THE PARANOID PERSON - COGNITIVE MOTIVATIONS AND PERSONALITY-TRAITS

The purpose was to contribute to a better understanding of the persona lity structure and dynamics of paranoia. In study 1, 29 paranoid patie nts and three control groups (30 schizophrenics, 27 depressives, and 6 4 healthy subjects) were administered the Cognitive Orientation (CO) Q uestionnaire of Paranoia, which included beliefs of four types (goals, norms, about self, and general) referring to 44 themes (e.g. masculin ity, strength). Discriminant analyses (based on longer and shorter ver sions of the questionnaire) showed that the four belief types enabled significant discrimination among the four groups and that there is a C O based on themes and conflicts characteristic for paranoia. In Study 2, 31 paranoids and 31 healthy controls were administered the Meaning Test which yielded prevalidated scores for 124 personality traits. The results showed that paranoids have a clear-cut personality profile, w ith traits in clinical (e.g. obsessive), interpersonal (e.g. extravert , leadership), emotional, cognitive, and other domains. The findings a re integrated and the convergences between the behavioral tendencies a nd personality traits specified, in an attempt to identify the major f eatures of the paranoid, including potential dangers and therapeutic c hances. (C) 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.