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Effect of Punishment on Probability Learning in Schizophrenia *
Author(s) -
SERMAT V.,
GREENGLASS E. RUTH
Publication year - 1965
Publication title -
british journal of social and clinical psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.479
H-Index - 92
eISSN - 2044-8260
pISSN - 0007-1293
DOI - 10.1111/j.2044-8260.1965.tb00441.x
Subject(s) - punishment (psychology) , psychology , schizophrenia (object oriented programming) , event (particle physics) , developmental psychology , social psychology , psychiatry , physics , quantum mechanics
In Experiment I, forty‐five schizophrenics and forty‐five normals were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: information, non‐social punishment and social punishment. A probability learning task with event ratio of 80:20 was employed. Punishment facilitated learning in schizophrenics but not in normals. Social and non‐social punishment did not produce significant differences in response frequencies, but response latencies and questionnaire data were interpreted as evidence that social punishment produced more conflict and discomfort in schizophrenics than did the other two conditions. In Experiment II, thirty‐nine schizophrenics were randomly assigned to information, reward and punishment conditions. For the first 100 trials, the event ratio was 80:20, after which it was reversed to 20:80. After the shift, Ss receiving punishment learned the new ratio significantly better than Ss in the reward and information conditions. The results suggest that punishment is more effective than reward or information alone with schizophrenics.