友情提示:如果本网页打开太慢或显示不完整,请尝试鼠标右键“刷新”本网页!
合租小说网 返回本书目录 加入书签 我的书架 我的书签 TXT全本下载 『收藏到我的浏览器』

criminal psychology-第67部分

快捷操作: 按键盘上方向键 ← 或 → 可快速上下翻页 按键盘上的 Enter 键可回到本书目录页 按键盘上方向键 ↑ 可回到本页顶部! 如果本书没有阅读完,想下次继续接着阅读,可使用上方 "收藏到我的浏览器" 功能 和 "加入书签" 功能!


ider to be virtue and what not。

Hartenstein characterizes Hegel as a person who made his opponents out of straw and rags in order to be able to beat them down the more easily。 This characterizes not only Hegel but a large group of individuals whose daily life consists of it。 Just as there is nowhere any particularly definite boundary between sanity and foolishness; and everything flows into everything else; so it is with men and their testimonies; normal and abnormal。 From the sober; clear; and true testimony of the former; to the fanciful and impossible assertions of the latter; there is a straight; slowly rising road on which testimony appears progressively less true; and more impossible。  No man can say where the quality of foolishness beginsnervousness; excitement; hysteria; over…strain; illusion; fantasy; and pathoformic lies; are the shadings which may be distinguished; and the quantity of untruth in such testimonies may be demonstrated; from one to one hundred per cent。; without needing to skip a single degree。 We must not; however; ignore and simply set aside even the testimony of the outlaws and doubtful persons; because also they may contain some truth; and we must pay still more attention to such as contain a larger percentage of truth。 But with this regard we have our so…called smart lawyers who are over…strained; and it is they who build the real men of straw which cost us so much effort and labor。 The form is indeed correct; but the content is straw; and the figure appears subjectively dangerous only to its creator。 And he has created it because he likes to fight but desires also to conquer easily。 The desire to construct such figures and to present them to the authorities is widespread and dangerous through our habit of seeking some particular motive; hatred; jealousy; a long…drawn quarrel; revenge; etc。 If we do not find it we assume that such a motive is absent and take the accusation; at least for the time; to be true。 We must not forget that frequently there can be no other defining motive than the desire to construct a man of straw and to conquer him。 If this explanation does not serve we may make use finally of a curious phenomenon; called by Lazarus _heroification_; which repeats itself at various levels of life in rather younger people。 If we take this concept in its widest application we will classify under it all forms that contain the almost invincible demand for attention; for talking about oneself; for growing famous; on the part of people who have neither the capacity nor the perseverance to accomplish any extraordinary thing; and who; hence; make use of forbidden and even criminal means to shove their personalities into the foreground and so to attain their end。 To this class belong all those half…grown girls who accuse men of seduction and rape。 They aim by this means to make themselves interesting。 So do the women who announce all kinds of persecutions which make them talked about and condoled with; and the numerous people who want to do something remarkable and commit arson; then again certain political criminals of all times who became ‘‘immortal'' with one single stab; and hence devoted their otherwise worthless lives thereto; and finally; even all those who; when having suffered from some theft; arson; or bodily harm; defined their damage as considerably greater than it actually was; not for the purpose  of recovering their losses; but for the purpose of being discussed and condoled with。

As a rule it is not difficult to recognize this ‘‘heroification;'' inasmuch as it betrays itself through the lack of other motives; and appears definitely when the intent is examined and exaggerations are discovered which otherwise would not appear。



Topic 5。 ASSOCIATION OF IDEAS。

Section 50。

The question of association is essentially significant for lawyers because; in many cases; it is only by use of it that we can discover the conditions of the existence of certain conceptions; by means of which witnesses may be brought to remember and tell the truth; etc。; without hypnotizing them; or overtesting the correctness of their statements。 We will cursorily make a few general observations only:

Concerning the law of association; very little has been learned since the time of Aristotle。 It is determined by:

1。 Similarity (the common quality of the symbol)。

2。 Contrast (because every image involves opposition between its extremes)。

3。 Co…existence; simultaneity (the being together of outer or inner objects in space)。

4。 Succession (images call each other out in the same order in which they occur)。

Hume recognized only three grounds of association of objects similarity; contact in time and space; and causality。 Theo。 Lipps recognizes as the really different grounds of association only similarity and simultaneity (the simultaneity of their presence in the mind; especially)。

