Identifier

etd-03152010-193125

Degree

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Psychology

Document Type

Thesis

Abstract

Affective dysfunction is a core feature of schizophrenia spectrum disorders. Schizophrenic and schizotypal participants report higher levels of unpleasant and lower levels of pleasant trait affect than controls. In response to pleasant stimuli, though, participants often report similar levels of pleasant emotion to controls, but heightened unpleasant emotion, suggesting pleasant experiences may be affected by intrusive unpleasant emotion. An emotional Stroop task was used to examine the relationship between affective interference and trait affect in schizotypy. No significant differences were found between schizotypal participants and controls on e-Stroop performance, but schizotypal participants did self-report more unpleasant trait affect and less pleasant trait affect than controls. Of the schizotypy symptom dimensions, only cognitive disorganization was significantly correlated with unpleasant interference on the e-Stroop. Self-reported trait affect was not correlated with e-Stroop performance, but unpleasant trait affect was correlated with positive schizotypy symptoms and pleasant trait affect was inversely correlated with negative symptoms. Results suggest avenues for future exploration of unpleasant trait bias and cognitive dysfunction in schizophrenia-spectrum disorders.

Date

2010

Document Availability at the Time of Submission

Release the entire work immediately for access worldwide.

Committee Chair

Cohen, Alex

DOI

10.31390/gradschool_theses.3185

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Psychology Commons

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