The present status of the will-temperament tests.

Abstract

The WT 2 tests are one of the best instances we have of an attempt to measure temperament objectively. The underlying conception is that fundamental behavior patterns are revealed in certain skilled motor performances such as speech and handwriting. Downey (9, p. 49) asserts that these tests are the results of several years of inquiry into the nature of muscle-reading and handwriting. Her experimental studies of muscle-reading revealed the fact that certain forms of mental content are expressed in subtle muscle twitches, and also in delicate expansions and contractions. There are great individual differences in this phenomenon. Some persons' muscles are easier to read than others because (she thinks) they are more explosive and have fewer inhibitions. In some persons there seems to be an easy and forceful flow of nerve currents into the muscles; in others, the flow seems obstructed. This immediately suggests temperament types. Thus she says (9, p. 54): "Temperament appears to be very determined by the readiness with which the motor discharge, which initiates movement, occurs in the nervous system and the degree to which it stimulates consciousness." Downey found that good subjects for muscle-reading dem-1 This is one of a series of papers on A Survey and Evaluation of Existing Character Tests being prepared in connection with an inquiry in character education made possible by a grant to Teachers College from the Institute of Social and Religious Research MS. submitted October, 1924.2 WT will be used throughout this paper as an abbreviation for Will-Temperament .

The measurement of personality.

“…The problem of the detection and measurement of attitude has already been touched upon in our discussion of the generality or specificity of "traits" (pp. [97][98][99][100][101][102] and has been ably presented by Likert (96) who calls attention to the two definitions of attitude commonly adhered to by psychologists: That attitude is (1) a "tendency to" or "verbal substitute for" overt behavior, and (2) a "tendency toward a particular response in a particular situation." On either basis the number of attitudes possible to any one individual would be infinite (and absurd), whether attitude means "assent or dissent from a particular verbal proposition," or the "number of definable attitudes existing in a given person at a given time."…”