•

(

ARE NOT

INVERTS a distinct personality type ለ

(Summary of paper read at Western Psychological. Association, May 1954, by Evelyn Hooker, Ph.D., Research Associate in Psychology, University of California at Los Angeles.)

THE HE literature on homosexuality is filled with attempts to describe the homosexual as belonging to one or several

types of personality structure. Most, if not all of these descriptions are based on clinical patients. In an effort to obtain as wide a sample of homosexuals as possible-of non-clinical patients-The Mattachine Society assembled a group of 74 individuals, all males, in the summer of 1953, . for the purpose of participating in a battery of psychological tests. One of these tests was the Chicago Inventory of Beliefs, which was designed to single out three majòr types of personality syndromes. It was used, by permission of George G. Stern. The results reported here are the results of that test alone (out of the total battery administered).

The three major types of syndromes of personality, with their distribution in the group of 74 Homosexuals, follows:

(1) The S type is characterized according to Stern by a rigid; conforming and orderly behavior, and by absolute acceptance of authority. For this individual, personal relations are depersonalized, that is, he seeks gratification of his needs in personal relations without regarding 'the needs of the other individual as a person. Other individuals become means to the exploitation of his own ends. One percent of the homosexuals tested belong to this type. This means' that, (if we can generalize from this group of 74 to the total homosexual group) homosexuals do not conform, do not accept authority, and do not depersonalize their rèlationships. Only a small percentage do.

•

(2) The second syndrome, the N, is the extreme oppo-

mattachine REVIEW

•

highly insite of the S group, and is characterized by. dividualized and personalized social relationships, pervasive rejection of authority, rich and spontaneous impulse life, flexible, non-conforming and labile behavior" (Stern). Thirteen percent of the homosexual group do fall in this category.

•

(3) The R syndrome is independent of both the S and the N syndromes and includes individuals who are interested in ideas rather than in persons, "Maintain social relations which are distant and impersonal" and are "passive and restrained in'impulse,. employing disinterested intellectualization and abstraction as a buffer and defense", ́ (Stern). Sixteen percent fall in this category-the largest percentage of the three..

Thus, 30% of the total group can be classified in the In addition, 30% three major categories described above.

do not fall in any category which is classifiable in the`' Stern system. The remaining 40% are found in borderline positions, mostly coose to the N and R types. What conclusion can we draw from this?

Very tentatively, we may conclude that:

(1) Homosexuals vary widely in personality structure, and do not constitute a distinct group. Homosexuality is not a distinct clinical entity. ·

(2) The largest clustering of individuals is found in, or bordering on, the R type. What at 'first may seem surprising is that these individuals are interested in ideas! rather than persons, maintain distant and impersonal relationships, and are restrained in impulse. I believe there are two ways of accounting for this picture.. We must remember that this group may not be typical of the homosexual These individuals who appears in the clinical situation. are, for the most part, members of an organization which, seeks to "develop a homosexual ethic" and to behave in ways acceptable to heterosexual society (except for sexual object choice). They have given considerable time and energy to, the development of an organization-a fact which may make them atypical of the total homosexual group. Secondly, it may be that many homosexuals are not primarily interested in personal relationships, but are interested in ideas. would hazard a guess that successful homosexuals 'who have ·

•