The Human Male Socialisation Strategy Set:  Co-operation, Defection, Individualism and Schizotypy

by John S. Price and Anthony Stevens

Evolution and Human Behavior, 1998, volume 19, pp. 57-70

Abstract

We suggest that it may be useful to regard variation in behaviour as representing alternative strategies in one or more strategy sets.  These may throw light both on normal variation and on those variations which are regarded as psychopathology.  A simple scheme considers four strategies in a "socialisation strategy set".  These are the "coalitional", "defector", "homesteader" and "schizotypal" strategies, each one manifesting differently in high and low self-esteem people.   The male coalitional strategy described by van der Dennen leads men to band together for hunting and warfare (van der Dennen, 1995);  to achieve this they internalise the norms of the group and they live an extroverted existence.  Similar to this but without internalisation of norms is the "defector" strategy, recognised clinically as the sociopath and from the genetic point of view as a free-rider.  Leading to geographical dispersion is the individualistic or "homesteader" strategy in which there is preference for a single family unit and the life-style is one of introversion.  The schizotypal strategy leads to the formation of a cult with an ideology at variance with that of the parent group, and thus to group splitting.    Orthogonal to this strategy set is the high/low self-esteem strategy set, which is responsible for the variation in the personality trait of neuroticism.   The schizotypal strategy is seen in the context of previous ideas about the adaptive value of the genetic predisposition to psychotic illness.  Some implications of the model for research and treatment are discussed.

KEY WORDS:  Psychosis; Personality disorder; Group splitting; Self-esteem; Behavioural ecology; Strategy sets.

"There is no dogma so queer, no behaviour so eccentric or even outrageous, but a group of people can be found to think it divinely inspired."

Aldous Huxley.  Justifications,  From The Olive Tree.  London:  Chatto and Windus, 1936.

Following the lead of behavioural ecology, it has been found useful to regard variation in behaviour as alternative strategies in a strategy set (Krebs & Davies, 1993;  Daan & Tinbergen, 1997).  In animals, the difference in lifestyle of individuals adopting different strategies may be extreme.  In many species of bird, some members of a population migrate for the winter, while others stay in the summer territory (Dingle, 1996).  The varied reproductive strategies of male fish are well known, and these involve not only behavioural but also morphological variation (Keenleyside, 1979).  In the house mouse, two discrete strategies have been found to affect intraspecific attack latency, with individuals of short latency favoured in the sympatric environment and those of long latency favoured on dispersal (Sluyter et al., 1996).  Indeed, we should expect behaviour associated with dispersal to be subject to variation, in view of the varied environments that dispersal brings the animal into contact with.  In humans, alternative reproductive strategies have been suggested both for males and for females (Buss, 1994).

   Of particular interest are human dispersal strategies (Little and Baker, 1988), and the possibility that the genetic substrate of psychosis might facilitate group splitting (Stevens & Price, 1996;  Price and Stevens, in press).  The splitting of human groups is varied and complex (Eibl-Eibesfeldt, 1970), but for our purpose we can recognise two main types, depending on whether or not the daughter group retains the ideology of the parent group.  In colonisation and the sort of splitting along kinship lines seen, for instance, in the Yanomamo (Chagnon, 1980), the group norms of the parent group are maintained in both daughter groups.  In another type of splitting, one daughter group breaks off from the main group with a new set of norms, beliefs and standards.  This latter type of splitting occurs in our own society in the formation of cults, in which a prophet or cult leader forms a new ideology, collects a group of followers, and takes them off into some form of "promised land".  We explore the possibility that the sort of mental apparatus which allows the prophet to reject the norms of his parent group and form a new set of beliefs may, if circumstances are not favourable, result in psychosis or what used in the nineteenth century to be called delusional insanity.

   It would not be appropriate here to enumerate the costs and benefits for an individual forming, or joining, a new group.  It is, above all, a high risk strategy, with the likelihood of extinction but the possibility of an adaptive radiation if a new environment can be successfully mastered.  We would, instead, like to draw attention to the relative advantages of the two types of splitting we have mentioned:  fission along kinship lines and cult formation. 

