Fragile Self and Malevolent Others: Biased Attribution Styles in Individuals at Ultra-High Risk for Psychosis.
Hye-Yoon Park, Minji Bang, Kyung Ran Kim, Eun Lee, Suk Kyoon An
Psychiatry Investigation August 20, 2018 DOI: 10.30773/pi.2018.05.08 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Cross-sectional case-control study Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 134 |
| Population | 54 individuals at ultra-high risk for psychosis and 80 healthy controls |
| Measures | Ambiguous Intentions Hostility Questionnaire, comprehensive neurocognitive test battery |
| Keywords | Neurocognition Attribution style Pre-reflective self |
| Key findings | UHR individuals showed increased hostility perception and blaming bias compared with healthy controls. In UHR participants, hostility perception bias was associated with the reflective self factor, and composite blame bias was associated with both reflective and pre-reflective self factors. The authors argue that psychosocial interventions for biased attribution in UHR should target pre-reflective as well as reflective self-related constructs. |
Abstract
Objective: Biased attribution styles of assigning hostile intention to innocent others and placing the blame were found in schizophrenia. Attribution styles in individuals at ultra-high risk (UHR) for psychosis, however, have been less studied especially for its association with various psychological factors. We investigated whether UHR individuals show increased hostility perception and blaming bias and explored the associations of these biased styles of attribution with the factor structure of multifaceted self-related psychological variables and neurocognitive performances.
Methods: Fifty-four UHR individuals and 80 healthy controls were assessed by evaluating resilience, self-perception, self-esteem, and aberrant subjective experiences of schizotypy (physical anhedonia, social anhedonia, magical ideation, and perceptual aberration), basic symptoms, and carrying out a comprehensive neurocognitive test battery. Attribution styles were assessed using the Ambiguous Intentions Hostility Questionnaire.
Results: UHR individuals, compared with normal controls, showed increased hostility perception and blaming bias. Factor analysis of self-related psychological variables and neurocognitive performances in the entire subject population showed a three-factor solution, which was designated as reflective self, pre-reflective self, and neurocognition. Multiple regression analysis in UHR individuals revealed that hostility perception bias was associated with reflective self and composite blame bias was associated with reflective and pre-reflective self.
Conclusion: This study supports the emergence of attribution biases in the putative 'prodromal' phase of schizophrenia. The associations of biased attribution styles with multifaceted self-related psychological constructs suggest that psychosocial interventions for biased attribution styles in UHR individuals should focus not only on reflective self but also pre-reflective self-related psychological constructs.
Citations in the library
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