People with delusions jump to conclusions: a theoretical account of research findings on the reasoning of people with delusions.

Recent multifactorial models of psychotic symptoms such as delusions emphasize a role for reasoning biases in the maintenance of delusional beliefs. Specifically, people with delusions are seen to jump to conclusions. This well-replicated experimental finding has received little in the way of theoretical explanation. In this paper we review this and other research findings examining reasoning of people with delusions and account for these findings by drawing on a model of reasoning. This theoretical integration helps understand the tendency of people with delusions to exhibit this reasoning style. Specifically, we propose that people without delusions demonstrate a normal tendency to confirm danger-related conditional statements and that people with delusions perceive danger and threat where others do not. Hence, this normal reasoning style is extended to non-threatening situations. The theoretical and clinical implications are discussed. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]