Abstract

This study tested the hypothesis that the paranoid tendency and persecutory delusions are related to negative self-concepts, negative other concepts, and defensive attributional styles. And the results were compared with depressed subjects. The hypothesis of this study about the relationship of depression and paranoia was that this two symptoms have common factors of negative self-concepts, but paranoid groups have more negative other-concepts and more defensive attributional styles. In Study 1, the Self-concept Scale, the Other-concept Scale, the Paranoia Scale, Beck Depression Inventory, the Hostility Scale, the Self-Discrepancy Scale, the Attributional Style Questionnaire were administered to 175 college students. The results showed that the paranoid tendency was related to negative self-concepts, negative other-concepts, slightly defensive attributional styles. Depression was related to negative self-concepts and self-accusing attributional styles. In Study 2, persecutory deluded patients, depressed patients, and normal control groups were compared. The results showed that the persecutory deluded patients reported more posive self-concepts than depressed patients, but reported more negative self-concepts than normal control groups. And they showed most negative other-concepts and extreme self-serving biases. The suggestions and the limitations of this study, and the directions of future study were discussed.