Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Persecutory beliefs, attributions and theory of mind: comparison of patients with paranoid delusions, Asperger's syndrome and healthy controls
AU - Craig, J S
AU - Hatton, C
AU - Craig, F B
AU - Bentall, R P
PY - 2004/7/1
Y1 - 2004/7/1
N2 - Schizophrenia patients with persecutory delusions and patients with Asperger's syndrome were compared using two measures of theory of mind (ToM; the ability to infer mental states in other people), the Hints task, and the Reading the Mind in the Eyes task, and a new measure of attributional style (style of inferring the causes of important events), the AttribUtional Style Structured Interview (ASSI). Paranoid beliefs were measured using Fenigstien and Variable's Paranoia Scale (PS). The deluded group had the highest scores on the Paranoia Scale but the scores of the Asperger's group's were higher than those of the controls. Paranoid patients made more external-personal attributions for negative events than the Asperger's and control groups. Both the paranoid and Asperger's groups performed poorly on the ToM tasks compared to the controls. The findings support the hypothesis that both ToM and attributional abnormalities contribute to paranoid delusions. The lack of attributional abnormalities in the Asperger's group suggests that their low-level paranoid symptoms arise as a consequence of different mechanisms than those involved in psychotic delusions. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
AB - Schizophrenia patients with persecutory delusions and patients with Asperger's syndrome were compared using two measures of theory of mind (ToM; the ability to infer mental states in other people), the Hints task, and the Reading the Mind in the Eyes task, and a new measure of attributional style (style of inferring the causes of important events), the AttribUtional Style Structured Interview (ASSI). Paranoid beliefs were measured using Fenigstien and Variable's Paranoia Scale (PS). The deluded group had the highest scores on the Paranoia Scale but the scores of the Asperger's group's were higher than those of the controls. Paranoid patients made more external-personal attributions for negative events than the Asperger's and control groups. Both the paranoid and Asperger's groups performed poorly on the ToM tasks compared to the controls. The findings support the hypothesis that both ToM and attributional abnormalities contribute to paranoid delusions. The lack of attributional abnormalities in the Asperger's group suggests that their low-level paranoid symptoms arise as a consequence of different mechanisms than those involved in psychotic delusions. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
KW - theory of mind
KW - attribution
KW - Asperger's syndrome
KW - SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS
KW - SCHIZOPHRENIA
KW - STYLE
KW - PEOPLE
U2 - 10.1016/S0920-9964(03)00154-3
DO - 10.1016/S0920-9964(03)00154-3
M3 - Journal article
VL - 69
SP - 29
EP - 33
JO - Schizophrenia Research
JF - Schizophrenia Research
SN - 0920-9964
IS - 1
ER -