L. Bryce Boyer

COMPARISONS OF THE SHAMANS AND PSEUDOSHAMANS OF THE APACHES OF THE MESCALERO INDIAN RESERVATION: A RORSCHACH STUDY.

Summary Psychoanalytical oriented interviews and quantitative Rorschach findings were used to investigate personality structure of the Mescalero Indian Reservation Apache. From 250 Rorschachs, 72 protocols were divided into three groups: (1) a control group of 52 Apaches, 50 years and over; (2) 12 shamans, defined as native medicine men arrogating to themselves supernatural powers and accorded shamanistic status by their culture mates; and (3) 7 pseudoshamans, claiming to possess power but not believed by societal co-members or accorded the position of shaman but denying power-possession. The shamans possessed more hysterical features than the pseudoshamans, were mentally able to approach ambiguous material similarly to the control group, showed a high degree of reality testing potential, keener awareness of peculiarities, more theoretical interest, and the capacity to regress in the egos service. The pseudoshamans possessed neither the prominent shaman characteristics nor hysterical features; they appea...

Effects of Acculturation On the Personality Traits of the Old People of the Mescalero and Chiricahua Apaches

HILE compiling data to be used in a land claims project, Basehart (1959, W1960) observed a contrast in the quality of responses given by aged Mescalero and Chiricahua Apaches to inquiries pertaining to aboriginal subsistence patterns and socio-political organization. The Mescaleros were unable to generalize and draw abstractions; their replies were brief, concrete and specific. To obtain information from them was a tedious process, although they were eager to co-operate, since the project was conducted for their own potential material benefit. To the contrary, the old Chiricahuas generalized and drew abstractions and spontaneously enlarged from single items to related data. The Boyers later confirmed Basehart’s observation The aged Chiricahuas appeared to have taken

Apahe Age Groups

Abstract Previous communications have indicated that interpretations of Rorschach protocols resultant from testing the Apaches of the Mescalero Indian Reservation produce information which conforms closely to that obtained by standard anthropological and psychoanalytic investigative techniques. Anthropologic and psychoanalytic observations demonstrate that the effects of acculturation are less disruptive to the personality organization of old-age than of middle-age and young-age Mescalero and Chiracahua Apaches. In the present communication, a comparison is made of Rorschach protocols derived from testing of those three-age groups. The interpretation of those protocols confirms the assumptions based on the anthropological and psychoanalytic observations.

Apache “Learners” and “Nonlearners”

Abstract While the Mescalero and Chiricahua Apaches of the Mescalero Indian Reservation aboriginally probably had very similar if not identical patterns of cognition and perception, present day aged members of those tribes have strikingly different patterns, demonstrable by clinical behavior and Rorschach responses. While in kindergarten, about half of the grandchildren and greatgrandchildren of those aged Mescaleros and Chiricahuas are unable to adjust themselves to the expectations of school teachers and are retained for a second year of kindergarten. Those children, here designated as nonlearners, are found to respond to Rorschach stimuli as do the aged Mescaleros with a high degree of statistical reliability.

Apache "learners" and "nonlearners." II. Quantitative Rorschach signs of influential adults.

Summary Aboriginally probably equivalent, following divergent acculturative patterns, the perceptual and cognitive techniques of the Chiricahua and Mescalero Apaches differed. Today, half of Apache children (the learners) adjust to ordinary expectations in grammar school: their Rorschach patterns resemble those of aged Chiricahuas; half (the nonlearners) fail to adjust: their responses are those of the less-acculturated Mescaleros: It was hypothesized that the learners would have identified with the techniques of the more-acculturated Chiricahuas. Adults influential in the early lives of the children were tested. The hypothesis as stated was not verified. What was consistent in the responses of learner influentials was a more balanced approach to Rorschach stimuli than was shown by nonlearner influentials.