If; however; simultaneity is to be taken in this sense it may be considered the sole ground of association; for if the images are not simultaneous there can be no question of association。 Simultaneity in the mind is only the second process; for images are simultaneous in the mind only because they have occurred simultaneously; existed in the same space; were similar; etc。 Mnsterberg;'1' who dealt with the matter and got important results; points out that all so…called inner associations; like similarity; contrast; etc。; may be reduced to external association; and all the external associations; even that of  temporal sequence; may be reduced to co…existence; and all co… existence…associations are psychophysically intelligible。 Further: ‘‘The fundamental error of all association processes leading to incorrect connection of ideas; must be contained in their incompleteness。 One idea was associated with another; the latter with a third; and then we connect the first with the third 。 。 。 a thing we should not have done; since the first; while it co…existed with the second; was also connected with many others。''


'1' H。 Mnsterberg: Beitrage I…IV。 Freiburg 1882…1892。


But even this account does not account for certain difficulties; because some associations are simply set aside; although they should have occurred。 Man is inclined; according to Stricker; to inhibit associations which are not implied in his ‘‘funded'' complexes。

If we find direct contradiction with regard to associations; the way out is not easy。 We have then; first; to consider how; by comparatively remote indirection; to introduce those conditions into the ‘‘funded'' complex; which will give rise to the association。 But such a consideration is often a big problem in pedagogy; and we are rarely in the position of teaching the witness。

There is still the additional difficulty that we frequently do not know the circumstance with the help of which the witness has made his association。 Thomas Hobbes tells the story of an association which involved a leap from the British Civil War to the value of a denarius under the Emperor Tiberius。 The process was as follows: King Charles I was given up by the Scotch for 200;000; Christ was sold for 80 denarii; what then was a denarius worth? In order to pursue the thread of such an association; one needs; anyway; only a definite quantity of historical knowledge; but this quantity must be possessed。 But such knowledge is a knowledge of universal things that anybody may have; while the personal relations and purely subjective experiences which are at the command of an individual are quite unknown to any other person; and it is often exceedingly difficult to discover them。'1' The case is simplest when one tries to aid the memory of a witness in order to make him place single dates; e。 g。; when the attempt is made to determine some time and the witness is reminded of certain events that occurred during the time in question in order to assist him in fixing the calendar time。 Or again; when the witness is brought to the place of the crime and the individual conditions are associated with the local situation。 But when not merely single dates are to  be associated; when complete events are to be associated; a profound knowledge of the situation must precede; otherwise no association is successful; or merely topsy…turvy results are attained。 The difficulties which here ensue depend actually upon the really enormous quantity of knowledge every human being must possess in making use of his senses。 Anything that a man has learned at school; in the newspapers; etc。; we know approximately; but we have no knowledge of what a man has thought out for himself and what he has felt in his localized conditions; e。 g。; his home; his town; his travels; his relations and their experiences; etc。However important this may be; we have no means of getting hold of it。


'1' A。 Mayer and J。 Orth: Zur qualitativen Untersuchung der Assoziation。 Ztschrft。 f。 Psychol。 u。 Physiol。 der Sinnesorgane; XXVI; 1; 1901。


Those associations which have physical expression are of importance only in particular cases。 For example; the feeling of ants all over the body when you think that you have been near an ant… hill; or the feeling of physical pain on hearing the description of wounds。 It is exceedingly funny to see how; during the lectures of dermatologists; the whole audience scratches that part of the body which is troubling the patient who is being described。

Such associations may be legally valuable in so far as the accused who plead innocence make unconscious movements which imply the denied wounds。 In any event; it is necessary to be cautious because frequently the merely accurate description of a wound may bring about the same effect in nervous persons as the sight of that wound。 If; however; the wound is not described and even its place not mentioned; and only the general harm is spoken of; then if the accused reaches for that part of his body in which the wound of his victim is located; you have a clew; and your attention should be directed upon it。 Such an index is worth no more; but even as a clew it has some value。

All in all; we may say that the legally significant direction of association falls in the same class with ‘‘getting an idea。'' We need association for the purpose of constructing an imag
返回目录 上一页 下一页 回到顶部 0 0
快捷操作: 按键盘上方向键 ← 或 → 可快速上下翻页 按键盘上的 Enter 键可回到本书目录页 按键盘上方向键 ↑ 可回到本页顶部!
温馨提示: 温看小说的同时发表评论,说出自己的看法和其它小伙伴们分享也不错哦!发表书评还可以获得积分和经验奖励,认真写原创书评 被采纳为精评可以获得大量金币、积分和经验奖励哦!