Need for closure and jumping-to-conclusions in delusion-prone individuals.
Members of the general population were screened for delusion-proneness using the Peters et al. Delusions Inventory (PDI). Two groups were formed from the participants who scored in the upper and lower quartiles of the PDI and compared on a probability judgment task and on the Need for Closure scale (NFC). The study investigated whether the "jump-to-conclusions" (JTC) reasoning bias, characteristic of deluded participants, could be found in delusion-prone individuals. NFC was investigated as a motivational factor that may correlate with this reasoning bias. Evidence for the existence of the data-gathering, but not the probability judgment, part of the JTC reasoning bias was found in the delusion-prone individuals. This group also scored significantly higher on the NFC scale. As the data-gathering reasoning bias was found in delusion-prone individuals this suggests that it may be involved in the formation, rather than merely the maintenance, of delusional beliefs.
Colbert
Susannah May
SM
University Department of Psychiatry and Psychology, GKT, University of London, St. Thomas's Hospital, United Kingdom.
Peters
Emmanuelle R
ER
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003071:Cognition; D003657:Decision Making; D004198:Disease Susceptibility / Q000523:psychology; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008960:Models, Psychological; D009042:Motivation; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011594:Psychometrics; D012563:Schizophrenia, Paranoid / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology*; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D012928:Social Desirability; D013850:Thinking