Depression, self-focused attention, and expectancies for positive and negative future life events for self and others.

In two studies, we examined depressed and nondepressed persons' judgments of the probability of future positive and negative life events occurring to themselves and to others. Study 1 demonstrated that depressed subjects were generally less optimistic than their nondepressed counterparts: Although nondepressed subjects rated positive events as more likely to happen to themselves than negative events, depressed subjects did not. In addition, relative to nondepressed subjects, depressed subjects rated positive events as less likely to occur to themselves and more likely to occur to others and negative events as more likely to occur to both self and others. Study 2 investigated the role that differential levels of self-focused attention might play in mediating these differences. On the basis of prior findings that depressed persons generally engage in higher levels of self-focus than nondepressed persons do and the notion that self-focus activates one's self-schema, we hypothesized that inducing depressed subjects to focus externally would attenuate their pessimistic tendencies. Data from Study 2 supported the hypothesis that high levels of self-focus partially mediate depressive pessimism: Whereas self-focused depressed subjects were more pessimistic than nondepressed subjects, externally focused depressed subjects were not. The role of attentional focus in maintaining these and other depressive pessimistic tendencies was discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Processing personal information about well-known others and the self: The use of efficient cognitive schemata.

Investigated the efficiency with which personality information about highly familiar others and the self is processed and retained in memory. 18 undergraduates (aged 19–24 yrs) made yes/no personality ratings on 48 personal adjectives (e.g., resourceful, orderly). Half of the adjectives were rated for self-reference, whereas half were rated for applicability to a well-known other target person. Each S selected a highly familiar other to rate, and rating times (RTs) were recorded for all of the personality judgments. After the ratings, Ss were given an unexpected free recall test, in which they were required to write down as many of the personal adjectives as they could remember. Findings indicate that for both the self-referent and well-known other conditions, yes-rated recalled words had significantly shorter RTs than nonrecalled words. This pattern suggests the existence of efficient cognitive schemata for representing and interpreting personal information about these targets. A model of other-referent personal information processing is presented. Central to this model is the proposal that familiarity level is a critical determinant of the cognitive structures and processes implicated in other-referent processing. (French abstract) (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of construal processes in overconfident predictions about the self and others.

Overconfident behavioral predictions and trait inferences may occur because people make inadequate allowance for the uncertainties of situational construal. In Studies 1–3, Ss estimated how much time or money they would spend in various hypothetical, incompletely specified situations. Ss then offered associated "confidence limits" under different "construal conditions." In Study 4, Ss made trait inferences about someone they believed had responded "deviantly," again with situational details unspecified and construal conditions manipulated. In all 4 studies, Ss who made predictions or trait inferences without being able to assume the accuracy of their situational construals offered confidence limits no broader than those of Ss who made their responses contingent on such accuracy. Only in conditions where Ss were obliged to offer alternative construals did they appropriately broaden their confidence limits or weaken their trait inferences. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Drinking habits and expectancies about alcohol's effects for self versus others.

Administered an alcohol effects questionnaire and a measure of drinking practices to 150 college students. Ss consistently expected alcohol to affect other people more than themselves for both positive effects such as social or sexual pleasure and negative effects such as impairment, except that moderate and heavy drinkers expected as much social/physical pleasure from alcohol as they expected others to receive. Moderate and heavy drinkers expected alcohol to enhance their own social and sexual pleasure, aggression, and tension reduction more than did light drinkers but did not differ in expected aversive consequences, suggesting that differences in anticipated reinforcement are more salient than anticipated impairment in influencing drinking behavior. Women expected less pleasure and tension reduction and more cognitive and motor impairment from alcohol but did not differ from men in expected enhancement of sexual pleasure, aggression, or expressiveness when differences in drinking habits were statistically controlled. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Overconfident prediction of future actions and outcomes by self and others.

In a follow-up study to D. Dunning et al (see record 1990-22524-001), which had investigated the phenomenon of overconfidence in social prediction, two samples of first-year undergraduates were invited to make predictions about their own future responses (and, in the case of Sample 2, also those of their roommates) over the months ahead. These predictions were accompanied by confidence estimates and were evaluated in the light of actual responses reported later by the subjects in question. The primary finding was that self-predictions, like social predictions, proved to be consistently overconfident. As in Dunning et al, moreover, overconfidence could be traced to two sources. First, expressions of particularly high confidence rarely proved to be warranted; as confidence increased, the gap between accuracy and confidence widened. Second, predictions that went against relevant base rates yielded very low accuracy in the face of relatively unattenuated confidence levels. The implications of these results are discussed, and one potentially important underlying mechanism—the failure to make adequate inferential allowance for the uncertanties of situational construal—is proposed for further research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perfectionism and negative mood: The mediating roles of validation from others versus self.

