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The Kahn test of symbol arrangement and criminality
Author(s) -
Kipper David A.
Publication year - 1977
Publication title -
journal of clinical psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.124
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1097-4679
pISSN - 0021-9762
DOI - 10.1002/1097-4679(197707)33:3<777::aid-jclp2270330338>3.0.co;2-8
Subject(s) - psychology , symbol (formal) , test (biology) , discriminative model , social psychology , developmental psychology , artificial intelligence , computer science , paleontology , biology , programming language
Two groups of male S s–33 incarcerated criminal recidivists and 33 trainees in a work placement bureau–were tested on two versions of the Kahn Test of Symbol Arrangement (KTSA). These were the original KTSA, which used the free responding technique, and a modified KTSA, which used the forcedchoice responding technique. The groups were equated for average age and sociocultural status and did not differ in their intelligence scores. The results showed that the criminals scored significantly lower than their controls on the original KTSA with a symbol‐pattern characterized by repectitive and concrete types of responses. The groups did not differ on the modified KTSA. The discriminative power of the free responding technique of the KTSA proved to be superior to that of the forced‐choice in the area of identifying criminal recidivists.