Metaperception of personality in schizophrenia

Abstract

Individuals with schizophrenia (SCZ) form less accurate mental representations of the self and others, which contributes to social dysfunction. It remains unclear, however, whether such deficits extend to metaperception (MP), the ability to understand how others view one’s own personality. In Phase 1 of this study, 30 individuals with SCZ and 30 healthy controls (HCs) had a videotaped conversation with an experimenter and then completed a Big Five trait questionnaire, with the goal of predicting how strangers who view their videos would rate them on the five personality traits. In Phase 2, separate participants watched the videos and rated targets’ personalities. These ratings served as “The Truth” to which Phase 1 MPs were compared for Tracking Accuracy (i.e., extent to which The Truth predicts MPs) and Directional Bias (i.e., extent to which MPs overestimate or underestimate the truth). Tracking Accuracy was weaker in SCZ than in HC for Openness, Conscientiousness, and Agreeableness. Moreover, Tracking Accuracy and Directional Bias of MPs in SCZ were unrelated to mentalizing abilities and clinical insight. Our results suggest that the capacity to understand how others view one’s own personality is impaired in SCZ and may be a distinct component of the social cognitive system.