Page:The International Journal of Psycho-Analysis II 1921 2.djvu/67

 NORMAL PSYCHOLOGY 223

There should be instituted a special course oi medical psych- ology, to be attended by all students in their first terms of clinical work. In this course there should be treated, among other things: the psychological aspects of each clinical picture, the mechanisms of the psychic disorders, methods of psychotherapy with indica- tions for the choice of suitable specialists in each given case, edu- cation, choice of career, division of labour and sexual life; ' in general the physician should become able to understand and to evaluate the psychological aspects of all questions of the day (e. g, in politics and law).

APPENDIX PSYCHOLOGY OF TESTIMONY

Henning's aim (35) is to find a psychological substitute for the questioning of a witness or accused person in a court of law. This cannot be done by means of a single stimulus word and the resulting 'single' association; which must be replaced by a 'mul- tiple' association aroused by at least two words given in rapid succession (at an interval of about 1 second), the process ot 'Double Association'. Two words can be so chosen that they strike a given complex much more readily than a single word would do. * Double Association ' (with one stimulus word and one ' disturb- ing' word) should therefore be used in the investigation of com- plexes. With this new method the 'complex-indicators' are of the same nature as with 'single' association.

Rittershaus (37) gives a brief exposition and criticism of the psychology of testimony. The essence of this branch of the science consists in the investigation of complexes, that is the search for affectively-toned events by means of experimental methods. It is only a special case of this investigation when these afifectively- toned events are hidden from the investigator. In this case a 'psychic exploratory puncture' must be employed. Freud's psycho- analysis must be regarded as a method of this kind. The results of the diagnosis thus reached have only symptomatic value which can only give us real evidence of objective fact through the con- currence of a number of different factors.

The method of visual exposition of the reaction words is to be condemned.

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