FLAT AFFECT IN SCHIZOPHRENIA DOES NOT REFLECT DIMINISHED SUBJECTIVE EXPERIENCE OF EMOTION

Although accorded historical significance. affective features of schiz ophrenia have only begun to receive systematic empirical attention. In terestingly, both early psychopathology writers and more recent invest igators have reported frequent discrepancies between schizophrenics' f eelings and outward expressions of emotion. Using a more comprehensive assessment of emotion, the present study examines the relationship be tween emotional experience and expression in a sample of medication-fr ee schizophrenics. Compared with their normal counterparts, schizophre nics were indeed much less facially expressive of both positive and ne gative emotions during emotion-eliciting films. yet they reported expe riencing as much positive and negative emotion. Therefore, the blunted affect typical of some schizophrenics misrepresents their underlying emotional experience. Future research into an inhibition hypothesis is recommended.