{
  "id": 16378878,
  "title": "People with psychosis and a history of aggression are more likely to mistake negative emotions for positive ones",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/24/people-with-psychosis-and-a-history-of-aggression-are-more-likely-to",
  "topic": "health",
  "section": "Health & Medicine",
  "published": "2026-10-24T22:00:57.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "PsyPost",
    "slug": "psypost",
    "url": "https://www.psypost.org/people-with-psychosis-and-a-history-of-aggression-are-more-likely-to-mistake-negative-emotions-for-positive-ones/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "A recent study conducted in Sweden reveals that individuals with psychotic spectrum disorders, particularly those with a history of interpersonal aggression, have significant challenges in accurately recognizing and interpreting emotions expressed by others. The research, published in Schizophrenia, found that patients in the aggression group were more prone to misclassify negative emotions as positive ones, compared to those without a history of aggression or healthy individuals.\n\nEmotional recognition plays a critical role in social interactions, as facial expressions, tone of voice, and body language provide vital cues about others' feelings. When these signals are misunderstood, communication can break down, and inappropriate social responses may occur. The difficulties in recognizing emotions are prevalent among individuals with psychotic spectrum disorders, which encompass conditions like schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, delusional disorder, and bipolar disorder with psychotic features.\n\nThe study involved three groups: individuals with psychotic spectrum disorders and a history of interpersonal aggression, those with such disorders but without a history of aggression, and healthy individuals. The aggression group outperformed the others, with accuracy rates ranging from 25% for despair to 54% for anger. Participants without aggression scored slightly better, with accuracy rates ranging from 29% for despair to 66% for anger, while healthy individuals had the highest accuracy rates, ranging from 39% to 68%.\n\nThe researchers hypothesized that the impaired emotion recognition in the aggression group was due to broader cognitive and perceptual difficulties rather than specific problems with certain emotions or senses. The most notable finding was that individuals in the aggression group were more likely to misread negative emotions as positive ones, committing this error in 14% of cases, which was nearly twice as frequent as in the non-aggression group and more than double that of healthy participants.",
  "summary": "Misreading another person’s irritation or sadness as something positive could mean missing a cue to back off. A new study found this error was more common in people with psychotic disorders and a history of aggression.",
  "key_points": [
    "Individuals with psychotic spectrum disorders struggle to accurately recognize emotions",
    "Aggression history linked to higher frequency of misclassifying negative emotions as positive",
    "Healthy individuals showed highest accuracy in emotion recognition"
  ],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}