Which of the following best describes avolition?

A. Argumentative. Oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) is characterized by a pattern of defiant, hostile, and argumentative behavior toward authority figures. Children with ODD frequently argue with adults, refuse to comply with rules, and deliberately provoke others.

B. Resentful. Children with ODD often display persistent resentment and anger, particularly when they feel they have been wronged. They may hold grudges and struggle to forgive perceived slights, leading to ongoing conflicts with parents, teachers, or peers.

C. Aggressive toward animals. Aggression toward animals is not a symptom of ODD but is a key feature of conduct disorder (CD). Children with conduct disorder engage in severe violations of social norms, including cruelty to animals, destruction of property, and physical aggression toward people. ODD, in contrast, involves defiant and disruptive behaviors without serious violations of others' rights.

D. Vindictive. A vindictive attitude is one of the diagnostic criteria for ODD. Children with ODD may seek revenge, retaliate excessively, or intentionally annoy others to provoke a reaction. This behavior is often fueled by feelings of frustration and perceived injustice.

A. Hallucinations are a core positive symptom of schizophrenia and involve false sensory perceptions without an external stimulus (e.g., hearing voices, seeing things that are not there). According to the DSM-5, hallucinations are one of the three essential symptoms that must be present for a diagnosis.

B. Delusions are fixed, false beliefs that persist despite evidence to the contrary (e.g., persecutory delusions, grandiose delusions). Delusions are a hallmark symptom of schizophrenia and are required as a diagnostic criterion if present.

C. Disorganized speech reflects disorganized thinking, a key symptom of schizophrenia. It includes incoherence, tangentiality, and word salad, demonstrating the cognitive dysfunction associated with the disorder. If disorganized speech is present, it fulfils one of the primary diagnostic criteria.

D. Negative symptoms such as avolition, anhedonia, alogia, and flat affect, are common in schizophrenia but are not required for diagnosis. According to the DSM-5, at least one of the following three symptoms hallucinations, delusions, or disorganized speech must be present to meet the diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia.