From Adolescent to Adult

"In the winter of 1940—41 the writer, ably assisted by Dr. Sylvia Silverman and Dr. Milton Wexler, was privileged to study forty adolescent boys and girls by means of a variant of the thematic apperception method, using a special set of pictures designed to tap adolescent fantasy.1 This early study, published under the title Adolescent Fantasy (New York, Columbia University Press, 1949), threw light on the nature of adolescence from data based on fantasy that had not previously been used in studying adolescents. It also provided information concerning the thematic apperception method, and helped orient clinical psychologists toward more correct ways of thinking about this important clinical test. Even at the time of the study there was speculation as to the predictive value of the Picture—Story Test. How would an adolescent who told wild stories of adventure, mystery, excitement, and crime turn out in later life? .What would be the career of a boy or girl who told stories with themes of ambition, striving, conflict, or dependency? Would differences be noted in later life between boys and girls who told short, repressed stories or long, expansive stories, stories with distinct plots as contrasted with stories that were merely descriptive, stories that were highly realistic as contrasted with stories that were bizarre and fantastic? Eventually, with the passage of time, the value of a follow-up study of these cases became apparent, since a later study would throw light on the real significance of fantasy in the determination of human affairs. Is fantasy merely a whim or caprice unrelated to the events of life, or is fantasy something that eventually finds expression in the actual conduct of life? If the former, then fantasy can be dismissed as one of the interesting by—plays of the mind without any practical significance. If the latter, then it would be important to know how fantasy is related to behavior and personality. If a fantasy is related to the actual affairs of life, then it would have predictive significance and from fantasy one might be able to predict the development of personality during the later course of events in a person’s life. It would be of value to know whether the later personality can be predicted more surely on the basis of a continuation of overt trends which are expressed in living or on the basis of fantasy which contains impulses and wishes of the individual which may develop into more overt behavior in later years. Suggestions for such a follow-up study came with increasing urgency from the Council for Research in the Social Sciences of Columbia University, and with gentle prodding from the Council, plans for such a follow-up study were drawn up in 1951." ISBN: 0-8371-8531-9, LCCCN: 75-31472