ABSTRACT
An explanation invoked for the absence of equanimity before danger is individual quality, dependent upon heredity; and the rabbit and deer have been instanced as examples. Most dramatically has Augustus Thomas in the “Harvest Moon” portrayed the error of attributing to heredity, traits which the family themselves induce in a child unfortunate enough to be thus dealt with. Psychic exploration showed that the real genesis of his belief was the inculcation of constant fear by those who surrounded him in childhood. The woman had from childhood suffered from a sense of inferiority, her older sister being of a much more aggressive type, very witty, greatly at ease in company and consequently more popular. Lombroso has been responsible for much misconception concerning the heredity of behavior and his “Criminal Type” became part of popular misinformation. “Family charts alone, without detailed developmental and environmental history, are no proof of the inheritance of criminality, no matter how many criminals they show.
