Oltmanns and Neale (1975) have claimed that impairment in abstract conceptualization has not been demonstrated to represent a differential deficit in schizophrenia and that sorting-test measures of impairment exhibit inadequate discriminant validity. Contrary to Oltmanns and Neale's impression, evidence supporting impairment in abstract conceptualization as a differential deficit is found in the studies of Feldman and Drasgow (1951) and Drasgow and Feldman (1957). Furthermore, examination of the relevant evidence suggests that the discriminant validity of sorting-test indices of impairment is adequate and superior to that of proverbs-test measures.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
ChapmanL. J.ChapmanJ. P.Disordered thought in schizophrenia. Englewood Cliffs, N. J.: Prentice-Hall, 1973. (a)
2.
ChapmanL. J.ChapmanJ. P.Problems in the measurement of cognitive deficit. Psychological Bulletin, 1973, 79, 380–385. (b)
3.
CrumptonE.Persistence of maladaptive responses in schizophrenia. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 1963, 66, 615–618.
4.
DautR. L.ChapmanL. J.Object sorting and the heterogeneity of schizophrenia. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 1974, 83, 581–584.
5.
DrasgowJ.FeldmanM.Conceptual processes in schizophrenia revealed by the Visual-Verbal Test. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 1957, 7, 251–264.
6.
DudekS. Z.Intelligence, psychopathology, and primary thinking disorder in early schizophrenia. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 1969, 148, 515–527.
7.
FeldmanM. J.DrasgowJ.A Visual-Verbal Test for schizophrenia. Psychiatric Quarterly Supplement, 1951, 25, 55–64.
8.
FeldmanM. J.DrasgowJ.The Visual-Verbal Test manual. Beverly Hills, Calif.: Western Psychological Services, 1959.
9.
GoldsteinK.Human nature in the light of psychopathology. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Univer. Press, 1940.
10.
GoldsteinK.Methodological approach to the study of schizophrenic thought disorder. In KasaninJ. S. (Ed.), Language and thought in schizophrenia. Berkeley: Univer. of California Press, 1944. Pp. 17–39.
11.
OltmannsT. F.NealeJ. M.Abstract conceptualization in schizophrenia: A fundamental psychological deficit?Perceptual and Motor Skills, 1975, 41, 807–811.
12.
O'ReillyP. O.HarrisonK.The Gorham Proverbs Test. Diseases of the Nervous System, 1960, 21, 382–385.
13.
ShimkunasA. M.GyntherM. D.SmithK.Abstracting ability of schizophrenics before and during phenothiazine therapy. Archives of General Psychiatry, 1966, 14, 79–83.
14.
VigotskyL. S.Thought in schizophrenia. Archives of Neurology and Psychiatry, 1934, 31, 1063–1077.
15.
WrightD. M.Impairment in abstract conceptualization in schizophrenia. Psychological Bulletin, 1975, 82, 120–127.
