At issue: Vulnerability to schizophrenia and lack of common sense

This article explores the hypothesis that the relational deficit in schizop hrenia is not a consequence of acute symptoms and course but instead is a f undamental aspect of schizophrenic vulnerability. This basic relational def icit could be better understood as disconnectedness from common sense. Comm on sense is a tool for adaptation whose main scope is establishing cause-an d-effect and motivational relationships in the physical and social realms. The common sense deficit appears to involve a lack of intuitive attunement (impaired capacity to accurately typify the mental states of other persons because of the incapacity to be involved in their mental lives) and a damag ed social knowledge network (disorders of the background of knowledge usefu l for organizing everyday experiences). Three dimensions of schizophrenic v ulnerability can be distinguished: the sensory, conceptualization, and atti tudinal dimensions. Sensory disorders are aberrations of self, body, and wo rld perceptions. Conceptualization disorders are disturbances in the attrib ution of meanings and intentions. Attitudinal disorders consist of eccentri cities in the individual's structure of values and beliefs, characterized b y distrust toward conventional knowledge and attunement. This article descr ibes the present state and possible future directions of qualitative analys es and empirical investigations relevant to assessing the interplay between vulnerability dimensions and disorders of common sense.