This study examined a model in which the need for reassurance from others and the capacity for self-reinforcement mediated the relationships between two dimensions of perfectionism (evaluative concerns [EC] perfectionism and personal standards [PS] perfectionism) and anxiety and depression. Results from structural equation modeling of data from 295 college students from a large midwestern university indicated that the need for reassurance from others and the capacity for self-reinforcement fully mediated the relationship between EC perfectionism and anxiety as well as partially mediated the relationships between PS perfectionism and anxiety and depression. Moreover, 41% of the variance in anxiety and 50% of the variance in depression was explained by EC perfectionism, PS perfectionism, the need for reassurance from others, and/or the capacity for self-reinforcement. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Multidimensionality of internal versus external control: Addition of a third dimension and non-distinction of self versus others.

Notes that 2 separate dimensions-Fatalism and Social System Control (ssc)-have been identified in recent research on internal-external (I-E) control. The present 2 studies with a total of 301 college students examined whether subdimensions or other separate factors besides these 2 exist in I-E. Contrary to previous interpretations, Ss did not distinguish control of self from control of others within these 2 dimensions. Rather, the factor analytic data supported the interpretation that Fatalism and ssc differ only in terms of their "source" of control. The hypothesis that there is a 3rd dimension of I-E was supported. This dimension was identified as Self-Control of one's impulses, desires, and emotions. Interpretation and implications for the application of these dimensions of I-E are discussed. (French summary) (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Depression and the explanation of events that happen to self, close others, and strangers.

Depressive and nondepressive college students attributed causality for positive and negative events that happened to either themselves, a close other, or a typical student. Depressives made less optimistic attributions than nondepressives when explaining events that happened to themselves. However, depressives and nondepressives generally made similar attributions about others; both groups were optimistic when explaining events that happened to their best friend or romantic partner and less optimistic when explaining events that happened to the typical student. The results indicate that depressives do not treat close others as extensions of the self, at least in terms of their attributional patterns. Furthermore, depressives were aware of the extent to which their attributions benefitted or harmed the desired identity of the actor. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Depression and the response of others.

Tested the hypotheses that (a) normal Ss respond differentially to the behavior of depressed patients, (b) this differential response is due to the fact that the target individuals are depressed, and not that they are patients, and (c) this pattern can be related to the symptomatology of depression. Each of 45 normal female undergraduates conversed on the telephone with either a depressed patient ( n = 15), a nondepressed patient ( n = 15), or a normal control ( n = 15). It was found that following the phone conversation, Ss who had spoken to depressed patients were themselves significantly more depressed, anxious, hostile, and rejecting. Measures of activity, approval responses, hope statements, and genuineness did not distinguish between S groups or between target groups, but important differences were found in the Ss' perception of the patients. It was proposed that environmental response may play an important role in the maintenance of depressed behavior. Furthermore, special skills may be required of the depressed person to cope with the environment his behavior creates. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Depression and the response of others: A re-evaluation.

Used a methodology similar to that employed by J. C. Coyne (see record 1976-22455-001) to determine whether depressed patients induce negative mood in others and elicit social rejection. 45 female undergraduates conversed for 20 min by telephone with either 15 depressed psychiatric women, 15 nondepressed psychiatric women, or 15 nondepressed women. Depression was assessed by the Self-Rating Depression Scale, and Ss were rated on the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia. It was hypothesized that Ss who spoke with depressed Ss would report more negative mood (as assessed by the Multiple Affect Adjective Check List) and less willingness to interact further with their telephone partner than would Ss who spoke with nondepressed Ss. Results show that Ss were able to detect greater sadness and more problems in depressed Ss, although they themselves were not more depressed or more rejecting if they spoke with a depressed S. Present findings did not confirm those of Coyne. (12 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Depression and the response of others: Reevaluating the reevaluation.

Reviews an attempted replication of J. C. Coyne's (see record 1976-22455-001) study on depression and the response of others by D. A. King and K. Heller (see record 1985-06798-001) who found that depressed individuals were not rejected, nor did they induce negative moods. The present article reevaluates King and Heller's characterization of the literature and reveals that rejection of depressed persons is consistent across studies and methodologies. On the other hand, mood inductions are less reliable, tend to be diffuse rather than specific, and probably do not mediate rejection. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Acceptance by others and its relation to acceptance of self and others: a revaluation.

"Analysis of the data indicated that individuals with high self-acceptance scores tend also to accept others, to feel accepted by others, but actually to be neither more nor less accepted by others than those with low self-acceptance scores. Individuals with high acceptance-of-others scores tend in turn to feel accepted by others, and tend toward being accepted by them." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Intuitions about situational correction in self and others.

