Decision Making as a Function of Delusion Proneness
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Date
2018-05
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The Ohio State University
Abstract
Delusion proneness is an individual-differences characteristic, existing on a continuum from no delusional thoughts to a diagnosis of delusional disorder or schizophrenia. Previous research found delusion prone individuals are faster at making decisions and request less information to make them, potentially making a decision without sufficient information (jumping to conclusions). On the other hand, some research suggests that delusion prone individuals have a data gathering deficit rather than a problem with decision making. To date, most research in this area relied on use of a probabilistic reasoning task, and the ability to make advantageous decisions on other tasks has not been adequately examined. The present study examined risky decision making in individuals high and low in delusion proneness. Undergraduate student participants (n = 76) completed the Peters Delusions Inventory to assess delusion proneness, as well as the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) and the Game of Dice Task (GDT) to assess risky decision making. It was hypothesized that the more delusion prone an individual is, the riskier they will be on the IGT but not the GDT. Correlational analyses found few significant relationships between delusion proneness and decision making. Specifically, individuals higher in delusion proneness decided more advantageously on one of the five blocks of trials of the IGT. The present study has implications for the assessment of decision-making in individuals with and without a history of delusions and will give further insight into the jumping to conclusions bias within the delusion prone population.