Dualistic Thinking and Beliefs About the Treatability of Mental Illnesses Among Medical Students: Development and Validation of a New Questionnaire

Dualistic Thinking and Beliefs About the Treatability of Mental Illnesses Among Medical Students: Development and Validation of a New Questionnaire | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Dualistic Thinking and Beliefs About the Treatability of Mental Illnesses Among Medical Students: Development and Validation of a New Questionnaire Stephan Lins, Philipp Spitzer, Janine Utz, Erich Seifritz, Philipp Homan, and 3 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7760915/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Background: Dualistic thinking, the belief that mind and body are two separate entities, has long been assumed to influence how future physicians perceive the treatability of mental disorders and to contribute to stigma against people with mental health conditions. Despite its potential relevance for medical education, there is limited empirical evidence to substantiate this assumption Objective: We investigated the prevalence of dualistic thinking among medical students and examine its associations with beliefs about the treatability of schizophrenia, depression, and alcohol dependence. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional survey with N = 203 medical students at a large European medical school. Participants completed a newly developed 15-item Dualism Questionnaire. Principal Component Analysis identified underlying dimensions, and correlations with treatability beliefs were calculated. Results: The PCA revealed three distinct components: Dualistic Independence, Biological Determinism, and Mental Predictability. Dualistic beliefs were prevalent, particularly Biological Determinism. Contrary to prevailing assumptions, certain dualistic perspectives were positively associated with treatability beliefs for schizophrenia and depression. We found no association for alcohol dependence Conclusions: Dualistic beliefs are widespread among medical students but do not necessarily reduce optimism about treatment efficacy. The results challenge common assumptions and highlight the need to address dualism in curricula. Integrating discussions on mind–body concepts into psychiatric and neuroscience teaching may help students critically reflect on their beliefs, potentially improving communication with patients dualistic thinking medical students mental health stigma treatability beliefs curriculum development medical education Introduction Dualistic thinking is the belief that mind and body are two fundamentally distinct entities. It has deeply influenced Western philosophical thought and is dates back to René Descartes [ 1 , 2 ]. In contrast, advances in neuroscience suggest that there is no impenetrable barrier between mind and brain [ 3 ], and in the last decades, integrative models of the mind have been proposed [ 4 – 10 ]. As a result, dualism has increasingly been considered outdated in modern psychiatry [ 5 – 10 ]. Still, dualistic viewpoints are common, also among highly educated people [ 11 ]. Data suggest that approximately 40% of scientists in the US have faith in a personal deity or an afterlife, a proportion similar to that recorded nearly a century ago [ 12 ]. Studies conducted among students from various disciplines from different countries have shown that dualistic thinking is common among the whole population [ 13 , 14 ]. Ethnographic and empirical studies of psychiatric practice show that psychiatrists continue to take decisions influenced by dualistic thinking in ways that are often covert and unacknowledged [ 15 – 18 ]. A recent questionnaire survey showed that students across various disciplines acknowledged the influence of mind-brain dilemma on medical and psychological research methodologies, treatment approaches, and interactions with patients [ 19 ]. This suggests that dualistic beliefs can impact not only theoretical understanding but also practical aspects of healthcare. Several authors have suggested that dualistic thinking could contribute to lower expectations about the treatability of mental disorders and to increased stigma [ 20 , 37 ]. Empirical studies, although not explicitly framed in terms of dualism, have shown that stigma is reinforced when mental and physical illness are perceived as fundamentally separate [ 21 – 23 ]. This reasoning is based on the notion that, mental phenomena if perceived as separate from the physical body, may be considered outside the realm of medical science, rendering them less reachable for medical treatment. Such perspectives may also reinforce a perceived divide between mental and physical illness, thereby perpetuating stigma in healthcare contexts. Unfortunately, the opposite also seems to be true. A biological perspective that frames mental illnesses as a brain disorder may unintentionally increase stigma. [ 24 ]. These assumption are largely made in absence of empirical evidence. There are only scarce data directly examining the relationship between dualistic thinking and treatability beliefs. Most studies focus on general attitudes either towards mental illness, or on the influence of biogenetic explanations, without directly measuring dualistic beliefs as a construct. This lack of empirical evidence leaves open the possibility that the assumed negative association between dualism and treatability may be overstated or context-dependent. Since dualism is supposed to be causally connected to adverse effects on mental health and mental health care, addressing dualistic viewpoints among future healthcare professionals could have significant positive outcomes. Unfortunately, little is known about the prevalence of dualistic thinking among medical students and its impact on their attitudes towards mental health. This study aims to fill the gap by investigating the extent of dualistic thinking among medical students and their perceptions of the treatability of mental illnesses. In a first step, we sought to introduce and validate a newly developed German-language questionnaire designed to measure dualistic attitudes. By employing Principal Component Analysis (PCA), we aimed to identify underlying dimensions of dualistic thinking that are reflected in our questionnaire. Secondly, associations of those subdimensions with beliefs about the treatability of mental health conditions were explored. We hypothesize that dualistic beliefs can negatively impact both the theoretical understanding and practical aspects of mental health care. Additionally, through this approach, we aim to develop educational strategies that challenge dualistic thinking to improve mental health care outcomes. Methods The study used a primarily descriptive and correlational design to examine the association between dualistic beliefs, and attitudes towards treatability among undergraduate students. Moreover, the current study aimed to introduce and describe a newly developed scale on dualism to better understand these associations. Participants were 203 medical students aged 18 and above, who were enrolled in the medical program at a medical school in Europe. They were undertaking the mandatory psychiatry course in their second year. The data assessment took place between 2022 and 2023. Study Instrument Our questionnaire, which was inspired by Stanovich's [ 25 ] 27-item Dualism scale and Riekki’s [ 14 ] 25-item Dualism scale, was originally developed for academic use. To achieve better economic use, we chose to reduce the number of items. The wording of some items were slightly modified to adapt them to medical students. Accordingly, certain items were either removed or simplified, while others were designed by our group. The revised scale consisted of 15 six-point Likert-scaled items, with responses ranging from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (6). Item scores were summed up, with higher scores indicating stronger dualistic thinking. Therefore, those items whose agreement indicated a non-dualistic viewpoint were reverse-coded prior to further processing. Standardized instructions were given in written form to ensure that the results are objective and reproducible. All modifications and item selections were made based on interrater agreements among several persons of our research team. Secondly, to measure beliefs about the treatability of mental illnesses, we asked the students to rate the treatability of the following conditions: schizophrenia, depression, and alcohol dependence. We used a 6-point Likert-type response format (Very Good to Very Poor). The questionnaire was made available to the students as an online version. The survey was conducted during an orientation event for clinical subjects and participation was voluntary. This study was submitted to the relevant institutional ethics committee and received a designation of exempt which states that no vote from the ethics committee is required for anonymous data collection and that a consent to participate was not necessary for this study. Participants The sample comprised 203 medical students in their fourth semester with a nearly two-thirds majority of females (66.0%, n = 134) and an average age of 21.9 years (SD = 2.8). More than one third (n = 76; 37.4%) of the participants reported having religious beliefs, while n = 33 (16.3%) refused to respond to this question, and 22.7% (n = 46) had prior contact with psychiatric patients. Statistical Analyses Initially, item-level descriptive statistics with means and standard deviations as well as median and interquartile ranges were calculated for the 15 items of the dualism questionnaire. To assess the internal consistency of the questionnaire, Cronbach’s alpha was calculated for each item and the overall scale. Then, we conducted a Principal Component Analysis with Promax rotation to identify the underlying dimensional structure of the questionnaire. To explore how the 15 items grouped into components based on their correlations, factors with eigenvalues greater than 1 were extracted. Based on their component loadings after rotation meaningful underlying sub-dimensions of dualism were explored. Subsequently, associations between the PCA-derived subscales with the total Dualism scale, as well as with various beliefs about the treatability of mental health conditions were examined. Therefore, Pearson correlations were calculated to evaluate the strength and direction of associations between all those measures. Finally, we explored the associations of these measures with demographic features, religious belief and patient contact by using Pearson correlations for bivariate associations with continuous variables as well as T-tests for comparing means for binary variables. All analyses were conducted using STATA/SE 16.1. Results Descriptive Statistics and Item-Level Analysis All 15 items on Dualism displayed a wide range of responses, with mean scores from 2.67 (Item_01) to 4.15 (Item_03), reflecting varied levels of agreement with dualistic beliefs. The overall very high Cronbach’s alpha indicates the measure to be highly reliable and homogeneous. As indicated by their individual alpha values none of the items detract from the scale’s reliability. For more details, please refer to Table 1. Table 1. Item analysis for Dualistic thinking scale M±SD Median (IQR) item-test correlation item-rest correlation alpha Item_01 2.67±1.42 2 (2-4) 0.4040 0.2907 0.8533 Item_02 3.73±1.39 4 (3-5) 0.5979 0.5090 0.8405 Item_03 4.15±1.36 4 (3-5) 0.5006 0.4017 0.8466 Item_04 4.06±1.48 4 (3-5) 0.6982 0.6204 0.8335 Item_05 3.58±1.30 4 (3-4) 0.6745 0.6036 0.8353 Item_06 3.08±1.13 3 (2-4) 0.5646 0.4896 0.8420 Item_07 3.98±1.30 4 (3-5) 0.5578 0.4701 0.8427 Item_08 3.66±1.30 4 (3-5) 0.4219 0.3198 0.8508 Item_09 3.54±1.35 4 (3-5) 0.7079 0.6393 0.8329 Item_10 2.92±1.13 3 (2-4) 0.5611 0.4861 0.8421 Item_11 3.51±1.24 4 (3-4) 0.6797 0.6127 0.8352 Item_12 3.88±1.28 4 (3-5) 0.6068 0.5270 0.8396 Item_13 3.48±1.30 4 (3-4) 0.6730 0.6017 0.8354 Item_14 2.87±1.43 3 (2-4) 0.5016 0.3966 0.8473 Item_15 3.71±1.25 4 (3-5) 0.4092 0.3107 0.8509 Total scale 0.8510 Note: M±SD = Mean ± Standard Deviation; IQR = Interquartile Range. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) A PCA with Promax rotation was performed to explore the underlying structure of the Dualism Questionnaire. The analysis revealed three components with eigenvalues greater than 1, explaining a cumulative variance of 56.07%. The component loadings after rotation indicated a clear pattern, suggesting the division of items into three subscales based on their highest loadings (see Table 2). Table 2. Principal Component Analysis loadings for Dualistic Thinking items Variable Comp1 Comp2 Comp3 Item_01: Mind-Brain Separation 0.3915 -0.3080 0.2128 Item_02: Mind-Brain Reduction -0.0130 0.4219 0.0087 Item_03: Disease Origin -0.1181 0.4840 -0.0156 Item_04: Biological Organism -0.0200 0.5153 -0.0255 Item_05: Immaterial Spirit 0.2955 0.1538 -0.0812 Item_06: Brain-Determined Personality 0.0159 0.2356 0.3107 Item_07: Brain-Determined Morality -0.0349 0.2886 0.2962 Item_08: Thought Prediction 0.0325 -0.0308 0.5790 Item_09: Mind Influences Brain 0.4017 -0.0123 0.0768 Item_10: Mind-Brain Independence 0.4745 -0.1671 -0.0014 Item_11: Mind as Guiding Force 0.4162 0.0157 -0.0639 Item_12: Mind Within Brain 0.2510 0.1825 -0.1389 Item_13: Independent Mental Processes 0.2778 0.1024 0.0760 Item_14: Consciousness After Death 0.2480 0.0962 -0.1397 Item_15: Personality Prediction 0.0042 -0.0211 0.6116 Note: Loadings in bold indicate the highest loading of each item across the three components Based on the results of the PCA, the three identified components represent distinct subdimensions of dualistic beliefs with strong internal consistencies (see Table 3): Component 1 includes items such as Item_10, Item_11, highlights the separate and autonomous existence of the mind (Cronbach’s alpha = .84), which therefore was labelled as Dualistic Independence . Component 2 is represented by three strong loading items (Items 2, 3, 4), focusing on the biological underpinnings of human nature and mental processes (Cronbach’s alpha = .75), which therefore was labelled as Biological Determinism. Component 3 with items such as Item_15 and Item_08 , explores the dynamic interplay between the mind and the body (Cronbach’s alpha = .69), which therefore was labelled Mental Predictability. Table 3. Items analysis of Dualistic Thinking subscales Dualistic Independence item-test item-rest Item correlation correlation alpha Item_01: Mind-Brain Separation 0.5493 0.3874 0.8404 Item_05: Immaterial Spirit 0.7208 0.6140 0.8096 Item_09: Mind Influences Brain 0.7718 0.6753 0.8009 Item_10: Mind-Brain Independence 0.7285 0.6398 0.8084 Item_11: Mind as Guiding Force 0.7864 0.7038 0.7986 Item_12: Mind Within Brain 0.6553 0.5335 0.8200 Item_13: Independent Mental Processes 0.6825 0.5651 0.8160 Item_14: Consciousness After Death 0.5990 0.4452 0.8331 Test scale 0.8354 Biological Determinism item-test item-rest Item correlation correlation alpha Item_02: Mind-Brain Reduction 0.7923 0.5391 0.7192 Item_03: Disease Origin 0.7869 0.5391 0.7189 Item_04: Biological Organism 0.8739 0.6767 0.5546 Test scale 0.7538 Mental Predictability item-test item-rest Item correlation correlation alpha Item_06: Brain-Determined Personality 0.6973 0.4696 0.6276 Item_07: Brain-Determined Morality 0.7228 0.4626 0.6309 Item_08: Thought Prediction 0.7250 0.4656 0.6288 Item_15: Personality Prediction 0.7338 0.4944 0.6096 Test scale 0.6890 Subscale Correlations and associations with treatment beliefs Correlations among these subscales were moderate to high, while each subscale was also substantially linked to the overall Dualism scale (see Table 4). Treatment beliefs related to the treatability of mental health conditions showed varying levels of correlation with the dualism scales . Overall treatment belief showed a weak correlation with the Dualism total and Mental Predictability. Beliefs regarding treatment of alcohol dependency and schizophrenia were weakly correlated with the Dualism total and subscales but had strong correlations with each other and other treatment beliefs. Beliefs concerning the treatability of depression more robustly associated with Mental Predictability and showed strong inter-correlations with other treatment beliefs. Table 4. Descriptive statistics and correlations of Dualistic Thinking and treatment belief M±SD Median (IQR) Dualism total Dualistic Independence Biological Determinism Mental Predictability 5. treatment belief - total 6. treatment belief - alcohol 7. treatment belief - schizophrenia 8. treatment belief - depression 1. Dualism total 52.8±11.2 55 (48-60) 1.0000 2. Dualistic Independence 26.4±7.1 28 (23-31) 0.8757*** 1 3. Biological Determinism 11.9±3.5 12 (10-15) 0.7346*** 0.4326*** 1 4. Mental Predictability 14.4±3.6 14 (12-17) 0.6757*** 0.3306*** 0.4718*** 1.0000 5. treatment belief - total 3.9±0.9 4 (3.3-4.7) 0.1508* 0.1314 0.0178 0.1929** 1 6. treatment belief - alcohol 4.5±1.1 5 (4-5) 0.0957 0.1339 -0.0064 0.0391 0.7157*** 1 7. treatment belief - schizophrenia 3.3±1.1 3 (2-4) 0.1387* 0.0826 0.0422 0.2289** 0.8219*** 0.3776*** 1 8. treatment belief - depression 4.0±1.2 4 (3-5) 0.1207 0.0937 0.0068 0.1844** 0.8165*** 0.3267*** 0.5678*** 1 Note: M±SD = Mean ± Standard Deviation; IQR = Interquartile Range; *** p ≤ .001; ** p ≤ .01; * p ≤ .05. Demographic Correlations and Differences Table 5 displays associations of dualism scales and treatment with demographic features, religious beliefs and previous patient contact. Accordingly, while none of the dualism scales or subscales were linked to age female students scored significantly higher than male students on the Dualism total and subscales except for Dualistic Independence, which was unrelated to gender. Participants with religious beliefs scored significantly higher on all dualism scales except for Mental Predictability subscale, which was not associated with religious belief. Additionally, no significant associations were found between any dualism scale score and patient contact. A significant negative correlation was observed between age and treatment beliefs regarding both overall treatment effectiveness and effectiveness of alcohol dependency treatment specifically. Conversely, a negative association was observed between having had patient contact and beliefs in the effectiveness of alcohol treatment. Table 5. Descriptive statistics and correlations for Dualistic Thinking scales and treatment belief by demographic variables Age Sex Religious Belief Patient Contact r Male - M±SD Female - M±SD Yes - M±SD No - M±SD Yes - M±SD No - M±SD Dualism total 0.07 49.0±13.0 54.8±9.7*** 55.8±9.1 49.9±12.7*** 52.3±11.3 53.0±11.2 Dualistic Independence 0.04 25.1±8.8 27.1±6.0 28.5±6.0 24.3±7.9*** 26.3±7.2 26.5±7.1 Biological Determinism 0.09 10.6±3.8 12.6±3.1*** 12.5±3.5 11.4±3.5* 11.7±3.5 12.0±3.5 Mental Predictability 0.04 13.3±4.0 15.0±3.2** 14.8±3.4 14.2±3.8 14.3±3.7 14.5±3.6 treatment belief - total -0.19** 3.9±1.0 3.9±.9 4.0±1.0 3.9±.9 3.9±1.0 3.9±.9 treatment belief - alcohol -0.29*** 4.3±1.2 4.5±1.1 4.4±1.3 4.5±1.1 4.1±1.3 4.5±1.1* treatment belief - schizophrenia -0.11 3.4±1.1 3.3±1.1 3.4±1.3 3.3±1.0 3.5±1.1 3.3±1.1 treatment belief - depression -0 .07 4.0±1.4 4.0±1.1 4.2±1.2 3.9±1.2 4.2±1.3 3.9±1.2 Note: r = Pearson’s correlation coefficient; M±SD = Mean ± Standard Deviation; *** p ≤ .001; ** p ≤ .01; * p ≤ .05. Discussion The purpose of our study was to explore the association between dualistic beliefs and attitudes towards the treatability of mental health conditions among medical students. By introducing and describing a newly developed scale on dualism, we aimed to better understand these associations. A Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was used to explore the underlying structure of this scale. Accordingly, our results revealed three distinct components, which represent Dualistic Independence, Biological Determinism and Mental Predictability. These components highlight the nuanced structure of dualistic beliefs within our sample. Internal consistencies and correlational analyses supporting their complementary yet distinct nature. Moreover, substantial overlap with the total scale score reflect their cohesive contribution to the overall construct of dualism. Subsequent analyses further gave insight in how specific dualistic subdimensions influence the perceptions of treatment efficacy. In detail, our results showed that the belief in the treatability of schizophrenia and depression was linked to a rather dualistic perspective (indicated by the Mental Predictability), while this was not the case for the Biological Determinism subscale. One could argue that accepting Biological Determinism viewpoints might be expected to more strongly influence the belief in treatability, as this perspective could potentially make mental illnesses appear more amenable to medical treatment. Indeed, there is evidence that public endorsement of biomedical explanations for mental illnesses, such as genetic or chemical imbalances, are linked to higher support for medical treatments, including psychiatric medications and professional help. [ 26 , 27 ] The positive association between perceived treatability and dualistic thinking may still be influenced by a tendency of individuals with non-dualistic views to see mental disorders as having a solely biological basis and therefore to perceive them as a more severe and determined medical condition. This aligns with research that showed that a biological perspective on mental illness can increase stigma and reduce clinician empathy. [ 28 , 29 ]. This might also reflect reduced confidence in the effectiveness of currently available biological treatments among persons with a non-dualistic view. Interestingly, there is no significant correlation between the Mental Predictability subscale and belief in the treatability of alcoholism. This discrepancy might reflect the common view, that alcoholism still is a moral failing rather than a treatable condition. Studies have shown that alcoholism is often perceived as a character flaw, impacting the perceived efficacy of treatment [ 27 , 30 ] Our results show that dualistic thinking is prevalent among medical students. While prior literature has speculated that dualistic views might have a negative effect on stigma and treatment expectations [ 8 , 20 , 25 ], our results indicate that the relationship with treatability beliefs in medical students may be more nuanced and context-dependent. In light of an increasingly biology-based current scientific understanding of neurobiological processes, this finding was noteworthy. This aligns with findings of other studies, which found that dualistic beliefs persist even among scientifically trained individuals and students from various disciplines [ 13 , 14 ]. Participants of our study seem to score markedly higher on biological determinism than on other subdimensions of dualistic thinking. These findings are rather surprising, especially among medical students, given their education in human biology and behavior. One possible explanation for this emphasis on biological causation lies in the way integrative frameworks, such as the biopsychosocial model, are presented during training. The biopsychosocial model, as originally formulated by Engel [ 31 ], was intended to integrate biological, psychological, and social factors in a unified framework. However, its tripartite structure (bio-psycho-social) can also be interpreted—especially in educational contexts—as reinforcing categorical distinctions between these domains. This conceptual separation may inadvertently encourage students to infer that disorders construed as more “biological” are less malleable—and hence less treatable—thereby inverting the expected relationship [ 28 , 29 ]. Nevertheless, while we wholeheartedly endorse the profound effects of psychosocial factors on mental illnesses, from a neurobiological perspective, psychosocial phenomena are realized in neural systems; mental phenomena manifest through neural interactions. [ 10 ]. Accordingly, these disorders have been described as dysfunctional patterns of experience and behavior explained by dysfunctional neural systems at various levels [ 32 ]. Yet, these interpretations are speculative. Before drawing educational or clinical implications, future research should examine more carefully why non-dualistic perspectives may in some cases be associated with less favorable attitudes toward treatability. Understanding the underlying mechanisms of this unexpected association will be essential to design effective interventions. Despite expectations that dualistic attitudes would diminish with scientific progress, especially among scientists, our study did not support this assumption. Although we cannot directly compare our results with previous findings [ 12 – 14 ] some conclusions can be drawn by comparing our findings to questions from previous studies that addressed similar concepts. For example, Demertzi and colleagues [ 13 ] found that around four out of ten medical professionals would agree that "Mind and brain are two separate things.", which supports our findings, where approximately 30% agreed with this statement (Item 1: Mind-Brain Separation). Furthermore, a remarkable consistency was observed with the statement "Mind is fundamentally physical", which was endorsed by similar proportions of medical professionals [ 13 ] and medical students in our sample (Item 10: Mind-Brain Independence) (45% vs. 44%). Thus, our results not only serve as validation for our newly developed dualism scale but also strongly support previous findings that dualistic thinking persists at a high level across different demographics and regions. This persistence is noteworthy, especially in the context of medical education, where a better understanding of dualistic thinking might be helpful to address misconceptions about mental health. Our finding that women tend to think more dualistically than men is also supported by other research indicating women to be more likely to believe in the separation of mind and body [ 13 , 14 ]. One possible explanation lies in gendered social expectations: Women are often associated with emotional sensitivity, while men are encouraged to exhibit detached rationality. It has been hypothesized that such social roles might foster dualistic views among women. In addition, women tend to score higher in empathizing and lower in systematizing in psychological tests, which may correlate with a greater openness to spiritual or non-material explanations of mental phenomena. These interpretations remain speculative and would benefit from further empirical investigation. [ 33 , 34 ] Additionally, our results revealed religious individuals to be more dualistic in their thinking than non-religious individuals, which is consistent with prior work linking religiosity to dualistic beliefs [ 14 , 25 ]. Since a central tenet of many religious convictions is the quintessential dualistic belief in a soul or spiritual entity that resides in our physical body, it is expected that religious people are more prone to dualistic thinking. In contrast, our data lacks evidence that previous contact with mentally ill individuals affects dualistic thinking or even the belief in treatability. This was somewhat unexpected since research has shown that personal contact leads to a reduction in negative stereotypes and stigmatizing perceptions of persons with mental illness [ 35 ]. However, there was a slight association with the belief in the treatability of alcoholism, which could be interpreted as a more nuanced understanding of substance abuse disorders because this condition might more frequently be seen as a behavioral and lifestyle choices rather than mental health conditions. This suggests that a personal interaction might be more effective to alter the perceptions of conditions that are more visibly linked to personal choice and behavior. In this context, it is worth considering how dualistic beliefs might relate to broader societal issues such as mental health stigma. Recent research indicates a connection between dualistic thinking and mental health stigma, as well as between dualistic thinking and beliefs about the treatability of mental illnesses. These beliefs can significantly influence stigmatizing attitudes [ 21 , 22 ], which are also prevalent among medical practitioners [ 36 ]. This prevalence may lead to inadequate treatment as physical symptoms are often misattributed to mental illness, a phenomenon known as diagnostic overshadowing [ 36 ]. Consequently, future research should aim to investigate whether there is a correlation between dualistic thinking, the belief in treatability, and stigmatizing attitudes. Such studies would provide a deeper understanding of the interplay between these factors. For instance, research could explore if individuals who hold strong dualistic beliefs also exhibit higher levels of stigma towards mental illness and if their belief in treatability mitigates this stigma. From a medical education perspective, one could design studies to test how conceptual models shape beliefs about treatability and to identify educational tools for preclinical psychiatry and neuroscience teaching. Strengths To our knowledge this is the first study that specifically examines the relationship between dualistic thinking and the treatability of mental health conditions; prior work has largely articulated the hypothesis conceptually [ 20 ]. Therefore, our findings broadly contribute to a massively understudied field and have practical relevance for medical education and stigma prevention. Thus, it has to be recognized how prevalent dualistic thinking is among medical professionals and its influence on beliefs about treatability. Addressing dualistic beliefs in medical training can improve future healthcare delivery and help reduce mental health stigma. Promoting future research, preferably using prospective designs, will help to assess whether changes in dualistic thinking are linked with shifts in stigma and treatability beliefs. Understanding whether educational interventions targeting dualistic thinking can lead to changes in attitudes towards mental illness could be helpful in developing more effective anti-stigma programs. Limitations Despite the strength mentioned above there are a number of limitations that have to be addressed. First, the cross-sectional design of the study only provides a snapshot of the participants' beliefs and attitudes at one point in time, which do not allow to draw any conclusions about causality. Longitudinal studies would be necessary to explore how these beliefs and attitudes evolve over time. Second, a major limitation of our study is the use of a newly developed measure of dualistic thinking that is neither established nor validated yet. Although internal consistencies indicate a highly reliable measure our study clearly lacks an external measure to validate our construct, which means that despite a good reliability it is not entirely clear what our measure actually measures. However, our identified subdimensions align well with the existing literature, suggesting our instrument to have a suggesting good face validity [ 13 , 14 , 25 ]. Additionally, the higher scores of women and religious individuals on dualistic thinking in our questionnaire are consistent with the existing literature, which also indicates that religious people are generally more prone to dualistic thinking [ 13 , 14 ]. Although our results highly suggest that our questionnaire effectively captures dualistic thinking further studies are required to confirm the validity of this new instrument. Conclusion Dualistic thinking is still prevalent among medical students. Our findings furthermore suggest that dualistic thinking is positively correlated with the belief in the treatability of schizophrenia and depression. This result in particular is counterintuitive and challenges previous assumptions. It calls for a detailed examination of the underlying mechanisms. The validation provided by the demographic patterns in our data underscores the reliability of our questionnaire. Future research should aim to elucidate the connections between dualism, biological determinism, and beliefs about treatability, particularly in relation to stigma. This could help to provide a clearer basis for developing effective educational strategies and anti-stigma interventions. Declarations Ethics approval and consent to participate The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. It was reviewed by the Ethics Committee of the University Hospital Erlangen, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nürnberg (Germany), which determined that formal ethical approval was not required as the study involved anonymous data collection and posed no risk to participants. All participants were informed about the purpose and voluntary nature of the study and provided implied consent by completing the questionnaire. Consent for publication Not applicable. Availability of data and materials The datasets generated and analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request. Competing interests The authors declare that they have no competing interests. Funding This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. Authors’ contributions S.L. made substantial contributions to the conception and design of the work, and to the acquisition, analysis, and interpretation of data; he drafted the manuscript and substantively revised it. M.M. made substantial contributions to the design of the work, and to the analysis and interpretation of data; he drafted the manuscript and substantively revised it. P.S. made substantial contributions to the conception and design of the work, and to the acquisition of data. J.U. made substantial contributions to the conception and design of the work, and to the acquisition of data. E.S. substantively revised the manuscript. P.H. substantively revised the manuscript. S.V. substantively revised the manuscript. M.C. substantively revised the manuscript. Acknowledgements The authors would like to thank all participating medical students for their time and engagement. Clinical trial number Not applicable. References Descartes R. Meditations on first philosophy . 