Encyclopedia of Psychology Volume 9 out of 10

491 Pages·2016·45.78 MB·English

by  Kazdin A.E., (PhD, Editor-in-Chief)

SAD. See Seasonal Affective Disorder. variability in traits of personality. Genes also play a role
in the development of depression.
The Feeling of Sadness
Although people have little trouble recognizing when
SADISM. See Sexual !;adism.
they are sad, almost everyone finds it difficult to de-
scribe. Sad people say they are blue, downhearted, dis-
couraged, or in a low mood. They may report feeling
tired and listless and show decreased interest in things
SADNESS. The emotion of sadness may be the most
around them. The subjective state of sadness causes a
prevalent negative emotion, and it is the key emotion
slowing of the processes of the mind and body. One's
in depression. Sadness is also the central emotion in
face and body droop and thus contribute literally and
grief and mourning. Many occasions of sadness, how-
symbolically to feeling low. The apparent decrease in
ever, bear no relation to depression or to intense grief.
energy may have a biological basis. Decreased sympa-
Even a small loss or minor setback can trigger a little
thetic nervous system activity and changes in levels of
sadness and cause people to slow down and reflect on
neurotransmitters, like serotonin, may lower energy.
what is happening to them.
However, research has not clarified the distinction be-
tween fatigue resulting from physical work and the feel-
Causes
ing of tiredness that accompanies sadness and. more
Separation from family and friends causes sadness in particularly, depression. Sadness creates some tension
people of all cultures. The extreme case of separation but not nearly as much as anger or fear.
that occurs when a loved one or close friend dies leads
The Expression of Sadness
to the protracted sadness in grief and mourning.
Causes of sadness also include the loss of a pet or any The facial expression of sadness is innate and universal.
prized possession. Even what might appear to others as Components of the expression appear in the first weeks
a trivial loss might trigger at least low intensity sadness. of life. There are two main components. The first con-
Disappointment and failure also cause sadness. These sists of oblique brows. The inner corners of the brows
may be more salient ciuses when one sees oneself as move up and slightly inward. This pattern looks a little
the root of the disappo ntment or failure. An example like a wide inverted "V." The drawing of the mouth
is failure to reach a goal. Blaming oneself for uncon- corners downward is the second component of the fa-
trollable failures or losses may exacerbate sadness into cial expression of sadness. In these movement patterns,
the more emotionally complex condition of depression. slightly squinted eyes and a puckered (sometimes quiv-
Individuals differ in their proneness to sadness. Just ering) chin also signal sadness. By age two or three,
as some people are consistently more jovial than others, the individual can exercise voluntary control over the
some are more likely to experience a sad mood. Thresh- voluntary facial muscles of the sadness expression.
olds for sadness and other emotions play a role in the Even in early childhood, one can voluntarily display fa-
development of temperament and personality. Research cial signals of sadness.
has shown that the gerses account for about half the A body of contemporary research supports an idea
138 SADNESS
proposed by Charles Darwin and William James: An gested that parents’ responding to a child’s crying with
individual can use the expression of sadness to exercise indifference or rejection might lead to a connection be-
a degree of control over the feeling of sadness. Thus, tween sadness and shame. This would mean that any
voluntarily assuming or suppressing $he expression of disappointment or loss could cause sadness coupled
sadness may increase or decrease the feeling of the with shame. Sadness and shame together would make
emotion. coping with sadness more difficult and withdrawal
more likely.
Functions of Sadness
Like other negative emotions, sadness has characteris- Coping with Sadness
tics that have positive or adaptive value. One positive
One way to cope with sadness is to take advantage of
aspect of sadness, its power to strengthen social bonds,
the slowing effect it has on thinking and action. Think-
suggests that its history and evolution parallel that of
ing through things more slowly may provide new in-
the human species. We are social by nature, and we
sights into the causes of sadness and how to address
improve our adaptiveness by strengthening social bonds
them. It is important to combine activity with thought
with family and friends. Indeed, the work of Jane Good-
and to avoid excessive rumination. Continuing to pon-
all shows that nonhuman primates (e.g., chimpanzees)
der unchangeable outcomes may only increase one’s
react strongly to the death of their young. They behave
sadness. Ordinarily, sadness diminishes with the pas-
as though they are experiencing a state of sadness or
sage of time, but both time and sadness will pass more
grief.
quickly in response to constructive activity. Such activ-
The role of sadness in empathy and altruism also
ities may include plans to treat yourself and a friend or
suggests that it may be basic to social life. If we expe-
loved one. Talking to a trusted friend can also help.
rience no sadness for the plight of another, we may
Thinking about happy times can decrease sadness.
experience no empathy. If we experience no vicarious
Recalling pleasant events of the past and anticipating
sadness or empathy, we may be less inclined to help.
good times in the future have a salubrious effect. It may
Research has shown that children who feel sad at the
prove effective to list past and future happy events and
misfortune of other children are more inclined to share
concentrate on the most salient one.
with them.
A change in environment can also relieve sadness.