Group Splitting:  By Kinship or Cult?

We can envisage three main phases in the natural history of a primitive hunter/gatherer band:  growth, competition and division.  In the growth phase, the population increases, and the young recruits are indoctrinated into the ideology of the group.  In the competition phase, the cohesiveness of the group is important in ensuring the elimination or subjugation of neighbouring groups;  in this phase, there is a premium on group loyalty, and aggression is directed outward to other groups.  When neighbouring groups have been eliminated or subjugated, the group moves into the splitting phase, and, in the absence of neighbours to blame for unfavourable events, aggression is directed to fellow group members.  This facilitates both types of group splitting, particularly when a sub-group becomes disadvantaged.  However, it is not easy for a group to split, because the bonds formed in the cohesive stage are strong and the group members are thoroughly indoctrinated (Eibl-Eibesfeldt, 1982).  In this situation, cult formation is likely to accelerate the process of splitting, because the formation of a new ideology not only permits splitting but demands it, as any new ideology is likely to alienate its adherents from the main group.  It is characteristic of cults that they alienate their members from their families of origin, which accentuates the contrast between cult and kinship splitting.  Another advantage of cult formation over colonisation is the introduction of variation in group norms between groups.

Mazeway Resynthesis and Delusion

There are similarities between the revelations of prophets and some of the delusional experiences of psychotic patients.  Wallace (1956, 1970) uses the term "mazeway resynthesis" for the experience by which the prophet comes to a new belief system.  The mazeway is the individual equivalent of culture, and comprises an individual's values, goals, beliefs and his experience of himself, other people and the world as a whole.  Wallace suggests that the mazeway comes under strain in adverse times, and in certain people, usually after an episode of depression or other illness, there is a sudden reorganisation of the mazeway leading to new ideas about the self and the world.  The new ideas are exciting, which, combined with the relief from the previous stress, leads to an elevation of mood and the drive to preach the new mazeway to other people. 

   According to Wallace, the converts (in contrast to the prophet himself) do not undergo mazeway resynthesis, but rather are subject to hysterical conversion, during which they abandon the old mazeway and take on the mazeway preached by the prophet.  They are liable to relapse to the old ways, unless continuously subjected to suggestion by the prophet.  Thus the formation of a new cult requires two different types of psychic reorganisation, one of which occurs in the leader alone and is relatively permanent, the other occurs in the followers and is reversible.

   Some psychotic patients present with experiences which bear a close resemblance to mazeway resynthesis.  This is how Roth (1996) put it:

     "The patient may have already begun to see the outside world as transfigured by elements of threat, mystery, danger and unreality, the 'delusional atmosphere' common in this disorder.  It is at this stage that an overwhelming idea of wide-ranging significance often erupts out of a clear sky in the minds of schizophrenic patients and leaves an indelible impression.  It arrives direct and unmediated by any relevant or understandable antecedent event or experience.  Such a 'primary delusion' instils in the patient the total conviction that he is the new Messiah or the reincarnation of St John the Baptist or Mohammed or a delusion of similar character.  The fear-laden perplexity and confusion of the patient abates for a period.  The world is once again perceived as whole and authentic.  The delusion explains it all.  This symptom marks perhaps the most clear break in the continuity of psychic life of the schizophrenic patient."

Lansky (1977) uses the term "reconstruction of reality" for the change in world-design experienced by the psychotic patient, and he states that a delusion confers a "sense of specialness" on the holder.  The patient may come to "consider himself as a specially ordained pillar of God, the messianic center around which all world phenomena are organised" (Goldwert, 1990).  The City of Jerusalem attracts patients with messianic delusions, and may induce such delusions in formerly stable tourists ((Bar-El et al., 1991).

