Browsing by Author "Stonestreet, Gerald"

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    The process-reactive dimension and its relationship to thought disturbance in schizophrenia
    (1976) Anderson, Roderick B H; Stonestreet, Gerald
    The intention of the present study is (a) to attempt to assess the relative merits of three contradictory models of thought disturbance in schizophrenia, and to effect (b) a reconciliation of these models by recourse to proposed differences in the scanning functions of process and reactive schizophrenics. The main hypotheses to be examined are as follows : (1) Schizophrenic patients as a whole should be pathologically susceptible to the effects of associative interference, whilst non-psychotic but psychiatrically disturbed persons and normals should reveal no such susceptibility. (2) Process schizophrenics should make significantly more stronger meaning response errors on Chapman et al.'s 1964 Lexical Ambiguities Test than either reactive schizophrenics, non-psychotic psychiatric patients or normals. (3) Process schizophrenics should have significantly shorter response latency times on Chapman et al.'s 1964 Lexical Ambiguities Test than reactive schizophrenics, non-psychotic psychiatric patients or normals. This latter hypothesis reflects a corollary to the concept of an interference reduction defense system amongst process patients. Response latency times have been employed as a rough measure of the extent of cognitive scanning. If process patients do discontinue scanning and editing early on in the two-stage process they should make their judgements sooner than reactives, and possibly normals and other psychiatric patients.
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    The validity of the group personality projective test and its use in South African clinical psychology
    (1973) Stonestreet, Gerald; Lambley, Peter; Abramovitz, Arnold
    Following a discussion of the relationship between abnormal personality and psychopathology, and the concept of validity in psychometrics, the development and present form of the GPPT are described. Several important criticisms of the test are then detailed together with a review of all published research relating to it. Considering the HSRC's interest in standardising this instrument for use in South Africa, and since it is being extensively used for individual assessments within Stikland Hospital, four studies have been undertaken to clarify its validity: Study 1 concerns normative data and shows, from the test-results of 100 Afrikaans working adults of Bellville, that South African norms can be expected to differ radically from those obtained in the USA. Study 2 concerns the construct validity of the GPPT scales. Based on data from 168 Stikland patients, correlations between GPPT scores and a large number of other personality measures indicate that some of the interpretations offered by the test-developers are invalid for this population. Study 3 concerns the validity of the test as a measure of "mental health", and shows that, where significant, score deviations are related to neurotic rather than to sociopathic or psychotic maladjustment. Age and sex were not systematically related to score variance except for the "Withdrawal" scale, where a slight tendency was found for females to score higher. No single GPPT scale, including the composite "total score", was effective for reliable individual assessment of mental health. Study 4 concerns the test's validity as a measure of adjustment by investigating the scores before and after treatment of certain patients who improved dramatically. Results indicate that the TRQ and Total scores are effective in this respect.