Content area
Abstract
Much has been written about the performance of normal and schizophrenic on abstraction tasks with the general conclusion being that schizophrenics perform at a lower abstraction level than do formals. Differing theoretical viewpoints have been offered by Goldstein and his co-workers (Goldstein, 1939, 1944; Goldstein & Scheerer, 1941; Bolles & Goldstein, 1938) and by Cameron (1944b, 1938a, 1939b, 1944a, 1938b, 1938c, 1939a) to account for these results. For Goldstein, this psychological deficit is perceived as a capacity variable. Schizophrenics have lost the ability to abstract and react to stimuli in an individualistic, concrete manner. The unique aspects of a situation are responded to in a seemingly unconscious, involuntary manner. Responses are limited to low-level ones characterized by impaired abstraction and generalization, inability to shift "sets" appropriately, and by a narrow, fixed range of concrete responses. Furthermore, the capacity level at which he operates precludes the schizophrenic from learning to abstract. Goldstein has stated that "while the normal can be induced to proceed in the abstract way, the patient can never learn that (1939, p. 581)."
