At some point you have probably thought “how paranoid this person is”. Sometimes we talk about ideas from psychology without really knowing what it entails. Therefore, in this article we will focus on offering an image of what paranoid personality disorder is and the cognitive biases of paranoid people.
Biases influence the way we think and how we interpret what happens to us. All people have cognitive biases. If you want to know more about them, how they influence us and know what the typical biases of paranoid people are keep reading.
We begin by making a clarification: having a certain degree of paranoia is different from having a paranoid personality disorder. That is, people have shared personality traits, but we differ in the level at which they stand out. Therefore, paranoid personality disorder would be paranoid traits taken to the extreme.
There are many people who tend to “quarantine” the information offered on the news and contrast the information. This would be an example of minimal paranoid traits. On the contrary, if you systematically look for inconsistencies in other people’s stories, you are very distrustful without real arguments, and you tend to think that there is a malicious intention in most things that happen around you, you may have a much higher level of paranoia.
According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychological Association, Paranoid personality is one whose main trait is unjustified distrust and suspicion of malicious intentions of others. Next we will see two key factors.
1. On alert: unjustified mistrust
Distrust in paranoid personality disorder is understood as a way of acting and interpreting all situations at all times. To give a visual example, imagine a soldier on guard, with a loaded shotgun and watching for any sign of danger. This mistrust is extrapolated to all areas of life.
This produces mental exhaustion of the person themselves since they are in a state of constant “alert”, looking for any sign of betrayal. Indications such as: looks, comments, actions, etc. that the person judges as attacks with bad intentions towards them. same; either harm or take advantage of her.
Distrust is usually unfounded, since there are not sufficient reasons on which to base it, despite the fact that they scrupulously analyze the behavior of their environment to find justifications. Generally, the environment tries to convince them that their distrust is irrational and fails in the attempt. This distrust masks fear of being criticized, rejected or betrayed.
2. Social isolation and resentment
As you can imagine, a person who acts this way usually ends up generating burnout in their immediate circle. It is therefore common for their family, couple, friendship and work relationships to be damaged and/or ended after a period of interaction. with a person with a paranoid personality disorder.
That is why when the person is “abandoned” a feeling of resentment and confirmation of suspicions is generated: “he abandoned me and had bad intentions.” Thus establishing a vicious circle in which, due to distrust, it ends up causing distancing from others, and irrational (a priori) ideas about others are confirmed. This, together with the feeling of grievance to be resolved, generates resentment.
3. Consequences
Many people with this disorder often choose to isolate themselves physically or emotionally from others. In this way, by not establishing emotional ties, they avoid disappointment and resentment. Which continues to perpetuate the beliefs of the style “it is better to avoid others, they always follow convenience.”
Another consequence is usually the use of deception. In this way, they can maintain alibis that justify “coldness” or irrational ideas. For example, you may pretend to be very busy to avoid social situations outside of work. What’s more, they tend to look for jobs where they go unnoticed or have little contact with others.
All of this generates immense discomfort in the person with this disorder. We are social beings and we need others to learn, develop as people, receive affection and attention, and emotional and instrumental support. Therefore, It is common that in addition to this disorder they end up developing mood and anxiety disorders.
What’s more, recent research has shown against all odds that people with paranoia have a high sense of belonging to the group. That is, they feel part of the social groups in which they are immersed. This fact could be explained through cognitive biases, specifically the cognitive bias of jumping to conclusions.
Understanding how to change this problem: cognitive biases
Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman were the first authors to talk about cognitive biases and define them as “systematic deviations from rational judgment.” In other words, errors that are constantly repeated in the way we interpret what is happening around us.
For example: if we see someone hitting a wall we may think that they are angry, but perhaps they are trying to catch a mosquito. If we thought about the former we would have committed a cognitive bias.
This occurs due to brain economy. We humans attribute cause and consequence to everything that happens to us, imagine if we had to do this with everything we already know in a conscious and considered way. We would spend a lot of time and mental effort. That is why we have automatic thoughts that save effort.
This is where cognitive biases play a key role in people’s paranoid traits. Cognitive biases lead to erroneous interpretations of the intentions of others, which lead to the isolated and paranoid attitude and behavior, and the subsequent consequences that we have listed. Let’s look at the main cognitive biases:
What are the cognitive biases of paranoid people?
The following biases are shared by all people, but in people with said disorder it is increased above what is usual and are therefore causal factors for it.
1. Hostile attribution bias and jumping to conclusions
In general, they tend to jump to conclusions related to the maliciousness of others towards oneself instead of analyzing the facts and evidence carefully. For example, If someone asks you if you’re going to the company dinner, you might probably think something like, “I’m sure he’s saying that because they’re setting me up to get me screwed.”.
They tend to focus their attention on clues or “evidence” that confirm their fears. Therefore, they end up remembering only moments where they have felt a grievance (or where they have actually suffered it), neglecting other aspects or moments of their lives where no harm is committed towards themselves.
3. Reference bias
This bias explains why people with this disorder tend to feel “in the crosshairs” of others in any situation and with any person. For example, if they see someone laughing they may think that they are being messed with. The cause is probably very different.
4. Outsourcing bias
Or what is the same, These people attribute their own problems and misfortunes to others. Therefore, although they isolate themselves with their actions, they will blame others for this fact and for their low morale: “they haven’t invited me,” “they don’t want anything to do with me,” etc.
5. Excessive certainty bias
People interpret everything that happens to us, as I mentioned with the example of the mosquito and the knocking on the wall. Generally, when we are presented with evidence against an idea we can change our mind, but a person with this disorder feels excessive confidence in his own ideas. In other words, he does not distinguish facts from realities. Therefore, They absolutely believe in what they think and it is very difficult for them to see it any other way.
All of these biases interact with each other, generating a set of beliefs and ways of interpreting situations that reaffirm the paranoid ideas and way of acting of people with paranoid personality disorder. Working on these biases in therapy is possible, and they are the first path to a significant improvement in the quality of life of these people and the people around them.