1641. 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Acta Psychiatr Scand. 2006;114(5):303–18. 10.1111/j.1600-0447.2006.00824.x . Haslam N. Dimensions of folk psychiatry. Rev Gen Psychol. 2005;9(1):35–47. 10.1037/1089-2680.9.1.35 . Thornicroft G, Rose D, Kassam A, Sartorius N. Stigma: ignorance, prejudice or discrimination? Br J Psychiatry. 2007;190(3):192–3. Corrigan PW. Lessons learned from unintended consequences about erasing the stigma of mental illness. World Psychiatry. 2016;15(1):67–73. 10.1002/wps.20295 . Stanovich KE. Implicit philosophies of mind: the dualism scale and its relation to religiosity and belief in extrasensory perception. J Psychol. 1989;123(1):5–23. Schnittker J. An uncertain revolution: why the rise of a genetic model of mental illness has not increased tolerance. Soc Sci Med. 2008;67(9):1370–81. Pescosolido BA, Martin JK, Long JS, Medina TR, Phelan JC, Link BG. A disease like any other? A decade of change in public reactions to schizophrenia, depression, and alcohol dependence. Am J Psychiatry. 2010;167(11):1321–30. Kvaale EP, Haslam N, Gottdiener WH. The side effects of medicalization: a meta-analytic review of how biogenetic explanations affect stigma. Clin Psychol Rev. 2013;33(6):782–94. 10.1016/j.cpr.2013.06.002 . Lebowitz MS, Ahn WK. Effects of biological explanations for mental disorders on clinicians’ empathy. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2014;111(50):17786–90. 10.1073/pnas.1414058111 . Schomerus G, Matschinger H, Angermeyer MC. Public beliefs about the causes of mental disorders and their relationship to stigma. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol. 2011;46(8):761–9. Engel GL. The biopsychosocial model of health and disease. In: Hasenbring M, Rusu AC, Turk DC, editors. From acute to chronic back pain: risk factors, mechanisms, and clinical implications. Berlin: Springer; 1977. pp. 295–314. Walter H. The third wave of biological psychiatry. Front Psychol. 2013;4:582. 10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00582 . Psychology Today. Why women are more likely to believe in the supernatural. 2023. Available from: https://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/why-women-are-more-likely-to-believe-in-the-supernatural [cited 2025 Jan 15]. Pew Research Center. Theories explaining gender differences in religion. 2016 Mar 22. Available from: https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2016/03/22/theories-explaining-gender-differences-in-religion [cited 2025 Jan 15]. Corrigan PW, Watson AC. Understanding the impact of stigma on people with mental illness. World Psychiatry. 2002;1(1):16–20. Thornicroft G, Rose D, Kassam A. Discrimination in health care against people with mental illness. Int Rev Psychiatry. 2007;19(2):113–22. Buckwalter W, Turri J. In the mind but not from the body: explaining the intuition of mind–body dualism. J Cogn Cult. 2015;15(3–4):293–309. 10.1163/15685373-12342154 . Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. 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It has deeply influenced Western philosophical thought and is dates back to Ren\u0026eacute; Descartes [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR1\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e1\u003c/span\u003e, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR2\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2\u003c/span\u003e]. In contrast, advances in neuroscience suggest that there is no impenetrable barrier between mind and brain [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR3\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e3\u003c/span\u003e], and in the last decades, integrative models of the mind have been proposed [\u003cspan additionalcitationids=\"CR5 CR6 CR7 CR8 CR9\" citationid=\"CR4\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e4\u003c/span\u003e\u0026ndash;\u003cspan citationid=\"CR10\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e10\u003c/span\u003e]. As a result, dualism has increasingly been considered outdated in modern psychiatry [\u003cspan additionalcitationids=\"CR6 CR7 CR8 CR9\" citationid=\"CR5\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e5\u003c/span\u003e\u0026ndash;\u003cspan citationid=\"CR10\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e10\u003c/span\u003e]. Still, dualistic viewpoints are common, also among highly educated people [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR11\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e11\u003c/span\u003e]. Data suggest that approximately 40% of scientists in the US have faith in a personal deity or an afterlife, a proportion similar to that recorded nearly a century ago [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR12\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e12\u003c/span\u003e]. Studies conducted among students from various disciplines from different countries have shown that dualistic thinking is common among the whole population [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR13\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e13\u003c/span\u003e, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR14\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e14\u003c/span\u003e]. Ethnographic and empirical studies of psychiatric practice show that psychiatrists continue to take decisions influenced by dualistic thinking in ways that are often covert and unacknowledged [\u003cspan additionalcitationids=\"CR16 CR17\" citationid=\"CR15\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e15\u003c/span\u003e\u0026ndash;\u003cspan citationid=\"CR18\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e18\u003c/span\u003e]. A recent questionnaire survey showed that students across various disciplines acknowledged the influence of mind-brain dilemma on medical and psychological research methodologies, treatment approaches, and interactions with patients [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR19\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e19\u003c/span\u003e]. This suggests that dualistic beliefs can impact not only theoretical understanding but also practical aspects of healthcare.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSeveral authors have suggested that dualistic thinking could contribute to lower expectations about the treatability of mental disorders and to increased stigma [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR20\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e20\u003c/span\u003e, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR37\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e37\u003c/span\u003e]. Empirical studies, although not explicitly framed in terms of dualism, have shown that stigma is reinforced when mental and physical illness are perceived as fundamentally separate [\u003cspan additionalcitationids=\"CR22\" citationid=\"CR21\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e21\u003c/span\u003e\u0026ndash;\u003cspan citationid=\"CR23\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e23\u003c/span\u003e]. This reasoning is based on the notion that, mental phenomena if perceived as separate from the physical body, may be considered outside the realm of medical science, rendering them less reachable for medical treatment. Such perspectives may also reinforce a perceived divide between mental and physical illness, thereby perpetuating stigma in healthcare contexts. Unfortunately, the opposite also seems to be true. A biological perspective that frames mental illnesses as a brain disorder may unintentionally increase stigma. [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR24\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e24\u003c/span\u003e].\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThese assumption are largely made in absence of empirical evidence. There are only scarce data directly examining the relationship between dualistic thinking and treatability beliefs. Most studies focus on general attitudes either towards mental illness, or on the influence of biogenetic explanations, without directly measuring dualistic beliefs as a construct. This lack of empirical evidence leaves open the possibility that the assumed negative association between dualism and treatability may be overstated or context-dependent.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSince dualism is supposed to be causally connected to adverse effects on mental health and mental health care, addressing dualistic viewpoints among future healthcare professionals could have significant positive outcomes. Unfortunately, little is known about the prevalence of dualistic thinking among medical students and its impact on their attitudes towards mental health.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis study aims to fill the gap by investigating the extent of dualistic thinking among medical students and their perceptions of the treatability of mental illnesses. In a first step, we sought to introduce and validate a newly developed German-language questionnaire designed to measure dualistic attitudes. By employing Principal Component Analysis (PCA), we aimed to identify underlying dimensions of dualistic thinking that are reflected in our questionnaire. Secondly, associations of those subdimensions with beliefs about the treatability of mental health conditions were explored. We hypothesize that dualistic beliefs can negatively impact both the theoretical understanding and practical aspects of mental health care. Additionally, through this approach, we aim to develop educational strategies that challenge dualistic thinking to improve mental health care outcomes.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"Methods","content":"\u003cp\u003eThe study used a primarily descriptive and correlational design to examine the association between dualistic beliefs, and attitudes towards treatability among undergraduate students. Moreover, the current study aimed to introduce and describe a newly developed scale on dualism to better understand these associations. Participants were 203 medical students aged 18 and above, who were enrolled in the medical program at a medical school in Europe. They were undertaking the mandatory psychiatry course in their second year. The data assessment took place between 2022 and 2023.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cdiv id=\"Sec3\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e\u003ch2\u003eStudy Instrument\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eOur questionnaire, which was inspired by Stanovich's [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR25\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e25\u003c/span\u003e] 27-item Dualism scale and Riekki\u0026rsquo;s [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR14\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e14\u003c/span\u003e] 25-item Dualism scale, was originally developed for academic use. To achieve better economic use, we chose to reduce the number of items. The wording of some items were slightly modified to adapt them to medical students. Accordingly, certain items were either removed or simplified, while others were designed by our group. The revised scale consisted of 15 six-point Likert-scaled items, with responses ranging from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (6). Item scores were summed up, with higher scores indicating stronger dualistic thinking. Therefore, those items whose agreement indicated a non-dualistic viewpoint were reverse-coded prior to further processing. Standardized instructions were given in written form to ensure that the results are objective and reproducible. All modifications and item selections were made based on interrater agreements among several persons of our research team.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSecondly, to measure beliefs about the treatability of mental illnesses, we asked the students to rate the treatability of the following conditions: schizophrenia, depression, and alcohol dependence. We used a 6-point Likert-type response format (Very Good to Very Poor).\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe questionnaire was made available to the students as an online version. The survey was conducted during an orientation event for clinical subjects and participation was voluntary. This study was submitted to the relevant institutional ethics committee and received a designation of exempt which states that no vote from the ethics committee is required for anonymous data collection and that a consent to participate was not necessary for this study.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eParticipants\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe sample comprised 203 medical students in their fourth semester with a nearly two-thirds majority of females (66.0%, n\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;134) and an average age of 21.9 years (SD\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;2.8). More than one third (n\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;76; 37.4%) of the participants reported having religious beliefs, while n\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;33 (16.3%) refused to respond to this question, and 22.7% (n\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;46) had prior contact with psychiatric patients.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eStatistical Analyses\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eInitially, item-level descriptive statistics with means and standard deviations as well as median and interquartile ranges were calculated for the 15 items of the dualism questionnaire. To assess the internal consistency of the questionnaire, Cronbach\u0026rsquo;s alpha was calculated for each item and the overall scale.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThen, we conducted a Principal Component Analysis with Promax rotation to identify the underlying dimensional structure of the questionnaire. To explore how the 15 items grouped into components based on their correlations, factors with eigenvalues greater than 1 were extracted. Based on their component loadings after rotation meaningful underlying sub-dimensions of dualism were explored. Subsequently, associations between the PCA-derived subscales with the total Dualism scale, as well as with various beliefs about the treatability of mental health conditions were examined. Therefore, Pearson correlations were calculated to evaluate the strength and direction of associations between all those measures.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFinally, we explored the associations of these measures with demographic features, religious belief and patient contact by using Pearson correlations for bivariate associations with continuous variables as well as T-tests for comparing means for binary variables.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAll analyses were conducted using STATA/SE 16.1.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"Results","content":"\u003ch2\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDescriptive Statistics and Item-Level Analysis\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll 15 items on Dualism displayed a wide range of responses, with mean scores from 2.67 (Item_01) to 4.15 (Item_03), reflecting varied levels of agreement with dualistic beliefs. The overall very high Cronbach\u0026rsquo;s alpha indicates the measure to be highly reliable and homogeneous. As indicated by their individual alpha values none of the items detract from the scale\u0026rsquo;s reliability. For more details, please refer to Table 1.