Verbal conditioning of male and female schizophrenics as a function of experimenter proximity.

Verbal conditioning of male and female schizophrenics and nonschizophrenics was observed as Ss sat at different distances and orientations from an E who delivered a positive word/positive tone reinforcer ("Good"). Results indicated that the presence vs. absence of diagnostic differences in learning depended on (a) the sex of the Ss; and (b) the distance that Ss sat from the E. The absence of overall diagnostic group differences in learning and the finding that in some proxemic conditions schizophrenics learned more than nonschizophrenics are consistent with the view that under appropriate conditions schizophrenics emit behaviors that are incompatible with an assumption of schizophrenic deficit.