How Are Individual Differences in Schizotypy Related to Type 1 (Automatic/Heuristic) and Type 2 (Reflective/Effortful) Thinking Processes?

Background: Human reasoning is often conceptualised within ‘dual process’ frameworks, comprising Type 1 (automatic/heuristic) and Type 2 (reflective/effortful)
processes, as well as ‘thinking styles’. These processes have not yet been comprehensively investigated in relation to schizotypy; a continuum of normal variability
of psychosis-like characteristics and experiences. This could provide insights into thinking processes associated with psychosis-related phenomena, bypassing the limitations of psychiatric diagnosis and the confounding factors associated with clinical populations.
Aims: This study sought to investigate whether individual differences in schizotypy (‘unusual experiences’ and ‘introvertive anhedonia’) were related to thinking processes
and thinking styles. Another aim was to examine how schizotypy, thinking processes and thinking styles were related to cognitive reflection, informed by dual process
theories.
Method: The study employed a cross-sectional design and data was collected through an online survey. A large sample (n = 1,512) completed several measures pertaining to personality and reasoning. Correlations examined the association between schizotypy and reasoning processes. Regression analysis was used to further examine predictors of cognitive reflection, and multiple mediation models tested whether thinking styles and processes mediated the association between schizotypy and cognitive reflection.
Results: Schizotypy was associated with greater reliance on intuitive thinking, less reliance on deliberative thinking, as well as a hastier, less reflective reasoning style.
Unusual experiences, thinking processes and thinking style were independent predictors of cognitive reflection, and schizotypy contributed to significant additional variance in
reflection over other predictor variables. Thinking processes and thinking style had a small mediating effect on the relationship between schizotypy and cognitive reflection.
Conclusion: These findings add novel and meaningful contributions to the literature on schizotypy and decision making, and potentially allude to similar reasoning processes to those reported in psychosis. Clinical implications include potential useful targets for therapy, and several promising avenues for future research are suggested.