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Reasoning, delusion proneness and stress: an experimental investigation
Author(s) -
Keefe Kristy M.,
Warman Debbie M.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
clinical psychology and psychotherapy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.315
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1099-0879
pISSN - 1063-3995
DOI - 10.1002/cpp.683
Subject(s) - delusion , psychology , task (project management) , cognitive psychology , feeling , developmental psychology , social psychology , psychiatry , management , economics
Abstract Previous studies have been inconsistent in demonstrating a relationship between delusion proneness and induced stress on reasoning biases. The present study was an experimental investigation of the role of stress in the form of feeling rushed, which has previously been shown to be related to the jumping‐to‐conclusions reasoning bias for delusion‐prone individuals, on the reasoning of delusion‐prone individuals. University students ( n = 133) completed a measure of delusion proneness and were randomly assigned to either receive or not receive a stress induction in the form of a speeded subtraction task. All participants engaged in four trials of a probabilistic reasoning task. Delusion‐prone and not delusion‐prone participants performed similarly when there was no stress induction, but delusion‐prone individuals demonstrated reasoning biases relative to not delusion‐prone individuals when stress was induced. The reasoning of delusion‐prone individuals may be particularly vulnerable when they feel rushed and in stressful conditions. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Key Practitioner Message: • Individuals who are delusion prone will likely report heightened confidence in their ideas when they are in stressful conditions or feel they are being rushed. • Individuals who are delusion prone may benefit from cognitive strategies that focus on understanding the jumping‐to‐conclusions reasoning bias. • Individuals who are delusion prone may benefit from learning the impact stressful conditions have on their ability to reason effectively.