Gordon Sidney Claridge was a British

psychologist A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and interpretation of how indi ...

and author, best known for his theoretical and empirical work on the concept of

schizotypy In psychology, schizotypy is a theoretical concept that posits a continuum of personality characteristics and experiences, ranging from normal dissociative, imaginative states to extreme states of mind related to psychosis, especially schizophrenia ...

or psychosis-proneness.

Biography

Claridge took his first degree in Psychology at

University College, London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = � ...

, in 1953. His PhD work was at the

Institute of Psychiatry The Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience (IoPPN) is a research institution dedicated to discovering what causes mental illness and diseases of the brain. In addition, its aim is to help identify new treatments for them and ways ...

, London, jointly supervised by

Hans Eysenck Hans Jürgen Eysenck (; 4 March 1916 – 4 September 1997) was a German-born British psychologist who spent his professional career in Great Britain. He is best remembered for his work on intelligence and personality, although he worked on other ...

and Neil O’Connor. He qualified under in-service training as a clinical psychologist, and from 1957-61 worked as Eysenck’s Research Assistant, based in the

Royal Victoria Military Hospital The Royal Victoria Hospital or Netley Hospital was a large military hospital in Netley, near Southampton, Hampshire, England. Construction started in 1856 at the suggestion of Queen Victoria but its design caused some controversy, chiefly from ...

, Netley, Southampton. Claridge then moved to

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

as Head of

Clinical Psychology Clinical psychology is an integration of social science, theory, and clinical knowledge for the purpose of understanding, preventing, and relieving psychologically based distress or dysfunction and to promote subjective well-being and persona ...

Barrow Hospital Barrow Hospital (sometimes referred to as Barrow Gurney Hospital) was a psychiatric hospital in Barrow Gurney, Somerset, United Kingdom. Foundation By the mid-1920s, the existing Beaufort War Hospital, City of Bristol Mental Hospital at Stapleton ...

and part-time lecturer in the

Bristol University , mottoeng = earningpromotes one's innate power (from Horace, ''Ode 4.4'') , established = 1595 – Merchant Venturers School1876 – University College, Bristol1909 – received royal charter , type ...

Department of Psychology. From 1964-74 he ran the

Glasgow University , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

clinical psychology training course as (eventually) Reader in Clinical Psychology. He was awarded a DSc from Glasgow University in 1971. In 1974 Claridge moved to Oxford as

University Lecturer Lecturer is an academic rank within many universities, though the meaning of the term varies somewhat from country to country. It generally denotes an academic expert who is hired to teach on a full- or part-time basis. They may also conduct res ...

Abnormal Psychology Abnormal psychology is the branch of psychology that studies unusual patterns of behavior, emotion, and thought, which could possibly be understood as a mental disorder. Although many behaviors could be considered as abnormal, this branch of ps ...

at the Department of

Experimental Psychology Experimental psychology refers to work done by those who apply experimental methods to psychological study and the underlying processes. Experimental psychologists employ human participants and animal subjects to study a great many topics, in ...

and Fellow of

Magdalen College Magdalen College (, ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by William of Waynflete. Today, it is the fourth wealthiest college, with a financial endowment of £332.1 million as of 2019 and one of the st ...

. For the first five years of this appointment he ran the

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

clinical psychology training course. He was

Emeritus Professor ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

at Oxford University and Emeritus Fellow of

. He was also Visiting Professor in the Department of Psychology,

Oxford Brookes University Oxford Brookes University (formerly known as Oxford Polytechnic (United Kingdom), Polytechnic) is a public university, public university in Oxford, England. It is a new university, having received university status through the Further and High ...

. He was a Fellow of the

British Psychological Society The British Psychological Society (BPS) is a representative body for psychologists and psychology in the United Kingdom. History It was founded on 24 October 1901 at University College London (UCL) as ''The Psychological Society'', the organ ...

, Associate of the

Royal College of Psychiatrists The Royal College of Psychiatrists is the main professional organisation of psychiatrists in the United Kingdom, and is responsible for representing psychiatrists, for psychiatric research and for providing public information about mental health ...

, and a past president of the

International Society for the Study of Individual Differences The International Society for the Study of Individual Differences (ISSID) is a scientific society founded in 1983. According to its by-laws, the Society exists to "foster research on Individual Differences, individual differences in temperament, in ...

. Claridge died in Oxford on 3 May 2021, aged 89.

Research

Claridge was best known for his work in developing the theoretical construct of

. Schizotypy is the putative dimension, normally distributed throughout the population, whose defining characteristic is that of proneness to develop

schizophrenia Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by continuous or relapsing episodes of psychosis. Major symptoms include hallucinations (typically hearing voices), delusions, and disorganized thinking. Other symptoms include social withdra ...

in particular and

psychosis Psychosis is a condition of the mind that results in difficulties determining what is real and what is not real. Symptoms may include delusions and hallucinations, among other features. Additional symptoms are incoherent speech and behavior ...

in general. Schizotypy as a concept overlaps, partially but not completely, with Eysenck’s concept of

psychoticism Psychoticism is one of the three traits used by the psychologist Hans Eysenck in his P–E–N model (psychoticism, extraversion and neuroticism) model of personality. Nature Psychoticism is conceptually similar to the ''constraint'' factor i ...

. Factor analytical studies of schizotypy by Claridge and others using questionnaire measures suggest it has up to four relatively independent components. Research also suggests that in some people milder forms of schizotypy may be adaptive and linked to creativity.

Bibliography

*''Personality and Arousal'', 1967 *''Drugs and Human Behaviour'', 1970 (with S. Canter & W.E. Hume) *''Personality Differences and Biological Variations'', 1973 *''Origins of Mental Illness'', 1985 *''Sounds from the Bell Jar: Ten Psychotic Authors'', 1990 (with R. Pryor & G. Watkins) *''Schizotypy: Implications for Illness and Health'', 1997 (edited) *''Personality and Psychological Disorders'', 2003 (with C. Davis) *''Psychopathology and personality dimensions: The Selected works of Gordon Claridge'', 2018

Selected papers

* Cyhlarova E, Claridge G. (2005). Development of a version of the Schizotypy Traits Questionnaire (STA) for screening children. ''Schizophrenia Research'', 80, 253-261. * Rawlings, D., Barrentes-Vidal, N., Claridge, G., McCreery, C., and Galanos, G. (2000). A factor analytic study of the Hypomanic Personality Scale in British, Spanish and Australian samples. ''Personality and Individual Differences'', 28, 73-84. * Claridge, G., Clark, K., Davis, C., & Mason, O. (1998). Schizophrenia risk and handedness: a mixed picture. ''Laterality'', 3, 209-220. * Claridge, G., Clark, K., & Davis, C. (1997). Nightmares, dreams and schizotypy. ''British Journal of Clinical Psychology'', 36, 377-386. * Claridge, G., McCreery, C., Mason, O., Bentall, R., Boyle, G., Slade, P., & Popplewell, D. (1996). The factor structure of 'schizotypal' traits: A large replication study. ''British Journal of Clinical Psychology'', 35, 103-115.

External links

A partial list of Claridge’s scientific papers
{{DEFAULTSORT:Claridge, Gordon British psychologists Fellows of Magdalen College, Oxford Alumni of University College London Schizophrenia researchers Academics of Oxford Brookes University Academics of the University of Bristol Academics of the University of Glasgow Living people Year of birth missing (living people)