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Psychological construing and thought disorder: Another test of the ‘difficulty’ hypothesis
Author(s) -
McPherson F. M.,
Armstrong Jennifer,
Heather B. B.
Publication year - 1978
Publication title -
british journal of medical psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.102
H-Index - 62
eISSN - 2044-8341
pISSN - 0007-1129
DOI - 10.1111/j.2044-8341.1978.tb02477.x
Subject(s) - psychology , thought disorder , test (biology) , clinical psychology , developmental psychology , psychiatry , psychosis , paleontology , biology
Two versions of the grid test of thought disorder were derived which used similar elements, and were of equal difficulty, but one of which employed psychological, and the other non‐psychological, constructs. They were administered to thought‐disordered schizophrenic patients and to psychiatric and normal controls. On one measure (consistency), although not on the other (intensity), the results strongly supported the hypothesis that thought‐disordered patients are maximally disordered in the area of psychological construing. The results support those of an earlier study (McPherson et al. 1975) and are compatible with those theories which postulate a role for social factors in the aetiology of thought disorder.