Social behavior of chronic schizophrenics in supervised and unsupervised work groups.

Small groups of chronic schizophrenics worked at policing a dormitory under 1 of 2 conditions of staff supervision: Maximal (active leadership) and Minimal (once the tasks were set patients were left to their own devices). Each group was composed of 5 patients. 3 groups worked under each supervisory condition. The groups were matched for age, length of hospitalization, education, and general verbal behavior of the patients. Measurements of performance and social behavior were daily over a 7-week period. The less supervised group showed signs of cohesiveness and lessened dependency on the staff member for decisions, with some indication of increased job performance. All groups showed decreased verbal interaction over time. Although the use of verbal communication was avoided whenever possible during the experimental period, the Ss showed signs of the formation of group structures and task-related roles were observed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Responsiveness of chronic schizophrenics to the social behavior of others in a meaningful task situation.

In this experiment 60 schizophrenics were given the task of stamping a number of greetings to accompany gifts. Instructions to hurray or to be cautious induced reliably differing rates of responding. In order to test the hypotheses concerning the social behavior of the schizophrenic, pairs of Ss were brought together to work in the same room—1 responding slowly and the other rapidly. As a consequence of being in the presence of another patient working at the same task both partners increased their rote of responding, indicating the effect of social facilitation. When the patients were given role instructions with relation to one another their rates of responding converged. Although these changes in behavior took place none of the 22 pairs of Ss (11 in co-working, 11 in role-related conditions) discussed the discrepancy or change in behavior. These results confirmed the hypothesis that schizophrenics will exhibit appropriate social motivation and responsiveness when behaving in a meaningful situation which does not depend on the use of language or complex cognitive skills. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of information source status and dogmatism upon conformity behavior.

This study explored the relationship between degree of authoritarianism, as measured by Rokeach's (1960) Dogmatism Scale, and susceptibility to influence by individuals of high and low social status. College Ss were placed in the autokinetic problem (see 10: 1332); a confederate of E, introduced as either a research scientist or a high school senior, gave his responses to the situation prior to S. The confederate's judgments were contrived so as to disagree with S's. Ss high in authoritarianism tended to agree with (conform to) the responses of the "scientist"; Ss low in authoritarianism, with the "high school student." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social conformity in perception of the autokinetic effect.

The autokinetic phenomenon was used to test the effect of social influence upon perceptual processes. Conformity (continuation of the behavior beyond the situation where it may appear to be required, as distinguished from compliance, which terminates once the immediate need is no longer experienced by the S for the behavior) was demonstrated. From Psyc Abstracts 36:02:2GE89E. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Anxiety and avoidance behavior in schizophrenics in response to parental figures.

"Thematic productions in groups of Good and Poor premorbid schizophrenics were analyzed in terms of the relative amounts of anxiety and avoidance related to cards representing parent-child relationships. Three hypotheses were specific… . Poor premorbid patients were expected to produce more anxiety related imagery in response to the mother than the father figure, while Goods were expected to show the reverse effect; Poors were expected to be more avoidant in response to both parental figures; and the pattern of avoidance behavior between groups was expected to differ. The first two hypotheses were supported." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Abstract thinking and social behavior in schizophrenia.

20 normal and 24 schizophrenic Ss were presented a series of cards, each bearing a stimulus word and 2 response words variously related in meaning to the stimulus. The Ss were asked to select the response word which they felt to be "closer in meaning" to the stimulus word. The results confirmed, at the .01 level, the hypotheses that (a) normals will exceed schizophrenics in the ability to select, as most similar in meaning to a given word, that word which is related to it in an essential abstract way; and (b) within a schizophrenic group, the above ability will be positively correlated with adequacy of everyday social interaction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Determinants of conformity and attitude change.

"College males varying in affiliative motivation were subjected to a group-influence situation where their previously measured attitudes toward divorce was either unanimously opposed, or opposed with the exception of one supporter. The subject's public reaction (conformity) was measured, and also his private response (attitude change). The results indicated conformity to be a joint function of affiliative motivation and conditions of social support, with roughly similar but less significant results for attitude change." 19 references. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

External validation of measure of conformity behavior.

A group measure of conformity behavior is described in which subjects are requested to choose one of two names which most aptly describes an ambiguous design, then are informed that on five "critical" designs they have chosen names with which the rest of the group disagrees. Several days later, the subjects are retested and the names chosen are compared with the result of the first test. "The results indicate that there is a significant relationship between conformity as measured by changes in judgment on an ambiguous design task and behavior in a nonlaboratory situation." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Consumption behavior and the aspiration for conformity and consistency.

