An ethological perspective on social behavior in long stay hospitalized psychiatric patients

Ethological methods were employed to gather normative data on social behavior in long stay male inpatients in the ward environment. Most were diagnosed schizophrenic. Social bheavior was categorized into four main types: altruistic, assertive, cigarette, and verbal. Patients (N = 24) were divided into three groups on the basis of the amount of social interaction (top, middle, and bottom thirds of the interactional scale). With the use of these divisions, results indicated: a) marked variability between thirds in the amount of social behavior exhibited; b) differences in the kinds of social behavior utlized by each third--the top was predominantly verbal whereas the middle and bottom were predominantly nonverbal; c) differences in the modes of interaction between thirds--verbal behavior characterized interactions between the top and top, and top and bottom, whereas assertive behavior characterized interactions between the top and middle, middle and middle, middle and bottom, and bottom and bottom; and d) correlative relationships between various social and nonsocial parameters, the most noteworthy including the positive relationship between head up, eyes open, and high rate of social interaction, and the positive relationships between altruistic, cigarette, and verbal behavior. Discussion focused on issues of variability between patients, stability of behaviors over time, behaviors indicative of bonding and social attentiveness, profiles of behavior characteristic of each third of the interactional scale, and the ethological constructs of dominance and attention structure.