00100	 A SYMBOL-PROCESSING THEORY OF THE PARANOID MODE
00200	
00300	           
00400	Hypotheses and Assumptions
00500	
00600		A theory consists of a conjunction  of  main  and  subsidiary
00700	hypotheses   (process   specifications),   simplifying   assumptions,
00800	boundary conditions  and  statements  of  initial  conditions  (state
00900	specifications). Underlying the theory are numerous other assumptions
01000	and presuppositions.
01100		While  paranoid  processes  represent a disorder at one level
01200	since they do not conform to norms, the observable regularities imply
01300	an  order  at another level. To account for this order, the theory of
01400	the paranoid mode to be described posits a structure or  organization
01500	of  interacting  symbolic  procedures.     These procedures and their
01600	interactions are supplemented in the theory by a number of  auxiliary
01700	assumptions and tacit presuppositions some of which will be described
01800	as the story unfolds. Since the theoretical ideas will  be  expressed
01900	in natural language, this formulation of the theory will of necessity
02000	have indefinite content.
02100		In explaining human symbolic conduct I presuppose a schema of
02200	intentionalistic action and non-action which can be described in  the
02300	form of a practical inference:
02400		AN AGENT A WANTS SITUATION S TO OBTAIN
02500		A BELIEVES THAT IN ORDER FOR S TO OBTAIN, A MUST DO X
02600		THEREFORE A PLANS, TRIES OR PROCEEDS TO DO X
02700	An agent is taken here to be human. "To do" means to produce, prevent
02800	or  allow  something  to happen. The agent's power to do X (intrinsic
02900	and extrinsic enabling conditions) is assumed.   X  can  be  multiple
03000	sequential  or  concurrent  actions  and includes mental action (e.g.
03100	deciding) as  well  as  physical action (e.g.talking).   It  is  also
03200	presupposed  in  this  action-schema  that,    in doing X, A receives
03300	feedback as to whether S is coming about, i.e.    whether doing X  is
03400	successful  or  not  in obtaining S.  Thus an intention is defined to
03500	consist of a wish, a belief, and an action which may be carried  out,
03600	interrupted and diverted or simply planned.
03700		The  major  processes,  posited in the thory as governing the
03800	paranoid  mode,  involve  an  organization   of   symbol-manipulating
03900	procedures or strategies at one level executed by an interpreter at a
04000	higher level.   A serial execution of these strategies is assumed  to
04100	begin  with  "censuring"  procedures which judge an action, desire or
04200	state of the self to reflect an inadequacy or  defectiveness  in  the
04300	eyes of others as well as the self.
04400		It is assumed that the interpreter next attempts a simulation
04500	of  assigning  blame  or  censure  to  the self.  If the self accepts
04600	blame, the  trial  simulation  detects  an  affect-signal  of  shame,
04700	warning  of an imminent potential humiliation for personal failure or
04800	imperfection.   Humiliation signifies an unacceptable  self  despised
04900	by  others. The detection in the simulation serves as an anticipatory
05000	warning not to actually execute the self-censuring procedure since it
05100	will  result  in  the  painful  re-experiencing of the toxic negative
05200	affect-state  of  humiliation.  To   forestall   this   exposure   of
05300	inadequacy,  an  alternative strategy of assigning blame to others is
05400	next simulated and found  not  to  eventuate  warnings  of  impending
05500	humiliation. Hence it is executed.  It operates to repudiate that the
05600	self is to blame for an inadequacy and  to  ascribe  blame  to  other
05700	human agents.   Now it is not the self who is unaccpetable because of
05800	inadequacy; instead it is that the self is wronged by others.
05900		These internal strategies for the prevention  of  humiliation
06000	are  only  partially  effective because of the nature of their output
06100	consequences.  They can misfire since the  output  counteractions  in
06200	which others are blamed may result in the self undergoing censure and
06300	condemnations  from  others  who  retaliate.   In  this   sense   the
06400	forestalling   strategies  are  inefficient  since  the  blaming  and
06500	accusing of others can paradoxically lead to what the self  wants  to
06600	avoid, namely shame and humiliation for personal inadequacy. Hostile,
06700	antagonistic and belittling behavior provokes and  alienates  others.
06800	The  locus  of  censure  is  shifted  from the self to others but the
06900	countering actions designed to  blame  others  and  redress  believed
07000	wrongs,  have  paradoxical  repercussions  which  expose  the self to
07100	censure  and  amplify  rather  than  reduce  the  very  states  these
07200	strategies are attempting to forestall.
