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Secord 1953
Secord 1953
A substantial amount of current research in tionnaires suggested the more objective scale em-
personality is devoted to the study of the in- ployed in the present study. Another relevant paper,
that of Secord [6], describes the use of a homonym
dividual's personal world. One object which is word-association technique for the appraisal of
ever-present in this personal world is the body. body-cathexis in a disguised "projective" fashion.
It is the thesis of the present writers that the This technique was used here for purposes of com-
individual's attitudes towards his body are of parison with the more direct BC-SC Scale.
crucial importance to any comprehensive theory The BC-SC Scale
of personality; yet little attention has been
given to this subject by psychologists. The The writers approached the problem of ap-
present paper is concerned with one variety praising body-cathexis (BC) by asking the per-
of attitude, namely, body-cathexis. By body- son to indicate on a scale the strength and di-
cathexis is meant the degree of feeling of sat- rection of feeling which he has about each of
isfaction or dissatisfaction with the various the various parts or functions of his body. Such
parts or processes of the body. a direct approach, of course, has certain of the
If the variable body-cathexis is to be deemed theoretical disadvantages which the more typi-
important for personality theory, it is nqces- cal self-inventories also possess, but it was be-
sary to demonstrate that it is related to other lieved that the technique might have some use-
personality variables which are recognized as fulness in spite of these limitations. The first
significant. For reasons which need not be dis- part of this scale consisted of a listing of 46
cussed here, body-cathexis is believed to be in- body parts and functions. Each item was fol-
tegrally related to the self-concept, although lowed by the numbers 1 through 5. The fol-
identifiable as a separate aspect thereof. From lowing instructions appeared on the cover page
this notion of relatedness of body and self, the of the scale:
following more specific hypotheses were formu- On the following pages are listed a number of
lated and tested: things characteristic of yourself or related to you.
1. Feelings about the body are commensu- You are asked to indicate which things you are
rate with feelings about the self, when both are satisfied with exactly as they are, which things you
appraised by similar scales. worry about and would like to change if it were
possible, and which things you have no feelings
2. Negative feelings about the body are as- about one way or the other.
sociated with anxiety, in the form of undue Consider each item listed below and encircle the
autistic concern with pain, disease, or bodily number which best represents your feelings accord-
injury. ing to the following scale:
3. Negative feelings about the body are as- 1. Have strong feelings and wish change could
sociated with feelings of insecurity involving somehow be made.
the self. 2. Don't like, but can put up with.
3. Have no particular feelings one way or the
One of the few empirical studies relevant to the other.
present focus is that of Schilder [4], who used a set 4. Am satisfied.
of questionnaires which probed the feelings, associa- 5. Consider myself fortunate.
tions, and memories of his patients toward various
aspects of their bodies. These semiobjective ques- The second part of the scale concerned self-
343
344 Paul F. Secord and Sidney M. Jourard
to anxiety has been offered [5, 6]. the 75 homonyms. Three types of scores were
Procedure. The H test and the BC-SC obtained on the BC-SC Scale. These were:
Scale were administered in a group situation 1. Total BC, obtained by summing the ratings for
to 70 college males and 56 college females. each individual on the 46 body items and dividing
The BC-SC Scale and the Maslow Test of by 46.
Psychological Security-Insecurity [3] were 2. Total SC, obtained by summing the ratings for
subsequently administered to an additional each individual on the 55 self items and dividing
group of 47 college men and women. by 55.
A study of the patterns of responses of in- 3. An anxiety-indicator score, obtained by sum-
ming the ratings for each male individual on the
dividuals to the BC-SC Scale suggested that 11 BC-Scale items most negatively cathected by the
response sets were operating for some individu- group of males: facial complexion, nose, energy
als [1, 2]. In order that split-half reliability level, body build, profile, height, chest, teeth, sex
coefficients for the BC and SC scores, as well activities, posture, and weight. These sums were di-
as intercorrelations between these scores, might vided by 11. A similar score, based on the 11 items
not be inflated by the artifact of response sets, most negatively cathected by females, was also ob-
tained.
subjects falling in any of the following arbi-
trary classes were not included in computa- Split-half reliability coefficients were ob-
tions: (a) a frequency > 32 in category 4; tained for all of the above scores. These are
(b) a frequency 5? 28 in category 5; and (c) given in Table 3. Reliability coefficients for
a frequency 5 24 in category 5, when ac- the homonym test are about .15 lower than
companied by less than 2 responses in cate- those obtained in previous studies, but are still
gories 1 and 2 combined. As a result, the 70 satisfactory. Reliabilities for the various BC-
male subjects were reduced to 45, and the 56 SC scores are moderately high; they may be
females to 43. It should be emphasized that regarded as more impressive when it is re-
this selection of subjects lowers the correlation called that subjects displaying the most con-
coefficients obtained between parts of the BC- sistency were removed from the sample.