   A delusion has been defined as a false belief which the social group as a whole does not share (Garety & Hemsley, 1994).  So what makes someone "ill" is the failure to persuade others of the truth of the belief.   All the prophet is doing is asking potential converts to exchange one irrational belief system for another.  According to van der Dennen (1996):

     "Within the framework of social identity theory, there is clearly no requirement that the beliefs regarding the in-group or the out-group be true.  Bigelow (1969) notes that "each group requires something intimate, unique to itself, around which its members can cohere.  Irrational beliefs serve this purpose far better than rational ones: they are not only easier to produce, but also less likely to be confused with enemy beliefs.  Irrational fantasies produce a continuous supply of "group uniforms", promoting and maintaining internal cohesion within each group, and segregation between groups."

Littlewood (1984) argues that "individual delusions may be converted into a shared public culture by the manipulation of previously accepted symbolism..."  and he continues:

     "It is the meaning for the community which determines whether psychotic delusions result in the originator becoming a prophet.  In his study of "charisma" Bryan Wilson (1975) points out that "If a man runs naked down the street proclaiming that he alone can save others from impending doom, and if he immediately wins a following, then he is a charismatic leader:  a social relationship has come into being.  If he does not win a following, then he is simply a lunatic...The very content of "plausibility" is culturally determined.  It may be a more than average endowment of energy, determination, fanaticism, and perhaps intelligence.  Or it may be an altogether different set of attributes, epilepsy, strangeness, what we would regard a mental disorder, or particularly when children are regarded as prophets, even sheer innocence."  If innovation is meaningful it has to respond to certain themes in the audience.  At times of crisis, solutions are likely to be accepted or sought from those who at other times would be stigmatised as mad:  "desperate times need desperate remedies."" (p 708)

Goodman et al. (1974) conclude:

     "Not infrequently in primitive societies the code, or the core of it, is formulated by one individual in the course of a hallucinatory revelation:  such prophetic experiences are apt to launch religiously oriented movements, since the source of the revelation is apt to be regarded as a supernatural being." (p 192).

Murphy (1967) wrote:

     "It is noteworthy that many Messianic movements, both in Africa and the Pacific, are best interpreted as the cultural extension of individual delusions and that they arise in religious settings which emphasise the emotional or non-rational interchange of beliefs between members.  The masses in these movements can be compared to the passive member in a folie-a-deux, not truly delusional themselves but identifying with the delusions of another."

Halligan and Marshall (1996) ask: "A "folie" can be individual or "a deux", but where between three and infinity does a delusion become a cultural given?";  and Gruenberg (1957) notes that the size of group which shares psychopathology may vary "from a pair to a nation". 

   Many studies of cults and revitalisation movements have noted that the leaders are liable both to auditory hallucinations and to sudden changes in beliefs.  The schizotype, we suggest, is someone who has the capacity to shed the commonly held and socially determined world view of his natal group, and to create a unique and arbitrary world view of his own, into which he may indoctrinate others and become a prophet, or fail to indoctrinate others and become a psychotic patient.

   We have argued that the various features seen in psychosis are just what is needed to produce this reversal of belief (Stevens and Price, 1996): in particular, the tendency to form well articulated belief systems which are at odds with the beliefs of the majority, and which are held with utter conviction.  It is this unshakableness of belief which lends charisma to the prophet and unmanagability to the psychotic patient.

SOCIALISATION STRATEGIES

In looking for alternative socialisation strategies in man, we can look at 1) socialisation strategies in animals, particularly the choice between one-male groups and multi-male groups; 2) the dimensions of human personality variation, particularly extraversion/introversion, neuroticism/stability, psychoticism and psychopathy; and 3) the game theory models which have been used to model human behaviour (Pusey and Packer, 1997) such the Prisoner's Dilemma model which deals with co-operation versus defection, and the Hawk/Dove game which deals with escalation versus de-escalation. Basically, one can be an honest co-operator, or a dishonest co-operator, or one can go it alone, or one can choose to play an entirely different game.

The male coalitional strategy

The co-operating option gives us what van der Dennen (1996) has called the "male coalitional strategy" in which a male joins other males to pool their resources for communal hunting or warfare. This is an "honest" strategy in that it does not contain any element of cheating. The beliefs, values, standards and rules of the group are internalised, so that the coalitional male puts the group before himself not because he has to, but because he wants to. In this strategy, individual interest is served by subordinating oneself to the group.

