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From Labor Action, Vol. 14 No. 24, 12 June 1950, pp. 4–5.
Transcribed & marked up by Einde O’Callaghan for ETOL.
The Relation Between Politico-Economic Radicalism and Certain Traits of Personality
Sanai and P.M. Pickard
Journal of Social Psychology, Nov. 1949
The authors, both of the University of London, used a combination of questionnaire, Rohrschach test and personal ratings to match the two sets of factors on a selected group. A summary of their findings:
“The correlation between intelligence and radicalism is the highest of the highest of the correlations ...
“Our finding in this respect is in line with previous investigations. For instance, Mrs. Thurstone ... found a correlation of 0.44 between intelligence and radicalism; Dexter ... one of 0.22; Breames, Remmer and Morgan found one of 0.31; and Whistler and Remmers found one of 0.32 ... as Nelson concludes after a careful survey of the field, ‘Most of the studies of political issues indicate a positive correlation between radicalism and intelligence.’ ...
“None of the correlations between normal traits investigated ... and radicalism seem to be significant ...”
There were “slight positive correlations between radicalism and introversion” (but not neurotic introversion, say the authors, on the basis of some American investigations) and “very slight positive correlations between aggression and radicalism,” but these “turned out to be insignificant at the 5 per cent leyel,” and “correlations between other traits and radicalism were negligible.”
Love and Family Relationships of American College Girls
by Albert Ellis
American Journal of Sociology, May
The following is presented without prejudice to the work of contemporary sociology in general as curious example of the momentous conclusions sometimes reached by exhaustive questionnairs and laborious investigations. The author, of the Diagnostic Center at Menlo Park, N.J., reveals the following, without waiting for Kinsey:
“A point which can be more confidently upheld is that for these college girls, love is an exceptionally important and serious matter. Being in love with a suitable member of the opposite sex is of vital importance to them when they are in love and is still consequential when they are not in love. Love, moreover, is a feeling which they do not allow themselves to entertain lightly and around which they place certain selective restrictions. It is something that, according to their own high standards, they do not often admit exists to a high degree between their own parents. And it is a feeling that, when experiencing it themselves, they tend frequently to be confused about.”
All of which, in case you weren’t sure of it, can be proved statistically.
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