SC Scale, and reduces the split-half reliabili- No important differences between means of
ties of the various subscores. the various scores for the two sexes were ob-
tained.
Results
Statistics pertaining to the BC-SC Scale and Table 4
the homonym test. A single score for each in- Intercorrelations between BC-SC Scores, the Homo-
dividual was obtained on the H test, consist- nym Test, and the Maslow Test
(N = 45 males, 43 females; except for the Maslow
ing of the total number of body responses to test, for which TV t= 46 males and females.)
Table 3 _ Body- Self- Anxiety
Means, Standard Deviations, and Reliabilities of Cathexis Cathexis Indicator
the BC-SC Scale and the Homonym Test
(JV = 45 males; 43 females.) Homonym test
Males -.18 -.15 -.37*
Test Mean SD Reliability* Females -.41 *» -.23 -.40**
Homonym test Maslow test -.37** -.52** -.41**
Males 22.00 6.04 .63 Self-Cathexis
Females 21.14 5.70 .66 Males .58**
Body-Cathexis Females .66**
Males 3.43 .337 .78 * Significant at the .05 level.
Females 3.46 .401 .83 ** Significant at the .01 level.
Self-Cathexis
Males
Relationship between body-cathexis and self-
3.43 .393 .88
Females 3.35 .510 .92 cathexis. Intercorrelations between total BC
Anxiety indicator scores and total SC scores are shown in Table
Males 3.09 .524 .72 4. The r for men is .58, and for women, .66,
Females 3.05 .625 .73 suggesting that individuals have a moderate
* Corrected by the Spearman-Brown formula. tendency to cathect their body to the same de-
346 Paul F. Secord and Sidney M. Jourard
gree and in the same direction that they cathect found that females cathect their bodies, irre-
their self; that is, the two kinds of cathexis spective of direction, more highly than do
covary. males, in that they do not assign as many 3's
Relationships between body-cathexis and the to body items (3 - Have no particular feelings
homonym test. An examination of Table 4 one way or the other). The mean number of
reveals no significant correlations between the 3's for all of the 46 body items was 10.76 for
H test and BC, for the 45 males, or between men, and 7.86 for women. This difference of
the H test and SC. There was, however, an 2.90 yielded a critical ratio of 1.92, which ap-
r of —.37 between the H test and the anxiety- proached significance at the .05 level. Con-
indicator score which, although low, was sig- sistent with this datum is the greater variabili-
nificant at the .02 level. For the 43 females, ty of BC scores among women, as previously
on the other hand, correlations significant be- shown in Table 3, although this difference in
yond the .01 level were obtained between li- sigmas is not significant.
test scores and BC (r = —.41), and H-test Relationships between the Maslow test and
scores and the anxiety-indicator score (r l== the BC-SC Scale. The Maslow test was found
—.40). Correlations between homonym scores to correlate —.37 with BC, —.41 with the
and SC were not significant. In general, then, anxiety-indicator score, and —.52 with SC.
there is a low but significant relationship be- These r's are significant at the .01 level. It
tween BC as measured by the scale and anxi- may be concluded that low cathexis is associa-
ety-related BC as measured by the H test. ted with insecurity to some degree.
A concrete case may perhaps serve to indi- Discussion
cate more specifically the manner in which the One of the most significant results is the
BC Scale and the H test concern anxiety. demonstration that the body and the self tend
A woman with an extremely high H-test score to be cathected to the same degree. This sup-
and an extremely low BC score responded to the ports the hypothesis that valuation of the body
test items in the following way: and the self tend to be commensurate.
