Self-focused attention and the relationship between hypochondriac symptomatology and the perception of hypothetical symptoms of influenza

Bachelor Thesis from the year 2008 in the subject Psychology - Clinic and Health Psychology, Abnormal Psychology, grade: 1,3, University of Derby (Institut für Psychologie), language: English, abstract: This study tested the hypothesis that people scoring highly on hypocondriasis (measured by the Illness Attitude Scale; Kellner, 1986), perceive it most intensely (measured by the Revised Illness Perception Questionnaire; Moss-Morris et al., 2002) when they receive a self-focused attention manipulation. One hundred and seventy students either received a treatment increasing their self-focused attention, or a neutral treatment. After that, they were exposed to a health-message about influenza. It was found that the hypothesis was not supported. Unexpectedly, self-focused people scoring high on hypocondriasis perceived the hypothetical influenza illness less intensively on some dimensions, whilst low scorers perceived symptoms more intensively under high self-focus. It is suggested that self-focused attention might activate a defence mechanism in people scoring high on hypocondriasis, where symptoms are perceived less intensely. In conclusion, this research should be replicated in order to verify the unexpected findings.