Need for closure and jumping-to-conclusions in delusion-prone individuals

J Nerv Ment Dis. 2002 Jan;190(1):27-31. doi: 10.1097/00005053-200201000-00007.

Abstract

Members of the general population were screened for delusion-proneness using the Peters et al. Delusions Inventory (PDI). Two groups were formed from the participants who scored in the upper and lower quartiles of the PDI and compared on a probability judgment task and on the Need for Closure scale (NFC). The study investigated whether the "jump-to-conclusions" (JTC) reasoning bias, characteristic of deluded participants, could be found in delusion-prone individuals. NFC was investigated as a motivational factor that may correlate with this reasoning bias. Evidence for the existence of the data-gathering, but not the probability judgment, part of the JTC reasoning bias was found in the delusion-prone individuals. This group also scored significantly higher on the NFC scale. As the data-gathering reasoning bias was found in delusion-prone individuals this suggests that it may be involved in the formation, rather than merely the maintenance, of delusional beliefs.

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Cognition*
  • Decision Making
  • Disease Susceptibility / psychology
  • Factor Analysis, Statistical
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Judgment
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Models, Psychological
  • Motivation
  • Personality Inventory / statistics & numerical data
  • Psychometrics
  • Schizophrenia, Paranoid / diagnosis*
  • Schizophrenia, Paranoid / psychology*
  • Schizophrenic Psychology
  • Social Desirability
  • Thinking