Paranoid thinking, cognitive bias and dangerous neighbourhoods: implications for perception of threat and expectation of victimisation
Background: Paranoid thinking is prevalent in the non-clinical population and cognitive mechanisms of heuristic reasoning and jumping to conclusions bias contributes to its formation and maintenance. Aims: This study investigated the degree to which paranoia, perceived environmental risk, heuris...
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| Format: | Article |
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SAGE Publications
2016
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/31712/ |
| _version_ | 1848794258698403840 |
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| author | Jack, Alexander Egan, Vincent |
| author_facet | Jack, Alexander Egan, Vincent |
| author_sort | Jack, Alexander |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Background: Paranoid thinking is prevalent in the non-clinical population and cognitive mechanisms of heuristic reasoning and jumping to conclusions bias contributes to its formation and maintenance.
Aims: This study investigated the degree to which paranoia, perceived environmental risk, heuristic reasoning and jumping to conclusions bias (measured with the beads task) contribute to misinterpretation of neutral stimuli, and whether this informed judgements regarding vulnerability to threat and crime. It is also investigated whether impulsiveness is a confounding factor on the beads task.
Methods: Two hundred participants were recruited using a snowball-sampling method for a quantitative cross-sectional study. Participants reported demographic information, three psychometric questionnaires and two experimental tasks via an online paradigm hosted by the Bristol Online Survey tool.
Results: Participants with high paranoia scores perceived their environment to be more dangerous than those with low scores. Participants with high paranoia scores also overestimated threat in neutral stimuli and had high expectations of future victimisation. Jumping to conclusions on the beads task did not predict fear of crime outcomes, but was predicted by impulsivity.
Conclusion: Participants who demonstrated paranoid thinking were more likely to reside in perceived dangerous neighbourhoods and overestimate threat. While this could indicate a paranoid heuristic, it is a potentially rational response to prior experiences of crime and victimisation. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:13:20Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-31712 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:13:20Z |
| publishDate | 2016 |
| publisher | SAGE Publications |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-317122020-05-04T20:03:30Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/31712/ Paranoid thinking, cognitive bias and dangerous neighbourhoods: implications for perception of threat and expectation of victimisation Jack, Alexander Egan, Vincent Background: Paranoid thinking is prevalent in the non-clinical population and cognitive mechanisms of heuristic reasoning and jumping to conclusions bias contributes to its formation and maintenance. Aims: This study investigated the degree to which paranoia, perceived environmental risk, heuristic reasoning and jumping to conclusions bias (measured with the beads task) contribute to misinterpretation of neutral stimuli, and whether this informed judgements regarding vulnerability to threat and crime. It is also investigated whether impulsiveness is a confounding factor on the beads task. Methods: Two hundred participants were recruited using a snowball-sampling method for a quantitative cross-sectional study. Participants reported demographic information, three psychometric questionnaires and two experimental tasks via an online paradigm hosted by the Bristol Online Survey tool. Results: Participants with high paranoia scores perceived their environment to be more dangerous than those with low scores. Participants with high paranoia scores also overestimated threat in neutral stimuli and had high expectations of future victimisation. Jumping to conclusions on the beads task did not predict fear of crime outcomes, but was predicted by impulsivity. Conclusion: Participants who demonstrated paranoid thinking were more likely to reside in perceived dangerous neighbourhoods and overestimate threat. While this could indicate a paranoid heuristic, it is a potentially rational response to prior experiences of crime and victimisation. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed. SAGE Publications 2016-03 Article PeerReviewed Jack, Alexander and Egan, Vincent (2016) Paranoid thinking, cognitive bias and dangerous neighbourhoods: implications for perception of threat and expectation of victimisation. International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 62 (2). pp. 123-132. ISSN 0020-7640 Paranoia Jumping to conclusions Threat Victimisation Heuristic reasoning http://isp.sagepub.com/content/62/2/123.abstract doi:10.1177/0020764015599998 doi:10.1177/0020764015599998 |
| spellingShingle | Paranoia Jumping to conclusions Threat Victimisation Heuristic reasoning Jack, Alexander Egan, Vincent Paranoid thinking, cognitive bias and dangerous neighbourhoods: implications for perception of threat and expectation of victimisation |
| title | Paranoid thinking, cognitive bias and dangerous neighbourhoods: implications for
perception of threat and expectation of victimisation |
| title_full | Paranoid thinking, cognitive bias and dangerous neighbourhoods: implications for
perception of threat and expectation of victimisation |
| title_fullStr | Paranoid thinking, cognitive bias and dangerous neighbourhoods: implications for
perception of threat and expectation of victimisation |
| title_full_unstemmed | Paranoid thinking, cognitive bias and dangerous neighbourhoods: implications for
perception of threat and expectation of victimisation |
| title_short | Paranoid thinking, cognitive bias and dangerous neighbourhoods: implications for
perception of threat and expectation of victimisation |
| title_sort | paranoid thinking, cognitive bias and dangerous neighbourhoods: implications for
perception of threat and expectation of victimisation |
| topic | Paranoia Jumping to conclusions Threat Victimisation Heuristic reasoning |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/31712/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/31712/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/31712/ |