Response bias and schizophrenic beliefs.

It was hypothesized that schizophrenics exceed normal Ss in beliefs enhanced by the response biases of halo and logical error. 16 schizophrenics and 16 normal Ss, matched on reliability, rank ordered 1 sets of 9 items on 3 dimensions. 2 of the dimensions were evaluative dimensions that could be seen as "logically" related to one another. The 3rd was a neutral dimension that was included to measure perseveration. The schizophrenic Ss exceeded the normals on similarity of the rank orderings of items on the 2 related evaluative dimensions, but not on similarity of the general evaluative to the neutral dimension. These results support the hypothesis that erroneous beliefs in schizophrenia are produced, in part, by accentuation of normal response biases.