Risk-taking behavior of schizophrenics and normals

Abstract

The aims of this study were: (1) to test whether hypotheses regarding the behavior of schizophrenics which had received support in level of aspiration studies would also be supported by decision theory type chance taking measures; and (2) to examine the kinds of risks toward which schizophrenics were most sensitive. Two theoretical models, decision theory and level of aspiration theory, dealing with decision making in situations involving the threat of failure, were shown to be basically similar in their formulation; they differed, however, in regard to the independence of probability and reward, and the degree of the individual's control over the outcome and the motive of achievement. "Risk," which was considered to be the objective equivalent of the clinical concept "threat of failure," was defined operationally as the negative term of the expected value model (i.e., as the product of the probability of loss and the amount of possible loss). [TRUNCATED]