118 research outputs found
Supplementary materials for preprint (Zavlis & Jones, 2020): Unravelling the phenotypic tangle of autistic, schizotypal and social anxiety traits: A Network Analysis
No full textConjoint Network and Exploratory Graph Analyses on autistic, schizotypal, and social anxiety personality trait
Supplementary materials for preprint (Zavlis & Jones, 2020): Unravelling the phenotypic tangle of autistic, schizotypal and social anxiety traits: A Network Analysis
No full textConjoint Network and Exploratory Graph Analyses on autistic, schizotypal, and social anxiety personality trait
Supplementary Materials for Zavlis et al. (2021): How Does The COVID-19 Pandemic Impact on Population Mental Health? A Network Analysis of COVID Influences On Depression, Anxiety and Traumatic Stress in the UK Population
No full textSupplementary Materials for Zavlis et al. (2021): How Does The COVID-19 Pandemic Impact on Population Mental Health? A Network Analysis of COVID Influences On Depression, Anxiety and Traumatic Stress in the UK Population
No full textThe illusion of personality: Why personality disorders are actually relational disorders
No full textDespite almost a century of empirical research, the concept of personality disorder remains poorly understood and incredibly stigmatized. In this paper, I argue that most of the controversies and unresolved mysteries surrounding personality pathology can be traced back to a cognitive bias that I term the illusion of personality (pathology): our natural tendency to view most individual differences as personality differences (and their deviations from the norm as personality problems). I begin by illustrating how this illusion leads to the paradoxical, yet logical, conclusion that all mental disorders are personality disorders (an outcome that was a reality back in the 1900s). I then demonstrate how we can move beyond this illusion by defining each individual difference according to its predominant psychological theme (e.g., neuroticism as an ‘emotional’ trait) rather than by washing away that theme with the term ‘personality’ (i.e., neuroticism as a ‘personality’ trait). Subsequently, I apply this way of thinking to various personality constructs, including the five-factor traits, the self-other impairments of ‘personality disorder,’ and related social-cognitive disturbances, showing that all personality constructs that account for the development, maintenance, and treatment of personality disorder are all relational. On that basis, I argue that disorders of ‘personality’ can be respecified as disorders of ‘relationships,’ before concluding the paper with a set of suggestions on how we can move away from the illusory concept of ‘personality disorder’ and toward the more specific (and perhaps also humane) idea of ‘relational disorder.
Investigating the development of maladaptive and positive cognition through a polygenic sensitivity perspective: An assessment of the CogBIAS hypothesis
No full textThe Cognitive Bias (CogBIAS) hypothesis posits that cognitive biases develop as a function of environmental influences (that determine the valence of the biases) as well as the differential susceptibility to those influences (that determine the potency of the biases). The current study employed data from the CogBIAS Longitudinal Study (CogBIAS-L-S) to assess, for the first time, the CogBIAS hypothesis. In particular, measures of life experiences and polygenic scores for depression were employed to assess the longitudinal development of two cognitive biases (namely, memory and interpretation biases) in a three-wave sample of adolescents aging 12-16 years. A series of multilevel linear probability models revealed that positive life experiences promote wellbeing by enhancing positive and diminishing negative cognition; and negative life experiences can, under some circumstances, promote positive cognition through a form of ‘steeling’ effect. Although the depression polygenic scores (MDD PRS) were unable to directly predict the cognitive outcomes, the interaction between them and positive life experiences was shown to lead to a stronger positive social interpretation bias. Exploratory network techniques supported the notion that cognitive biases and dependent life events form complex systems that collectively exert influences onto psychological wellbeing/illness. The current results provide the first line of polygenic evidence in support of the CogBIAS and extend the theory by revealing additional patterns that can be incorporated into the CogBIAS model
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