The Genesis of Schizophrenic Thought Disorder: Re-test of the Serial Invalidation Hypothesis

¹ Medical Research Council Direct Grant Holder, Bexley Hospital, Dartford Heath, Bexley, Kent

Following previous studies which identified loosened construing (weakness of correlation between constructs in repertory grid measures) as a central aspect of schizophrenic thought disorder, the experiments reported are further attempts to produce a model of this condition in normals. It was finally shown that if two separate constellations of constructs are available to normal subjects and one is serially validated and the second serially invalidated, then intercorrelations in the former will rise while in the latter the pattern of construct relationship will repeatedly change and the strength of correlations will ultimately fall. An extension of the research programme seeking to modify thought disorder in schizophrenics is indicated.