Paranoid explanations of experience: a novel experimental study
Catherine E L Green1, Daniel Freeman, Elizabeth Kuipers
1Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, UK. catherine.green@kcl.ac.uk
Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy
|September 18, 2010
Summary
This study shows that even individuals without mental illness can experience unfounded paranoid thoughts. Trait paranoia and interpersonal sensitivity predicted these interpretations in a novel experimental setting.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Cognitive Science
- Psychopathology
Background:
- Paranoia is a common experience in the general population.
- Investigating paranoid ideas in individuals without a history of mental illness using novel methods.
Purpose of the Study:
- Determine if a novel paradigm can elicit unfounded paranoid thoughts.
- Identify cognitive factors predicting these paranoid thoughts.
Main Methods:
- Fifty-eight participants completed measures of trait paranoia, mood, self/other schema, and attributional style.
- Participants were exposed to experimental events (interruption, external laughter) and asked for explanations.
Main Results:
- 15.5% of participants provided paranoid explanations for experimental events.
- Paranoid explanations were associated with higher trait paranoia.
- Interpersonal sensitivity and attributional style predicted paranoid interpretations.
Conclusions:
- Spontaneous paranoid explanations can be elicited in non-clinical individuals.
- Emotional processes contribute to paranoid interpretations.
- Further replication is needed due to the novel methodology and modest sample size.
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