Boundaries in the mind

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Here's something that you might find interesting. The Hartmann Boundary Questionnaire was created to measure how structured a person's mind is (how thick/thin the boundaries are in the mind). They thought it might have something to do with psychosis and other things (I'm going from memory here so not sure if that's exactly right or not). I have the questionnaire (145 items) here for those who want to give it a go. I think it's factor I that is the one that might interest us.

hartmann boundary questionnaire

Same as for psychoticism: if the form doesn't work for you, cut and paste and send to me if you're keen and I'll send you the scores. I don't know what the mean is for factor I so I don't know how to tell if anyone's above average or not.

My score (from a few years ago:
Factor I: 135 (range 0-192)
Factor II: 106
total: 357 (average 250-300)

I think people high in factor I make good artists and people high in factor II make good art dealers, or something like that.

Hmmmm:


Total Factor I: 91
Total factor II 87
Grand total of 256

So, uh... analyze me

I got 232.

I have nooo idea. I just like questionnaires I get high scores on.

Even if the higher the score the crazier you are?

factor I 114

factor II 113


total 333 =crazy as a loon, (but I already knew that )

Actually, if I had taken this as a kid I would have scored much higher, so I think I'm getting more "normal" with age

Factor 1= 103
Factor 2= 122
Total= 316

You know, it seems from some of the questions that while a high total means you might have some difficulties (daymares?!), it also seems like you're a more tolerant, understanding person.

High scores don't mean psychosis. Sorry, I didn't mean to imply that. It's like psychoticism, in that high scores may mean you are more vulnerable, sensitive, misunderstood, suited to be fantasy hero or heroine . . . or something. It's a personality variable.

277 grand total, and I've no idea what that is supposed to mean.

I do notice that I'm not sure I understand the questions the way the author intended sometimes; I may interpret it in a creative way, and have feelings that I'd like to sometimes check more than one number at a time, which of course you can't do, but I mentally perceive forms like this that way.

Also, some questions ask stuff like "do you think you would like to be a ... " and there's a problem from my mental ways because I've already been one of whatever, so my answer is biased by experience.

I'd suggest that this test may have age/life experience bias that could slew the scores, based on my feelings and changes in knowledge through 63 years in this particular physical becoming.

I've always found multiple choice quizzes of this sort frustrating, because I can inherently recognize the limits of there's no choice that really reflects how I really feel about the question; my real feelings don't seem, from my perspective anyway, to be as simple as the test would presume. I found I sometimes simply checked "2" because it was in the middle of the sequence, and my logic said that means "don't know", yet I don't know if that's what the test takes into account.

Sometimes, "2" meant something else I think.

Of course, I'm not sure that what I wrote above clearly conveys what I'm really trying to express, either.

So, I don't have any confidence that such tests have any real meaning, beyond personal entertainment. I believe that any meaningful knowledge of people can only come from actually talking to and relating to people on an individual, live basis.

But, that's just my opinion; YMMV

Factor 1:116
Factor 2:112

Total: 322

i had about 40 points each in sleep/wake/dream, unusual experiences, and thoughts/feelings/moods.

Johnpipe....I also have a lot of problems with certain wording of questions...thinking ,do they mean "this" or "that" or not really knowing how I feel/think about certain issues. Like the fuzzy painting thing. I also answered these as a 2 as a default choice. I remember actually "failing" the MMPI I think they said it indecated that I was lying because they have differntly worded questions that ask the same question but the reason I might answer one "yes" and one "no" is that the wording actually changed what I thought they were asking. Yherapy can be a nightmare when they would ask me how I "felt" about something and I would respond and they would say...."not what you "think" but what do you "feel" ...arrrgggg,someone shot me now.

Factor 1:80
Factor 2: 100

Total: 271

So now what does this mean exactly?

Factor I: 108
Factor II: 114
Total: 330

Factor I: 108
Factor II: 114
Total: 330

Not exactly sure what the results mean for me. I’m not quite sure what some of the questions where getting at. Have a feeling my answers don’t necessarily imply what the author of the survey intended.

I tend to be a very logical thinker, yet I'm very liberal minded when it comes to politics, art, and philosophy. The notion that logic / critical thinking is somehow in opposition to free-spirited / artistic thinking is BS conservative propaganda. I agree with Einstein’s philosophy that imagination and logic / intellect compliment each other.

?

Total Factor I: 104;
Total Factor II: 140;

Grand Total: 350

I just remembered: Factor I is supposed to measure primary process thinking (the kind of thinking you do in free association - where your mind drifts easily).

I was just curious if there were any obvious trends. I don't see any, other than total scores tend to be average or above average. Anyone see any trends?

Ambiguity was a word I was trying to think of; and, some dyslexic tendencies that are invitable given the radio-button, and "zero - four" instead of "false 1,2,...true", which might help with this construct; sometimes I was about to check "0" for no, when the wording was ambiguous or uncertain, and my correct answer would have been "4" for yes. I caught myself on one of those, but ... were there others I didn't? [rhetorical question]

As you reveal, it's maddening to talk to people of such lesser intelligence, who just can't understand that our feelings are more difficult to compose, and take more mental expression to clarify; they just haven't the patience, and can't really listen to what we are trying to say!

With something like this test, there is the fundamental problem of trying to apply a statistical tool to human thought processes and psychology (trying to reduce people to numbers), and I can't help but being reminded of Benjamin Disraeli's famous quote "There are lies, damned lies, and there are statistics!"

Regards, Johnpipe

Me too. I took the SATs three times because they kept telling me I was doing well - 1100 in 7th grade, 1250 in 8th, 1340 in 10th (when I graduated, at age 16). I'll get back to y'all when I run the test... probably tomorrow.