+
The Human Ancestral Environment and Persecutory Delusions
Spencer Head, Gabby Littlejohn, Amanda Lee, Anyssa Llerena
+Video: Where and how did humans evolve?
http://youtu.be/K4S2qJboi4I?t=1m50s
+Walston, F., Anthony, D.S., & Charlton B.D. (1998). Sex Differences in the Content of Persecutory Delusions: A Reflection of Hostile Threats in the Ancestral Environment?. Evolution and Human Behavior, 9, 257-260.
+Introduction
Humans are social animals
In males, ancestral alliances were mainly between/among blood relatives (Foley, 1995).
For females, ancestral alliances were between unrelated females (Essock, Vitale, & Mcguire, 1985). Therefore, women are more concerned with derogatory
gossip, rumors (Campbell, 1995). Fear exclusion from immediate circle
So, how does this apply to perceived threats (persecutory delusions)?
+Persecutory Delusions defined
DSM-IV-TR The person believes he/she is being "tormented,
followed, tricked, spied on, or ridiculed.” Most common form of delusion in schizophrenia Also very common in delusional disorder
+Hypotheses Men with persecutory
delusions will tend to identify male strangers as their persecutors
Females with persecutory delusions will tend to identify familiar females as their persecutors
In addition… Men would especially
identify strangers who are in groups (i.e., gangs)
Men’s persecutory delusions would be violent in nature, and women’s would be nonviolent
+Method
Used existing clinical notes of Anthony S. David, one of the study’s authors
Out of 500 cases, 24 of them had persecutory delusions where the persecutor(s) was/were specifically defined n = 24 n = 13 male, n = 11 female
+Results
+Results
Stranger Familiar0
2
4
6
8
10
1211
23
8
MalesFemales
Identity of Persecutor
Nu
mb
er
of
cases
+Discussion
Results support hypotheses regarding familiars vs. strangers 73% of women identified familiar people as persecutors 85% of men identified strangers as persecutors
However, sample is too small (n = 24)
Replicated by Julia Zolotova, Martin Brüne (2006). 63 inpatients (31 males, 32 females) of the Department of
Psychiatry, University of St. Petersburg, Russia 57 inpatients (25 males, 32 females) of the Department of
Psychiatry in Bochum, Germany Found similar results
+Critical points: Agreement
Very effective method: Walston, David, and Charlton used psychological disorders as a window to see the ancestral environment
Yielded results supportive of the hypotheses despite small sample
Implications of results can give a better understanding of social environment
+Critical Points: Disagreements
Small sample size
Sample isn’t necessarily generalizable to the overall population
Method is flawed: Retrospective Doesn’t address all hypotheses Doesn’t clearly operationalize definitions and formalize
measures
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