Social causality understanding in relation to irrational attitudes and ambiguity intolerance in schizophrenia

IntroductionThe uncertainty of contemporary social contexts fosters suspiciousness and anaclitic anxieties. In the context of interpersonal relationships this manifests in cognitive distortions and magical thinking, specially in the vulnerable populations.ObjectivesTo study the ability of understanding social causality and its relation to magical thinking and ambiguity intolerance in schizophrenia and controls.MethodsParticipants were 40 inpatients with paranoid schizophrenia and 40 controls. Understanding of social causality was measured by corresponding SCORS-S scale for Thematic Apperception Test, Magical thinking was measured by SPQ-74 and intolerance to ambiguity by the New Tolerance-Intolerance to ambiguity questionnaires.ResultsThe understanding of social causality was less developed in schizophrenia group (mean values 2.28 and 3.28, p