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTable 1.\u003c/strong\u003e Item analysis for Dualistic thinking scale\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ctable border=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" width=\"554\"\u003e\n \u003ctbody\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 151px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 80px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eM\u0026plusmn;SD\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 80px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMedian (IQR)\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 80px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eitem-test correlation\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 80px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eitem-rest correlation\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 83px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ealpha\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 151px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eItem_01\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 80px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e2.67\u0026plusmn;1.42\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 80px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e2 (2-4)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 80px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.4040\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 80px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.2907\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 83px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.8533\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 151px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eItem_02\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 80px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e3.73\u0026plusmn;1.39\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 80px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e4 (3-5)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 80px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.5979\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 80px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.5090\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 83px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.8405\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 151px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eItem_03\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 80px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e4.15\u0026plusmn;1.36\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 80px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e4 (3-5)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 80px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.5006\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 80px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.4017\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 83px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.8466\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 151px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eItem_04\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 80px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e4.06\u0026plusmn;1.48\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 80px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e4 (3-5)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 80px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.6982\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 80px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.6204\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 83px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.8335\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 151px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eItem_05\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 80px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e3.58\u0026plusmn;1.30\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 80px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e4 (3-4)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 80px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.6745\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 80px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.6036\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 83px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.8353\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 151px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eItem_06\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 80px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e3.08\u0026plusmn;1.13\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 80px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e3 (2-4)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 80px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.5646\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 80px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.4896\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 83px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.8420\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 151px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eItem_07\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 80px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e3.98\u0026plusmn;1.30\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 80px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e4 (3-5)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 80px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.5578\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 80px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.4701\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 83px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.8427\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 151px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eItem_08\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 80px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e3.66\u0026plusmn;1.30\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 80px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e4 (3-5)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 80px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.4219\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 80px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.3198\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 83px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.8508\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 151px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eItem_09\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 80px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e3.54\u0026plusmn;1.35\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 80px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e4 (3-5)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 80px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.7079\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 80px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.6393\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 83px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.8329\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 151px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eItem_10\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 80px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e2.92\u0026plusmn;1.13\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 80px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e3 (2-4)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 80px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.5611\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 80px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.4861\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 83px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.8421\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 151px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eItem_11\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 80px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e3.51\u0026plusmn;1.24\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 80px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e4 (3-4)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 80px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.6797\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 80px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.6127\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 83px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.8352\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 151px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eItem_12\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 80px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e3.88\u0026plusmn;1.28\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 80px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e4 (3-5)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 80px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.6068\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 80px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.5270\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 83px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.8396\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 151px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eItem_13\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 80px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e3.48\u0026plusmn;1.30\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 80px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e4 (3-4)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 80px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.6730\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 80px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.6017\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 83px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.8354\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 151px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eItem_14\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 80px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e2.87\u0026plusmn;1.43\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 80px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e3 (2-4)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 80px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.5016\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 80px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.3966\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 83px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.8473\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 151px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eItem_15\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 80px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e3.71\u0026plusmn;1.25\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 80px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e4 (3-5)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 80px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.4092\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 80px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.3107\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 83px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.8509\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 151px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTotal scale\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 80px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 80px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 80px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 80px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 83px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.8510\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd colspan=\"6\" valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 554px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eNote: M\u0026plusmn;SD = Mean \u0026plusmn; Standard Deviation; IQR = Interquartile Range.\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003c/tbody\u003e\n\u003c/table\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrincipal Component Analysis (PCA)\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA PCA with Promax rotation was performed to explore the underlying structure of the Dualism Questionnaire. The analysis revealed three components with eigenvalues greater than 1, explaining a cumulative variance of 56.07%. The component loadings after rotation indicated a clear pattern, suggesting the division of items into three subscales based on their highest loadings (see Table 2).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTable 2.\u003c/strong\u003e Principal Component Analysis loadings for Dualistic Thinking items\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ctable border=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" width=\"460\"\u003e\n \u003ctbody\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 264px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eVariable\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 55px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eComp1\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 66px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eComp2\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 76px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eComp3\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 264px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 55px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 66px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 76px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 264px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eItem_01: Mind-Brain Separation\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 55px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e0.3915\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 66px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e-0.3080\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 76px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.2128\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 264px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eItem_02: Mind-Brain Reduction\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 55px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e-0.0130\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 66px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e0.4219\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 76px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.0087\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 264px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eItem_03: Disease Origin\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 55px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e-0.1181\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 66px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e0.4840\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 76px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e-0.0156\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 264px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eItem_04: Biological Organism\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 55px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e-0.0200\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 66px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e0.5153\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 76px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e-0.0255\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 264px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eItem_05: Immaterial Spirit\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 55px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e0.2955\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 