Thought-action fusion and schizotypy in undergraduate students

Objective. To examine the relationship between thought-action fusion (TAF) and schizotypy. Method. In two separate samples of undergraduate students (Ns = 77 and 64), correlations were computed between a measure of TAF and indices of schizotypy and fantasy proneness. Results. Positive correlations were found between TAF and various aspects of schizotypy (i.e. perceptual aberration, magical ideation, schizotypal personality characteristics, disposition to hallucinate). However, correlations between TAF and schizotypy no longer attained significance when controlling for fantasy proneness. Conclusion. At least in the non-clinical population, the connection between TAF and schizotypy seems to be a by-product of fantasy-prone individuals' tendency to report unusual experiences

Fantasy proneness and thought suppresion as predictors of the Medical Student Syndrome

This study examined individual differences correlates of the Medical Student Syndrome (MSS). A sample of 215 medical students completed a questionnaire measuring health complaints that had to do with their study as well as self-report scales tapping fantasy proneness, and habitual thought suppression attempts. Thirty percent (n = 65) of the respondents reported MSS complaints related to a wide variety of diseases. Fantasy proneness and thought suppression were found to be independent predictors of these complaints

Thought suppression and traumatic intrusions in undergraduate students: A correlational study

Thought suppression (i.e. the process of consciously trying to avoid certain thoughts) is claimed to promote memory loss, but also to increase the frequency of intrusive thoughts (i.e. hyperaccessibility). Although these effects seem contradictory, Wegner, Quillian and Houston [Wegner, D. M., Quillian, F., & Houston, C. (1996). Memories out of order: Thought suppression and the disassembly of remembered experience. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 71, 680-691.] succeeded in reconciling them by postulating the "scene activation" hypothesis. According to this hypothesis, hyperaccessibility of isolated intrusive memories, due to thought suppression, leads to perceived fragmentation (i.e. snapshot likeness) of the memory of the whole event, ultimately resulting in a perception of (partial) memory loss. To investigate this chain of events, undergraduate students (n = 110) completed questionnaires about thought suppression and their memories of highly adverse experiences. Correlational analyses revealed that thought suppression was positively related to hyperaccessibility, snapshot likeness, and memory loss. Structural equation modelling elucidated that thought suppression is not necessarily the cause of these memory characteristics

The connection between cognitive development and specific fears and worries in normal children and children with below average intellectual abilities: A preliminary study

The present study explored the relationship between cognitive development and anxiety phenomena in 4-12-year-old children. Fears and worries of normal children (n=176) were compared to those of children with below-average intellectual abilities (children with BAIA; n=105). We evaluated to what extent level of cognitive development as indexed by a Piagetian conservation task was associated with the presence of fears and worries. While normal children and children with BAIA did not differ with regard to the content of their fears and worries, normal children more frequently reported such anxiety phenomena during the semi-structured Anxiety Interview than did children with BAIA. Furthermore, in normal children, evidence was found to suggest that level of cognitive development contributes to the experience of fears and worries. That is, anxiety phenomena were more prevalent among those children who passed a Piagetian conservation task. However, when anxiety phenomena were assessed by means of the Koala Fear Questionnaire (KFQ), a different picture emerged. KFQ data suggested that fears were less frequent in normal children and those children with BAIA who had a higher level of cognitive functioning. Apparently, the Anxiety Interview and the KFQ tap quite different aspects of anxiety. The KFQ seems to measure primitive fears that are likely to be prevalent among children with limited cognitive capacity, whereas the Anxiety Interview assesses more sophisticated anxiety phenomena that probably depend on high levels of cognitive functioning

Modeling the connection between selfreported trauma and dissociation in a student sample.

A sample of 109 undergraduate students completed the Dissociative Experiences Scale and self-report measures on absent-mindedness, fantasy proneness, and childhood trauma. As in previous studies, dissociative tendencies were strongly related to absent-mindedness and fantasy proneness. Also, dissociative symptoms were linked to trauma self-reports. Structural equation modeling analyses showed that both the conventional trauma-dissociation model and an alternative dissociation-trauma model provided an adequate fit to our data. Thus, our results demonstrate that cross-sectional and non-clinical studies relying on self-reports of dissociation and trauma should seriously consider the possibility that dissociation, together with its correlates absent-mindedness and fantasy proneness, contribute to trauma self-reports