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A Study of Change in Mental Organization
A reprint of a paper written to document a study done of children's developmental psychology and mental organization.
31 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1936
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July 22, 2022
review of
Solomon E. Asch's A Study of Change in Mental Organization
by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - July 22, 2022
B/c I'm interested in the opinions of psychologists on conformity, I originally wanted to read Asch's Social Psychology or some other major work potentially relevant to the subject.
"While Solomon Asch left many lasting impacts on the field of psychology, his studies on conformity also known as Asch Paradigms are by far his most recognized achievement. The purpose of these experiments was to prove the significance of conformity in social settings. Many following researchers were heavily influenced by Asch’s research and studies. Among these was Stanley Milgram who was supervised by Asch during his PhD at Harvard University.
"Also among his greatest achievements is Solomon Asch’s textbook, Social Psychology (1952) which is an embodiment of his theories. More publications by Asch include, Effects of group pressure upon the modification and distortion of judgment (1951), Opinions and social pressure (1955), Studies of independence and conformity: A minority of one against a unanimous majority (1956) and Social psychology (1987)."
- https://www.famouspsychologists.org/s...
Alas, I didn't find any of the bks I was interested in for an affordable price so, wanting to read something by him, I settled for this simple article that's been turned into a bk & bound. The bk, as an object, is fine - but it's a bit too vague & superficial otherwise to be of much use to me.
THE PROBLEM: "It was the purpose of the following investigation to study the influence of growth on the relationships between a number of mental functions. A considerable body of knowledge exists at the present time which suggests that mental development is characterized, not simply and solely by increases in amount of ability, but also, and equally importantly, by processes of integration and differentiation. Indeed the study of such changes is at the present time the main concern of students of foetal and newborn behavior." - p 5
GROWTH & DECLINE: "The individual spends by far the greater part of his life span either growing or declined; rarely does he stand still. Thus, the period of mental growth is generally regarded to extend from the beginning of the organism's existence to a period variously estimated from 14 to 25 years. Decline, on the other hand, is considered to set in almost immediately after the limit of mental development has been reached." - p 5
It's been my own observation that many people listen to the music that most excited them as teenagers throughout the rest of their lives. I went on a 'date' w/ a woman roughly my age & various musics played on the sound system in the bar we were in until Jimi Hendrix came on. My 'date' sd something like: 'Finally, some real music.' I was disappointed. I love Hendrix's music but there's been plenty of music since his that I love too - for me my growth as an open-minded person didn't stop when I got out of high school.
I doubt that many mentally active adults wd take kindly to such an early age for decline to be reputed to set in. 25?! I hope I didn't start to decline that early. I'm 68 & while I'm declining in many ways physically I'm not convinced that my so-called "limit of mental development has been reached". Given that I keep track of my accomplishments for every yr (or, at least, those of a certain type), it's easy for me to look at each yr & see whether I show signs of having developed mentally. It seems to me that in 1978, when I turned 25, I was getting started rather than finishing. In the interest of keeping this review 'short' (by my standards) I'll give ONE example:
My review of Paul A. Offit, M.D.'s Autism's False Prophets - Bad Science, Risky Medicine, and the Search for a Cure ( http://idioideo.pleintekst.nl/CriticO... ) is something that I cdn't've written in 1978. I had to accumulate decades of experience, knowledge, & 'wisdom' 1st. In fact, I don't think I cd've written it until NOW. Is that a sign of "mental development"? I think so.
QUESTIONING: "In spite of the enormous amount of evidence concerning the changes which continually occur in behavior, students of mental organization have assumed, almost without exception, that the relationships between mental performances remain constant during the life of the individual, and that changes accompanying growth and learning leave these relationships unchanged.
"It is this assumption of the constancy of mental organization that we are questioning and for the investigation of which the present experiment was conducted." - p 6
That seems promising. It's not really clear to me why there wd be an "assumption of the constancy of mental organization" so it seems like a good idea to question it.
AGES: "The age levels studied were nine and twelve." - p 6
That's fine. I imagine there's more of an emphasis on child developmental psychology than there is on elderly developmental psychology. That sd, I'd be interested in reading a study exploring the changes a person makes from ages 60 to 70. They're probably out there so the question is: Will I look for them & read them? OOOOKKKKAAAAAYYYY, I just bought A Handbook of the Psychology of Aging edited by K. Warner Schaie and James E. Birren. The release date was 1990. I shd've probably gotten something more recent. The introduction of things like laptops & 'smart'phones has changed everything, even the way an elderly person takes a shit. When I want to take a shit I just tell Siri & 'she' takes c/o it for me. It's very convenient.