1. Items on the BC Scale rated in category 1 Since the persons who obtain a high score
(Have strong feelings and wish change could some-
how be made) were: facial complexion, appetite, on the H test are regarded as being more
hands, distribution of body hair, nose, ringers, waist, anxious concerning their bodies than those ob-
energy level, ears, body build, skin texture, knees, taining a low score, a moderate negative cor-
and weight. Items rated category 2 (Don't like, but relation would be anticipated between BC and
can put up with) were: hips, sleep, sex activities, the H test. This is consistent with the neg-
and posture. None of the 46 body items were rated
in category 5 (Consider myself fortunate).
ative r actually obtained for women.
2. On the homonym test, responses to meanings In the case of men, the relative lack of sig-
pertaining to the body, body processes, or pain and nificant relationships between the homonym
disease are shown below, preceded by the homonym test and the BC-SC Scale cannot be clearly
stimulus word in italics: acid-sour, arch-bend, back- explained on the basis of available data. A
broken, bare-ugly, condition-sick, crisis-sick, en-
larged-grown, extract-tooth, function-stomach, gag-
likely but unproved hypothesis is that women
whiskey, gall-bile sac, gas-dying, glassy-dead, pa- are more likely than men to develop anxiety
tient-doctor, rash-heat, red-bands, scarlet-disease, concerning their bodies, because of the social
side-hurt, sling-broken arm, stain-blood, stiff-corpse, importance of the female body. This hypothesis
strip-New Orleans, system-biology, tablet-sleeping is consistent with the datum that woman
pill, tan-Daytona Beach, te^-sprained ankle, tender- cathect their bodies more highly than men, ir-
skin, trunk-body, and waist-starve.
These item responses give some idea of the im- respective of the direction of cathexis, and with
portance of the body to this woman and reveal her the fact that when a BC score based only on
anxiety concerning it. A consideration of the diverse those body items most frequently arousing neg-
nature of the processes involved in the BC Scale ative feelings in men was employed, a signifi-
and the H test as revealed by these items lends sig- cant r of — .37 was obtained for men between
nificance to the correlation obtained between these
two tests.
this "anxiety-indicator" score and H-test scores.
A final support for the interpretation of BC
Sex differences in degree of cathexis. It was as a self-related variable is found in the sig-
The Appraisal of Body-Cathexis 347
nificant correlation between BC and insecurity, associated with anxiety in the form of undue
as measured by the Maslow test. autistic concern with pain, disease, or bodily
injury was upheld by the demonstration of
Summary and Conclusions significant relationships between low body-
The purpose of the present study was to de- cathexis as determined by the scale and by the
velop a method for appraising the feelings of homonym test.
an individual towards his body and to ascer- 4. The hypothesis that low body-cathexis is
tain whether or not variables derived from associated with insecurity was sustained by the
these appraised feelings are significant for per- demonstation of correlation between the form-
sonality theory. The latter was determined by er and the Maslow test.
testing the hypotheses stated under 2, 3, and Received January 19, 1953.
4 below.
A scale for the determination of the degree References
of cathexis towards various aspects of the body
was designed and administered to groups of 1. Cronbach, L. J. Response sets and test validity.
Educ. psychol. Measmt, 1946, 6, 475-494.
college males and females, along with a similar
2. Cronbach, L. J. Further evidence on response
scale for aspects of the self, a homonym test sets and test design. Educ. psychol. Measmt,
of anxiety-related body-cathexis, and the Mas- 1950, 10, 3-31.
low Test of Psychological Security-Insecurity. 3. Maslow, A. H., Hirsh, E., Stein, M., & Honig-
The following conclusions may be drawn: mann, I. A clinically derived test for measur-
ing psychological security-insecurity. J. gen.
1. The split-half reliabilities of the two Psychol., 1945, 33, 21-41.
parts of the scale were found to be satisfactory: 4. Schilder, P. Psychotherapy. New York: Norton,
.81 for body-cathexis, and .90 for self-cathexis. 1938.
2. The hypothesis that feelings about the 5. Secord, P. F. The homonym word association
body are commensurate with feelings about the test. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Stanford
Univer., 1950.
self was supported by significant correlations 6. Secord, P. F. Objedification of word association
between the two parts of the scale. procedures by the use of homonyms: a measure
3. The hypothesis that low body-cathexis is of body-cathexis. J. Pen., 1953, 21, 479-495.