07300	
07400		The  presuppositions  sketched  above  are not represented as
07500	procedures in the model-version to be described.   The model's actual
07600	strategies,  represented  in  the algorithm, begin with a scan of the
07700	input searching for conceptualizations as defined in Fig. 1.      The
07800	definition-rules  are  embodied  in the behavior of the model but are
07900	not  represented  as  such  in  the  algorithm  itself.  Using   this
08000	classification  scheme,  the  model attempts to identify the input as
08100	malevolent , benevolent or neutral. For example, to follow  one  path
08200	through  the  definition rules, malevolence is defined as mental harm
08300	or  physical  threat;  mental  harm  is  defined  as  humiliation  or
08400	subjugation;  humiliation  is defined as explicit or implicit insult;
08500	implicit insult consists of conceptualizations such as  those  listed
08600	in   Fig.   1.   If  the  input  strategies  succeed  in  recognizing
08700	malevolence, increases in negative affect-states of fear,  anger  and
08800	mistrust  occur  and  output strategies are executed in an attempt to
08900	reduce the other's malevolent effects.  If benevolence is detected in
09000	the  input, negative affect states decrease and an attempt is made to
09100	tell a "story" seeking self-affirmation and self-vindication from the
09200	other.   If  the  input  is  deemed  neutral,  a neutral non-paranoid
09300	response is given. The  output  actions  of  the  paranoid  mode  are
09400	grouped  into  reducing  persecution by retribution or by withdrawal.
09500	Retribution is intended to drive the other  away  whereas  withdrawal
09600	removes the self from the sphere of the malevolent other.
09700		The above informal formulation summarizes a series of posited
09800	operations in an organization of symbol-processing procedures.    The
09900	details of these procedures  and  their  interactions  will  be  made
10000	explicit  when  the central processes of the model are described (see
10100	p.000 ).
10200		The theory is circumscribed in that it  attempts  to  explain
10300	only certain symbolic phenomena of a particular type of episode, i.e.
10400	an interview.  It does not attempt to explain, for example,  why  the
10500	censuring  process  condemns particular actions or states of the self
10600	as inadequate nor how any of these procedures develop over time in  a
10700	person's  paranoidogenic socialization.      Thus it does not provide
10800	an ontogenetic  explanation  of  how  an  organization  of  processes
10900	evolved  and  grew  to  be  the  way  it is.     The model is further
11000	circumscribed in that it  offers  an  explanation  only  of  how  the
11100	organization
11200	operates in  the  ethogenesis  of  symbolic behavior occurring in the
11300	present in a psychiatric interview.
11400		Some evidence bearing on the posited processes  will  now  be
11500	discussed.  Evidential support for processes which attempt to contend
11600	with a malevolent other comes from clinical observations  of  normal,
11700	neurotic   and   psychotic  paranoias.   The  agent  may  report  his
11800	self-monitoring directly to an  observer  commenting  that  his,  for
11900	example,  hostile  remarks  are  intended to retaliate for a believed
12000	wrong at the hands of the other. 
12100		The process of scanning for malevolence has both clinical and
12200	experimental  evidence to support it.    Clinicians are familiar with
12300	the darting eye-movements of psychotic paranoids. Patients themselves
12400	report  their  hypervigilance  as  intended  to   detect   signs   of
12500	malevolence.    Silverman  (1964)  and  Venables (1964) have reported
12600	experiments indicating that paranoid schizophrenics more  extensively
12700	scan their visual fields and have a greater breadth of attention than
12800	other schizophrenic patients.
12900		In  considering  the  presuppositions  of  censure and blame,
13000	direct  evidence  is  hard  to  come  by  and  hence  such  auxiliary
13100	assumtions  are on shakier ground. For centuries it has been a common
13200	observation that paranoids tend  to  accuse  others  of  actions  and
13300	states  which  hold  true  for  themselves  according  to  an outside
13400	observer.   In a classic paranoid clash 300 years ago, Newton, citing
13500	a  strategy  he  was  familiar with (only in others, of course), said
13600	about Leibniz: "he himself is guilty  of  what  he  complains  of  in
13700	others" (Manuel, 1968).      A  process  of  ascription has also been
13800	offered to account for the particular  selectivity  involved  in  the
13900	hypersensitivity  to  criticism.      That is, why does a man believe
14000	others will ridicule him about his appearance  unless  some  part  of
14100	himself believes his appearance to be defective?
