Capgras delusion from 1923 to the present: A psychological point of view

Abstract

Research on the Capgras delusion has often involved different strands that have tended to focus on underlying neurological or psychological factors. Both approaches are necessary to a full understanding. From a psychological perspective, the Capgras delusion has been thought to be created by an unfortunate interaction of problems at different levels. The first level involves anomalous perceptual experience in the form of a loss of preparatory emotional responses that causes things to seem strange, unfamiliar and even somewhat unreal. The second level involves a constellation of factors that lead to an incorrect interpretation of this anomalous experience. Hence the delusion has been considered to represent patients’ attempts to make sense of their anomalous perceptual experience. There is a reasonable fit between this psychological account of the Capgras delusion and the neurological findings.