Investigation of subclinical psychotic and subclinical psychopatic symptoms that predict the theory of mind skills in healthy individuals

Theory of Mind (ToM) skills, which are defined as the ability to infer and make sense of the thoughts and feelings of others, are very important for people's social lives. There are conflicting findings regarding how ToM skills are affected in the presence of subclinical psychosis and subclinical psychopathy symptoms in healthy adults. In this regard, it is important to carry out studies investigating the relationship between these symptoms and ToM skills to eliminate the confusion in the findings. The aim of the current study is to examine subclinical psychosis and psychopathy symptoms that are expected to predict ToM skills, and to test the effect of the interaction of subclinical psychosis and psychopathy symptoms on ToM. The study conducted with 184 healthy adults (124 females and 60 males) aged between 18-60 years. The data was collected by the Demographic Information Form, Reading Mind from the Eyes Test (RMET), Community Psychic Experience Rating Scale (CAPE), and Levenson Self-Report Psychopathy Scale (LSRP). According to the results obtained, it was observed that subclinical psychosis and primary psychopathy symptoms predict ToM skills negatively while it was concluded that the interaction of subclinical psychosis and primary psychopathy symptoms did not have any effect on ToM skills. In addition, it was observed that women's ToM skills were higher than men's. Results showing that subclinical psychosis symptoms negatively predicted ToM skills suggested that it may be related to the changes in brain regions associated with ToM in people with psychotic symptoms. It was assumed that the results showing primary psychopathy symptoms negatively predicted ToM skills may be related to decreased activation in the brain regions of psychopathic individuals, including the amygdala and anterior insula, which are related to emotion and empathy. It is thought that the different measurement tools used to measure ToM and the characteristics of these tools may be related to the lack of any effect of the interaction of subclinical psychosis and primary psychopathy on ToM.