Specifics of Impaired Thinking, Social Perception and Self-Regulation in Schizophrenic Individuals with Criminal Case History

Abstract

The article researches the social perception and self-regulation in people with schizophrenia who had criminal case history (due to the prevailing type of their thinking impairment). The presented materials of empirical study were obtained with the sample of schizophrenic individuals with criminal case records. The study included analysis of the medical histories, expert judgements and also diagnostics of self-regulation, self-control, social perception and negative symptomatology of the patients. The schizophrenic patients with prevailing impairments in cognitive dynamics are distinguished by underdeveloped ability to program, tendency to value judgement, lack of empathy and producing minimal numbers of possible scenarios. Persons with prevailing impairments in the operational thought are shown to have poor ability for goal-setting, tendency to come up with socially unacceptable ways of resolving situations. Impairments in the motivational aspect of thinking are linked with infusion of the patients' personal ideas in the interpretation process, and also problems in recognizing emotional modalities of displayed characters.

Keywords

• impaired thinking
• social perception
• self-regulation
• schizophrenia
• negative symptomatology
• social danger
• threat to society