The (socio-)psychological concepts of individual aspiration for conformity and consistency are integrated into the rational choice framework. By using this integrative approach, it is shown that, after a shock, the aspiration for conformity results in a steady state that deviates from the homo oeconomicus's behavior toward the consumption of the peer group, whereas the aspiration for consistency leads to the result that the steady-state consumption is not reached at once. With the combination of these effects, a new consumption path is derived. After a shock, the individual consumption converges step by step to the new steady-state consumption. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The performance of schizophrenics on social concepts.

"A hypothesis was derived from Cameron's view of schizophrenic thinking as a product of the social disarticulation of this group, as contrasted with Goldstein's interpretation of the defect in schizophrenic thought as the result of an impairment of the abstract attitude. The hypothesis was that schizophrenics would exhibit a greater decrement relative to normals on a test of social concepts than on tests of formal concepts." The data support this hypothesis. 22 references. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Taylor MAS and group conformity pressure.

Ss with low anxiety "tend to question their own judgment more but still show 'normal conformity,' under strong pressure conditions… [those with high level of anxiety] become somewhat hostile and rigid and less amenable to conformity influence. Some general support is thus given to the findings… that increase in emotional tension reduces the effectiveness of persuasive communications." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social participation in homogeneous and heterogeneous groups of chronic schizophrenics.

Responsiveness of socially withdrawn, regressed chronic schizophrenics to changes in the characteristics of their social environment was examined. It was hypothesized that withdrawn, regressed, hospitalized patients would participate more effectively in problem-solving groups that were heterogeneous in the activity level and "mental health" of its members than in homogeneous groups. 16 Ss rated as withdrawn and regressed and 16 active, improved Ss solved group problems in a homogeneous and heterogeneous group context. Ratings by independent judges, employing a scale devised for this purpose, indicated that both withdrawn and active chronic schizophrenics participate significantly more effectively in a heterogeneous group problem-solving situation than in a homogeneous setting. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Praise and censure as motivating variables in the motor behavior and learning of schizophrenics.

Hullian assumptions regarding drive level were utilized to predict the performance of acute and chronic schizophrenics on learning tasks of varying complexity. Ss were exposed to 3 conditions of reinforcement: censure, praise, and neutral (neither censure nor praise), and faced with simple and complex learning tasks. Acute schizophrenics responded differently from the chronic Ss to the conditions of reinforcement. The performance of the acute group was facilitated on the 2nd task by the experience of being told they were wrong on the 1st; this was not so with the chronic schizophrenics. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of group problem solving experience upon social withdrawal in chronic schizophrenics.

It was hypothesized that chronic schizophrenics exposed to sustained group problem solving experience would tend to improve their levels of social participation on criterion tasks socially more challenging and complex. It was further hypothesized that such improvement would generalize to task performance with total strangers and to social behavior on the ward. All predictions except the one about ward behavior were confirmed by experimental findings with 32 chronic schizophrenic patients. It is suggested that sustained social experience in situations which elicit social participation permit factors to, become operative which reduce anxiety associated with socially more challenging, complex situations and thus facilitate participation in such situations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Two forms of social conformity: Acquiescence and conventionality.

The "study was designed to obtain some objective measure of both kinds of conformity… the dynamic process of immediate conformity, termed acquiescence; and long term results of conformity to cultural norms, termed conventionality." 22 references. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effect of affective tone on the verbal behavior of process and reactive schizophrenics.

To test further the hypothesis that schizophrenics, described as "process" or "reactive," would demonstrate differential responsiveness to affective stimuli, Ss were shown slides projecting a verb (some affective-toned, some neutral) and 4 pronouns (him, she, they, I) and asked to make sentences using the verbs and 1 of the pronouns. It was hypothesized that avoidance of the pronoun "I" and retarded reaction time, when affectively-toned verbs were utilized, would distinguish the performance of the 2 groups: The results confirmed the hypotheses. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Some effects of feedback from the experimenter on conformity behavior.

The first experiment dealt with the importance of continuous feedback from the experimenter as a factor in conformity behavior as contrasted with discontinued feedback. Discontinued feedback was shown to be less effective but only when the feedback reinforced independence. The second experiment tested the generality of the previous finding that feedback in line with consensus has little or no effect whereas feedback in favor of objective reality drastically reduces the level of conformity behavior. It was found that reinforcement of conformity had a strong effect and that the effect of reinforcing independence was still significant but reduced. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personality correlates of social conformity.

A group of 89 female social welfare case workers were administered the Guilford-Zimmerman Temperament Survey and a social conformity scale developed by the author. The latter comprised 37 items utilizing the direction of perception technique of attitude measurement. For the selected sample, the relationship between the two scales appeared to be limited to a correlation of -.47 between the social conformity scale and the Objectivity scale of the GZ. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)