The effect of "social censure" and "social approval" on the psychomotor performance of schizophrenics.

A study in the tradition of demonstrating the modifiability of the behavior of schizophrenics through information feedback, e.g., rewards, punishment, or information requality of his performance. Schizophrenics were either told nothing about their performance, i.e., reaction time (control); told they were doing poorly (verbal censure); presented with a tone indicating slowness (neutral censure); or were given approval. The patients profited (reaction times increased) from the informational feedback under both conditions of censure, significantly more than with no or "approval" feedback. Results were compared with previous findings. 15 refs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)