With the notion that character tests might offer a means of getting emotional reactions useful in the detection of potential delinquency in groups of normal and superior intelligence, the Pressey X-O Tests were used on delinquent boys, inmates of the Iowa State Training School. The results were compared with those obtained by Pressey on a group of college students, comparable in intelligence. The emotional reactions of the two groups were strikingly similar. The tests are shown to have little or no value in detecting potential criminality, but certain differences in the reactions of the two groups reflect differences in emotional experiences in an interesting manner. Test III appeared to function as an intelligence test with this group. It also serves very well as an ethical discrimination test. The possibilities of using the Pressey tests in exploration of the individual's mental life and in giving clues as to affective make-up are emphasized. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved)