[Reducing ambiguity: semantic statistical studies of "normal" probands, neurotic patients, borderline patients and...

The present study tries to answer three questions: 1.) Do patients with neurotic disorders differ from normals by a stronger tendency to avoid or reduce ambiguity? 2.) Does the tendency to avoid or reduce ambiguity increase with increasing ambiguity of the stimulus? 3.) Does the avoidance or reduction of ambiguity increase with affects of anxiety and hostility? In order to answer these questions, Ertel's dogmatism-dictionary was applied to the answers of 30 normals, 30 patients with neurotic disorders, 30 borderline-patients, 25 acute and 25 chronic schizophrenics in the Holtzman Inkblot Technique (HIT). According to the results, (1) patients with neurotic disorders do not differ from normals by a stronger tendency to avoid or reduce ambiguity. 2.) The tendency to avoid or reduce ambiguity increases with measures of increasing stimulus ambiguity of the HIT cards in all diagnostic groups studied with the exception of chronic schizophrenics. As far as response ambiguity (variability of interpretation) is concerned, only in chronic schizophrenics the tendency to avoid or reduce ambiguity decreases with increasing response ambiguity. 3.) The avoidance or reduction of ambiguity increases with affects of anxiety and/or aggression assessed by HIT-measures in all diagnostic groups studied with the exception of normals and chronic schizophrenics. In both normals and chronic schizophrenics, the reduction of ambiguity decreases significantly with increasing anxiety, in chronic schizophrenics the reduction of ambiguity decreases significantly with an increase of low levels of aggression.