no social participation.
, Kreuger’s Autobiographical Documents and Personality
His conclusions stress the value of self-written documents as a basis for comparative studies of
causative factors, especially for discovering the genesis of social attitudes.
1.) The confessional document which has its origin in personal disorganization an in feelings of
inferiority. Through the headlong writing of intimate confessions conflict and tension find relief. This
type of writing “flows hot and eruptive from the fiery experience of the human soul. The person
seeks rest and redemption.” According to Kreuger this motive is essential.
2.) A second from is the egotistical document which for the most part betrays the processes of
rationalization. It is conventional and frequently defensive in character.
3.) Scientific autobiographies are the result of trained detachment, written with the deliberate
purpose of describing and analysing in objective terms what the individual felt and thought. Though
these documents may have clarity of conceptualization they are lacking the freshness and
spontaneity.
4.) Naïve documents are written by persons more or less limited by convention. Give forth little more
than mildly self-appreciative and relatively colourless accounts of their experiences.
Dollard’s criteria for the life history
Dollard’s criteria are biased, they will no bring social scientists to agree on the value of a document.
The problem of self-deception
A point made by nearly all writers is that, in order to be useful, personal documents need not be
taken at their face value. Usually the personal whims of the investigator seem to determine
judgments of authenticity. Subjective statements that remind the investigator of his own experience
are likely to be credited; if they seem odd and unfamiliar, to be suspected. Each psychologist in his
own way is alert to symptoms of self-deception and rationalization.
Ego-defences are down in anonymous writing, so too the conventional requirements of modesty.
When names are not signed the child is more self-disparaging, but at the same time more ego-
aggrandizing and self-inflating.
Cartwright and French: the reliability of life-history studies
Two findings of this study were especially important:
1.) The validity of the predictions of the two investigators exceeded their reliability. How is such a
result possible? Simply because each understood correctly different aspects of the personality.
2.) A second significant finding is that these two independent investigators agrees more closely
concerning the subject’s traits, attitudes, and probable course of development in the future than
they did concerning the nature of his basic motives. In other words, it was easier for them to agree at
the concrete level of behaviour than at the conceptual level. Psychologists will agree on what is
happening in a life more readily than upon why it is happening.
Technique of the case conference
Different analysts carry valid but distinctive aspects of a case in mind. Pooing their different points of
view is advantageous. While strict independence among judges may be desirable for studies in
