Introducing a Social Beads Task

Abstract

‘Jumping to conclusions’ is a cognitive bias relevant to delusional ideation that has been reliably replicated with the Beads Task decision-making paradigm. Due to the artificial nature of this classical task, little is known about the generalization of hasty decision-making to more naturalistic, real-life situations. In this study the construction and psychometrical evaluation of an experimental Social Beads Task paradigm are reported. The task involves eighteen neutral, self-relevant and delusion-relevant scenarios in which participants have to decide between alternative explanations by obtaining complex, naturalistic pieces of information. Besides satisfying psychometric properties in the present non-clinical sample (N = 92), the proposed enhancing impact of self-relevant and delusion-relevant scenarios on hasty decision-making was corroborated, F(2, 160) = 25.26, p, < 0.01, partial η2 = 0.24. The Social Beads Task could therefore be a useful tool in delusion research that allows the investigation of cognitive biases in social scenarios.