Judging emotions of normal and schizophrenic subjects

Thirty-two nursing students were shown silent films in which 10 normal and 10 schizophrenic women described a happy, sad, and an angry personal experience. Accuracy in judging the content of films of normal subjects was associated with social detachment and mechanical interests, whereas accuracy in judging the emotions of the schizophrenic subjects was associated with social involvement and nursing interests. Further, the students nurses' ability to relate to patients, as judged by their nursing supervisors, was associated with their ability to accurately identify the nonverbal emotional communications of the schizophrenic patients but not of the normal persons.