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Psychomotor Traits, Social Desirability and the Personal Illness Hierarchy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

G. A. Foulds  and
A. Bedford
G. A. Foulds
Affiliation:
Medical Research Council Unit for Epidemiological Studies in Psychiatry, University Department of Psychiatry, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Edinburgh EH10 5HF; Department of Psychology, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada
A. Bedford
Affiliation:
Medical Research Council Unit for Epidemiological Studies in Psychiatry, University Department of Psychiatry, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Edinburgh EH10 5HF
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Summary

Seventy-eight psychiatric in-patients were allocated to personal illness classes by means of the Delusions-Symptoms-States Inventory (DSSI). Paper and pencil measures of psychomotor speed and scatter of tapping were administered with an immediate retest. It is suggested that from a social desirability position one would have to predict that the more personally ill (i.e. those endorsing the more socially undesirable items) would be slower and more diffuse on these measures. We found, however, such patients to be more constricted and slower. It is concluded that such a combination adds to the utility and validity of the hierarchy of classes of personal illness.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 130 , Issue 3 , March 1977 , pp. 240 - 243
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1977 

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References

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Foulds, G. A., Bedford, A. & Csapo, K. G. (1975) Class change in the personal illness hierarchy. Brit. J. Psychiat., 127, 316–19.Google Scholar
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