Paranoid cognitions, failure, and focus of attention in college students

Three experiments examined aspects of the link between focus of attention, manipulated by use of video camera and monitor, and paranoid and depressive cognitions in a sample of college students. In Experiment I participants were exposed to either a failure or neutral task, under high (HSA) or low self-awareness (LSA) conditions. HSA triggered paranoid cognitions on neutral and failure tasks; failure alone triggered depressive cognitions. In Experiment 2 the camera switched focus thrice between participant and experimenter using only neutral tasks. Paranoia scores initially were higher in the HSA condition. Paranoia scores increased when participants moved from LSA to HSA. Paranoia scores never fell when moving from HSA to LSA conditions. Experiment 3 used only HSA and failure, and showed how a priming task that increased the accessibility of either positive or negative self-cognitions led to significantly different paranoia and depression scores.