66px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.1538\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 76px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e-0.0812\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 264px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eItem_06: Brain-Determined Personality\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 55px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.0159\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 66px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.2356\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 76px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e0.3107\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 264px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eItem_07: Brain-Determined Morality\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 55px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e-0.0349\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 66px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.2886\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 76px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e0.2962\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 264px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eItem_08: Thought Prediction\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 55px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.0325\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 66px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e-0.0308\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 76px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e0.5790\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 264px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eItem_09: Mind Influences Brain\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 55px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e0.4017\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 66px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e-0.0123\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 76px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.0768\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 264px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eItem_10: Mind-Brain Independence\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 55px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e0.4745\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 66px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e-0.1671\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 76px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e-0.0014\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 264px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eItem_11: Mind as Guiding Force\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 55px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e0.4162\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 66px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.0157\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 76px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e-0.0639\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 264px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eItem_12: Mind Within Brain\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 55px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e0.2510\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 66px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.1825\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 76px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e-0.1389\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 264px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eItem_13: Independent Mental Processes\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 55px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e0.2778\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 66px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.1024\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 76px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.0760\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 264px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eItem_14: Consciousness After Death\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 55px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e0.2480\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 66px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.0962\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 76px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e-0.1397\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 264px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eItem_15: Personality Prediction\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 55px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.0042\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 66px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e-0.0211\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 76px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e0.6116\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003c/tbody\u003e\n\u003c/table\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNote: Loadings in bold indicate the highest loading of each item across the three components\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBased on the results of the PCA, the three identified components represent distinct subdimensions of dualistic beliefs with strong internal consistencies (see Table 3):\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eComponent 1\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003eincludes items such as Item_10, Item_11, highlights the separate and autonomous existence of the mind (Cronbach\u0026rsquo;s alpha = .84), which therefore was labelled as\u003cstrong\u003e\u0026nbsp;Dualistic Independence\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e.\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eComponent 2\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eis\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003erepresented by three strong loading items (Items 2, 3, 4), focusing on the biological underpinnings of human nature and mental processes (Cronbach\u0026rsquo;s alpha = .75), which therefore was labelled as\u003cstrong\u003e\u0026nbsp;Biological Determinism.\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eComponent 3\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u0026nbsp;with items such as\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003eItem_15 \u003cstrong\u003eand\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003eItem_08\u003cstrong\u003e, explores the dynamic interplay between the mind and the body\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003e(Cronbach\u0026rsquo;s alpha = .69), which therefore was labelled \u003cstrong\u003eMental Predictability.\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTable 3.\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u0026nbsp;Items analysis of Dualistic Thinking subscales\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ctable border=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" width=\"522\"\u003e\n \u003ctbody\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd colspan=\"2\" valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 358px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDualistic Independence\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 78px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 273px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eitem-test\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 78px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eitem-rest\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 273px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eItem\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ecorrelation\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 78px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ecorrelation\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ealpha\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 273px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 78px;\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 273px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eItem_01: Mind-Brain Separation\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.5493\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 78px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.3874\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.8404\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 273px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eItem_05: Immaterial Spirit\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.7208\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 78px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.6140\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.8096\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 273px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eItem_09: Mind Influences Brain\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.7718\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 78px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.6753\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.8009\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 273px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eItem_10: Mind-Brain Independence\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.7285\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 78px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.6398\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.8084\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 273px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eItem_11: Mind as Guiding Force\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.7864\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 78px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.7038\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.7986\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 273px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eItem_12: Mind Within Brain\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.6553\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 78px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.5335\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.8200\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 273px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eItem_13: Independent Mental Processes\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.6825\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 78px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.5651\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.8160\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 273px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eItem_14: Consciousness After Death\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.5990\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 78px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.4452\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.8331\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 273px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 78px;\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 273px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTest scale\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 78px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.8354\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 273px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBiological Determinism\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 78px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 273px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eitem-test\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 78px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eitem-rest\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 273px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eItem\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ecorrelation\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 78px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ecorrelation\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ealpha\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 273px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 78px;\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 273px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eItem_02: Mind-Brain Reduction\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.7923\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 78px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.5391\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.7192\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 273px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eItem_03: Disease Origin\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.7869\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 78px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.5391\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.7189\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 273px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eItem_04: Biological Organism\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.8739\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 78px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.6767\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.5546\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 273px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 78px;\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 273px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTest scale\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 78px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.7538\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 273px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMental Predictability\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 78px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 273px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eitem-test\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 78px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eitem-rest\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 273px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eItem\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ecorrelation\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 78px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ecorrelation\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ealpha\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 273px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 78px;\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 273px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eItem_06: Brain-Determined Personality\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.6973\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 78px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.4696\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.6276\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 273px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eItem_07: Brain-Determined Morality\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.7228\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 78px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.4626\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.6309\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 273px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eItem_08: Thought Prediction\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.7250\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 78px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.4656\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.6288\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 273px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eItem_15: Personality Prediction\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.7338\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 78px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.4944\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.6096\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 273px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 78px;\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 273px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTest scale\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 78px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.6890\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003c/tbody\u003e\n\u003c/table\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSubscale Correlations and associations with treatment beliefs\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCorrelations among these subscales were moderate to high, while each subscale was also substantially linked to the overall Dualism scale (see Table 4). Treatment beliefs related to the treatability of mental health conditions showed varying levels of correlation with the dualism scales\u003cstrong\u003e.