Thirty-two nursing students were shown silent films in which 10 normal
and 10 schizophrenic women described a happy, sad, and an angry personal
experience. Accuracy in judging the content of films of normal subjects was
associated with social detachment and mechanical interests, whereas
accuracy in judging the emotions of the schizophrenic subjects was
associated with social involvement and nursing interests. Further, the
students nurses' ability to relate to patients, as judged by their nursing
supervisors, was associated with their ability to accurately identify the
nonverbal emotional communications of the schizophrenic patients but not of
the normal persons.
Abstract Teaser