Sadness, like depression, decreases interest in things
The Development and
outside the self. After a reasonable amount of reflection
Socialization of Sadness
on the self, a walk or ride through the neighborhood
Once the infant can experience the feeling of sadness,
or to a park will offer a variety of interest-eliciting stim-
the quality of the conscious experience of sadness may
uli. Activating the emotion of interest will counteract
remain constant over the life span. Increased cognitive
sadness.
ability and experience, however, will greatly expand the
Research has shown that exercise has positive effects
repertoire of events that cause sadness. These same fac-
on mood. Even a brief walk may alleviate sadness. For
tors contribute to an increase in the variety of re-
most people, moderate to vigorous exercise increases
sponses that we make in coping with sadness. Devel-
both positive mood and energy. Exercise physiologists
opmental changes in experiences of sadness begin with
and psychologists agree on the therapeutic value of ex-
the formation of bonds between the emotions and cog-
ercise, but they do not know precisely what mediates
nitive systems. These connections result in a sadness
the beneficial effects. One possibility is that the physical
system or network that links the feeling of sadness with
activity increases energy and relieves tension. Another
relevant thoughts and actions. Sadness motivates dif-
is that the exercise directs thoughts into different chan-
ferent thoughts and actions across situations and in-
nels and away from the negative events that caused the
dividuals. The adaptiveness of these thoughts and ac-
sadness. Also, moderate to vigorous exercise for about
tions depends, in part, on our memories of past sad
one half-hour increases certain proteins (endorphins)
events and what we have learned through socialization.
and other neurotransmitters that occur naturally in the
Tomkins’s theory of the socialization of sadness of-
brain. The increase in these neurotransmitters may en-
fers insights into the development of emotion dynam-
hance positive mood.
ics, coping behavior, and traits of personality. For ex-
ample, he noted that repeated physical punishment
aimed at controlling a child’s crying may result in the
Bibliography
child’s forming a connection between sadness and fear.
The resulting sadness-fear bond would mean that any
Barnett, M. A,, Howard, J. A,, Melton, E. M., & Dino, G. A.
event (for example, a personal loss) that triggered sad-
(1982). Effect of inducing sadness about self or other
ness and crying might also cause fear and jeopardize on helping behavior in high and low empathic children.
the development of physical courage. Tomkins also sug- Child Development. 53. 920-923.
SAMPLING 139
Bowlby, J. (1980).A ttachment and loss. New York Basic of real populations: and the need for complex sample
Books. designs gives rise to the discipline. It is simple enough
Darwin, C. (1965). The expression of the emotions in rnan to sample from a pot of soup or from an urn of lottery
and animals. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
balls. And a sample from a good, up-to-date list of stu-
(Original work published 1872)
dents of a single school or members of the American
Finman, R., & Berkowitz, I. (1989). Some factors influenc-
Psychological Association (APA) needs no specialist.
ing the effect of depressed mood on anger and overt
But good samples of adults or farmers of the United
hostility toward another. Journal of Research in Person-
States (or Brazil, China, etc.) need complex designs. Five
ality, 23, 70-84.
Garber. J., Braafladt, N. & Weiss, B. (1995). Affect regu- criteria for good designs are: (a) Probability sampling:
lation in depressed and nondepressed children and known, positive probabilities Pi of selection for all N
young adolescents. Development and Psychopathology, 7. elements in the frame population. (b) Measurability:
93-115. probability samples designed to permit computing from
Goodall. J. ( 1988). In the shadow of rnan. Boston: Houghton the sample data, valid and useful estimates of sampling
Mifflin. errors. (c) Useful goals and representativeness: to rule
Izard. C. E. (1994). Innate and universal facial expressions:
out trivial populations that may be easy to sample but
Evidence from developmental and cross-cultural re-
difficult to use as bases for meaningful inferences. (d)
search. Psychological Bulletin. 115. 288-299.
Feasibility and practicality: planned freedom from ob-
Nolen-Hoeksema, S., Parker, L. E., & Larson, J. (1994). Ru-
stacles to achieving sampling procedures as designed
minative coping with depressed mood following loss.
and intended. For example, “Select a random sample”
lournid of Personality and Social Psychology. 67, 92-104.
Thayer. R. E., Newman, J. R.. & McClain, T. M. (1994). Self- is not a feasible instruction to interviewers, because the
regulation of mood: Strategies for changing a bad human mind is poorly designed for this task. (e) Effi-
mood. raising energy, and reducing tension. Journal of ciency and economy: achieving the greatest accuracy
Personality and Social Psychology, 67, 910-925. for allowed cost: or (equally) achieving the survey’s
Tomkins. S. S. (1963). Affect, imagery, consciousness. Val. 2: goals with minimal costs.
Thu neggrrtivu afficts. New York: Springer.
Probability Sampling
Carroll Izard
Probability sampling requires more than a definition,
model, and desire: it often depends on difficult practical
procedures. Specifically, the logical and practical re-
quirements imply this chain: statistical inference +
SALES PSYCHOLOGY. See Consumer Psychology; and
probability sampling + objective, mechanical selection
Media Effects.