UNCERTAINTY: "A group of 203 unselected boys was retested, with a set of mental measures, four times, at yearly intervals. The ages covered were 14 to 18. Tests of cancellation, substitution, sentence completion, and opposites were studied. A comparison of the intercorrelations between different tests from one year to another leads to inconclusive results. According to the author, "we cannot say whether or not tests as a whole become more closely related from one year to the next. So many irregularities seem to be present throughout the course of the four years, that we are at a loss in even attempting to generalize in the case of many individual pairs of test correlations."" - pp 10-11
As inconclusive & ambiguous as that is I find it somewhat reassuring that a psychologist cd acknowledge that life can get in the way, so to speak. Perhaps I take it for granted that the most common human tendency is to have an attitude like this: I WANT ANSWERS! If you're a psychologist whose work is going to be applied by a big business in order to increase sales thru behavior modification then those answers are probably forthcoming.. but what will the application of them reduce life to?
TEST SUBJECTS: "However, every child included in the present experiment had taken all the tests in 1932 and in 1935. The children were largely of the lower middle class; all were Jewish; and most of them were born in New York City and received their training there. The degree of homogeneity of the group is indicated by the following summary of its characteristics:
1. Age. The average age of the group at the time of the present investigation was 11 years and 11 months, with a standard deviation of 8 months. At the time of Dr. Schiller's investigation they were almost exactly three years younger." - p 13
It's an interesting aspect of averages that, to take the above example, it's possible that no-one was actually of the average age. I'm not saying that's the case, I'm just thinking about averages in general. E.G.: there cd be a group of 200 boys, 100 of them aged 10 & 100 of them aged 12. Their average age might be 11 but none of them wd actually be 11.
SAMPLE TEST: "2. The sentence completion test contained 75 items. Each item consisted of a sentence, of which one or more words were left blank. The subjects were instructed to write words in the blank spaces so as to make the sentences sensible. Time: 40 minutes." - p 14
I'd probably love taking a test like this. Just imagine:
Jimmy looked strange after taking a random selection of _____ from his mom's medicine cabinet, the next thing we knew he puking bullets.
Aaaa BbBB ccc DdDpbq ... XX YY_________________________________________?
Professor Jones admitted he'd never _____ any of the books that he assigned!
The reason why I'm here today is because I was juggling _____ when I slipped & fell.
This sentence can't be a palindrome because_________________________________.
DECREASED GENERAL ABILITY: "We therefore conclude that there has occurred, in our group, a restriction in the size of the factor of "general ability," between the ages of nine and twelve." - p 24
Unfortunately, I can't blame that on TV b/c this was written in 1936.
WHAT IF THE INCREASED DIFFICULTY WAS TOO MUCH?: "Concerning differences between the nine- and twelve-year tests, we may note that their form was kept unchanged, and that their content differed solely in respect to difficulty." - p 24
WHY?: "The results of the present investigation show that between the ages of 9 and 12 there has occurred in our group a significant reduction in the relationships between a number of intellectual functions. The factor analysis confirms this finding and further indicates that a considerable portion of the reduction has occurred in the factor of "general ability." Further than this, our results do not allow us to interpret. They furnish no clue to the conditions that might have caused the changes. Whether schooling is primarily responsible for the results, or whether the higher level of maturity may have contributed to the change, we cannot now say. The study of the conditions producing changes in the relations between performances should become the next logical step of investigation." - p 25
Indeed. I wonder, if maturity is a possible cause for reduced general ability does that mean that maturity = arrested development? I tried to hold off on becoming mature for a long time but now I'm so mature it's sickening.
CONCLUSIONS: "1. Relations between performances are lowest at the pre-linguistic level.
"2. There is an increase in organization with the development of symbolic speech.
"3. At a period of time preceeding the age of 12, there occurs a decrease in the intercorrelation between certain intellectual performances. Whether this decrease is universal; when it begins; whether reversals also occur in the opposite direction in different groups; and more importantly, what the causes of those changes are—all these are questions which cannot be answered at the present time." - p 25
Obviously, conclusions 1 & 2 were reached in different studies since the test subjects for this study were past the age range of pre-linguistics & had long since developed symbolic speech. At any rate, it looks like the age of decline starts before 12 rather than at 14.
LAST SUMMARY PARAGRAPH: "8. The conclusion is drawn that mental traits change and undergo reorganization as the individual develops. Current theories of mental organization have neglected the possibility of change. A dynamic and experimental approach to the study of mental organization is suggested." - p 29
If it's true that as of 1936, "Current theories of mental organization have neglected the possibility of change" then I'm glad Asch came along. However, I find that a bit hard to believe. Why, countless studies have shown that if you shoot a swimming person in the head, e.g., that their mental organization changes as a result & their general ability to swim decreases.
Since a decline in general ability has already been shown by age 12 then it seems reasonable to conclude that Asch & co were far more deteriorated than the children being tested. As such, it seems fair to let the children test the adults next time & have their conclusions be taken into consideration when making decisions.
