Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 21, 2026

Handwriting Analysis Indicates Spontaneous Dyskinesias in Neuroleptic Naïve Adolescents at High Risk for Psychosis
Published on: November 21, 2013
Décalage in moral judgement as a measure of deactualisation weakness of schizophrenic adolescents
1Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Heinrich-Heine-University, Düsseldorf.
Abstract:
12 schizophrenic, 11 borderline and 20 neurotic adolescents were examined with the procedure, according to Kohlberg, to moral development. In addition, existence techniques, themes and formal personality attributes according to Thomae were assessed. In schizophrenic adolescents a very distinct discrepancy between average and the highest stage values of the moral judgement were the main result (décalage value). This distinct décalage corresponds with the previously discussed distinct ambiguity tolerance of schizophrenics that comes into being on the basis of a deactualisation weakness towards situatively stimulated representative pieces of existence. In connection with this décalage and with the other values for moral judgement are findings on life style and theme that can be interpreted in the sense of an introversion and a cry for help connected with increased resistance and present a form of illness mastering. A detachment from the parents only appears possible at the cost of an increased lability (in the area of moral and ego-identity as décalage).
Related Concept Videos
Self-Discrepancy Theory
Cognitive Dissonance
Revisionist Views of Adolescent and Adult Cognition
Schizophrenia
Negative and Cognitive Symptoms of Schizophrenia
Negative Symptoms
Negative symptoms of schizophrenia manifest as deficits in normal emotional and behavioral functioning, profoundly impacting daily life. Individuals with schizophrenia often display a flat affect, characterized by a near-total absence of emotional expression,...
Self-Discrepancy and Its Effects

