Emotionality, Extraversion and Aggression in Paranoid and Nonparanoid Schizophrenic Offenders

Abstract

Investigations of schizophrenia have shown that the presence or absence of primary paranoid delusions is correlated with differences in dealing with information from the environment (Venables, 1964; Silverman, 1964) which may well relate to stable personality characteristics. Claridge (1967) has recently proposed a psycho-physiological model in which it is hypothesized that paranoid schizophrenics are more sympathetically reactive, but show lower levels of cortical modulation of subcortical functions than non-paranoid schizophrenics. At the descriptive level of behaviour, this theory would predict greater emotionality (neuroticism) and extraversion in the former group, and this proposition was examined in a sample of psychiatric offenders. Since aggressive behaviour is prominent in this population, it was also predicted from Claridge's theory that the paranoids would more frequently have a history of aggressive behaviour and would show higher attitudinal hostility. However, since extreme (i.e. homicidal) aggression appears to occur in individuals who are not characteristically aggressive (Megargee, 1966), it was predicted that such offences would be more frequent among the non-paranoid schizophrenics.