Harold J. Vetter

The Language of the Psychopath

The language of the psychopathic personality is described along with a review of the literature and various psycholinguistic examples of its importance for theory and research. Recommendations are made for future advancements in this field.

Theoretical and Historical Roots of Psycholinguistic Research

Psycholinguistics can be said to have originated as far back in the history of philosophy as one cares to trace psychology. The widespread use of the term psycholinguistics and the development of a distinct discipline with that title, however, go back only to the early 1950s, when George Miller, Charles Osgood, and other psychologists introduced a knowledge of linguistics into the psychological study of language.1 Prior to that time, psychological studies of “verbal learning” dated from the concern of Ebbinghaus (1885) with memory and are tied to a strand of theory that can be followed back to the associationism of Locke [1632–1704]. To the extent that verbal learning theorists in psychology were almost totally lacking in linguistic sophistication, it might be said that their research interests represented precisely what psycholinguistics was not.

Judgments of grammaticalness: A partial replication and extension

This study is a partial replication and extension of a study by Maclay and Sleator (1961) involving judgments of grammaticalness. In an effort to overcome various methodological shortcomings in the earlier study, 152 male subjects were asked to judge a series of 36 word sequences on the dimensions of grammaticalness, meaningfulness, and ordinariness under five different modes of stimulus presentation. Results of the present study failed to confirm the findings reported earlier by Maclay and Sleator. The significance of the results is discussed in relation to several basic issues in the scaling of judgments of grammaticalness.

The Double-Bind Concept and Gregory Bateson

Sullivan (1944) has expressed the belief that language serves the vital function of preserving feelings of security among one’s fellow human beings. The schizophrenic’s peculiarities of language, he proposes, arise from an extreme need to feel secure. The schizophrenic does not believe that speech will help attain gratification; instead, it is used to counteract feelings of insecurity. The problem lies in recurrent severe disturbances in the schizophrenic’s relationships with people that result in a confusion of the critical faculties concerning the structure of spoken and written language.

PSYCHOPATHOLOGY AND ATYPICAL LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT

Certain patterns of unusual or deviant language and communication occur with sufficient frequency in particular personality disorders to constitute a n essential part of the process by which such disorders are diagnosed. The disorders of affect and cognition known in the aggregate as schizophrenia, for example, are identified clinically by peculiarities of language usage, ranging from the intrusion of idiosyncratic meanings into approximately normal speech to incoherent “word salads” and gibberish. Other configurations of psychotic and neurotic behavior are also identified diagnostically by atypical language and communication. It should be made clear that we are not dealing here with such primary patterns of language disturbance as aphasia and stuttering. This is not to deny the relevance of psychopathological considerations in such disorders. The importance of emotional conflict in the pathogenesis of stuttering is amply documented, and there is abundant clinical evidence that the aphasic patient may respond adversely to his lowered or altered capacities for symbolizing and communicating, even to the extent of exhibiting what Goldstein’ called a “catastrophic reaction.” However, regardless of whatever psychopathological factors may be present in aphasia or stuttering, both are essentially linguistic disorders. Their principal manifestations are present in vocal speech and their treatment requires some or a great deal of speech therapy and retraining. On the other hand, the linguistic phenomena to which I shall refer in this discussion occur as concomitants to conventional psychopathological syndromes. The objectives sought in research on psychotic and neurotic language have been numerous and varied, but most of the studies reported in the professional literature have reflected a common orientation toward the nature of language behavior and communication in relation to psychopathology. According to this orientation, linguistic phenomena are of concern to the psychopathologist primarily as symptoms of an underlying pathological condition. Viewed in this light, language behavior presents a number of undeniably attractive possibilties. Since speech and language behavior are among the more ubiquitous aspects of human functioning, the task of the psychopathologist in gathering appropriate samples of behavior is greatly facilitated in comparison with other types of behavior that are less accessible to observation. Another beckoning prospect is the possibility that a detailed analysis of language will eventually result in an instrument with diagnostic value for distinguishing the language behavior of patients in various nosological categories. Still further possibilities with regard to prognosis and treatment have not been ignored: it is felt that a closer understanding of language behavior will afford a sound basis for valid and reliable clinical prediction, as well as contribute to the aims of psychotherapy, by clarifying the communication process that takes place between the patient and thera-

Language Pathology in Autism and Childhood Schizophrenia

In his review of the literature on childhood schizophrenia, Kanner (1973), the original diagnostician of autism, points out that, like adult schizophrenia, childhood schizophrenia does not exist as a unitary disease entity. The singularity of the term schizophrenia is misleading; it refers in fact to a group of disorders that share certain common factors. This position is shared by many others, such as Shapiro, who refer to this problem as a spectrum disorder.

Psychopathology and the Polyglot

The polyglot—the person who possesses linguistic competence in more than one language—presents a fascinating series of challenges and problems for both the psycholinguist and the clinical psychologist. When two or more linguistic codes are available, what factors determine the selection of one over the other in the encoding of psychopathological experiences? In terms of the Sapir-Whorf (linguistic relativity) hypothesis, does the possession of more than a single language code imply the possession of more than one Weltanschauung? Are delusional and hallucinatory formations susceptible to influences from competing linguistic systems within the bilingual individual? Does bilingualism contribute in any significant way to emotional instability? These and many more intriguing questions are raised by the phenomenon of multilingualism vis-a-vis psychopathology.

Language and Cognition in the Affective Disorders

Kraepelin (1896) introduced the term manic-depressive psychosis to designate a series of attacks of elation and depression with intervals of relative normality and a generally favorable prognosis. He regarded manic-depressive psychosis as an organic illness, which he distinguished from the less severe disturbances of mood that were later identified as neurotic, a distinction that traditionally rested on the factor of reality contact. What was called “neurotic depression” could be characterized as deep dysphoria, but the individual retained awareness of the surroundings and did not lose the capacity to carry on some semblance of normal daily activities. Psychotic depression, on the other hand, featured hallucinatory and delusional experiences and extreme withdrawal to the point of immobilization.

Language and Cognition in Mental Retardation

Heber (1958) defines mental retardation as “subaverage general intellectual functioning which originates during the developmental period and is associated with impairment in adaptive behavior.” Others, such as Sloan (1954) and, more recently, Ingalls (1978), have extended the nomenclature to include defects in the psychological and social spheres resulting from environmental deprivation. Ingalls (1978) points out that the second or “functionally” retarded group that suffers from mild retardation comes almost exclusively from the lower strata of society and constitutes a larger group than that made up by organically impaired retardates.