Access the full text.
Sign up today, get DeepDyve free for 14 days.
References for this paper are not available at this time. We will be adding them shortly, thank you for your patience.
This paper describes a questionnaire study of absent‐mindedness in shops, and an analysis of 166 letters written by 67 individuals who felt themselves to be wrongly accused of shoplifting. A total of 150 men and women were asked how often they had experienced each of 24 varieties of mental lapse while shopping. If they had not actually suffered a particular lapse, they were asked to judge its likelihood of occurrence. Approximately half of the sample also completed the Cognitive Failures Questionnaire (CFQ). Lapses carrying the risk of shop‐lifting accusations were reported as occurring far less frequently, and were judged as less likely, than either ‘embarrassing’ or ‘nuisance’ lapses. However, an examination of the circumstances leading up to accusations of shoplifting indicated that high risk lapses can occur when ill health, extreme preoccupation and distraction are combined with unwise supermarket practices. A positive and significant correlation was found between the CFQ and the Absent‐Mindedness in Shops Questionnaire (AMSQ). A factor analysis of the AMSQ revealed a very pervasive general factor, together with a risk appreciation factor. The findings supported the view that responses to both the CFQ and the AMSQ reflected characteristic differences in the management of some superordinate attentional control resource.
British Journal of Clinical Psychology – Wiley
Published: May 1, 1984
Read and print from thousands of top scholarly journals.
Already have an account? Log in
Bookmark this article. You can see your Bookmarks on your DeepDyve Library.
To save an article, log in first, or sign up for a DeepDyve account if you don’t already have one.
Copy and paste the desired citation format or use the link below to download a file formatted for EndNote
Access the full text.
Sign up today, get DeepDyve free for 14 days.
All DeepDyve websites use cookies to improve your online experience. They were placed on your computer when you launched this website. You can change your cookie settings through your browser.