Word: litmus
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...reason is that the symptoms of maladaptive behavior first crop up-in the school. Almost all the delinquents studied indulged in some misconduct at school, ranging from defiance, stubborness, and lying to stealing and sexual misconduct. The Gluecks suggest that the school could function as the "litmus paper of personality and character maladaption, reflecting early in the child's growth the acid test of his failure in his first attempts to cope with the problems of life...
...domestic industries. Abroad it meant seeking allies with the grim realism of war-and this was the second hardening in Acheson's thinking. "We are not dealing here," said Acheson, "with the kind of situation where we can go from one country to another with a piece of litmus paper and see whether everything is true blue. The only question we should ask is whether they are determined to protect their independence against Communist aggression...