title: Appraisals of intentional actions from three perspectives: Do they relate to paranoia.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  People often show a bias of attributing their own actions to more positive causes (e.g., generosity) than other persons' actions. Models of paranoia suggest links between paranoia and negative construals of others' intentions. Research on these biases has focused on causal attributions from two explainer perspectives, the agent (the person performing the action) and the object (the person being acted on), and has omitted the observer (third person) perspective.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study investigated intention attributions from three perspectives (agent, object, observer). Students (n=149) took one of these perspectives and judged the intentionality, frequency, and positivity of 30 behaviours before completing the Paranoia Scale.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Participants in agent and object perspectives rated positive behaviours more frequent and intentional than those in the observer perspective. Participants higher in paranoia distinguished less between positive and negative behaviours, and, in the object perspective, paranoia correlated with lower perceived intentionality of positive behaviours.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The use of three explainer perspectives and intention attributions clarifies how attributions for actions relate to paranoid beliefs. Results suggest that people higher in paranoia make more negative judgements about other person's positive and negative intentions, especially when they are the object of the action.
authors.affiliation: Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Leigh
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Harrington
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: McClure
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Siegert
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001519:Behavior; D003702:Delusions / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010259:Paranoid Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D012919:Social Behavior; D012938:Social Perception; D055815:Young Adult