+ lists, frames. We need mechanical selection proce-
dures because nature does not hand us randomized
mixtures, and because the minds of humans-whether
clerks, psychologists, or statisticians-are poor ran-
SAMPLING denotes the science and art, the theory domizing devices. Mechanical procedures in practice
and practice, of selecting a sample of n from a popu- mean selections (by a trained person) from a table of
lation of N elements, in order to make statistical infer- random numbers (or equivalent): and those selections
ences from statistics based on the sample to the popu- denote the numbers of the listing units with which the
lation values (parameters) of the frame population. The population elements can be readily and uniquely iden-
parameters most cornmonly estimated are population tified in the selection frame.
totals or population means, which often are propor- A perfect list (designated as L E ) should be complete,
tions. But sample staistics are also used for more com- up-to-date (current), available, and should facilitate lo-
plex and multivariate parameters, such as regression cation; and it must have listing units (L) with one-to-
coefficients and tests of significance. Methods similar to one correspondence with the elements (E). It should
those used in the sampling of human populations are contain unique numbers, but the numbering may be
also applied to animals, plants, and mineral popula- nonconsecutive (like social security numbers) or alpha-
tions. betical. The list of students of a school can be adequate
Modern methods of sampling have been developed for selecting from that population. However, no avail-
mostly since 1945 and have been utilized more in some able lists of all persons or households in the United
human behavioral and social sciences than in others; States, nor in most countries, exist, and it would be
more in sociology, political science, and social psychol- much too expensive to construct one against continual
ogy than in clinical psychology and anthropology: more changes. (Good lists exist in some northern European
for large. national samples than for small clinical stud- and a few other countries.) Therefore, the methods of
ies. The methods of survey sampling should yield sam- sampling frame and area sampling were created. Mobile
ple designs that are suited to the complex distributions humans (and other populations) can be identified with
140 SAMPLING
dwellings that are located at addresses, segments, flict with simplicity of selection. It is possible to select
blocks, tracts, and counties. With proper identifications, n random numbers to identify an unrestricted random
definitions, and procedures we can select multistage sample with replacement. But it is better to select n
area probability samples, beginning with counties and different random numbers to identify n elements for a
going down in stages to dwellings, and then to persons, simple random sample (SRS) of n without replacement.
families, television sets, and anything that can be as- This is a basic standard mod4 in survey sampling with
sociated with dwellings. which other selection methods are compared. However,
it is often more convenient to compute and use a sam-
Frame Problems
pling fraction f = I/F = n /N for selecting the sample.
The available lists and frames are always imperfect, and Then a simple robust procedure is selecting a system-
the most common and useful art of a sampler is to atic sample with F as the selection interval: after a ran-
detect, assess, and correct the imperfections. If the im- dom start from I to F, the interval F is laid off repeat-
perfections can be assessed to be negligible, they may edly until the end of the list.
be measured, declared, and neglected: but many lists Most lists contain some inner ordering of classifi-
suffer from serious imperfections of too many specific cation: for example. a school’s students may be listed
kinds to be listed. But they can be classed into four by classes and a university’s students by disciplines or
fundamental types, which are denoted with departures departments. Thus. a systematic sample will not be sim-
from the one-to-one correspondence (GE) with distinct ply random but stratified (layered) by the classes on the
elements: (a) blanks and foreign elements (GO)-the list. Hence, a systematic sampling serves as an easy
elements may have moved or died, or were nonmem- method for selecting a proportionate stratified random
bers of the survey population, (b) missing elements (0- element sample. Furthermore, instead of merely ac-
E), also known as incomplete frames and noncoverage- cepting the naturally available ordering, the sampler
these entail most serious and difficult consequences, can sort the listings with meaningful and available var-
and volumes have been written about missing units: (c) iables into optimal strata: the greatest possible hetero-
duplicate (GGL)( multiple) listings-this also relates to geneity between strata results in the greatest homoge-
the subject of dual (or multiple) frames for selection: neity within strata.
and (d) clusters of elements (E-L-E) under single list-
Cluster Sampling
ings-small clusters are common and not troublesome.
All four of these types can occur not only with ele- An equal probability selection of complete clusters
ments, but are also common with larger sampling units serves as a simple introduction. Suppose that the list of
of clusters of elements. Failure to correct these defi- A fourth-grade classes of a state is available and we
ciencies, or using wrong methods, are the most com- decide to select a systematic sample of 100 classes with
mon and needless sources of sampling biases. the sampling inverval F = A/IOO. The sampling rate
There are many kinds of nonprobability samples, too (fraction, probability) is f = roo/A for every class: and
many to define and describe, and they lack theories and thus for every fourth-grade student, if we take the com-
textbooks, although they are common in practice. Typ- plete classes. The number of students will vary some-
ical or representative people (often taxi drivers, bankers, what around an average of B = 30 per class, so the
etc.) are commonly presented by journalists. Judgmen- number ( n )o f students is 3,000 only approximately. In
tal choice may be used to select a representative or typ- practical cluster sampling it is more robust and simple
ical school or village. Quota sampling is used widely for to fix the rates and allow sample sizes to vary with the
political opinion polls and market research: and there clusters. Furthermore, taking complete clusters is con-
are great varieties of procedures and skills. Ad hoc and venient when their sizes may be neither too large nor
convenience samples are exemplified by patients of a too variable.
clinic or clinician. Volunteer subjects who answer a no-
Subsampling, Multistage Sampling
tice or advertisement have been used. These may be the
worst. Often the available clusters are too large and smaller
The methods of survey sampling deal with three complete clusters are unavailable and cannot be cre-
principal kinds of complexities of real populations: ated easily. But they can be created with subsampling:
stratification. clustering and multistage sampling, and for example. those hundred classes can be made to yield
weighting. an average of b = 3 from the B = 30 students. with
the sampling equation f = (IOO/A)(I/IO) = IO/A. One
Element Sampling
hundred clusters will be created, each about b = 3 in
A good (not perfect) list of students of a school is or- size. That would be a sample of only n = (3)(100) =
dinarily available: no such lists exist for all students in 300: but a sample of n = (3)(1.000) students can be
the United States, much less for all adults. Generally, created with f = ( ~ . o o o / A ) ( ~=/ ~ ~oo) o / Aif resources
can support a sample of 1.000 classes. All population
representativeness for large populations tends to con-
SAMPLING 141
elements have the same selection probability, and the veys have lower or much lower than 80% responses,
sample clusters are about equal (b = 3), when class whereas the best doorstep surveys have over 80%.
sizes are roughly equa.1.
