Next to the selfish lie for protection--of special psychological
interest for adolescent crime--is what we may call pseudomania, seen
especially in pathological girls in their teens, who are honeycombed
with selfishness and affectation and have a passion for always acting
a part, attracting attention, etc. The recent literature of telepathy
and hypnotism furnishes many striking examples of this diathesis of
impostors of both sexes. It is a strange psychological paradox that
some can so deliberately prefer to call black white and find distinct
inebriation in flying diametrically in the face of truth and fact. The
great impostors, whose entire lives have been a fabric of lies, are
cases in point. They find a distinct pleasure not only in the sense of
power which their ability to make trouble gives, but in the sense of
making truth a lie, and of decreeing things into and out of existence.
Sheldon's interesting statistics show that among the institutional
activities of American children,[12] predatory organizations culminate
from eleven to fifteen, and are chiefly among boys. These include
bands of robbers, clubs for hunting and fishing, play armies,
organized fighting bands between separate districts, associations for
building forts, etc.
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