Scrambled but valid? The scrambled sentences task as a measure of interpretation biases in psychopathology: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Würtz, Felix; Zahler, Lisa; Blackwell, Simon E.; Margraf, Jürgen; Bagheri, Mahdi; Woud, Marcella L.

doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2022.102133

Cited by 23 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 50 publications

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“…Numerous studies have shown that the SST may be used to provide evidence on the depressive disposition of individuals and their cognition patterns (for review, see Würtz et al, 2022). The aim of the present work was to develop a variant of the SST capable to elicit a pattern of cognitions associated with high dark personality scores.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cognitions in antisocial personality and their association with “dark” traits

Rabl¹,

Kienhöfer²,

Moshagen³

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Negative cognitions associated to depressive symptoms have been intensively investigated. In contrast, little is known about the cognitions associated with antisocial personality. We adapted the Scrambled Sentences Task, an instrument from depression research, to document the existence of a different class of negative cognitions that included justifications (external blaming for one’s behavior) and harm to others (based on the notion that some of these individuals enjoy harming or humiliating others) that we hypothesized may be prevalent in antisocial personality. Furthermore, we mapped the prevalence of these cognitions in the dimensional diagnostic system of the Alternative Model of Personality Disorders of the DSM-5 (AMPD). Confirming our hypothesis, these cognitions were associated with ratings in different antisocial personality scales in two non-clinical samples, but not with depressive symptoms or neuroticism. Antisocial personality subscales showed similar levels of antisocial cognitions, but cognitions including harm to others were differentially associated with high sadism. We also uncovered the prevalence of these cognitions in individuals with high detachment scores in the AMPD. These findings suggest that core elements of these cognitions, reflecting a negative view of social interactions, are shared among individuals located in a specific subspace of the AMP dimensional system.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cognitions in antisocial personality and their association with “dark” traits

Rabl¹,

Kienhöfer²,

Moshagen³

et al. 2023

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Most previous studies on this topic focused on an attentional bias to health threat stimuli (Shi et al, 2022). Interpretation bias, the tendency to judge ambiguous information as negative or threatening (Hirsch, Meeten, Krahé, & Reeder, 2016; Würtz et al, 2022), is also commonly seen in health anxiety. This type of bias is evident in particularly negative explanations for physical concerns, such as ‘if I have a headache, I have a brain tumor’ (Smeets, de Jong, & Mayer, 2000).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interpretation bias in health anxiety: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Witthöft

Tao

et al. 2022

Psychol. Med.

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Interpretation bias (i.e. the selective negative interpretation of ambiguous stimuli) may contribute to the development and maintenance of health anxiety. However, the strength of the empirical evidence for this association remains a topic of debate. This study aimed to estimate the association between health anxiety and interpretation bias and to identify potential moderators of this association. Chinese-language databases (CNKI, VIP, and Wanfang), English-language databases (Web of Science, PubMed, PsycINFO, and Scopus), and German-language databases (Psyndex and PubPsych) were searched for relevant studies. There were 36 articles (39 studies) identified by this search (N = 8984), of which 32 articles (34 studies) were included in the meta-analysis (N = 8602). Results revealed a medium overall effect size (g = 0.67). Statistically equivalent effect sizes were observed for patients diagnosed with clinical health anxiety (g = 0.58) and subclinical health anxiety (g = 0.72). The effect sizes for threat stimuli that were health related (g = 0.68) and not health related (g = 0.63) did not differ significantly. The effect size for studies using an offline paradigm (g = 0.75) was significantly higher than that for studies using an online paradigm (g = 0.50). It is concluded that health anxiety is significantly and robustly associated with interpretation bias. These findings are of central importance for the advancement of models and treatment of health anxiety.

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“…The scrambled sentences task [ 27 ] was administered to assess change in negative interpretation bias from pre- to post-ASST. The current version was developed to assess interpretation bias in adolescents [ 23 ].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social rejection sensitivity and its role in adolescent emotional disorder symptomatology

Minihan

Kwok

Schweizer

2023

Child Adolesc Psychiatry Ment Health

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Background Most emotional disorders first emerge during adolescence, a time characterized by heightened sensitivity to social information, especially social rejection. Social rejection sensitivity (SRS), then, may be a promising intervention target. Methods To explore this, 357 participants (M (SD) age = 19.40 (4.18), 63% female) completed self-report measures of SRS, its proposed antecedent, perceived parenting style, its proposed behavioral correlate, negative interpretation bias, and its proposed clinical correlate, emotional disorder symptoms. Participants additionally completed a single session of a social interpretation bias modification task, the ambiguous social scenarios task (ASST). Results SRS was associated with perceived parental rejection, while controlling for other types of maladaptive parenting. SRS partially accounted for variance in the relationship between perceived parental rejection and emotional disorder symptomatology, as well as the relationship between negative interpretation bias and emotional disorder symptoms. Learning rates (i.e., change in reaction time across the task) on the ASST differed as a function of age and SRS, such that younger participants with higher SRS showed the slowest rate of learning. Moreover, individual differences in SRS accounted for the magnitude of change in negative interpretation bias before and after the ASST. Individuals with greater SRS showed less change in interpretation bias. Conclusions SRS appears strongly associated with emotional disorder symptoms in adolescents. Importantly, SRS was associated with the malleability of negative interpretation bias, which may help account for the mixed findings on the effectiveness of interpretation-bias-modification-paradigms in adolescents.

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Scrambled but valid? The scrambled sentences task as a measure of interpretation biases in psychopathology: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Cited by 23 publications

References 50 publications

Cognitions in antisocial personality and their association with “dark” traits

Cognitions in antisocial personality and their association with “dark” traits

Interpretation bias in health anxiety: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Social rejection sensitivity and its role in adolescent emotional disorder symptomatology

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