Solomon E. Asch's A Study of Change in Mental Organization
by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - July 22, 2022
B/c I'm interested in the opinions of psychologists on conformity, I originally wanted to read Asch's Social Psychology or some other major work potentially relevant to the subject.
"While Solomon Asch left many lasting impacts on the field of psychology, his studies on conformity also known as Asch Paradigms are by far his most recognized achievement. The purpose of these experiments was to prove the significance of conformity in social settings. Many following researchers were heavily influenced by Asch’s research and studies. Among these was Stanley Milgram who was supervised by Asch during his PhD at Harvard University.
"Also among his greatest achievements is Solomon Asch’s textbook, Social Psychology (1952) which is an embodiment of his theories. More publications by Asch include, Effects of group pressure upon the modification and distortion of judgment (1951), Opinions and social pressure (1955), Studies of independence and conformity: A minority of one against a unanimous majority (1956) and Social psychology (1987)."
- https://www.famouspsychologists.org/s...
Alas, I didn't find any of the bks I was interested in for an affordable price so, wanting to read something by him, I settled for this simple article that's been turned into a bk & bound. The bk, as an object, is fine - but it's a bit too vague & superficial otherwise to be of much use to me.
THE PROBLEM: "It was the purpose of the following investigation to study the influence of growth on the relationships between a number of mental functions. A considerable body of knowledge exists at the present time which suggests that mental development is characterized, not simply and solely by increases in amount of ability, but also, and equally importantly, by processes of integration and differentiation. Indeed the study of such changes is at the present time the main concern of students of foetal and newborn behavior." - p 5
GROWTH & DECLINE: "The individual spends by far the greater part of his life span either growing or declined; rarely does he stand still. Thus, the period of mental growth is generally regarded to extend from the beginning of the organism's existence to a period variously estimated from 14 to 25 years. Decline, on the other hand, is considered to set in almost immediately after the limit of mental development has been reached." - p 5
It's been my own observation that many people listen to the music that most excited them as teenagers throughout the rest of their lives. I went on a 'date' w/ a woman roughly my age & various musics played on the sound system in the bar we were in until Jimi Hendrix came on. My 'date' sd something like: 'Finally, some real music.' I was disappointed. I love Hendrix's music but there's been plenty of music since his that I love too - for me my growth as an open-minded person didn't stop when I got out of high school.
I doubt that many mentally active adults wd take kindly to such an early age for decline to be reputed to set in. 25?! I hope I didn't start to decline that early. I'm 68 & while I'm declining in many ways physically I'm not convinced that my so-called "limit of mental development has been reached". Given that I keep track of my accomplishments for every yr (or, at least, those of a certain type), it's easy for me to look at each yr & see whether I show signs of having developed mentally. It seems to me that in 1978, when I turned 25, I was getting started rather than finishing. In the interest of keeping this review 'short' (by my standards) I'll give ONE example:
My review of Paul A. Offit, M.D.'s Autism's False Prophets - Bad Science, Risky Medicine, and the Search for a Cure ( http://idioideo.pleintekst.nl/CriticO... ) is something that I cdn't've written in 1978. I had to accumulate decades of experience, knowledge, & 'wisdom' 1st. In fact, I don't think I cd've written it until NOW. Is that a sign of "mental development"? I think so.
QUESTIONING: "In spite of the enormous amount of evidence concerning the changes which continually occur in behavior, students of mental organization have assumed, almost without exception, that the relationships between mental performances remain constant during the life of the individual, and that changes accompanying growth and learning leave these relationships unchanged.
"It is this assumption of the constancy of mental organization that we are questioning and for the investigation of which the present experiment was conducted." - p 6
That seems promising. It's not really clear to me why there wd be an "assumption of the constancy of mental organization" so it seems like a good idea to question it.
AGES: "The age levels studied were nine and twelve." - p 6
That's fine. I imagine there's more of an emphasis on child developmental psychology than there is on elderly developmental psychology. That sd, I'd be interested in reading a study exploring the changes a person makes from ages 60 to 70. They're probably out there so the question is: Will I look for them & read them? OOOOKKKKAAAAAYYYY, I just bought A Handbook of the Psychology of Aging edited by K. Warner Schaie and James E. Birren. The release date was 1990. I shd've probably gotten something more recent. The introduction of things like laptops & 'smart'phones has changed everything, even the way an elderly person takes a shit. When I want to take a shit I just tell Siri & 'she' takes c/o it for me. It's very convenient.
