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Paranoid thinking as a heuristic
Author(s) -
Preti Antonio,
Cella Matteo
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
early intervention in psychiatry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.087
H-Index - 45
eISSN - 1751-7893
pISSN - 1751-7885
DOI - 10.1111/j.1751-7893.2010.00190.x
Subject(s) - paranoia , heuristics , psychology , paranoid schizophrenia , cognitive psychology , heuristic , paranoid disorders , cognition , intervention (counseling) , value (mathematics) , social psychology , psychotherapist , psychosis , computer science , psychiatry , artificial intelligence , machine learning , operating system
Abstract Paranoid thinking can be viewed as a human heuristic used by individuals to deal with uncertainty during stressful situations. Under stress, individuals are likely to emphasize the threatening value of neutral stimuli and increase the reliance on paranoia‐based heuristic to interpreter events and guide their decisions. Paranoid thinking can also be activated by stress arising from the possibility of losing a good opportunity; this may result in an abnormal allocation of attentional resources to social agents. A better understanding of the interplay between cognitive heuristics and emotional processes may help to detect situations in which paranoid thinking is likely to exacerbate and improve intervention for individuals with delusional disorders.