Overinclusive Thought Disorder and Symptomatology
D. V. HAWKS Ph.D.1 and
R. W. PAYNE Ph.D.2
1 Institute of Psychiatry, University of London
2 Department of Behavioural Science, Temple University Medical School, Philadelphia
Three groups of psychiatric patients matched for age, intelligence, education and length of hospitalization were assessed clinically for evidence of overinclusive thinking and in addition given the Payne and Friedlander (1962) standard tests of overinclusive thinking. Performance on the standard tests of overinclusion was found to be significantly correlated with the clinical assessment of overinclusive thinking. While the three tests of overinclusion were significantly intercorrelated and reliable over a four-day period, contrary to prediction performance on them was not significantly related to independent assessment of delusional symptomatology. On the other hand performance on the tests of overinclusion was significantly correlated with a number of measures of verbal responsiveness, suggesting that the three tests employed, all of which adopt as the measures of overinclusion the number of responses given, are significantly affected by the patient's responsiveness. The implications of this finding are discussed.
Submitted on June 19, 1970
