Prisoners of persecutory ideation : differentiating paranoia from rational distrust
Prisoners of persecutory ideation : differentiating paranoia from rational distrust
This thesis is a testament to the scarcity of research into interpersonal factors in the formation and maintenance of persecutory beliefs. Theories of paranoia have primarily viewed persecutory beliefs as resulting from illogical, biased or anomalous cognitive processes, maintained by individual processes. This thesis aims to broaden the conceptualisation of paranoia by examining the role of interpersonal factors. It highlights how paranoia shares much in common with interpersonal distrust, and therefore aims to bridge the gap between the clinical psychology literature and the social psychology literature, pulling together some disparate concepts such as paranoia, interpersonal distrust, persecutory ideation, and persecutory delusions. Paranoia is conceptualised as an irrational form of distrust based on the notions of foundedness (i.e. empirical rationality) and on the basis of negative personal and collective consequences of acting on the persecutory belief (i.e. instrument irrationality).
A literature review briefly examines theories of paranoia and how paranoia relates to distrust. It also reviews the literature on distrust and aims to draw out a number of key dimensions along which distrust may become irrational. The second part of the thesis is an empirical investigation which uses an iterated prisoner’s dilemma game to investigate the dynamic formation and maintenance of persecutory beliefs. In particular, it focuses on the role of exploitative harm and betrayal on the formation of persecutory beliefs and the role of social motivation and problems in reciprocity in their maintenance. The thesis concludes that persecutory beliefs can be a rational response to exploitative harm but can also become irrational when associated with patterns of interpersonal behaviour which are detrimental to both the individual and the collective.
University of Southampton
Frayne, Benjamin Francis
1b060b2a-0318-4d4e-abdf-c0abc5972a9f
2006
Frayne, Benjamin Francis
1b060b2a-0318-4d4e-abdf-c0abc5972a9f
Frayne, Benjamin Francis
(2006)
Prisoners of persecutory ideation : differentiating paranoia from rational distrust.
University of Southampton, Doctoral Thesis.
Record type:
Thesis
(Doctoral)
Abstract
This thesis is a testament to the scarcity of research into interpersonal factors in the formation and maintenance of persecutory beliefs. Theories of paranoia have primarily viewed persecutory beliefs as resulting from illogical, biased or anomalous cognitive processes, maintained by individual processes. This thesis aims to broaden the conceptualisation of paranoia by examining the role of interpersonal factors. It highlights how paranoia shares much in common with interpersonal distrust, and therefore aims to bridge the gap between the clinical psychology literature and the social psychology literature, pulling together some disparate concepts such as paranoia, interpersonal distrust, persecutory ideation, and persecutory delusions. Paranoia is conceptualised as an irrational form of distrust based on the notions of foundedness (i.e. empirical rationality) and on the basis of negative personal and collective consequences of acting on the persecutory belief (i.e. instrument irrationality).
A literature review briefly examines theories of paranoia and how paranoia relates to distrust. It also reviews the literature on distrust and aims to draw out a number of key dimensions along which distrust may become irrational. The second part of the thesis is an empirical investigation which uses an iterated prisoner’s dilemma game to investigate the dynamic formation and maintenance of persecutory beliefs. In particular, it focuses on the role of exploitative harm and betrayal on the formation of persecutory beliefs and the role of social motivation and problems in reciprocity in their maintenance. The thesis concludes that persecutory beliefs can be a rational response to exploitative harm but can also become irrational when associated with patterns of interpersonal behaviour which are detrimental to both the individual and the collective.
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Published date: 2006
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Local EPrints ID: 467081
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/467081
PURE UUID: fe31c36e-12f5-4c4f-92bb-51f7185826c0
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Date deposited: 05 Jul 2022 08:11
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 20:58
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Author:
Benjamin Francis Frayne
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