Size constancy of adolescent schizophrenics.

Abstract

In a size-constancy task 10 schizophrenic and 10 normal adolescent males judged variable triangles as smaller, same size, or larger than a standard. The schizophrenics' judgments were further from constancy, and differed qualitatively. They made more (a) same-size judgments, (b) changes of judgments, (c) overestimation of the size of the standard, and (d) improvement with practice. The relative constancy of the same-size judgments of most Ss suggested the effects of personality variables. A significant correlation was found between constancy performance and the Sc score on the MMPI for the experimental group. The direction of error, underconstancy or overconstancy, was determined by the space arrangement of the variable and the standard. Both groups responded similarly to the experimental conditions of distance, series order, and space arrangement.