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

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.