Dimensional Theory Applied to Schizophrenic Patients

Abstract

Psychoticism, neuroticism, and extraversion are the dimensions of personality resulting from the statistical analysis of a number of psychological tests. Those working in this field state that the “isolation of three main dimensions—neuroticism, psychoticism, extraversion—may be said to have been accomplished at a reasonably high level of confidence” (Eysenck, 1952, p. 293). It has been stated also that these dimensions are relatively independent of one another and all independent of intelligence. In developing the dimensional picture of personality, tests which discriminated between a group of neurotic patients and a group of normals were found to inter-correlate positively and to generate a factor of neuroticism. Similarly tests were developed which distinguished between psychotic patients and normals, and between extraverts and introverts. To the writers' knowledge however there is no study available which applies the tests for all four dimensions to the same group of people. The four orthogonal dimensions should be identifiable, and would confirm the dimensional theory.