Observations on the Relation Between Emotional and Metabolic Stability

The biochemical variability of the individual in relation to personality and intelligence.

“…There is an indication, as shown by a correlation of + .41 ± .13, that individuals with many neurotic tendencies tend to have a high metabolic variability. This in line with the findings of Hammett (13).…”

“…Hammett (13), studied the relation between emotional stability and metabolic stability in 17 individuals among whom were included emotionally stable and unstable insane and normal individuals. Classification of the emotional status of the subjects was arrived at by the consultation with the physicians in actual contact with the patients and by personal observation over considerable periods of time.…”

“…Table 12 gives the coefficients of variation for each blood constituent for each individual for the 3 basal determinations. The sum of these coefficients is the total metabolic variability (13). 1.…”

Discussion of "the adrenal cortex and emotion."

“…Hammett (2,3), who investigated the non-protein nitrogen (hereafter N.P.N.) in a small number of cases, showed that there is a greater variation in these blood constituents in people with marked emotional response than in those who are less susceptible to disturbing stimulation.…”

Temperament and Bodily Constitution.

“…Among persons there is a group of calm phlegmatic individuals with every evidence of a high threshold and a low irritability in their affective response to excitation; and on the other hand there is a group of excitable persons of low threshold and high irritability, whose reactions are out of all proportion to the importance of the exciting cause. These differences in temperament seem to be associated with differences in the manner in which the respective individuals handle their intermediary metabolism, since it has been found that the total variability of the soluble nitrogenous constituents of the blood as determined by analyses made from week to week is quite markedly different in the two groups (8). In the unemotional type, there is a tendency for the variability to be low.…”