The defector strategy

However, it is a principle in nature that if anything good exists, it will be imitated by a copy which gets the rewards but does not pay the costs. In other words, there will be individuals who appear to be male coalitionals but in fact have not internalised the shared cognitions of the group, and when the crunch comes they put their own interest before that of the group. These are playing a covert defector strategy. It seems likely that if they are "caught out" they are labelled as antisocial personality disorders.

The homesteader strategy

A second alternative to the coalitional strategy is that of "going it alone", not bonding with other males, hunting smaller prey which can be caught by the single hunter, and being vulnerable to assaults by male coalitions. We could call this the "homesteader strategy" which is characterised by traits self-sufficiency and rugged independence. The difference between homesteader and coalitional is probably reflected in the personality dimension of introversion/extraversion, which has been found to be robust and partly inherited. The concept of extraversion has been shown to be composed of two rather separate elements: peer group sociability and impulsiveness. The peer group sociability is clearly something which the coalitional male needs while the homesteader does not. And in the social environment of the extravert, impulsiveness would be an advantage, whereas the homesteader might find qualities of cautiousness more adaptive. There is an analogy here with the two dispersal strategies of the mouse (Sluyter et al., 1996): impulsiveness can be equated with short attack latency, which has been found to be a characteristic of the non-dispersing mouse, whereas the dispersing mouse takes a more considered approach to stimuli. If you are on your own, impulsiveness is a disadvantage. If you are with others, impulsiveness may make the difference between having and not having.

The schizotypal strategy

Let us consider a fourth possible member of the male strategy set: the schizotype. This individual is attracted to the large social group, like the coalitional and the defector. He internalises the beliefs and values of the group, but in a different way from the coalitional male. His receptacle for the group ideology is like a kaleidoscope, and at some stage in his life history he shakes the kaleidoscope and emerges with a new pattern. This new belief system makes it impossible for him to live in the group, and his only option is to leave it, socially if not physically. Here there is a diverging of the ways. The episode of mazeway resynthesis is associated with an urge to spread the message of the new mazeway to others in the group. If this recruitment of followers is successful, the schizotype becomes the prophet or leader of a new "cult", which is genetically isolated from the larger group, and represents the foundation of a new deme or population. If the schizotype is not successful in recruiting followers after his mazeway resynthesis, he becomes ideologically and socially isolated; he cannot live in the group, and yet he has not the social resources to establish a new group. He cannot take a new and enthusiastic cult to their "promised land", but nor can he inhabit the accommodation offered by the group from which he is ideologically divorced. His promised land is then the hermit's cave or the shop doorway of the big city.

THE SELF-ESTEEM STRATEGY SET

The wide variation in lifelong global self-esteem found in all human populations may be conceptualised as a self-esteem strategy set, which in its simplest form contains the alternative strategies of high self-esteem and low self-esteem (Price et al., 1994). Here we are concerned with the interaction between the self-esteem strategy set and the socialisation strategy set. In all cases we may expect circular causality, in that high self-esteem is likely to assist in the development of an optimal socialisation strategy, while the successful achievement of a socialisation strategy is likely to lead to high self-esteem.

In groups of males employing the coalitional strategy, some groups will be egalitarian and some hierarchical in structure. The high self-esteem strategy is likely to facilitate the occupation of high social rank, the low self-esteem strategy is likely to accommodate the individual to low social rank. In egalitarian groups the variation in self-esteem has no obvious function.

In the case of the homesteader strategy, the males may be divided into high self-esteem territory owners and low self-esteem non-owners. Alternatively, low self-esteem males may occupy less desirable territories. For both low-rankers and non-owners, acceptance of reality may come at more than one brain level (Price et al., 1994): high level acceptance is recognised as humility and is not associated with psychopathology; in the absence of high level acceptance, there is likely to be a low level "involuntary subordinate strategy" which is recognised as neuroticism or dysthymic personality disorder.

Those adopting the defector strategy are likely to be high self-esteem people if they are successful in concealing their defecting tendencies from other members of their group (and so may become successful politicians or captains of industry); whereas those who are identified as defectors are likely to be stigmatised by the group and labelled as "cads" or "psychopaths" with associated low self-esteem.

