Social processing errors among paranoid personalities

The present study tested clinical hypotheses about the social processing attributes of paranoid personalities (PP). Eighteen PPs and 18 normal controls (NC) viewed standardized role plays (Dodge, 1986) in which a provocation occurred but the protagonist's intention varied (i.e., ambiguous, accidental, hostile, or prosocial). Subjects identified the intention behind the action and then chose a response to that action (e.g., ignore what he did). The results indicated that PPs and NCs did not differ on intentioncue detection when the intention was clear, but PPs had a significantly higher rate of misreading ambiguous situations. Furthermore, when intentions were ambiguous, PPs were more likely than NCs to identify them as hostile intentions. Finally, PPs' reactions to the vignettes were different from normal controls' when the perceived intention was either prosocial or accidential. PPs were more likely to respond with anger and less likely to ignore the event, compared to NCs. These data provide initial support for clinical notions about the aberrant social processing of paranoid personalities.