Individuals with schizophrenia display behaviour inconsistent with learned social impressions during a gambling task

Area of Science:

• Social Psychology
• Clinical Psychology
• Neuroscience

Background:

• Social perception research often relies on static stimuli, limiting understanding of dynamic social interactions.
• Investigating social judgment in schizophrenia spectrum disorder requires dynamic, interactive paradigms.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare social judgment and behavioral strategy adjustments in individuals with schizophrenia spectrum disorder versus community controls during simulated social interactions.
• To assess impression formation and adaptive behavioral responses in a dynamic social environment.

Main Methods:

• 29 individuals with schizophrenia spectrum disorder and 28 community controls interacted with three distinct virtual partners in a gambling task over 25 rounds.
• Participants rated their liking, trust, and desire to re-engage with each partner after interactions.
• Behavioral data (gambling amounts) were analyzed for strategy adjustments based on partner behavior.

Main Results:

• Both groups rated partners differently based on returned money (positive > neutral > negative).
• Individuals with schizophrenia did not adjust gambling amounts across partners, unlike community controls who modified their wagers.
• Community controls adjusted gambling strategies, but their ratings of neutral and positive partners were not significantly different.

Conclusions:

• Individuals with schizophrenia demonstrate intact social impression formation based on partner behavior.
• A dissociation exists between social impression formation and subsequent behavioral adaptation in schizophrenia spectrum disorder.
• Findings highlight differences in dynamic social strategy adjustment between schizophrenia and control groups.