14200		The obscurity of the relation between what the  self  expects
14300	as  malevolence  and the self's own properties is well illustrated in
14400	hypotheses which have attempted to explain the  paranoid  mode  as  a
14500	consequence  of  homosexual  conflict. It has long been observed that
14600	some (not all) paranoid patients are excessively concerned  with  the
14700	topic  of  homosexuality.    Several studies of hospitalized paranoid
14800	schizophrenics show them to be  preoccupied  with  homosexuality  far
14900	more than the nonpsychotic controls. (See Klaf and Davis ,1960). Such
15000	evidence may be interpreted as  having  generative  implications  for
15100	some  patients.      If  homosexual  interests  are  evaluated by the
15200	censuring  process  an  inadequate,  unacceptable  self,   then   the
15300	ethogenesis  of  the paranoid mode on these grounds becomes plausible
15400	as a  limiting  case  in  a  more  general  process  of  forestalling
15500	humiliation.     There  is  also  a non-negligible probablity that an
15600	agent, doubtful of his own sexuality, might expect to be  accused  of
15700	homosexuality  in a community which censures homosexuality. In such a
15800	community homosexuals trying to "pass" are  of  necessity  suspicious
15900	since they must be on guard against stigmatizing detection.
16000		It is obvious that self-censuring processes contribute to the
16100	regulation of human conduct. But are  distortions  of  self-censuring
16200	and  blaming  processes  the  ontogenetic  core of the paranoid mode?
16300	Heilbrun and Norbert (1971) have shown that  paranoid  schizophrenics
16400	are  more sensitive to maternal censure as measured by the disruption
16500	of a cognitive task by a tape-recording of  a  mother  censuring  her
16600	son. Further experimental evidence is needed along these lines.
16700		To embody the theory more comprehensively, the model might be
16800	extended in two ways. First, it could be made more dynamic over time.
16900	The model-version described here changes only over the  course  of  a
17000	single  interview.   To  explore  how  changes  can  be brought about
17100	through external symbolic input, the model should  have  capabilities
17200	for  self-modification  over  longer  periods  of  time  in  which it
17300	interacts with a number of interviewers. Such capacities  would  also
17400	allow  the  model  to  make retrospective misinterpretations, namely,
17500	reinterpreting old input as  malevolent  although  it  was  initially
17600	deemed as benevolent or neutral. A further use of more dynamic models
17700	could be to explore the ontogenesis of the paranoid  mode,  that  is,
17800	how   a  non-paranoid   symbolic   system  becomes  paranoid  through
17900	socializing interactions.
18000		An extension of the theory  would  involve  the  addition  of
18100	hypotheses   to   account   for   properties   such   as   arrogance,
18200	contemptuousness, and grandeur which are often found associated  with
18300	malevolence  convictions.     Implementation and integration of these
18400	hypotheses  in  the  model  would  complexify  it  to  increase   its
18500	comprehensiveness  by  extending  its repertoire of ethogenic powers.
18600	In widening the scope of a simulation one attempts  to  increase  its
18700	explanatory  power by covering a greater range of facts while keeping
18800	the model consistent. Naturally, accuracy rather than  range  is  the
18900	more fundamental desideratum.
19000	
19100	Initial Conditions
19200		When  a  theory  is  embodied  in a concrete operating model,
19300	representations of lawlike generalizations (in  this  case,  tendency
19400	statements   about   rule-governed   strategies)  are  combined  with
19500	representations  of  singular  conditions,  usually  termed  "initial
19600	conditions".    In  constructing  a  simulation  one  can  attempt to
19700	reproduce the behavior of an actual individual who  is  a  member  of
19800	some well-defined class such as "paranoid".   Another approach, which
19900	we adopted, is to construct a hypothetical individual whose  symbolic
20000	behavior will produce characteristic effects on expert judges leading
20100	him to be placed in the class "paranoid".   The  singular  statements
20200	describing  the  initial  conditions  of  our hypothetical individual
20300	follow.
20400		He is a 28 year old single Protestant male  who  works  as  a
20500	stockclerk at Sears, a large department store. He has no siblings and
20600	lives alone, seldom seeing his parents. He  is  sensitive  about  his
20700	parents,  his  religion  and  about  sex.  His  hobby  is gambling on
20800	horseracing, both at tracks and through bookies. A few months ago  he
20900	became  involved  in  a  severe  quarrel  with a bookie, claiming the
21000	bookie did not pay off a bet. After the quarrel, it occurred  to  him
21100	that  bookies  pay  protection to the underworld and that this bookie
21200	might gain revenge by having him injured or killed by the  Mafia.  He
21300	is eager to tell his story and to get help in protecting him from the
21400	underworld. He is willing to answer questions  about    non-sensitive
21500	areas  of his life and offers hints about his delusional system in an
21600	attempt to feel out the interviewer's attitude towards him.
21700		Because communication with the model  (affectionately  called
21800	PARRY)  takes  place  in the context of a psychiatric interview using
21900	unrestricted English, the first operations of the model  involve  the
22000	recognition of expressions characteristic of conversational language.