Schizotypy: looking back and moving forward.

This article introduces and reviews the history of the construct of schizotypy for the special section appearing in the journal. Schizotypy offers a useful construct for understanding the etiology, development, and expression of schizophrenia-spectrum psychopathology and a unifying construct for linking a broad continuum of clinical and subclinical manifestations. The article reviews the descriptive psychopathology roots of schizotypy, Meehl and Claridge's classical formulations of the construct (including the debate about dimensional vs taxonic structure), and the need for a comprehensive, multidimensional model of schizotypy. The article briefly reviews the wide empirical literature supporting schizotypy and also examines several criticisms and misconceptions about the construct and research methods used to assess it. Finally, the article offers several suggested goals for future schizotypy research.