Assessment of affect in schizophrenia. Reliability data.

Pathological affect--impairment of facial expressiveness and demeanor--is a common manifestation of the schizophrenic process. In this study, empirically defined and statistically independent concepts of affectual range, mobility, appropriateness, and communicability were rated by 30 professionals and paraprofessionals from special videotapes of 22 chronic schizophrenics. Reliability of the ratings, measured by correlations among and across parameters and rater types, averaged r = .70, notably better than that of the same raters using traditional subjective clinical judgment (r = .54). There was little disagreement among psychiatrists, psychology interns, junior medical students, or social workers/nurses, nor were any of those groups significantly more reliable than the average for all raters. Significant trends toward low reliability of the appropriateness parameter are pointed out and possible clinical relevance is discussed.