Measure Of Cognitive Bias Research Articles

Clinicians' preferences for schizophrenia outcomes: A comparison of four methods

To examine the main and interactive effects of suicidal behavior and gender on negative affect and cognitive biases in hospitalized adolescents (N = 228) aged 13 to 18 years, identified as suicide ideators (n = 68), attempters (n = 90), and nonsuicidal (n = 70).Standardized measures of negative affect (depression, anxiety, anger) and cognitive biases (hopelessness, self-concept) were administered upon admission.Suicide ideators reported significantly greater hopelessness and poorer self-concept than did nonsuicidal controls; suicide attempters did not differ from either group. Regression analysis indicated that negative affect and cognitive bias variables accounted for 48% of the variability in suicidal ideation; however, only anxiety and depression were uniquely related to suicidal ideation. Females reported greater depression severity and anxiety than did males; no interaction effects were evident.Suicide ideators and attempters may have different psychological profiles, with the former reporting greater cognitive biases than nonsuicidal adolescents. The findings regarding suicidal ideation support a mediational model in which negative views of the self and the future contribute to negative affect, and ultimately, suicidal ideation. An integrated assessment of suicidal ideation and affective and cognitive variables is recommended for early risk detection and treatment.

Interpretation of homophones related to threat: Anxiety or response bias effects?

Three studies investigated the relationship between anxiety, social desirability, and an interpretative bias favoring, threat in nonclinical subjects. Interpretative bias was assessed with Mathews, Richards, and Eysenck's (1989) homophone task. In Study 1, and tendency to produce threatening interpretations of ambiguous words was associated with lower social desirability, rather than anxiety. In Study 2, the interpretative bias measure correlated with trait anxiety, but not with social desirability. In Study 3, trait anxiety and social desirability had independent effects on interpretative bias, which were different in the first and second halves of the homophone task. The predicted effect of trait anxiety was only apparent in the first half of the task. Possible reasons for the discrepant results, and the importance of assessing the influence of social desirability on cognitive bias measures, are discussed.

Depression and cognitive style: comparisons between measures.

Several instruments have been developed recently to measure cognitive styles associated with depression. At least four of them appear to have an underlying similarity. Each appears to reflect a tendency for respondents to infer a general lack of self-worth (or a continued likelihood of bad events) on the basis of a single discrete failure. The present research was a comparative test of one of these scales against the other three in terms of associations with Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) scores. Though all instruments were significantly correlated with BDI, partial correlations revealed that our generalization scale was a more robust predictor of BDI than were (a) a measure of characterological self-blame, (b) a measure of cognitive bias, and (c) a measure of attributional style.