The Closed Mind and the Judgement of Crime: A Replication of the Sellin-Wolfgang Index

The judgement of the seriousness of delinquent events was interpreted as a “measurement of consensus regarding social norms and cultural values. Therefore, it was hypothesized that the evaluative mode of orientation would be used in the judgement process and that personality variables (which use the cognitive mode of orientation) would not influence consensus obtained using the Sellin-Wolfgang psychophysical method. Sex and dogmatism were tested as independent variables.

The hypothesis was supported in cases where the element of damage in the delinquent event was clear. In cases where the amount of damage presented a problem, the independent variables explained significant amounts of variation in the dependent variable. It was concluded that in these latter cases, the cognitive mode of orientation is used, producing less consensus.

Methodological difficulties inherent in the use of psychophysical scaling are discussed. It is concluded that these difficulties should be overcome before using the Sellin-Wolfgang index to measure cultural norms and values.