Biases, Variable Errors, and Nonresponses
Multistage sampling must often be extended to more
stages. For example, zL national sample of school chil- The total errors of surveys are often separated conven-
dren in the United States may involve counties X school iently into variable errors and biases. Sampling errors
districts x schools X classes X children. A sample of are mostly variable, and they depend (inversely)o n the
adults of the United States often involves counties X numbers of diverse sampling units. The nonsampling
areas x tracts X blocks x segments x dwellings x survey errors, on the other hand, are mostly constant
persons. Most of these involve designs with probabilities (systematic) biases that are not decreased with sample
proportional to size (E'PS) to select counties and blocks sizes. These are the errors of measurement (observa-
with greatly variable sizes. Dwellings and schools tion), called response errors in interview surveys. Non-
served here as our frames for identifying persons, but response errors (missing units) result from missing
other frames also hzJe been used for special popula- cases due to refusals or not-at-homes. The size and na-
tions such as hospitals, firms, and institutions. ture of nonresponses vary tremendously and volumes
are written about them. Noncoverage denotes parts of
Unequal Probabilities and Weighting the desired population that the sampling frame fails to
Instead of equal probabilities f, sample elements may cover and it is difficult even to estimate its size. Item
receive unequal probabilities Pio f selection for one or nonresponse refers to missing answers from otherwise
more of these reasons: (a) higher selection rates for mostly complete interviews (responses), and useful an-
small but important domains (states, districts, ethnic swers can be supplied with modern imputation meth-
groups): (b) higher rates for optimal allocations to do- ods from other respondents and other correlated items.
mains with lower unit costs or higher unit variances: Biases and variable errors are generally combined in
(c) frame problems as discussed above, and/or (d) un- the mean-square errors (MSE): MSE(j) =
142 S A N F O R D , EDMUND C L A R K
the biases and sampling errors, the mean-square errors Moser, C. A., & Kalton, G. (1971). Survey methods in social
investigations (2nd ed.). London: Heinemann. Introduc-
provide the only framework for their strategic compar-
tion to all aspects of survey methods and related social
isons.
investigations.
Rosenthal, R., & Rosnow, R. L. (1975). The volunteer subject.
Omitted Sampling Methods
New York: Wiley. The characteristics of volunteers for
Finally, several methods of sampling were omitted in research participation, the resulting artifacts, and pro-
order to concentrate only on methods of frequent use cedures for estimating and reducing bias.
in population sampling. Capture-recapture methods are
Leslie Kish
central for sampling fish and wildlife but rare and mar-
ginal for humans, used only rarely for nomads and the
homeless. Quality-control methods are central for test-
ing nuts and bolts, electric bulbs, and so on. They also
SANFORD, EDMUND CLARK (1859-1924), Ameri-
have been used for editing survey schedules. Both
can experimental psychologist. Sanford was born in
methods have a large body of literature but not in
Oakland, California, the son of Edmund I? and Jennie
books on survey sampling. However, those books do
E. (Clark) Sanford. He earned a bachelor’s degree at the
cover several methods that are important and used oc-
University of California in Berkeley (1883),t aught for
casionally in sampling.
a year at Oahu College in Honolulu, then enrolled at
Designs for periodic surveys are natural extensions
Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, where he
with special techniques, and they have widespread and
earned a doctorate in experimental psychology in 1887.
increasing uses and a vast literature. National panels
He taught there at the university for a year as instruc-
of persons and families over many years yield rich data
tor (1888). His dissertation topic was on perception, an
on individual changes. Multipopulation and multina-
investigation of the relative legibility of small letters
tional surveys are becoming more common and better
(American Journal of Psychology, 1888, r, 402-435).
designed for their special needs and opportunities. Re-
During his time at Johns Hopkins, he came under the
cently a multinational sample of psychiatric epidemi-
mentorship of G. Stanley Hall, professor of psychology
ology has been started! Multiphase sampling denotes
and one of the discipline’s founders. Sanford remained
samples in two (or more) phases: First, a large sample
close to Hall for the rest of his career.
collects inexpensive but inaccurate screening informa-
When Hall was named first president of Clark Uni-
tion; that information is used for designing a subsample
versity in Worcester, Massachusetts, Sanford was his
for the second, expensive, accurate phase. Multiple (or
initial faculty recruit. Sanford then became affiliated
deep) stratification or controlled selection are the
with Clark for the rest of his life. He directed the lab-
names given for probability selection of small numbers
oratory and was instructor (1889-1892) and assistant
of units, with many stratifying controls for better rep-
professor (1892-1900) of psychology, then professor
resentativeness. This complex method is used for se-
(1900-1909) of experimental and comparative psy-
lecting a small number of clinics, or counties, when
chology. In 1909, he was named president of Clark Col-
costs prohibit a wider spread.
lege, the undergraduate counterpart of Clark University
[See also Back-Translation; and Survey Methodology.]
(separate schools, same building). In 1920, upon Hall’s
retirement and the merging of Clark University and
College, Sanford returned to the faculty He died in
Bibliography
1924, just as he was planning to retire to California.
