Premium
A Further Study of the Grid Test of Thought Disorder
Author(s) -
McPHERSON F. M.,
BLACKBURN IVY M.,
DRAFFAN JOAN W.,
McFADYEN M.
Publication year - 1973
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.2044-8260.1973.tb00090.x
Subject(s) - psychology , consistency (knowledge bases) , test (biology) , correlation , clinical psychology , developmental psychology , paleontology , geometry , mathematics , biology
The performance of 36 thought‐disordered schizophrenics, 24 non‐thought‐disordered schizophrenics, 18 manics and 33 depressives was compared on four measures derived from the Bannister‐Fransella Grid Test of Thought Disorder, i.e. Intensity, Consistency, Element Consistency and Social Deviation. On all four measures, the thought‐disordered schizophrenics had significantly poorer scores than the other groups, which did not differ among themselves. Within a subgroup of 19 schizophrenics, each of the four measures correlated significantly with clinical ratings of the severity of thought disorder. However, when the effects of Intensity and Consistency were each partialled out, the correlation between Element Consistency and clinical ratings was reduced to insignificance, whereas when Element Consistency was partialled out, Intensity and Consistency remained significantly correlated with the ratings. It is argued that, not only has the Bannister‐Fransella test been successfully cross‐validated as a measure of thought disorder, but that the results also support Bannister's explanation that low scores on the test reflect a loose construct system.