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Assessing Psychopathology in Individuals and Groups

Aggregating Behavior Samples to Form Overall Impressions

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor Veterans Administration Medical Center

Joan R. Paskewitz

Ann Arbor Veterans Administration Medical Center

Subjects were presented with vocabulary definitions that were to be used in assessing emotional disturbance in a single patient ('Mr. Green') or in a group of patients. Some respondents were initially presented with a high-pathology series of definitions, whereas others received more benign (low-pathology) definitions. All respondents then received a set of midscale definitions. Assessments of Mr. Green, both at the beginning and at the end of the experimental session, were directly related to the available information (definitions). Ratings of the group initially followed a similar course. However, at the end of the experiment, there was clear evidence of a reversal (crossover pattern); in their final assessments, respondents who had initially received a pathological set of definitions judged the group-as-a whole to be less disturbed than did the respondents who had initially been provided with nonpathological definitions. Theoretical implications of these results are discussed.

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