Schizotypal strategists who are successful in gaining a group of followers are likely to be high self-esteem people to start with, and their self-esteem is maintained and raised by the adulation of their adherents (although many prophets also go through phases of "the dark night of the soul" in which their self-esteem may be temporarily lowered). Low or chaotic self-esteem is characteristic of those who fail to win a following and are labelled as psychotic patients (although delusions of grandeur may support high self-esteem on a psychotic basis).

Our suggested relation of socialisation strategies to self-esteem strategies is summarised in Table 1.  Of course, in considering the origin of psychopathology, we must also take account of phenotype/environment interaction, and consider the situation of either the coalitional male or the defector male who finds himself in a homesteader environment, and the homesteader male who finds himself in a coalitional environment. These are likely to result in the non-achievement of biosocial goals, social stress and psychopathology.

Table 1.  Four of the strategies of the socialisation strategy set classified according to the two strategies of the self-esteem strategy set

SOCIALISATION STRATEGY	High self-esteem	Low self-esteem
Coalitional	Political leader	Follower/dysthymic personality*
Defector	Confidence trickster/captain of industry	Psychopath
Homesteader	Successful farmer	Subsistence farmer/dysthymic personality*
Schizotype	Cult leader	Psychotic patient

*The trait of dysthymic personality occurs in those followers and subsistence farmers (or non-territory owners) who do not willingly accept their low status

PREVIOUS WORK ON SCHIZOTYPAL ADVANTAGE

Although the lifetime expectation of developing schizophrenia is relatively low at 1% in both sexes and in most cultures, there is general agreement among psychiatric geneticists that a minor degree of genetic tendency to schizophrenia must confer some advantage, to offset the biological disadvantage suffered by schizophrenic patients themselves, who may be assumed to have inherited a major degree of genetic tendency. Unfortunately, the identification of this advantage has been elusive (e.g., Huxley et al., 1964; Jarvik and Chadwick, 1973; Kellett, 1973; Singh et al., 1981). Some theories have postulated a beneficial pleomorphic effect such as resistance to infection; for instance, Hettema et al. (1996) suggest that resistance by the schizophrenic genotype to viral infection in utero might explain the excess of schizophrenic births in the first quarter of the year, although there are a number of other possible explanations of this robust and challenging observation (Hare et al., 1974). Others have related the benefit to the schizotypal personality structure itself; it is these latter theories with which we are concerned in this paper.

There is certain common ground:

1. The gene or genes which predispose to schizophrenia are identical to those which, in lesser dosage or more favourable environment, give rise to schizotypal personality or "schizotypy" (Kretschmer, 1936; Heston, 1970; Kendler & Walsh, 1995; Battaglia et al., 1995; Claridge et al., 1996). Therefore, if the schizotypal personality can be shown to be fitter than the normal, this fitness would compensate for the reduced fitness of the schizophrenic patients, and there would be a balanced polymorphism, or the polygenic equivalent, along the lines of sickle cell trait.

The factor structure of measures of schizotypal personality tends to map the factor structure of the clinical features of schizophrenia (Vollema & van den Bosch, 1995; Venables, 1995). Claridge et al. (1996) found the main factor component of schizotypy (in normal individuals) was "aberrant perceptions and beliefs" and this corresponds to the "reality distortion" factor (delusions and auditory hallucinations) found by Liddle (1992) in chronic schizophrenic patients (it is this factor which is likely to predispose to "mazeway resynthesis").

2. With an incidence of schizophrenia of 1% and fertility reduced by 30% (Slater & Roth, 1969), mutation rates alone could not maintain the schizoid diathesis in the population, even assuming that mutations at several loci would have the same effect.

3. The genes are not protected from the effects of selection by being recessive. The rates of schizophrenia in parents and siblings of patients are roughly the same, which excludes the possibility of recessivity.

4. Therefore there must be some advantage in the schizotypal diathesis which compensates for the reduced fertility seen in patients.

