Animistic thinking in psychotic versus conduct-disordered hospitalized adolescents.
25 adolescents showing a Psychotic-spectrum Disorder were compared with 24 adolescents showing Conduct Disorder on a task eliciting reasons for attributing life to an ambiguous pictorial stimulus (dough on a beach). Consistent with expectations from earlier research, the psychotic adolescents showed greater modes of animistic thinking (attributions of life to nonlife forms) than conduct-disordered youth, associated with theorized merging between self and the nonhuman environment. Implications are discussed.
Atlas
J A
JA
Bronx Children's Psychiatric Center, NY 10461.
Miller
A L
AL
Arsenio
W F
WF
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002653:Child Behavior Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D007092:Imagination; D008297:Male; D011386:Projective Techniques; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000175:diagnosis; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D012649:Self Concept; D013850:Thinking