Attributional Biases in Schziophrenic Patients With Persecutory Delusions

• Main Authors: Ying-Ying Tsan, 詹盈盈
• Other Authors: none
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2007
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/59649759512629166069

碩士 === 中原大學 === 心理學研究所 === 95 === Background and purpose. Persecutory delusions are the most common type observed in clinical practice and have recently become the focus of empirical researches. Because of the rising of the paradigm of social cognition, symptomatology has become the major research aspect in schizophrenia. Among these researches, Bentall et.al. noticed that patients with persecutory delusions tended to attribute negative events to external causes and positive events to internal causes, which was likely an extreme form of the self-serving bias. They suggested that persecutory delusion was a defense mechanism to protect the implicit low self-esteem and depression. However, a consistent conclusion has not been reached so far. Therefore, the aim of this research is to investigate if there is attributional bias in the schizophrenic patients with persecutory and if there are differences between overt and covert attributions. Methods. A total of 60 subjects were recruited, and classified as schizophrenia with persecutory delusion、schizophrenia with non-delusion、depression and control group. Each group has fifteen individuals. The attributional styles of all groups were measured and compared by using a translated (English to Chinese) overt (CIPSAQ) and covert (CPIT) attributional questionnaire. In addition, 141 undergraduates were recruited to examine the reliability of the both questionnaires and the validity of the CIPSAQ. Results. In overt attribution, a t-test conducted on the scores of externalizing bias (EB) reveals significance in schizophrenic patient with persecutory delusions, but not the personalizing bias(PB). The four groups show no significant differences in any of the internal, personal or situational attributions. In covert attribution, EB in schizophrenic patients with persecutory delusions is declined, but there are no significant differences between groups. In the undergraduate sample, the reliability of the CIPSAQ is good while the CPIT is not. Conclusions. The study only partially demonstrates the overtly extreme self-serving bias in schizophrenic patients with persecutory delusions. Although the covert self-serving bias is declined in schizophrenic patients with persecutory delusions, it is not large enough to be considered defensive when comparing to the past researches. As a whole, the study might not replicate those of previous studies in demonstrating excessively self-serving bias that is defensive mechanism to protect the underlying low-self esteem and depression, but the tendency can be found. Other factors that influence the study and future implications are discussed.