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eOverall treatment belief\u003c/strong\u003e showed a weak correlation with the Dualism total and Mental Predictability. Beliefs regarding \u003cstrong\u003etreatment of alcohol dependency\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003eand\u003cstrong\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eschizophrenia\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003ewere weakly correlated with the Dualism total and subscales but had strong correlations with each other and other treatment beliefs. Beliefs concerning the \u003cstrong\u003etreatability of depression\u003c/strong\u003e more robustly associated with Mental Predictability and showed strong inter-correlations with other treatment beliefs.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTable 4.\u003c/strong\u003e Descriptive statistics and correlations of Dualistic Thinking and treatment belief\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ctable border=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" width=\"952\"\u003e\n \u003ctbody\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 93px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 91px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eM\u0026plusmn;SD\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 76px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMedian (IQR)\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 69px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDualism total\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 93px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDualistic Independence\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 87px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBiological Determinism\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 91px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMental Predictability\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 92px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e5. treatment belief - total\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 84px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e6. treatment belief - alcohol\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 93px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e7. treatment belief - schizophrenia\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 84px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e8. treatment belief - depression\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 93px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e1. Dualism total\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 91px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e52.8\u0026plusmn;11.2\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 76px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e55 (48-60)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 69px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e1.0000\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 93px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 87px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 91px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 92px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 84px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 93px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 84px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 93px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e2. Dualistic Independence\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 91px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e26.4\u0026plusmn;7.1\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 76px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e28 (23-31)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 69px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.8757***\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 93px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e1\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 87px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 91px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 92px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 84px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 93px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 84px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 93px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e3. \u0026nbsp;Biological Determinism\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 91px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e11.9\u0026plusmn;3.5\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 76px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e12 (10-15)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 69px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.7346***\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 93px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.4326***\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 87px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e1\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 91px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 92px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 84px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 93px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 84px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 93px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e4. Mental Predictability\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 91px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e14.4\u0026plusmn;3.6\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 76px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e14 (12-17)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 69px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.6757***\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 93px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.3306***\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 87px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.4718***\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 91px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e1.0000\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 92px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 84px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 93px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 84px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 93px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e5. treatment belief - total\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 91px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e3.9\u0026plusmn;0.9\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 76px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e4 (3.3-4.7)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 69px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.1508*\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 93px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.1314\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 87px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.0178\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 91px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.1929**\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 92px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e1\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 84px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 93px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 84px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 93px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e6. treatment belief - alcohol\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 91px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e4.5\u0026plusmn;1.1\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 76px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e5 (4-5)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 69px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.0957\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 93px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.1339\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 87px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e-0.0064\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 91px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.0391\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 92px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.7157***\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 84px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e1\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 93px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 84px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 93px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e7. treatment belief - schizophrenia\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 91px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e3.3\u0026plusmn;1.1\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 76px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e3 (2-4)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 69px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.1387*\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 93px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.0826\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 87px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.0422\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 91px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.2289**\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 92px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.8219***\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 84px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.3776***\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 93px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e1\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 84px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 93px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e8. treatment belief - depression\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 91px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e4.0\u0026plusmn;1.2\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 76px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e4 (3-5)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 69px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.1207\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 93px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.0937\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 87px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.0068\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 91px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.1844**\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 92px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.8165***\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 84px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.3267***\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 93px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.5678***\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 84px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e1\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003c/tbody\u003e\n\u003c/table\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNote: M\u0026plusmn;SD = Mean \u0026plusmn; Standard Deviation; IQR = Interquartile Range; *** p \u0026le; .001; ** p \u0026le; .01; * p \u0026le; .05.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDemographic Correlations and Differences\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTable 5 displays associations of dualism scales and treatment with demographic features, religious beliefs and previous patient contact. Accordingly, while none of the dualism scales or subscales were linked to age female students scored significantly higher than male students on the Dualism total and subscales except for Dualistic Independence, which was unrelated to gender. Participants with religious beliefs scored significantly higher on all dualism scales except for Mental Predictability subscale, which was not associated with religious belief. Additionally, no significant associations were found between any dualism scale score and patient contact.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA significant negative correlation was observed between age and treatment beliefs regarding both overall treatment effectiveness and effectiveness of alcohol dependency treatment specifically. Conversely, a negative association was observed between having had patient contact and beliefs in the effectiveness of alcohol treatment.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTable 5.\u003c/strong\u003e Descriptive statistics and correlations for Dualistic Thinking scales and treatment belief by demographic variables\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ctable border=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" width=\"652\"\u003e\n \u003ctbody\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 113px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 57px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAge\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd colspan=\"2\" valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 162px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSex\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd colspan=\"2\" valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 158px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eReligious Belief\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd colspan=\"2\" valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 162px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePatient Contact\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 113px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 57px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003er\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMale - M\u0026plusmn;SD\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 77px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFemale - M\u0026plusmn;SD\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 75px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eYes - M\u0026plusmn;SD\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 83px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eNo - M\u0026plusmn;SD\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 77px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eYes - M\u0026plusmn;SD\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eNo - M\u0026plusmn;SD\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 113px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDualism total\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 57px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.07\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e49.0\u0026plusmn;13.0\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 77px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e54.8\u0026plusmn;9.7***\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 75px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e55.8\u0026plusmn;9.1\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 83px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e49.9\u0026plusmn;12.7***\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 