The Kahn Test of Symbol Arrangement and criminality

Two groups of male Ss--33 incarcerated criminal recidivists and 33 trainees in a work placement bureau--were tested on two versions of the Kahn Test of Symbol Arrangement (KTSA). These were the original KTSA, which used the free responding technique, and a modified KTSA, which used the forced-choice responding technique. The groups were equated for average age and sociocultural status and did not differ in their intellignece scores. The results showed that the criminals scored significantly lower than their controls on the original KTSA with a symbol-pattern characterized by repetitive and concrete types of responses. The groups did not differ on the modified KTSA. The discriminative power of the free responding technique of the KTSA proved to be superior to that of the forced-choice in the area of identifying criminal recidivists.