Understanding Racial Differences in Paranoia
This study aims to understand why Black Americans report higher levels of paranoia (a pattern of thinking where people feel suspicious or believe others may want to harm them) compared to White Americans, even without a mental health diagnosis. Researchers will use a Guided Visual Imagery Task, an online audio-guided activity, to see if stressful experiences related to race can lead to increased paranoia. You can join if you are 18 or older, identify as non-Hispanic Black or African American, live in the US, speak English, and are registered on the Prolific platform. The study will measure your level of paranoia immediately after the intervention. The current recruitment status is unclear.
- Study design
- This is an interventional study with a planned enrollment of 480 participants. It uses a randomized design to test the effects of the intervention.
- What's involved
- Participants will complete an online, audio-guided visual imagery task. This task involves imagining yourself actively participating in different scenes.
- Compensation
- Not stated in the trial record.
- Follow-up
- Paranoia will be measured immediately after the intervention, which is a single session.
AI-generated from the public study record. Only the study team can confirm whether you're eligible — confirm details with them before making decisions.
Racial Disparities in the Expression of Paranoia
At a glance
Conditions
Where it's being run
1 sites across 1 statesWho to contact
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Do you actually qualify for this trial?
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Inclusion
Exclusion
What this trial measures
- State ParanoiaImmediately post-intervention (single session)
Self-reported paranoia will be assessed immediately following the experimental task to capture acute, experimentally induced changes in paranoia. State paranoia will be measured using the Revised Green Paranoid Thought Scale (R-GPTS; Green et al., 2019), an 18-item validated Likert-type measure appropriate for clinical and nonclinical samples. Scores range from 0-72, with higher scores indicating greater state paranoia. The R-GPTS includes two subscales: (1) Ideas of Reference and (2) Ideas of Persecution. Items are summed to generate subscale and total scores. The scale demonstrates excellent internal consistency (α \> .90), and prior work (Wolny et al., revisions submitted) established measurement invariance across Black and White American participants.