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Absent‐mindedness in shops: Its incidence, correlates and consequences
Author(s) -
Reason James,
Lucas Deborah
Publication year - 1984
Publication title -
british journal of clinical psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.479
H-Index - 92
eISSN - 2044-8260
pISSN - 0144-6657
DOI - 10.1111/j.2044-8260.1984.tb00635.x
Subject(s) - psychology , superordinate goals , distraction , cognition , incidence (geometry) , risk factor , social psychology , clinical psychology , developmental psychology , psychiatry , medicine , cognitive psychology , physics , optics
This paper describes a questionnaire study of absent‐mindedness in shops, and an analysis of 166 letters written by 67 individuals who felt themselves to be wrongly accused of shoplifting. A total of 150 men and women were asked how often they had experienced each of 24 varieties of mental lapse while shopping. If they had not actually suffered a particular lapse, they were asked to judge its likelihood of occurrence. Approximately half of the sample also completed the Cognitive Failures Questionnaire (CFQ). Lapses carrying the risk of shop‐lifting accusations were reported as occurring far less frequently, and were judged as less likely, than either ‘embarrassing’ or ‘nuisance’ lapses. However, an examination of the circumstances leading up to accusations of shoplifting indicated that high risk lapses can occur when ill health, extreme preoccupation and distraction are combined with unwise supermarket practices. A positive and significant correlation was found between the CFQ and the Absent‐Mindedness in Shops Questionnaire (AMSQ). A factor analysis of the AMSQ revealed a very pervasive general factor, together with a risk appreciation factor. The findings supported the view that responses to both the CFQ and the AMSQ reflected characteristic differences in the management of some superordinate attentional control resource.