UNCERTAINTY: "A group of 203 unselected boys was retested, with a set of mental measures, four times, at yearly intervals. The ages covered were 14 to 18. Tests of cancellation, substitution, sentence completion, and opposites were studied. A comparison of the intercorrelations between different tests from one year to another leads to inconclusive results. According to the author, "we cannot say whether or not tests as a whole become more closely related from one year to the next. So many irregularities seem to be present throughout the course of the four years, that we are at a loss in even attempting to generalize in the case of many individual pairs of test correlations."" - pp 10-11
As inconclusive & ambiguous as that is I find it somewhat reassuring that a psychologist cd acknowledge that life can get in the way, so to speak. Perhaps I take it for granted that the most common human tendency is to have an attitude like this: I WANT ANSWERS! If you're a psychologist whose work is going to be applied by a big business in order to increase sales thru behavior modification then those answers are probably forthcoming.. but what will the application of them reduce life to?
TEST SUBJECTS: "However, every child included in the present experiment had taken all the tests in 1932 and in 1935. The children were largely of the lower middle class; all were Jewish; and most of them were born in New York City and received their training there. The degree of homogeneity of the group is indicated by the following summary of its characteristics:
1. Age. The average age of the group at the time of the present investigation was 11 years and 11 months, with a standard deviation of 8 months. At the time of Dr. Schiller's investigation they were almost exactly three years younger." - p 13
It's an interesting aspect of averages that, to take the above example, it's possible that no-one was actually of the average age. I'm not saying that's the case, I'm just thinking about averages in general. E.G.: there cd be a group of 200 boys, 100 of them aged 10 & 100 of them aged 12. Their average age might be 11 but none of them wd actually be 11.
SAMPLE TEST: "2. The sentence completion test contained 75 items. Each item consisted of a sentence, of which one or more words were left blank. The subjects were instructed to write words in the blank spaces so as to make the sentences sensible. Time: 40 minutes." - p 14
I'd probably love taking a test like this. Just imagine:
Jimmy looked strange after taking a random selection of _____ from his mom's medicine cabinet, the next thing we knew he puking bullets.
Aaaa BbBB ccc DdDpbq ... XX YY_________________________________________?
Professor Jones admitted he'd never _____ any of the books that he assigned!
The reason why I'm here today is because I was juggling _____ when I slipped & fell.
This sentence can't be a palindrome because_________________________________.
DECREASED GENERAL ABILITY: "We therefore conclude that there has occurred, in our group, a restriction in the size of the factor of "general ability," between the ages of nine and twelve." - p 24
Unfortunately, I can't blame that on TV b/c this was written in 1936.
WHAT IF THE INCREASED DIFFICULTY WAS TOO MUCH?: "Concerning differences between the nine- and twelve-year tests, we may note that their form was kept unchanged, and that their content differed solely in respect to difficulty." - p 24
WHY?: "The results of the present investigation show that between the ages of 9 and 12 there has occurred in our group a significant reduction in the relationships between a number of intellectual functions. The factor analysis confirms this finding and further indicates that a considerable portion of the reduction has occurred in the factor of "general ability." Further than this, our results do not allow us to interpret. They furnish no clue to the conditions that might have caused the changes. Whether schooling is primarily responsible for the results, or whether the higher level of maturity may have contributed to the change, we cannot now say. The study of the conditions producing changes in the relations between performances should become the next logical step of investigation." - p 25
Indeed. I wonder, if maturity is a possible cause for reduced general ability does that mean that maturity = arrested development? I tried to hold off on becoming mature for a long time but now I'm so mature it's sickening.
CONCLUSIONS: "1. Relations between performances are lowest at the pre-linguistic level.
"2. There is an increase in organization with the development of symbolic speech.
"3. At a period of time preceeding the age of 12, there occurs a decrease in the intercorrelation between certain intellectual performances. Whether this decrease is universal; when it begins; whether reversals also occur in the opposite direction in different groups; and more importantly, what the causes of those changes are—all these are questions which cannot be answered at the present time." - p 25
Obviously, conclusions 1 & 2 were reached in different studies since the test subjects for this study were past the age range of pre-linguistics & had long since developed symbolic speech. At any rate, it looks like the age of decline starts before 12 rather than at 14.
LAST SUMMARY PARAGRAPH: "8. The conclusion is drawn that mental traits change and undergo reorganization as the individual develops. Current theories of mental organization have neglected the possibility of change. A dynamic and experimental approach to the study of mental organization is suggested." - p 29
If it's true that as of 1936, "Current theories of mental organization have neglected the possibility of change" then I'm glad Asch came along. However, I find that a bit hard to believe. Why, countless studies have shown that if you shoot a swimming person in the head, e.g., that their mental organization changes as a result & their general ability to swim decreases.
Since a decline in general ability has already been shown by age 12 then it seems reasonable to conclude that Asch & co were far more deteriorated than the children being tested. As such, it seems fair to let the children test the adults next time & have their conclusions be taken into consideration when making decisions.
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