Three main types of advantage have been considered:

Schizotypal personality flourishes in isolated habitats

The schizophrenic diathesis has been thought to be adaptive in underpopulated, fringe habitats (Slater & Roth, 1969) where the disinclination for social life may have been an advantage and even the auditory hallucinations may have been comforting to the isolated individual. Kellett (1973) pointed out that it is a general rule among species that a territorial social structure tends to emerge in isolated habitats, compared with a hierarchical social structure in crowded habitats (even in the same species, such as certain finches). The schizophrenic genotype is fitted to territorial social structure, because of the capacity of the schizoid person to withstand loneliness. Singh and Gang (1974) commented on Kellett's ideas as follows:

It would seem, therefore, that selection towards social cohesion and stability favours manic-depressive illness whereas that towards social isolation and migration favours schizophrenia. Kellet has interpreted this to mean that the schizoid evolved in a territorially dominated society and that schizophrenia would occur when the territory had been invaded and when the boundaries between the subject and others had been breached, whereas the affective evolved in a hierarchical society and the affective disorder occurred when hierarchical structure became too unstable.

The Odyssean personality

Various aspects of the schizotypal personality have been identified as being advantageous to either the individual or the group. The creativity ascribed to schizotypal people has been thought to give them an advantage. Also, it has been noted (Heston, 1966) that the children of schizophrenics are more religious than the average (although it is not known if this refers to new beliefs or acceptance of existing beliefs).

Jarvik and Chadwick (1973) have suggested that the schizotypal/paranoid personality may be an advantage in an imperfect world characterised by deceit and intense competition. They liken this personality to that of the Greek hero Odysseus, who was described by Homer as suspicious and mistrustful. They quote Slater and Roth (1969) who say:

The tendency to projection as between men, i.e. the belief that others are experiencing the same feelings as oneself, and the tendency to self-reference, i.e. the assumption that outside events are directed towards oneself in a meaningful way, have probably been an aid to human survival, inspiring a sensitivity to the environment which otherwise might not have been given. [Pp. 145-146].

Unfortunately we have no data on the reproductive fitness of the Odyssean personality.

The schizotypal individual as shaman

Erlenmeyer-Kimling and Paradowski (1969) examined the idea that, historically, schizophrenics were esteemed for mystical experiences and enjoyed privileged social status as shamans, prophets or saints (Jarvik & Chadwick, 1973).

This fits with the fact that a high proportion of schizophrenic delusions take a mystical, religious or otherwise transcendent theme, and that the auditory hallucinations of schizophrenia are often attributed to a divine origin, not only by the patient but also sometimes by others.

Erlenmeyer-Kimling and Paradowski (1969) rejected the hypothesis. They commented:

"Saints and prophets not being renowned for high fecundity, the benefits ordinarily garnered by them or their isomorphs would scarcely have bestowed a reproductive advantage of the needed magnitude."

However, we now know that the sort of divinely inspired individual who may become saint or prophet also has the capacity to become a cult leader, and as such he may have enhanced reproductive opportunities (Galanter, 1989; Lindholm, 1990; Storr, 1996). Cults tend to be reproductively isolated sub-groups, often taken by the leader to a "promised land" where they may or may not flourish. In those cults that do flourish, the genes of a male cult leader are likely to proliferate, partly because of the "founder effect" in new populations, and partly because the cult leader, being able to decide of the rules of group behaviour, often reserves for himself mating opportunities which are denied to other male cult members. And in the case of a female cult leader, the same considerations would apply to her sons.

For these reasons, we think it might be heuristic to re-examine the hypothesis that the schizotypal genotype predisposes not only to psychosis, but also to the type of mental reorganisation which is typical of the prophet or cult leader, and that in the case of successful cults there has been a reproductive advantage sufficient to balance the loss of genes due to unsuccessful cults and due to those schizotypes who fail to become cult leaders and are allocated the role of psychiatric patient.

IMPLICATIONS FOR RESEARCH

Evolutionary explanations concern what has happened in the past, and so are difficult to refute directly; and likewise it is difficult to derive from them specific propositions which may be tested. We feel that our theory has the following implications:

1. Those who study the psychosocial origins of schizophrenia should direct their attention also to the psychological and social conditions which give rise to the formation of cults.

