Coping With Perceived Abusive Supervision: The Role of Paranoia

Two studies (a cross-sectional survey of 90 U.K. workers and an experiment with 100 U.K. workers) examined the cognitive and behavioral effects of abusive supervision. Both studies confirmed the hypothesis that workers who experience abusive supervision show paranoia and that makes them more prone to a type of cognitive error called the “sinister attribution error.” This is where workers misattribute innocent workplace events such as tripping...