Sanford is noted as a teacher, writer, and inventor
Cochran, W. G. (1977). Sampling techniques (3rd ed.). New
York: Wiley. A classical textbook for courses in sam- of scientific equipment. He also contributed to the pro-
pling theory. with derivations of all variance formulas, fessionalization of psychology in America through his
requiring only algebra using the summation Z. coeditorship of the American Journal of Psychology and
Groves, R. M.. et al. (Eds.). (1988). Telephone survey rneth- his active involvement during the formative years of the
odology. New York: Wiley. Compendium of 32 chapters
American Psychological Association. He was elected
by over 40 experts on all aspects of global develop-
the eleventh president of the association in 1902. San-
ments.
ford’s major contribution to teaching was his labora-
Kish, L. (1965). Survey Sampling. New York: Wiley. Refer-
tory manual for the experimental psychology course,
ence book on the practical aspects of actual surveys,
the first to be published in English. It was produced in
oriented chiefly to human populations and the social
installments in the American Journal of Psychology be-
sciences.
tween 1891 and 1896, then published in book form. It
Kish, L. (1987). Statistical design for research. New York:
Wiley. Theoretical and methodological (not mathemat- was called A Course in Experimental Psychology I : Sen-
ical) aspects linking the designs of survey samples, ran- sation and Perception (Boston, 1898). Sanford planned to
domized experiments. and controlled observations. write a second volume covering higher mental pro-
SANTAYANA, G E O R G E 143
cesses, but the book was never written. Sanford’s first kindergarten. He was a student at the Boston Latin
volume was designed to acquaint the student with basic School and Harvard University, from which he received
laboratory procedures in the experimental study of sen- his doctorate in 1889. His naturalism was coupled with
sory and perceptual processes, and it helped to stan- a deep respect for art, religion, and philosophical his-
dardize the training of research psychologists, until re- tory, making him a major representative of American
placed in the early twentieth century by the more naturalistic philosophy. In addition, he was a principal
elaborate manuals of Edward B. Titchener. member of the literati of his day, and his autobiogra-
One section of the manual concerned apparatus and phy, Persons and Places (Holzberger & Saatkamp. 1986-
illustrated Sanford’s other main contribution-his 1994). and his one novel, The Last Puritan (Holzberger
creativity as a designer of research instruments. His & Saatkamp, 1986-1994), were Book-of-the-Month
best-known invention was the Sanford Vernier Chrono- Club best sellers and led to his appearance on the cover
scope. used for reaction time studies. Sanford also de- of Time magazine (3 February 1936).
serves credit for pioneering one of experimental psy- A permanent resident of Spain only from 1863 to
chology’s most famous procedures-maze learning in 1872, he retained his Spanish citizenship throughout
rats. To investigate th,: rat’s “home-finding’’t endencies, his life and frequently returned to visit family, to write,
Sanford suggested building a rat-sized replica of En- and to vacation. In his autobiography, Persons and
gland’s famous hedgz maze at Hampton Court. The Places, he describes his life as having three parts: (I)
idea resulted in a series of investigations on the topic “Background,” which covers the years 1863 to 1886,
by Sanford’s student Willard Small in 1900 and estab- including his childhood in Spain through his Harvard
lished a procedure that continues to be widely used. undergraduate years: ( 2 ) “On Both Sides of the Atlan-
[Many of the people mentioned in this article are the tic,” which encompasses his Harvard graduate and pro-
subjects of independent biographical entries.] fessorate days and his trans-Atlantic penchant for Eu-
ropean travel during the years 1886 through 1912; and
(3) ‘all on One Side,” covering the years 1912 to 1952
Bibliography when, as a retired professor, he traveled through Eu-
rope, eventually establishing Rome as his center of ac-
Goodwin, C. J. (1987). In Hall’s shadow: Edmund Clark tivity.
Sanford (1859-1924).J ournal of the History of the Be- Santayana’s philosophical roots lie in classical Greek
havioral Sciences, 23, 153-168. A description of San- and Roman naturalism, Spinoza’s ethics, Royce’s ide-
ford’s career and contributions. including an analysis
alism, and James’s pragmatism. His first book, The Sense
of the relationship with his mentor, G. Stanley Hall,
of Beauty (Holzberger & Saatkamp, 1986-1994), fore-
and his closest colleague, E. B. Titchener of Cornell.
shadowed his naturalism and also highlighted his crit-
Sanford. E. C. (1893). Some practical suggestions on the
icism of pragmatism as being too dependent on literary
equipment of a psychological laboratory. American Jour-
psychology, an approach that relied on human experi-
nal of Psychology, 5, 429-438. Provides insight into the
ence and consciousness rather than the underlying nat-
nature of experimental psychology in the 1890s by de-
scribing what was needed for a state of the art labo- ural causes discoverable through the empirical sciences.
ratory as well as one on a bare-bones budget. He defined beauty as pleasure objectified, emphasizing
Sanford, E. C. (1903).P sychology and physics. Psychologi- its natural base in animal desire. Later Santayana crit-
cal Review, ro, 105-1 rg. Sanford’s presidential address icized this account of beauty as being too subjective
to the American Psychological Association, in which he (Scepticism and Animal Faith. 1923) and, perhaps, too
cautioned against psychology modeling itself too closely
influenced by James’s radical empiricism. For the ma-
on physics.
