In a group of severely subnormal children diagnosed as psychotic, and controls, the approach response and the amount of movement were measured in the presence of various stimuli. An attempt was made to isolate relevant aspects of ‘a person’ in preparing the stimuli.The distance measure did not differentiate the groups in those conditions which resembled most closely a social stimulus situation. They did differ in their approach score to objects, the psychotics approaching less. Psychotic children also moved more than controls, and the amount of movement did not vary over different stimulus situations.