Schizotypal personality traits: An extension of previous psychometric investigations

Abstract

In an exploratory scale factor analysis of the Combined Schizotypal Traits Questionnaire, Claridge et al. (1996) reported four schizotypal trait dimensions, which they labelled Aberrant Perceptions and Beliefs, Cognitive Disorganisation with Anxiety, Introvertive Anhedonia, and Asocial Behaviour. The present paper reports the findings of a further examination of both scale and item factor analyses, and proposes an alternative five-factor model. Positive and negative schizotypal trait factors emerged separately from general personality factors pertaining to extraversion, neuroticism, and psychoticism, showing that schizotypal traits cannot simply be reduced to the Eysenckian personality dimensions. The positive schizotypal factor also exhibited strong loadings on measures of delusions, suggesting that delusional cognition is a major component of schizotypal personality. The present five-factor model (supported by LISREL confirmatory factor analyses) may have important implications for future research into and clinical assessment of schizotypal personality traits.

BDNF val66met genotype and schizotypal personality traits interact to influence probabilistic association learning

“…Schizotypal personality traits, such as magical ideation, perceptual aberration, inappropriate affect, and social anxiety, closely resemble symptoms characterising schizophrenia but are less florid and debilitating [24,25]. While schizotypal personality disorder is a formal diagnosis [26], examining those with a high expression of schizotypal personality traits (i.e., schizotypy) in an otherwise healthy sample is important as this population may reveal clues to neurobiological routes that predispose a person to schizophrenia [27] and allows the examination of behavioural and cognitive processes associated with schizophrenia without the potential confounds of antipsychotic treatment and a history of chronic illness.…”

Mindfulness training and false perception in individuals with high unusual experiences

“…Schizotypal traits are taken to be normally distributed among the general population (Boyle, 1998;Claridge & Brooks, 1984;Raine, 1991), and to have a multidimensional structure corresponding to the structure of schizophrenic symptoms involving both positive and negative symptom dimensions (Loughland & Williams, 1997), with factor analytic studies suggesting four main schizotypal domains (Bentall, Claridge, & Slade, 1989;Claridge & Brooks, 1984;Mason, Claridge, & Jackson, 1995). Reed (2005a, 2005b) noted that individuals who scored highly on the unusual experiences scale of a schizotypy questionnaire also reported more false visual perceptions when detecting fast moving words (see also Bentall & Slade, 1985;Rankin & O'Carroll, 1995).…”