Affective differential: comparison of emotion profiles gained from clinical judgment and patient self-report

Narcotic addicts comprising 2 diagnostic groups as defined by MMPI profile types (49′ sociopathic and 468′ paranoid) were selected to test the validity of emotion profiles gleaned from affective differential ratings, the affective differential methodology and the assumption that patients with different character structures have measurable differences in emotion profiles. Comparisons were made between the patient groups and between profiles gleaned from clinicians' ratings and the patients' self-reports. Emotion profile differences were demonstrated between paranoid and sociopathic patient groups. The clinicians' ratings tended to exaggerate the intensity of the emotions, making differences between profile types greater than those differences observed from patient self-reports. The results supported the hypothesis that persons with different character structures have different emotion profiles but not to the degree first reported by clinicians.