ture Santayana, relying on experience alone was nei-
Wilson, L. N. (Ed.). (1925).E dmund Clark Sanford: In me-
ther good philosophy nor psychology because it over-
moriam. Worcester, MA: Clark University Press. In-
looked the imaginative role of the human intellect, the
cludes obituaries by Titchener, William Burnham of
plasticity of physical and social circumstances, and the
Clark, and Mary Calkins of Wellesley, a brief biography
determining natural causes.
by Sanford’ss ister, testimonials from colleagues and for-
The five books of The Life of Reason: Or, The Phases
mer students, and a complete bibliography of Sanford’s
work. of Human Progress (1905-1906) established him as a
principal force in the philosophy of the twentieth cen-
C. James Gwdwin
tury. Surveying religions, societies. arts, and the sci-
ences of the Western world, Santayana addressed the
issue of establishing human practices that were consis-
tent with reason. From this work came the often-
SANTAYANA, GEORGE:( 1863-1952), American nat- quoted warning to those who do not remember land
uralist philosopher. Born in Spain, he came to Boston understand) the past: They are condemned to repeat it
in 1872, where he learned English in Miss Welshman’s (Reason in Common Sense).
144 SAVANT SYNDROME
Santayana’s mature philosophy did not appear until Ashmore, J. (1966). Santayana, art and aesthetics. Cleveland,
OH: Press of Case Western Reserve University.
more than two decades later, when he published Scep-
Cory, D. (195 5 ) . The letters of George Santayana. New York:
ticism and Animal Faith (1923) and the four books of
Scribners.
Realms of Being (1942). Here Santayana’s naturalism,
Hughson. L. (1977). Thresholds of reality: George Santayana
coupled with his account of art’s lyrical voice, came to
and modernist poetics. Port Washington, NY: Kennikat
full development. Challenging American and English
Press.
philosophy and psychology, Santayana focused on ani-
Jones, J., & Saatkamp, H. J., Jr.. (1982). George Santayana:
mal action and displaced privileged mentalistic ac-
A bibliographical checklist, 1880-1980. Bowling Green:
counts with his pragmatic naturalism. His antifoun- Philosophy Documentation Center.
dationalism and emphasis on aesthetics and his view Kerr-Lawson, A., & Saatkamp, H. J.. Jr., (Eds.). 1983-
of philosophy as literature anticipated many develop- 1997). Overheard in Seville: Bulletin of the Santayana So-
ments in philosophy and literary criticism that oc- ciety (Nos. 1-15). College Station, TX: University of
Texas, Department of Philosophy, Santayana Edition.
curred in the latter half of the twentieth century. His
Lachs, J. (Ed.). (1967). Animal faith and spiritual lije: Previ-
thoroughgoing naturalism served as a criticism of
ously unpublished and uncollected writings by George San-
Dewey’s more humanistic approach and of James’s
tayana with critical essays on his thought. New York
mentalistic, experiential philosophy.
Appleton-Centur y-Crofts.
Presenting a remarkable synthesis of European and
Levinson, H. S. (1992). Santayana, pragmatism, and the spir-
American thought, Santayana’s Hispanic heritage and
itual life. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina
his clear sense of being an outsider in America cap-
Press.
tured the apprehensions and divisions facing the United
McCormick, J. (1987). George Santayana: A biography. New
States at the turn of the millennium. Yet his delight in York: Knopf.
life, his focus on celebration and aesthetics, and his Schilpp, P. A. (Ed.). (1940). Library of living philosophers:
clear appreciation of the natural causes of animal ac- Vol. 2 . The philosophy of George Santayana. Evanston, IL:
tion set him apart from most philosophers and high- Northwestern University Press.
Sprigge, T. L. S. (1995). Santayana: An examination of his
light his contributions to understanding and delighting
philosophy (2nd ed.). London: Routledge.
in human behavior, particularly in societies that value
scientific explanations of human action.
Herman J. Saatkamp, Jr.
Bibliography
Works by Santayana SAVANT SYNDROME is a rare but spectacular con-
dition in which persons with severe mental handicap,
Santayana, G. (1905-1906). The life of reason: Or, the phases
usually from mental retardation or autistic disorder,
of human progress (Vols. 1-5). New York Scribner.
Santayana, G. (1942). Realms of being. New York: Scrib- have astonishing islands of ability or brilliance that
ners. (Original work published) stand in stark, markedly incongruous, jarring contrast
Santayana. G. (1946). The idea of Christ in the Gospels or to overall mental handicap. While the incidence of sa-
God in man. New York: Scribners. vant syndrome is about evenly divided (50%) between
Holzberger, W. G., & Saatkamp, H. J. (Eds.). (1986-1994).
the two developmental (congenital) disabilities of men-
The works of George Santayana (Vols. 1-4). Cambridge,
tal retardation and autistic disorder, in occasional in-
MA: MIT Press.