77px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e52.3\u0026plusmn;11.3\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e53.0\u0026plusmn;11.2\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 113px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDualistic Independence\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 57px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.04\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e25.1\u0026plusmn;8.8\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 77px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e27.1\u0026plusmn;6.0\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 75px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e28.5\u0026plusmn;6.0\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 83px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e24.3\u0026plusmn;7.9***\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 77px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e26.3\u0026plusmn;7.2\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e26.5\u0026plusmn;7.1\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 113px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBiological Determinism\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 57px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.09\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e10.6\u0026plusmn;3.8\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 77px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e12.6\u0026plusmn;3.1***\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 75px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e12.5\u0026plusmn;3.5\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 83px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e11.4\u0026plusmn;3.5*\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 77px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e11.7\u0026plusmn;3.5\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e12.0\u0026plusmn;3.5\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 113px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMental Predictability\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 57px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.04\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e13.3\u0026plusmn;4.0\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 77px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e15.0\u0026plusmn;3.2**\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 75px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e14.8\u0026plusmn;3.4\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 83px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e14.2\u0026plusmn;3.8\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 77px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e14.3\u0026plusmn;3.7\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e14.5\u0026plusmn;3.6\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 113px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003etreatment belief - total\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 57px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e-0.19**\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e3.9\u0026plusmn;1.0\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 77px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e3.9\u0026plusmn;.9\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 75px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e4.0\u0026plusmn;1.0\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 83px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e3.9\u0026plusmn;.9\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 77px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e3.9\u0026plusmn;1.0\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e3.9\u0026plusmn;.9\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 113px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003etreatment belief - alcohol\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 57px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e-0.29***\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e4.3\u0026plusmn;1.2\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 77px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e4.5\u0026plusmn;1.1\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 75px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e4.4\u0026plusmn;1.3\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 83px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e4.5\u0026plusmn;1.1\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 77px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e4.1\u0026plusmn;1.3\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e4.5\u0026plusmn;1.1*\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 113px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003etreatment belief - schizophrenia\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 57px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e-0.11\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e3.4\u0026plusmn;1.1\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 77px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e3.3\u0026plusmn;1.1\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 75px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e3.4\u0026plusmn;1.3\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 83px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e3.3\u0026plusmn;1.0\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 77px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e3.5\u0026plusmn;1.1\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e3.3\u0026plusmn;1.1\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 113px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003etreatment belief - depression\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 57px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e-0 .07\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e4.0\u0026plusmn;1.4\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 77px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e4.0\u0026plusmn;1.1\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 75px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e4.2\u0026plusmn;1.2\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 83px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e3.9\u0026plusmn;1.2\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 77px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e4.2\u0026plusmn;1.3\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"bottom\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e3.9\u0026plusmn;1.2\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003c/tbody\u003e\n\u003c/table\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNote: r = Pearson\u0026rsquo;s correlation coefficient; M\u0026plusmn;SD = Mean \u0026plusmn; Standard Deviation; *** p \u0026le; .001; ** p \u0026le; .01; * p \u0026le; .05.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"Discussion","content":"\u003cp\u003eThe purpose of our study was to explore the association between dualistic beliefs and attitudes towards the treatability of mental health conditions among medical students. By introducing and describing a newly developed scale on dualism, we aimed to better understand these associations. A Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was used to explore the underlying structure of this scale. Accordingly, our results revealed three distinct components, which represent Dualistic Independence, Biological Determinism and Mental Predictability. These components highlight the nuanced structure of dualistic beliefs within our sample. Internal consistencies and correlational analyses supporting their complementary yet distinct nature. Moreover, substantial overlap with the total scale score reflect their cohesive contribution to the overall construct of dualism.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSubsequent analyses further gave insight in how specific dualistic subdimensions influence the perceptions of treatment efficacy. In detail, our results showed that the belief in the treatability of schizophrenia and depression was linked to a rather dualistic perspective (indicated by the Mental Predictability), while this was not the case for the Biological Determinism subscale. One could argue that accepting Biological Determinism viewpoints might be expected to more strongly influence the belief in treatability, as this perspective could potentially make mental illnesses appear more amenable to medical treatment. Indeed, there is evidence that public endorsement of biomedical explanations for mental illnesses, such as genetic or chemical imbalances, are linked to higher support for medical treatments, including psychiatric medications and professional help. [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR26\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e26\u003c/span\u003e, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR27\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e27\u003c/span\u003e]\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe positive association between perceived treatability and dualistic thinking may still be influenced by a tendency of individuals with non-dualistic views to see mental disorders as having a solely biological basis and therefore to perceive them as a more severe and determined medical condition. This aligns with research that showed that a biological perspective on mental illness can increase stigma and reduce clinician empathy. [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR28\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e28\u003c/span\u003e, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR29\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e29\u003c/span\u003e]. This might also reflect reduced confidence in the effectiveness of currently available biological treatments among persons with a non-dualistic view.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eInterestingly, there is no significant correlation between the Mental Predictability subscale and belief in the treatability of alcoholism. This discrepancy might reflect the common view, that alcoholism still is a moral failing rather than a treatable condition. Studies have shown that alcoholism is often perceived as a character flaw, impacting the perceived efficacy of treatment [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR27\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e27\u003c/span\u003e, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR30\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e30\u003c/span\u003e]\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOur results show that dualistic thinking is prevalent among medical students. While prior literature has speculated that dualistic views might have a negative effect on stigma and treatment expectations [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR8\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e8\u003c/span\u003e, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR20\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e20\u003c/span\u003e, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR25\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e25\u003c/span\u003e], our results indicate that the relationship with treatability beliefs in medical students may be more nuanced and context-dependent. In light of an increasingly biology-based current scientific understanding of neurobiological processes, this finding was noteworthy. This aligns with findings of other studies, which found that dualistic beliefs persist even among scientifically trained individuals and students from various disciplines [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR13\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e13\u003c/span\u003e, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR14\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e14\u003c/span\u003e].\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eParticipants of our study seem to score markedly higher on biological determinism than on other subdimensions of dualistic thinking. These findings are rather surprising, especially among medical students, given their education in human biology and behavior. One possible explanation for this emphasis on biological causation lies in the way integrative frameworks, such as the biopsychosocial model, are presented during training.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe biopsychosocial model, as originally formulated by Engel [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR31\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e31\u003c/span\u003e], was intended to integrate biological, psychological, and social factors in a unified framework. However, its tripartite structure (bio-psycho-social) can also be interpreted\u0026mdash;especially in educational contexts\u0026mdash;as reinforcing categorical distinctions between these domains. This conceptual separation may inadvertently encourage students to infer that disorders construed as more \u0026ldquo;biological\u0026rdquo; are less malleable\u0026mdash;and hence less treatable\u0026mdash;thereby inverting the expected relationship [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR28\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e28\u003c/span\u003e, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR29\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e29\u003c/span\u003e]. Nevertheless, while we wholeheartedly endorse the profound effects of psychosocial factors on mental illnesses, from a neurobiological perspective, psychosocial phenomena are realized in neural systems; mental phenomena manifest through neural interactions.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR10\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e10\u003c/span\u003e]. Accordingly, these disorders have been described as dysfunctional patterns of experience and behavior explained by dysfunctional neural systems at various levels [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR32\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e32\u003c/span\u003e]. Yet, these interpretations are speculative. Before drawing educational or clinical implications, future research should examine more carefully why non-dualistic perspectives may in some cases be associated with less favorable attitudes toward treatability. Understanding the underlying mechanisms of this unexpected association will be essential to design effective interventions.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDespite expectations that dualistic attitudes would diminish with scientific progress, especially among scientists, our study did not support this assumption. Although we cannot directly compare our results with previous findings [\u003cspan additionalcitationids=\"CR13\" citationid=\"CR12\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e12\u003c/span\u003e\u0026ndash;\u003cspan citationid=\"CR14\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e14\u003c/span\u003e] some conclusions can be drawn by comparing our findings to questions from previous studies that addressed similar concepts. For example, Demertzi and colleagues [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR13\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e13\u003c/span\u003e] found that around four out of ten medical professionals would agree that \"Mind and brain are two separate things.\", which supports our findings, where approximately 30% agreed with this statement (Item 1: Mind-Brain Separation). Furthermore, a remarkable consistency was observed with the statement \"Mind is fundamentally physical\", which was endorsed by similar proportions of medical professionals [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR13\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e13\u003c/span\u003e] and medical students in our sample (Item 10: Mind-Brain Independence) (45% vs. 44%). Thus, our results not only serve as validation for our newly developed dualism scale but also strongly support previous findings that dualistic thinking persists at a high level across different demographics and regions. This persistence is noteworthy, especially in the context of medical education, where a better understanding of dualistic thinking might be helpful to address misconceptions about mental health.