Diagnostic judgmental confusion and process-reactive schizophrenia.

On the basis of the similarity of brain-damaged Ss to process schizophrenics and judgmental studies of the amount of confusion in thinking exhibited in Comprehension, Vocabulary, and Similarities (C-V-S) test protocols for such Ss, 3 out of 4 predictions of diagnostic judgmental errors in judging global C-V-S test protocols were confirmed. 45 PhD clinicians, with a minimum of 4 yr. clinical experience, made a diagnostic judgment from the protocols of 10 Ss in each of normal, organic, retardate, process, and reactive schizophrenic categories. Retardates were, but organic Ss were not, judged as process more than reactive schizophrenic. Reactives were called normal more often than organic or retardate. Diagnostic experience and base-rate values were offered as factors contributing to these judgmental errors.