A Comparison of the Judgements Made by Schizophrenic and Normal Subjects to the Ruckmick Pictures of Facial Expressions of Emotion

Abstract

The judgement of the facial expressions of emotion has been a fruitful topic for study for many years. Though often contradictory, many theories have arisen from the multitude of investigations that have been conducted; yet very little of what has been discovered is directly applicable to the field of abnormal psychology. Two notable exceptions are the works by Arthur L. DiVittis and stuart Wilson. In each of these studies, the perception of the emotions was linked to the subject 's own emotional adjustments. From the definitions of schizophrenia by Taber and Drever this could be foreseen, at least theoretically. Drever defines schizophrenia as "a type of mental disorder…. characterized by dissociation, particularly between the intellectual processes and the affective, the latter being also to a great extent disorganized, with many varieties.” Taber states that "loss of emotions or emotions manifest as out of place" are symptoms of schizophrenia. In a factorial analysis of forty abnormal symptoms, Thomas V. Moore found that they could be grouped into five factors, three of the five being emotional. Thus there seems to be a strong relationship between a disturbance of the emotions and schizophrenia. In the judgement of emotional expressions, empathy plays a definite role. Kanner notes that the empathy can go so far that sometimes the whole person is "visualized." That empathy was a factor was also noted by Coleman. The need for research along the line of empathic reactions by schizophrenics was suggested by Southard. Empathic ability would seem to be a prerequisite for any real judgement of the facial expressions of emotion. If the abnormal subjects project into the expressions their own emotions, their judgements will reflect these emotions. A study, therefore, seems advisable to determine whether such empathy exists on the part of schizophrenic subjects, and if so, to determine the forms of the emotions projected. Emotion, as used in this thesis, is defined as " ... a complex state of the organism, involving bodily changes of a widespread character… and, on the mental side, a state of excitement or perturbation, marked by strong feeling, and usually an impulse towards a definite form of behaviour." The overt reactions are assumed to be outward responses in accord with the more immediate covert or inner mental and physiological responses. That the overt responses may be socialized to a degree is recognized and will be shown later. Further, both pleasant and unpleasant emotions will be considered. Empathy as used here refers to the ability to sense or feel the apparent emotions of the observed person as if they were, in part, the observer 's own. Statement of the Problem The apparent emotional flatness of the schizophrenic may be related to his perception of the environment. Whether the patient will project his flatness of emotional expression into his perception of others is yet to be seen. If he does project, then his own flatness of affect can be expected to be reflected in a tendency to make judgements of emotional expression in terms of the less intense emotions and feelings. This thesis will be an investigation of the differences between the judgements made by schizophrenic and normal subjects of pictures of facial expressions of emotion. To be determined is whether the schizophrenic patients, in their patterns of response, will show a statistically significant difference, in terms of reduced affect, from the responses of the normal control group. The hypothesis to be tested is: "In judging the facial expressions of emotion on the Ruckmick Pictures, schizophrenic patients will choose, to a statistically significant degree, fewer of the more intense emotional states to describe the pictures than will the control group of normal subjects." The data in the study conducted by DiVittis tended to show that the schizophrenic patient did respond with some flatness of emotional response as compared to the group of normal subjects used as controls. A group of college students was used as the normal control (age range: 17-23) for comparison with the schizophrenic subjects (age range: 17-72). But as DiVittis stated: "It is quite obvious that there is a wide discrepancy in the age limits of the two groups, and, hence, that the group of normals is not a perfect control." Further, "The obvious need would appear to be a study in which the control and experimental groups were more evenly matched for age, marital status, and background." The present study tried to meet these requirements of providing an adequate control group for the experimental group tested by DiVittis. Since it was found that age had a bearing on the selection of the descriptions of the facial expressions of emotion in the DiVittis study, the ages of the controls match those of the experimental group to rule out any spurious, age-induced response variance in the samples. Further, the control group was selected from a population more nearly approaching that of the experimental group in background than can be found in a limited selection of college students. The number of married individuals is also greater than the number found in the college population, and approaches the number in the experimental group. Within these limits, and the aforementioned frame work of DiVittis' thesis, this thesis should help to determine the usefulness of the Ruckmick Pictures as a projective technique.