2. Those who study the founders of new cults should look for schizotypal characteristics and for reproductive opportunities. In the case of female cult leaders, attention should be paid to the reproductive opportunities of their sons.

3. It has been suggested that adherence (or non-adherence) to group norms has a signalling function, in that group members have an innate tendency to notice whether fellow group members are adhering to the group norms, and to think badly of them if they are not (Wenegrat et al., 1996). In further work along these lines, it might be useful to measure the "reality distortion" component of schizotypy (Claridge et al., 1996). We would predict that schizotypal individuals would be a) more likely to violate group norms, b) less likely to notice if others are violating norms and c) less likely to think badly of fellow group members who violate norms.

IMPLICATIONS FOR TREATMENT

A major factor that distinguishes a successful cult leader from a psychotic patient is that the cult leader is surrounded by a group of devoted followers who hang on his words and adopt his beliefs, however crazy they might appear to outsiders. Thus, the group grants the leader enthusiastic validation of his ideas and powerful boosting to his self-esteem.

We have therefore predicted (Stevens and Price, 1996) that if it were possible to provide a group of adulatory believers for each psychotic patient, these patients would be relieved of the "negative symptoms" of their condition (although their positive symptoms might become more salient, and their relations with society as a whole might become more problematical).

Such a provision would be impossible, even by the most generously funded research project. However, advances in computer technology, artificial intelligence, and the explorations of "virtual reality" offer the possibility that each psychotic patient might be allowed to generate his own group of followers within a computer system. He could indoctrinate his robotic followers with his belief system, imparting to them his visions, his mission, the hierophantic dictates of his voices, his neologisms and his syntactical eccentricities, forming a network of inspired communication with part personalities, projected from the recesses of his own psychic complexity through the miracle of silicon into a virtually existent world of his own devising. The consequent gratification of his otherwise frustrated social, religious and political ambitions may well prove to be of therapeutic help, especially in the relief of negative symptoms such as social withdrawal.

CONCLUSION

Our main interest is in the genetic predisposition to psychotic disorders, and, in particular, to schizophrenia. We have tried regarding this tendency as an alternative socialisation strategy, and have set it into the context of other strategies in the set. Full male socialisation requires that the individual takes pleasure in, and seeks out the company of other males; that he internalises the same rules of behaviour and abides by them; and that he adopts the same belief system. When all three features are present we may speak of the "male coalitional strategy" which is based on group hunting and warfare. When the pleasure in company is absent, we may speak of the "homesteader" strategy which leads to dispersal but retains the group structure based on moral code and beliefs. When the shared moral code is not present at an unconscious level (due to failure of internalisation) we can recognise the "defector" strategy in which devotion to group goals is defective; such an individual may be successful, but runs the risk of being detected and branded as an antisocial personality disorder. When the belief system of the majority is replaced by an idiosyncratic system, we may speak of a "schizotypal" strategy, which depends for success on converting a group of followers and the formation of a new community. The successful prophet, according to those who have studied new tribal religious movements and other revitalisation phenomena, must have utter conviction and a message which appears to come from no human source (Lanternari, 1963; Thrupp, 1970; Ribeiro, 1970; Perez, 1978; Wallis, 1984). He must also have charisma and leadership qualities, and he must appear at a time when his message is looked for. Otherwise his conviction and message are reclassified as delusion and hallucination and his social role becomes that of psychiatric patient.

We have no idea for how long human groups have been characterised by belief systems, and thus for how long groups could be split by a divergence of beliefs. Nor do we know the survival rate of new groups in the ancestral environment, or the fitness conferred by joining one. Like most evolutionary theories, there is an excess of speculation over data. However, we do think that to view the psychotic patient as a failed prophet has heuristic value in terms of research and treatment, and for the patients themselves and for their families, our approach may give some sense and meaning to an otherwise bewildering and alienating experience.

Acknowledgements

We thank Professor I. Eibl-Eibesfeldt, Doctor F. Salter and two anonymous referees for their helpful comments on a previous draft.

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