stances, such savant abilities unexpectedly emerge in a
Holzberger, W. G. & Saatkamp Jr., H. J. (Eds.) (1990). Inter-
previously normal child or adult following brain injury
pretations of poetry and religion. Vol. 3 of The works of
or disease (acquired). Those individuals whose special
George Santayana. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
ability or genius is remarkable, but only in contrast to
Holzberger. W. G. & Saatkamp Jr., H. J. (Eds.) (1994). The
the overall handicap, are called talented savants. Those
last puritan: A memoir in the form of a novel. Vol. 4 of
The works of George Santayana. Cambridge, MA: MIT persons with a much rarer form of the condition, in
Press. whom the ability or brilliance is not only spectacular
Holzberger. W. G. & Saatkamp Jr., H. J. (Eds.) (1986). Per- in contrast to overall mental handicap but would be
sons and places: Fragments of autobiography. Vol. I of The spectacular even if seen in a normal person, are called
works of George Santayana. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
prodigious savants. There are fewer than IOO prodi-
Holzberger, W. G. & Saatkamp Jr., H. J. (Eds.) (1988). The
gious savants in the entire world literature on this topic
sense of beauty: Being the outlines of aesthetic theory. Vol.
in the past century, and there are probably fewer than
2 of The works of George Santayana. Cambridge, MA:
25 prodigious savants living worldwide at present. Sa-
MIT Press.
vant syndrome occurs approximately four times more
Works about Santayana frequently in males than females.
Arnett. W. E. (1955). Santayana and the sense of beauty. Such islands of genius residing in an otherwise se-
Bloomington: Indiana University Press. verely mentally handicapped person was a condition
SAVANT SYNDROME 145
first named idiot savant by John Langdon Down, who (particularly from premature birth and retrolental fi-
is better known for having named Down syndrome, a broplasia), and autism among prodigious savants is
common form of mental retardation. In an 1887 lec- particularly striking. Equally striking and intriguing is
ture before the Medical Society of London, Down the fact that calendar-calculating ability, a very infre-
shared his 30-year experience as the superintendent of quent and obscure skill in normal persons, coexists
Earlswood Asylum during which he was struck by the commonly in savants alongside the principal savant tal-
extraordinary paradox of superiority and deficiency oc- ent. These persons are able to name the day of the week
curring in the same patient. Contrasting that superi- when given a date past or future, with no sense of how
ority and deficiency, he aptly combined the term idiot they do it. Calendar calculating is probably the most
(at that time an accepted scientific term for IQ below exhaustively studied savant skill since it is the most eas-
25) with the word smant from the French word savoir, ily quantified (range of years), can be objectively mea-
meaning “to know” or “man of learning.” While orig- sured (accuracy and response time), and does occur in
inally perhaps creatively descriptive, the term idiot sa- some normal persons who can articulate methodology
vant has been generally discarded now because of its or formulas. Yet after all this intense study, savant
colloquial, pejorative connotation and has been re- methodology still remains largely unexplained since
placed by savant syndrome or simply savant. Neverthe- neither elaborate memorization alone nor deliberate
less, idiot savant still appears even today as the reference use of common algorithms can account for this ex-
term in much of the world scientiic literature on this traordinary savant prodigiousness with the calendar.
topic. Actually, idiot savant was a misnomer since al- In some cases of savant syndrome a single special
most all of the reporl.ed cases have occurred in persons skill exists; in others several skills exist simultaneously.
with IQs above 40, not below 25, as Down originally The skills tend to be right hemisphere in type-non-
presumed. symbolic, artistic, concrete, directly perceived-in con-
An early but remarkably astute description of this trast to the left hemisphere type, which tend to be more
disorder appeared in a 1914t extbook, Mental DeJciency, sequential, logical, and symbolic, including language
by Alfred F. Tredgold, a London physician. The chapter specialization.
on the idiot savant is trailblazing and still endures as a Whatever the special skills, they are always linked
classic, even in later editions of what is still a standard with phenomenal memory within the skill area itself,
text in the British Commonwealth and America. He and in many instances huge stores of unrelated trivia
meticulously and colorfully describes over 25 cases of (license plates, zip codes, telephone numbers, dates,
such extraordinary abilities including art, language, sports) coexist as well. Such savant memory, however,
music, memory, mathematics, and heightened sensory is of a special type-very narrow but exceedingly deep
acuity. He concludes i.he chapter with an elaborate de- within those narrow confines. Such memory has been
scription of a famous early savant, the genius of Earls- accurately described as memory without reckoning, a
wood Asylum, whom other early investigators also had type of remembering generally referred to as habit or
described in detail. 130th Down and Tredgold com- procedural memory. It relies on a more primitive cir-
mented on the intriguingly narrow range of special cuitry (corticolimbic) than does higher level (cortico-
abilities in savants, given the wide range of human abil- striatal) cognitive or associative memory used more
ities overall, and on the rarity of savant syndrome in commonly and regularly in normal persons.
females. Both those observations remain accurate to- Approximately 10% of persons with autistic disorder
day. have some savant abilities: that percentage is much
Savant skills occur within a narrow but constant higher than in other developmental disabilities such as
range of human mental capacity, generally in five ar- mental retardation where in an institutionalized pop-
eas: calendar calculating: mathematical ability, includ- ulation that figure may be only 1:2,000. Since mental
ing lightning calculating; art (drawing, painting, or retardation is much more common than autistic dis-
sculpting): music (usually the piano with perfect pitch): order, however, approximately 50% of persons with sa-
and mechanical ability or dexterity. In some instances vant syndrome have mental retardation stemming from
unusual language acquisition or multilingual abilities congenital or acquired causes, and 50% have autistic
(polyglot savants) have been reported, but they are rare. disorder. Thus not all persons with autistic disorder are
Other skills, also less frequently reported, include map savants, and not all savants have autistic disorder.
