Logical and nonlogical classification systems: A look at the underlying complexity of overinclusion in schizophrenics

Abstract

Although overinclusion is hypothesized to be a thought disorder, it has been found to be related to positive variables – good prognosis, good premorbidity, and good picture recognition. We hypothesized that some overinclusive responses involved an alternative classification system to conventional logical classification and that these alternative systems might facilitate picture recognition performance. Twenty‐seven male schizophrenics were given the Object Classification Test, the Object Sorting Test, and a picture recognition task. In addition to standard measures of overinclusion, responses were categorized according to (a) extent to which objects were classified consistently and exhaustively by common attributes; and (b) adequacy of the common attributes employed. Four separable kinds of responses were found: nonlogical classification, reclassification (ability to change the basis of sorting), classification that engages the logical task, but does so imperfectly (logical approximates), and overextensiveness (making an overly general, nonexclusive category). Only the first two were related positively to recognition performance. These results suggest that overinclusion measures several different response tendencies and that some of them, but not all, help schizophrenics to compensate for their disorder.

Job Satisfaction and Retention of Secondary Agriculture Teachers

“…Numerous researchers have investigated the teacher retention problem in agricultural education (Bryant, 1980;Cole, 1984;Dillon, 1978;Edwards & Briers, 2001;Flowers & Pepple, 1988;Grady, 1988;Howell & Martin, 1983;Knight, 1978;Moore & Camp, 1979;Reilly & Welton, 1980). Although the problem has been investigated in prior research, a review of the literature indicates that a majority of the studies which identified the reasons why agriculture teachers left the profession were published prior to the 1990s.…”

“…The issue of secondary teacher job satisfaction and retention has been the focus of research across disciplinary boundaries for several years (Chapman, 1983;Chapman, 1984;Chapman & Green, 1986, Cole, 1984Knight, 1978;McBride, Munday & Tunnell, 1992;Miller 1974;and Reilly & Welton, 1980). These studies have identified personal characteristics, student concerns, workload, recognition received, salary, and policyadministration as common turnover and job dissatisfaction factors.…”

Overinclusion and manic symptomatology in schizophrenics

“…Overinclusive thinking long has been considered a central feature of schizophrenic thought disorder (Cameron, 1944) and has been the subject of extensive investigation (Chapman & Chapman, 1973). Although this area has been plagued by numerous difficulties, including low correlations between the various measures used to assess overinclusion (Watson, 1967) and failures to replicate past findings (Payne, Hochberg, & Hawks, 1970), interest in the nature of overinclusive thinking remains strong (Craig & Verinis, 1979;Sims-Knight & Knight, 1978).…”

“…Overinclusion also has bccn rclatcd to efficient information proccssing on tasks that reflect iconic mcmory (Knight, Sherer, & Shapiro, 1977) and recognition memory for verbal (Bauman & Murray,196s) and pictorial stimuli (Knight, Sims-Knight, & Petchers-Cassell, 1977). Recent authors have recognized the possiblc significancc of these findings for understanding thc nature of overinclusive thinking in schizophrcnia (Chapman & Chapman, 1973;Sims-Knight & Knight, 1978). I n a recent study, Knight, Sims-Icnight, and Petchers-Cassell (1977) proposcd that overinclusion may reflect the ability to scan stimuli broadly; that is, to process a large numbcr of attributes of a stimulus array.…”

“…The Payne Object Classification Test (OCT) and part I ("handing over") of the Goldstein-Scheerer Object Sorting Test (OST) served as the measures of overinclusive thinking. These particular tests were selected because of their close relationships with prognosis and information processing (Bauman & Murray, 1968;Sims-Knight & Knight, 1978;Payne, 1968). Performance on these measures is independent of I& (Paync, 1971) and is minimally affected by psychotropic medication (Namyslowska, 1975).…”