CONCEPT FORMATION IN THE SCHIZOPHRENIC CHILD: A STUDY OF EGO DEVELOPMENT.

The present study was designed to measure objectively ego functioning in the schizophrenic child by evaluating conceptual thinking, or in other words, the level at which the schizophrenic child conceives of the relationship of environmental objects. Dynamic psychology, with its recent emphasis on the role of ego impairment in psychopathology, postulates that childhood schizophrenia is the consequence of defective ego development. From the foregoing, it would follow that if the schizophrenic child has defective ego development, its concept formation should be severely impaired. Thought characteristics of the unconscious should be palpable in the schizophrenic child when he attempts to determine object relationships, i.e., symbolism idiosyncrasies, etc