Schizotypy as An Organizing Framework for Social and Affective Sciences

Abstract

Schizotypy, defined in terms of commonly occurring personality traits related to the schizophrenia spectrum, has been an important construct for understanding the neurodevelopment and stress-diathesis of schizophrenia. However, as schizotypy nears its sixth decade of application, it is important to acknowledge its impressively rich literature accumulating outside of schizophrenia research. In this article, we make the case that schizotypy has considerable potential as a conceptual framework for understanding individual differences in affective and social functions beyond those directly involved in schizophrenia spectrum pathology. This case is predicated on (a) a burgeoning literature noting anomalies in a wide range of social functioning, affiliative, positive and negative emotional, expressive, and social cognitive systems, (b) practical and methodological features associated with schizotypy research that help facilitate empirical investigation, and (c) close ties to theoretical constructs of central importance to affective and social science (eg, stress diathesis, neural compensation). We highlight recent schizotypy research, ie providing insight into the nature of affective and social systems more generally. This includes current efforts to clarify the neurodevelopmental, neurobiological, and psychological underpinnings of affiliative drives, hedonic capacity, social cognition, and stress responsivity systems. Additionally, we discuss neural compensatory and resilience factors that may mitigate the expression of stress-diathesis and functional outcome, and highlight schizotypy's potential role for understanding cultural determinants of social and affective functions.

Cognition and Brain Function in Schizotypy: A Selective Review

“…Both impaired, 89 and enhanced 87,88,90 egocentric mental rotation performance have been reported in relation to elevated schizotypy. These findings have implications for social cognitive abilities (see Cohen et al 15 ), notably theory-of-mind because one crucial aspect of mentalizing involves visuospatial perspective taking and simulation. 91 Although enhanced egocentric perspective-taking ability may be associated with increased empathy, 88 in particular in women 91 and as a function of life experience, 93 excessive perspective-taking could lead to reduced agency and dissociative experiences.…”

“…Such work is critically needed to identify domains where schizotypy differs from schizophrenia, pointing to protective or compensatory mechanisms. 8 see also Herzig et al 10 Second, people with high levels of schizotypy display maladaptive behaviors, such as smoking 11 and drug use, 12 and they suffer lower social, educational, and professional levels of functioning, impoverished quality of life, and high levels of distress 13,14 (also see Cohen et al 15 as well as Mohr and Claridge 16 ). Therefore, schizotypy is an important research topic in its own right because a characterization of cognitive and neural processes in schizotypy may improve our mechanistic understanding of these disturbances and aid the development of intervention strategies.…”

The Measurement Invariance of Schizotypy in Europe

“…Moreover, Cohen et al (2015) suggested that schizotypy assessed in different cultures has the potential to provide us with information on cultural differences in social and affective functioning.…”

“…Kwapil et al (2012) argued that comparable dimensional structures in cross-cultural samples would lend further support to the i) continuum model of schizotypy and schizophrenia spectrum disorders and ii) validity and utility of these measures in cross-cultural research. Cohen et al (2015) suggested that schizotypy assessed in different cultures has the potential to provide us with information on cultural differences in social and affective functioning. At the moment, few studies have been conducted to test the cross-cultural equivalence of the schizotypal personality traits (Fonseca-Pedrero, Compton, et al, 2014;Ortuño-Sierra et al, 2013) and schizotypy dimensions (Kwapil et al, 2012;Sierro et al, in press).…”

Das Schizoidie-Konzept in der Psychiatrie

“…eine Standardabweichung [26,70]. Mit dem Ausprägungsgrad basaler kognitiver Dysfunktionen geht auch eine analog beeinträchtigte Verarbeitung wichtiger sozial-affektiver Informationen einher, die grundlegend für eine funktionstüchti-ge "theory of the mind" sind [21].…”