Adaptation in Schizophrenia. The Theory of Segmental Set: David Shakow, Ph.D. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1979. 245 pp.

As an experimental psychologist, Shakow devoted half a century to his research efforts on schizophrenia. This book, crystallized out of Shakow's work in his long association with the psychological laboratories at the Worcester State Hospital and the National Institute of Mental Health, "conceptualizes and analyzes the major differences between schizophrenia and normal psychological processes by delineating the stimulus/internal process/response functions (the basic operations of behavior) and the accompanying processes of perception and segmental sets" (p. 151).

On the basis of data derived from five groups of research experiments—physiological, physiopsychological, psychophysiological, experimental psychological and clinical psychological, Shakow came to the conclusion that, in terms of the stimulus/internal process/response model, a schizophrenic patient's stimulus receptive system is not at fault, but his or her responses are "out of balance in their cognitive, affective, and conative aspects, as well as in their speed, intensity, and content" (p. 151). Thus, Shakow states, "My hypothesis is that generalized set is not available to [a schizophrenic]. During schizophrenic episodes, it has been replaced by segmental set, a pathological state of set functioning" (p. 15).

Since some of the terms used in previous quotations are more familiar to experimental psychologists than to practicing psychoanalysts, it might be helpful to have these terms clarified. According to Shakow, "set" is "the mechanism nature has provided to make attending more efficient, enabling the organism to adapt more effectively to the increasing complexities of its expanding and changing environment. Set presumes the existence of structures that obviate the necessity of a new act of attending with each change in sensation or response, but nevertheless allows for continuing change" (p. 13). "Attending"