Effects of the label "schizophrenia" on causal attributions of violence

We investigated the relation between the label of "schizophrenia" and causa l attributions of violence. Undergraduates read 1 of 10 scenarios in which two variables were manipulated: a psychiatric label and environmental stres s. The scenario described an employee who acted violently toward his boss. Subjects made causal attributions for the employee's behavior by completing an adapted version of the Causal Dimension Scale LT. Subjects also complet ed a questionnaire designed to explore several issues concerning the effect s of the schizophrenia label on perceptions of behavior. Contrary to the pr imary hypothesis, the schizophrenia label did not lead subjects to make sig nificantly more personality causal attributions for violent behavior. With increasing environmental stress, subjects did make significantly fewer pers onality attributions, A follow-up study using practicing clinicians as subj ects yielded similar findings. The results of these studies are discussed i n light of perceived stereotypes of persons with schizophrenia and conceptu al issues in attribution research.