People's attributional phenomenology is likely to be characterized by effortful situational correction. Drawing on this phenomenology and on people's desire to view themselves more favorably than others, the authors hypothesized that people expect others to engage in less situational correction than themselves and to make more extreme dispositional attributions for constrained actors' behavior. In 2 studies, people expected their peers to make more extreme dispositional inferences than they did themselves for a situationally constrained actor's behavior. People's expectation that they engage in more situational correction than their peers was diminished among Japanese participants, who have less desire to view themselves as superior to their peers (Study 3), and among participants who were led to view dispositional attributions more favorably than situational attributions (Study 4). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Gender, self, and others: Perceptions of the campus environment.

Although the influence of gender roles in education has been noted by counseling psychologists, the debate over sex equity in higher education remains controversial. Research on this topic has yielded inconclusive results. In this study of 635 upper level undergraduates with varying academic majors, results indicated that greater sex bias and discrimination were reported by women, whereas greater indifference and lack of recognition were perceived by men. Students' experiences with sexual harassment and perceptions of the degree to which women were represented in the curriculum did not differ by sex. Self-esteem for both sexes and level of feminist identity development for women were associated with perceptions of the educational environment. Suggestions for prevention, intervention, and further research are provided. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Evaluating self and others in electronic and face-to-face groups.

After completing a decision task electronically or face to face, 105 students rated their own and other group members' contribution to the task completion and their degree of liking for group members. Actual contributions were the number of task relevant remarks each person contributed. Results indicated that self-ratings of contribution were more inflated and less accurate in electronic communication than in face-to-face communication. Liking accounted for significant variance in ratings of others' contributions in face-to-face groups, whereas actual contribution accounted for significant variance in ratings of others in electronic groups. Results suggest that rating biases stemming from liking are evident in ratings of others in face-to-face groups but not in electronic. Implications for online performance evaluations are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Depression as the search for the lost self.

Explores depression as a narcissistic disturbance in which the self is unconsciously expected to accomplish grandiose expectations and is regarded as a failure when it does not. These omnipotent fantasies include the prevention of object loss and triumph over death. In the later years, difficulties in maintaining self-esteem can predispose a person to depression since aging unavoidably involves dwindling opportunities, failing health, and loss of loved ones. A psychotherapeutic approach is outlined, focusing on the treatment of depression as a search for the lost self in which the development of healthy narcissism is seen as activating arrested or inhibited ego functions. The development of a positive cathexis of the self is seen as a safeguard against the self-destruction implicit in deep depression. This psychotherapeutic approach is demonstrated in a clinical vignette of a suicidally depressed woman in her 60's. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive correlates of emotional traits: Perceptions of self and others.

Two studies examined how individuals' perceptions of self and others are associated with different emotional traits. Study 1 (N = 386) used structural equation modeling of questionnaire data to examine the relations between emotional traits (i.e., affect intensity, affect variability, and trait pleasant and unpleasant affect) and self- and other-perceptions (i.e., self-instability, self-esteem, other-instability, and perceived treatment by others). Study 2 (N = 99) used path analyses of data collected using an event sampling method in which online measures of emotional experiences (i.e., intensity, frequency, and variability of pleasant and unpleasant affect) as well as perceptions of self and others (i.e., self-instability, self-esteem, other-instability, perceived treatment by others) were collected. The strongest and most consistent finding was that affect variability was associated with both self- and other-instability. The results linking affect intensity with self- and other-instability were limited to negative intensity. There was also evidence of pleasant affect being associated with both self-esteem and perceived treatment by others, and unpleasant affect being associated with self-esteem and other-instability. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-evaluation and assessments of performance by self and others.

Explored the relationship between self-esteem, the perception of competence, and actual competence when performance is attributed to oneself or to someone else. 44 male and 43 female undergraduates with high and low self-esteem performed a concept-formation task and evaluated their performance; 1 wk later they either rerated their own performance after watching a videotape of their previous session or rated the videotaped performance of "another S," actually a model who mimicked their previous performance. High-self-esteem Ss perceived themselves as doing better on the task than low-self-esteem Ss, although their performance was actually comparable. The 2 groups' evaluations differed only when they thought they were assessing themselves and not when they felt they were evaluating someone else. Potential mechanisms accounting for the differences in self-evaluations are explored. (34 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-disclosure: A comparative study of reports by self and others.

Developed an individualized, free-response self-disclosure measurement questionnaire to study differences in self-disclosure patterns of 31 female college students as a function of target roles. Findings from an analysis of variance of the self-disclosures reported by Ss to male and female friends and male to female relatives indicated significantly more reported self-disclosure to females than males and to friends than relatives. Similar analyses of Ss' disclosures as reported by "significant other" informants failed to reveal any clear pattern of self-disclosure by the Ss. This discrepancy between Ss' reported self-disclosure behavior and the same behavior as reported by informants was interpreted as suggesting that informant reports are the most accurate self-disclosure indices, a finding that raises some important questions about counseling research based upon self-reports alone. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)