Comparison of the 2-7-8 MMPI profile and the Perceptual Aberration—Magical Ideation Scale in identifying hypothetically psychosis-prone college students.

Abstract

College students with 2-7-8 profiles on the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) and students scoring high on the Perceptual Aberration-Magical Ideation (Per-Mag) Scale were compared on symptoms that are thought to indicate psychosis proneness. A modified Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia-Lifetime Version interview revealed that the Per-Mag group (19 males and 22 females) and the 2-7-8 group (19 males and 20 females) did not differ on the number of subjects with psychotic and psychoticlike experiences. For both sexes, however, the Per-Mag group exceeded the 2-7-8 group on the number of schizotypal experiences; the male Per-Mag group also surpassed the male 2-7-8 group on hypomania. The groups were similar on depression and several other disorders as defined by the Research Diagnostic Criteria. These findings are interpreted as suggesting that some of the subjects identified by both scales are at elevated risk for psychosis. However, because only 3 subjects were selected by both scales, the MMPI 2-7-8 profile and the Per-Mag Scale select different groups from that population.Both the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) 2-7-8 profile, in which the Depression (2), Psychasthenia ( 7), and Schizophrenia (8) scales are the highest elevations, and the combined Perceptual Aberration-Magical Ideation (Per-Mag) Scale (Chapman, Chapman, & Raulin, 1978;Eckblad & Chapman, 1983) are used to identify individuals who may be at risk for psychosis. The present study examines the degree to which these two scales identify the same groups of hypothetically psychosis-prone subjects and compares the psychopathologies of the people selected by the two scales. Such a comparison is of interest because psychosis proneness, like psychosis itself, probably includes several distinct syndromes; thus, it is conceivable that the two scales may select different groups of people who have dissimilar symptoms. Chapman, Chapman, and Miller (1982) found that the Perceptual Aberration Scale and the Magical

Handedness of hypothetically psychosis-prone subjects.

“…Findings that subjects who score high on one or more of these scales have symptoms consistent with psychosis proneness have been reported in the aforementioned publications as well as in other research reports (Chapman & Chapman, 1985; Fujioka & Chapman, 1984; Haberman, Chapman, Numbers, & McFall, 1979; Josiassen, Shagass, Roemer, & Straumanis, 1985; Lutzenberger, Birbaumer, Rockstroh, & Elbert, 1983; Lutzenberger, Elbert, Rockstroh, Birbaumer, & Stegagno, 1981; Martin & Chapman, 1982; E. N. Miller & Chapman, 1983; G. A.…”

Schizotypal personality disorder in an outpatient population: Incidence and clinical characteristics

“…These data are consistent with previous reports of associations between schizotypal symptomatology and substance abuse (Kroll & Ryan, 1983) and affective disorders (Chapman, Edell, &Chapman, 1980;Dunner, Russek, Russek, & Fieve, 1982). In addition, because SPD developed, on average, 10 years prior to the first Axis I disorder, these findings are consistent with the view that individuals with SPD are at risk for a variety of forms of severe psychopathology (Fujioka & Chapman, 1984). Although this study did not address the relationship between SPD and schizophrenia, these results are also consistent with recent suggestions that DSM-111 SPD is a heterogeneous category, only a subgroup of which may be related to schizophrenia .…”

Magical ideation and schizophrenia.

“…The MIS has been found to discriminate between university students who scored high or low on other measures of proneness to schizophrenia (Eckblad & Chapman, 1983; Fujioka & Chapman, 1984). In another study, subjects drawn from temporary employment agencies who scored high on the scale displayed deviantly low scores on a forced-choice span of apprehension tasks (Asarnow, Nuechterlein, & Marder, 1983).…”