title: Need for closure, jumping to conclusions, and decisiveness in delusion-prone individuals.
abstract: Need for closure refers to a motivated need for certainty. Jumping-to-conclusions bias refers to the gathering of minimal data when making overconfident probabilistic judgments. Both constructs have been associated independently with delusion-proneness. Fifty-eight nonclinical adults were assessed for jumping-to-conclusions bias using an experimental reasoning task, and need for closure, decisiveness concerning real-life dilemmas, and delusion-proneness using questionnaires. Delusion-proneness was associated independently with need for closure and jumping-to-conclusions bias, with no evidence of a direct relationship between the latter two. These results discount the view that need for closure motivates a jumping-to-conclusions bias, leading, in turn, to delusion-proneness. The various facets of need for closure proved to be independent; while intolerance of ambiguity correlated positively with delusion-proneness, decisiveness correlated negatively. The finding that delusion-prone individuals are more indecisive in everyday life was replicated using different scales. Delusion-proneness is associated independently with jumping-to-conclusions bias on experimental reasoning tasks, intolerance of ambiguity, and indecision concerning real-life dilemmas.
authors.affiliation: Macquarie Centre for Cognitive Science, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
authors.forename: Ryan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: McKay
authors.forename: Robyn
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Langdon
authors.forename: Max
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Coltheart
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003071:Cognition; D003657:Decision Making; D003702:Delusions / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment; D008297:Male; D008960:Models, Psychological; D010551:Personality / Q000145:classification*; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012919:Social Behavior; D013850:Thinking