THIS STUDY ATTEMPTS TO DETECT SOME PERSONALITY DIFFERENCES AND SOME PECULIARITIES OF PERSONALITY STRUCTURES THROUGH INTERVIEWS. THE STUDY ASSUMED THAT ATTITUDINAL RESPONSES MAY BE LINKED TO A SPECIFIC ABERRATION IN THE PERSONALITY STRUCTURE; E.G., TO FORMS OF SCHIZOPHRENIA OR TO SOCIAL DEVIANCE. IT IS ALSO ASSUMED THAT CERTAIN TRAUMATIC FIXATIONS IN EARLY PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT, RELATED TO MORBIDITY PRONENESS, MAY BE DISCUSSED IN THE INTERVIEW. VARIOUS CONFLICT SITUATIONS OCCURRING WHILE THE DELINQUENTS ARE BEING SOCIALIZED ARE THOUGHT TO BE LINKED TO THEIR DEVIANT BEHAVIOR. THE METHODOLOGY OF THE STUDY WAS TO INTERVIEW 4 GROUPS OF 30 MALE SUBJECTS EACH: AUTISTS, PARANOIACS, CRIMINALS, AND NORMAL HOSPITAL PATIENTS. ALL OF THE SUBJECTS HAD BEEN INSTITUTIONALIZED FOR LENGTHY PERIODS. A BATTERY OF 32 SENTENCES WAS TAPE-RECORDED. HALF OF THESE DESCRIBED UNPLEASANT SITUATIONS WHILE THE OTHER HALF DESCRIBED PLEASANT ONES. THE SAME SENTENCES WERE USED A SECOND TIME, BUT WERE TAPED USING THE OPPOSITE INTONATION. HALF OF THE SUBJECTS LISTENED TO ONE TAPE AND HALF LISTENED TO THE OTHER, AFTER WHICH THEY SCORED THE SENTENCES ON A SEMANTIC SCALE. ONE-WAY ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE AND DISCRIMINATE FUNCTION ANALYSIS WERE USED TO ANALYZE THE DATA. IN GENERAL, IT WAS FOUND THAT DOUBLE-BINDS (I.E., TWO SIMULTANEOUS CONTRADICTORY MESSAGES) WERE SIGNIFICANTLY ASSOCIATED WITH MORBIDITY (AS A SOCIAL DEVIANCE CAUSED BY A BREAKDOWN IN SOCIALIZATION) WHILE FAMILY CONFLICT SITUATIONS WERE ASSOCIATED WITH DEVIANCE. THE HYPOTHESIS THAT DOUBLE-BINDS HAVE MORE SIGNIFICANCE IN THE PRESYMBOLIC STAGE OF COMMUNICATION BETWEEN MOTHER AND CHILD WAS SUPPORTED BY THE FINDINGS. OTHER FINDINGS INCLUDED THE EXISTENCE OF A COMMON DENOMINATOR BETWEEN CRIMINALS AND SCHIZOPHRENICS AND CONFIRMATION OF THE ASSUMPTION THAT PARANOIACS TENDED TO BE ISOLATED FROM THE DELINQUENTS, AUTISTS, AND NORMALS. TABULAR DATA AND A BIBLIOGRAPHY ARE APPENDED. (JSP)