Allan L. Fingeret

Social perception and communication skills among schizophrenics and nonschizophrenics.

This study examined the performance of both schizophrenic (N = 13) and nonschizophrenic patients (N = 7), as well as that of a nonpatient contrast group (N = 18), on standardized measures of both social perception and social skill. Social judgment and self-perception also were examined. Schizophrenics were less skillful and less socially perceptive than members of both other groups. Members of the nonschizophrenic patient group also were significantly impaired on the dependent measures when compared to contrast subjects. Results point to the multi-component nature of skills deficits in schizophrenics. Implications for assessment and treatment programs on communication skills training with schizophrenics are discussed.

Midi-level measurement of social anxiety in psychiatric and non-psychiatric samples

Abstract This paper reports the development and assessment of midi-level behavioral measures of social anxiety in the context of two experiments, one studying an analog student sample, the other a psychiatric sample. Judgments on nine categories of clinically practical midi-level behaviors (e.g. Facial Expression, Orienting, Sense of Timing), based on a review of the literature on human ethology and on pilot research, were compared to global judgments of social anxiety and social skill and to physiological arousal. Intraclass correlations exceeded 0.80 for judgments of the global and midi-level behavioral ratings on both samples. Results of correlational analyses indicated that while there were several significant predictors of global skill and anxiety among the midis, the magnitude of the relationship between midis and globals was stronger for the patient than the student sample. Further analyses based on S s heart rate (HR) reactivity suggested that while global ratings did not significantly predict H R in a high social anxiety situation, one midi-level behavioral rating (self-manipulations) did. The clinical utility of the newly developed measures is discussed with particular attention to their practicality for behavior therapy.

Reading Level and Locus of Interference in the Stroop Color-Word Task.

Color-word interference as a function of reading level was studied with 20 3rd and 4th graders. An equal amount of interference with color naming due to presentation of colors in a verbal form was found for both good (n = 10) and poor (n = 10) reading levels. Additional interference due to presentation of colors in conflicting color names was found only for good readers. Differences in reading comprehension rather than general reading ability were proposed to account for differences between good and poor readers.

Social perception, social performance, and self-perception. A study with psychiatric and nonpsychiatric groups

This study examined differences between psychiatric patients and a nonpsychiatric group on multiple measures of social perception, social performance, and self-perception. Patients performed more poorly than nonpatients on the PONS measure of decoding nonverbal messages, and although patients did differentiate between skilled and unskilled performance on skill rating task, they did so less than did the nonpatients. Patients demonstrated higher social anxiety and lower social skill than nonpatients on the Simulated Social Interaction Test. Self-ratings of patients were lower than those of nonpatients on both the positive and negative scales of the Social Performance Survey Schedule and on self-judgments of Simulated Social Interaction Test performance. Results are interpreted in terms of the nature of social skill deficits, and implications for social skills training are discussed.

Relationships among Social Perception, Social Skill, and Social Anxiety of Psychiatric Patients

This study examined relationships among measures of social perception and social performance for 63 psychiatric patients. Simulated social situations with differing response alternatives were presented on videotape to patients who judged the most appropriate alternative of three. Patients also participated in role-plays, and their videotaped responses were later rated for social skill and social anxiety. Patients also responded to a self-report inventory of social behavior. Analysis indicated that social perception was correlated with social skill but not with social anxiety. Self-report measures were not correlated with either social perception or social performance. The possible role of social perception in social performance was discussed.

Reliability of Social Skills and Social Anxiety Ratings with Different Sets of Raters

Two independent sets of 2 raters who rated the same 34 videotaped role-plays of psychiatric patients for social skill and social anxiety showed high intraset and interset reliabilities. These findings increase confidence that continuing assessment of these constructs should not be affected by changes in raters.

CUE EFFECTIVENESS OF WORD VS COLOR AS A FUNCTION OF CATEGORICAL RELATEDNESS OF WORD CUES

The relative effectiveness for recall of color and/or category member cues from a compound stimulus was studied in 108 Ss as a function of the number of categories (1 to 8) in the presentation list. As the number of categories decreased, effectiveness of color increased and category member remained relatively unchanged. Results may reflect cue-selection.