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOur finding that women tend to think more dualistically than men is also supported by other research indicating women to be more likely to believe in the separation of mind and body [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR13\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e13\u003c/span\u003e, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR14\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e14\u003c/span\u003e]. One possible explanation lies in gendered social expectations: Women are often associated with emotional sensitivity, while men are encouraged to exhibit detached rationality. It has been hypothesized that such social roles might foster dualistic views among women. In addition, women tend to score higher in empathizing and lower in systematizing in psychological tests, which may correlate with a greater openness to spiritual or non-material explanations of mental phenomena. These interpretations remain speculative and would benefit from further empirical investigation. [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR33\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e33\u003c/span\u003e, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR34\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e34\u003c/span\u003e]\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAdditionally, our results revealed religious individuals to be more dualistic in their thinking than non-religious individuals, which is consistent with prior work linking religiosity to dualistic beliefs [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR14\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e14\u003c/span\u003e, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR25\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e25\u003c/span\u003e]. Since a central tenet of many religious convictions is the quintessential dualistic belief in a soul or spiritual entity that resides in our physical body, it is expected that religious people are more prone to dualistic thinking.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn contrast, our data lacks evidence that previous contact with mentally ill individuals affects dualistic thinking or even the belief in treatability. This was somewhat unexpected since research has shown that personal contact leads to a reduction in negative stereotypes and stigmatizing perceptions of persons with mental illness [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR35\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e35\u003c/span\u003e]. However, there was a slight association with the belief in the treatability of alcoholism, which could be interpreted as a more nuanced understanding of substance abuse disorders because this condition might more frequently be seen as a behavioral and lifestyle choices rather than mental health conditions. This suggests that a personal interaction might be more effective to alter the perceptions of conditions that are more visibly linked to personal choice and behavior.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn this context, it is worth considering how dualistic beliefs might relate to broader societal issues such as mental health stigma. Recent research indicates a connection between dualistic thinking and mental health stigma, as well as between dualistic thinking and beliefs about the treatability of mental illnesses. These beliefs can significantly influence stigmatizing attitudes [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR21\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e21\u003c/span\u003e, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR22\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e22\u003c/span\u003e], which are also prevalent among medical practitioners [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR36\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e36\u003c/span\u003e]. This prevalence may lead to inadequate treatment as physical symptoms are often misattributed to mental illness, a phenomenon known as diagnostic overshadowing [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR36\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e36\u003c/span\u003e]. Consequently, future research should aim to investigate whether there is a correlation between dualistic thinking, the belief in treatability, and stigmatizing attitudes. Such studies would provide a deeper understanding of the interplay between these factors. For instance, research could explore if individuals who hold strong dualistic beliefs also exhibit higher levels of stigma towards mental illness and if their belief in treatability mitigates this stigma. From a medical education perspective, one could design studies to test how conceptual models shape beliefs about treatability and to identify educational tools for preclinical psychiatry and neuroscience teaching.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cdiv id=\"Sec12\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e\u003ch2\u003eStrengths\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eTo our knowledge this is the first study that specifically examines the relationship between dualistic thinking and the treatability of mental health conditions; prior work has largely articulated the hypothesis conceptually [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR20\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e20\u003c/span\u003e]. Therefore, our findings broadly contribute to a massively understudied field and have practical relevance for medical education and stigma prevention. Thus, it has to be recognized how prevalent dualistic thinking is among medical professionals and its influence on beliefs about treatability. Addressing dualistic beliefs in medical training can improve future healthcare delivery and help reduce mental health stigma. Promoting future research, preferably using prospective designs, will help to assess whether changes in dualistic thinking are linked with shifts in stigma and treatability beliefs. Understanding whether educational interventions targeting dualistic thinking can lead to changes in attitudes towards mental illness could be helpful in developing more effective anti-stigma programs.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv id=\"Sec13\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e\u003ch2\u003eLimitations\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eDespite the strength mentioned above there are a number of limitations that have to be addressed.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFirst, the cross-sectional design of the study only provides a snapshot of the participants' beliefs and attitudes at one point in time, which do not allow to draw any conclusions about causality. Longitudinal studies would be necessary to explore how these beliefs and attitudes evolve over time.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSecond, a major limitation of our study is the use of a newly developed measure of dualistic thinking that is neither established nor validated yet. Although internal consistencies indicate a highly reliable measure our study clearly lacks an external measure to validate our construct, which means that despite a good reliability it is not entirely clear what our measure actually measures. However, our identified subdimensions align well with the existing literature, suggesting our instrument to have a suggesting good face validity [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR13\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e13\u003c/span\u003e, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR14\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e14\u003c/span\u003e, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR25\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e25\u003c/span\u003e]. Additionally, the higher scores of women and religious individuals on dualistic thinking in our questionnaire are consistent with the existing literature, which also indicates that religious people are generally more prone to dualistic thinking [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR13\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e13\u003c/span\u003e, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR14\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e14\u003c/span\u003e]. Although our results highly suggest that our questionnaire effectively captures dualistic thinking further studies are required to confirm the validity of this new instrument.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},{"header":"Conclusion","content":"\u003cp\u003eDualistic thinking is still prevalent among medical students. Our findings furthermore suggest that dualistic thinking is positively correlated with the belief in the treatability of schizophrenia and depression. This result in particular is counterintuitive and challenges previous assumptions. It calls for a detailed examination of the underlying mechanisms. The validation provided by the demographic patterns in our data underscores the reliability of our questionnaire. Future research should aim to elucidate the connections between dualism, biological determinism, and beliefs about treatability, particularly in relation to stigma. This could help to provide a clearer basis for developing effective educational strategies and anti-stigma interventions.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"Declarations","content":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEthics approval and consent to participate\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. It was reviewed by the Ethics Committee of the University Hospital Erlangen, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-N\u0026uuml;rnberg (Germany), which determined that formal ethical approval was not required as the study involved anonymous data collection and posed no risk to participants.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll participants were informed about the purpose and voluntary nature of the study and provided implied consent by completing the questionnaire.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eConsent for publication\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNot applicable.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAvailability of data and materials\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe datasets generated and analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCompeting interests\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe authors declare that they have no competing interests.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFunding\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAuthors\u0026rsquo; contributions\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eS.L. made substantial contributions to the conception and design of the work, and to the acquisition, analysis, and interpretation of data; he drafted the manuscript and substantively revised it. M.M. made substantial contributions to the design of the work, and to the analysis and interpretation of data; he drafted the manuscript and substantively revised it. P.S. made substantial contributions to the conception and design of the work, and to the acquisition of data. J.U. made substantial contributions to the conception and design of the work, and to the acquisition of data. E.S. substantively revised the manuscript. P.H. substantively revised the manuscript. S.V. substantively revised the manuscript. M.C. substantively revised the manuscript.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAcknowledgements\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe authors would like to thank all participating medical students for their time and engagement.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eClinical trial number\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNot applicable.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"References","content":"\u003col\u003e\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eDescartes R. \u003cem\u003eMeditations on first philosophy\u003c/em\u003e. 1641.\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eHeil J. Philosophy of mind: a contemporary introduction. 3rd ed. New York: Routledge; 2019.\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eGlannon W. Mind\u0026ndash;brain dualism in psychiatry: ethical implications. Front Psychiatry. 2020;11:85.\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePessoa L. A network model of the emotional brain. 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In the mind but not from the body: explaining the intuition of mind\u0026ndash;body dualism. J Cogn Cult. 2015;15(3\u0026ndash;4):293\u0026ndash;309. \u003cspan class=\"ExternalRef\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"RefSource\"\u003e10.1163/15685373-12342154\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan address=\"10.1163/15685373-12342154\" targettype=\"DOI\" class=\"RefTarget\"\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e.\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\u003c/ol\u003e"}],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":true,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":false,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":false,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"dualistic thinking, medical students, mental health stigma, treatability beliefs, curriculum development, medical education","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7760915/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7760915/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBackground:\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDualistic thinking, the belief that mind and body are two separate entities, has long been assumed to influence how future physicians perceive the treatability of mental disorders and to contribute to stigma against people with mental health conditions. Despite its potential relevance for medical education, there is limited empirical evidence to substantiate this assumption Objective: We investigated the prevalence of dualistic thinking among medical students and examine its associations with beliefs about the treatability of schizophrenia, depression, and alcohol dependence.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMethods:\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe conducted a cross-sectional survey with N = 203 medical students at a large European medical school. Participants completed a newly developed 15-item Dualism Questionnaire. Principal Component Analysis identified underlying dimensions, and correlations with treatability beliefs were calculated.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eResults:\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe PCA revealed three distinct components: Dualistic Independence, Biological Determinism, and Mental Predictability. Dualistic beliefs were prevalent, particularly Biological Determinism. Contrary to prevailing assumptions, certain dualistic perspectives were positively associated with treatability beliefs for schizophrenia and depression. We found no association for alcohol dependence\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eConclusions:\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDualistic beliefs are widespread among medical students but do not necessarily reduce optimism about treatment efficacy. The results challenge common assumptions and highlight the need to address dualism in curricula. Integrating discussions on mind–body concepts into psychiatric and neuroscience teaching may help students critically reflect on their beliefs, potentially improving communication with patients\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Dualistic Thinking and Beliefs About the Treatability of Mental Illnesses Among Medical Students: Development and Validation of a New Questionnaire","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2025-11-19 09:27:16","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7760915/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"cbbe76b0-f019-4ba7-a564-97a23b201a04","owner":[],"postedDate":"November 19th, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2025-12-09T11:09:06+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2025-11-19 09:27:16","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-7760915","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-7760915","identity":"rs-7760915","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"XKTyCvWXoU3ODBz1xrDgd","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}