memorizing: exquisite sensory discrimination such as Theories to explain savant syndrome include eidetic
enhanced sense of touch or smell: and spatial skills imagery, inherited skills, concrete thinking with inabil-
(unusually perceptive visual measurement ability, sense ity to think abstractly, compensation and reinforce-
of direction. or appreciation of time without knowledge ment, and left brain injury with right brain compen-
of a clock face). sation. These theories are summarized, and the
The most common :savant skill is musical ability. A syndrome reviewed more broadly in detail, including
regularly occurring triad of musical genius, blindness historical details and cases reports over this past cen-
146 SAVANT SYNDROME
tury, in Extraordinary People (New York, 1989) and in a important to point out, however, that what is seen in
1988 review article, “The Idiot Savant: A Review of the that movie are savant skills (lightning calculating,
Syndrome” (American Journal of Psychiatry, 145, 563- memorization etc.) grafted onto autistic disorder (nar-
572),b oth by Darold A. Treffert. To the extent that im- rowed emotions, obsessive sameness, rituals, etc.) in a
aging studies have been carried out on savants, they person who functions at a high level for autism. Not
do show left hemisphere damage and suggest that one all autistic persons function at such a high level, and
plausible explanation in many savants is left brain dam- not all autistic persons have savant skills.
age from prenatal, perinatal, or postnatal central ner- In dealing with savant skills, a debate has long raged
vous system (CNS) damage with migratory, right brain over whether to train the talent or eliminate the defect.
compensation, coupled with corresponding damage to For many years it was feared that helping the savant
higher level, cognitive (corticostriatal) memory cir- achieve a higher level of functioning with treatment-
cuitry with compensatory take-over of lower level habit eliminating the defect-would result in a loss of special
(cortical-limbic) memory. This could account for the skills in that there would be a trade-off of right brain
linking of predominantly right brain skills with habit special skills for left brain language acquisition, for ex-
memory so characteristic of savant syndrome. ample. While some cases have reported such a dreaded
In addition to idiosyncratic brain circuitry, intense trade-off and loss of special skills with normalization,
concentration, practice, and repetition are characteris- that generally has turned out not to be the case. Quite
tic, and crucial, to production of savant syndrome. to the contrary: Focusing on training the talent, instead
Such mindless repetition-unconscious reckoning- of eliminating the defect, has been the most useful ap-
can produce in some savants sufficient coding so that proach toward increasing socialization, language, and
access to some noncognitive structure or algorithms independence in savants. In such approaches the spe-
can be automatically attained giving the savant access, cial skills of the savant, rather than being seen as odd,
unconsciously, to what are called the rules of music or frivolous, trivial, or distracting, become a useful treat-
rules of mathematics. Such unconscious algorithms al- ment tool as conduit toward normalization in these spe-
low them to carry out automatically complex musical cial persons. Some schools have begun to include per-
or mathematical tasks or calendar calculating, for ex- sons with savant syndrome into classes for the gifted
ample, with no sense or explanation available to them and talented as a method of further enhancing this
of how it is they are able to do those things. In the normalization.
prodigious savant, however, some inherited factors may Two related conditions merit special mention. In
be operative as well, since it is doubtful that practice 1944, an Austrian psychiatrist, Hans Asperger, de-
alone could account for the detailed access to vast rules scribed a condition in which persons with rather severe
of music, art, or mathematics that is innate in these psychiatric impairments showed some exceptional skill
persons. Once established, intense concentration, prac- or talent disproportionate to overall intellectual ability
tice, compensatory drives, and reinforcement by family, and linked with extraordinary capacity for memoriza-
teachers, and others play a major role in developing tion. There is debate whether Asperger’s disorder is sep-
and polishing the savant skills and memory linked so arate from autistic disorder or whether it is only a var-
characteristically, uniformly, and dramatically in this iant of autism with most persons operating at the high
syndrome. end of the spectrum in terms of overall function, and
One of the prenatal CNS injury mechanisms that that question remains unsettled. Whatever the outcome
may explain the disproportionate number of males in of that debate, many persons with savant syndrome do
savant syndrome is the neurotoxic effect of circulating carry a diagnosis of Asperger’s disorder.
testosterone on the left hemisphere in the male fetus The link between Williams syndrome and savant
based on observations reported by Norman Geschwind syndrome is likewise interesting and frequent. In 1961,
and Albert Galaburda, Harvard neurologists, in Cerebral British cardiologist J. C. P. Williams described a genetic
Lateralization (Cambridge, Mass., 198 7). Since the left disorder in children characterized by mental retarda-
brain completes its development later than the right tion, distinctive elfin-like facial features, aortic stenosis,
brain, it is at risk for CNS damage for a longer period elevated calcium levels, and autistic-like behaviors.
of time to the circulating testosterone (which can be Unique to these otherwise very intellectually impaired
neurotoxic) in male fetuses: left CNS damage, with right persons, however, is a rich, expansive, grammatically
brain compensation, may account for the high male: complex vocabulary with striking conversation and
female ratio not only in savant syndrome, but also in richly expansive story-telling skills. Equally striking, in
autism, stuttering, hyperactivity, and learning disabili- contrast to usual autistic withdrawal, are extremely
ties as well. outgoing personality traits and highly expressive social
The Academy Award-winning 1988 film Rainman, interests and behaviors. In addition, remarkable musi-
in which Dustin Hoffman depicted a high-functioning cal abilities are often seen in Williams syndrome. This
combination of a distinctive pixie-like appearance with
autistic savant, made savant a household word. It is