Cancer and Personality

Abstract

Autokinesis (the apparent motion of a pinpoint of light in total darkness) has been predictably related to a variety of personality variables and psychiatric syndromes. The present study reports a statistically significant relationship between cancer and autokinesis in two samples. The first sample (17 women, 14 men) is prospective, while the second (26 women) is retrospective. In both samples, cancer subjects reported less autokinesis than controls, a finding which fits conceptually with prior work with autokinesis and also with the observation reported by many others that cancer is preceded by or associated with a sense of helplessness or hopelessness and some degree of resignation from life. A second finding, but one which has not been replicated, is a statistically significant relationship between scores on the embedded-figures test and cancer. The possible meanings of these data are explored.