Value of information, behavioral guidelines, and social value orientation in an information-exchange dilemma.

Many situations of information exchange represent a social dilemma, in which individual costs and benefits for contributing information are contradictory to the group's costs and benefits. Recent studies have shown that (a) people select their contributions according to the benefit that these contributions provide to others, (b) the social value orientation of individuals affects their willingness to contribute, and (c) externally provided behavioral guidelines have an impact on individual behavior. We conducted 2 experiments in which people were able to actively manipulate the value that their information had for others (in Study 1, this value had no influence on their own costs; in Study 2, a higher value to others implied higher contribution costs for the individual contributor). Both studies revealed that people avoided contributing such information that would have provided others with a higher benefit than the benefit the individual contributors themselves received through this information. Even prosocials—who generally acted more cooperatively than proselfs—behaved like that. In both studies, behavioral guidelines had an impact on the number of contributions, independent of the value of information. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social comparison and depression: Company's effect on misery.

Two studies examined the social comparison processes of 50 depressed and 48 nondepressed college students selected on the basis of their scores on the Beck Depression Inventory. In the 1st study, Ss' preferences for information from others were assessed after they had received a manipulation intended to improve or worsen their mood states. The responses of the depressed Ss provide evidence of downward comparison: They indicate a preference for information from people who were experiencing negative affect, but only when they themselves were also experiencing relatively negative affect, not when their moods had been temporarily improved. In the 2nd study, Ss' moods were assessed before and after they had received information indicating another person was currently experiencing highly negative affect. This information had little effect on the nondepressed Ss; however, the mood states of the depressed Ss improved after they read the information. Results suggest that realizing that others are doing worse may help depressed persons to feel somewhat better. (38 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Recognition Accuracy and Response Bias to Happy and Sad Facial Expressions in Patients With Major Depression.

Impaired facial expression recognition has been associated with features of major depression, which could underlie some of the difficulties in social interactions in these patients. Patients with major depressive disorder and age- and gender-matched healthy volunteers judged the emotion of 100 facial stimuli displaying different intensities of sadness and happiness and neutral expressions presented for short (100 ms) and long (2,000 ms) durations. Compared with healthy volunteers, depressed patients demonstrated subtle impairments in discrimination accuracy and a predominant bias away from the identification as happy of mildly happy expressions. The authors suggest that, in depressed patients, the inability to accurately identify subtle changes in facial expression displayed by others in social situations may underlie the impaired interpersonal functioning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cerebrovascular risk factors, activity limitations, and depressed mood in African American older adults.

This study investigated the association between cerebrovascular risk factors (CVRFs), physical activity limitations, and depressed mood. The 12-item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-12) was administered to 1,034 urban African American older adults. A chi-square analysis demonstrated that the prevalence of depressed mood among those with high CVRF burden (13.4%) was significantly higher than among those with low vascular burden (7.6%). Physical activity limitations also predicted depressed mood, but this relationship did not mediate the relationship between cerebrovascular burden and depression. These findings highlight the relationships among cerebrovascular burden, physical activity limitations, and depressed mood among African American older adults. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attitudes in the Social Context: The Impact of Social Network Composition on Individual-Level Attitude Strength.

Four studies, using both experimental and correlational designs, explored the implications of being embedded within attitudinally congruent versus attitudinally heterogeneous social networks for individual-level attitude strength. Individuals embedded within congruent social networks (i.e., made up of others with similar views) were more resistant to attitude change than were individuals embedded within heterogeneous social networks (i.e., made up of others with a range of views). Mediational evidence suggests that attitudinally congruous social networks may increase attitude strength by decreasing attitudinal ambivalence and perhaps by increasing the certainty with which people hold their attitudes. These results suggest that features of the social context in which an attitude is held have important implications for individual-level attitude strength. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

A prospective test of the negative affect model of substance abuse: Moderating effects of social support.

The authors tested whether dimensions of negative affect--specifically, trait levels of negative emotionality and state levels of depressive symptoms--increased risk for substance abuse onset and whether perceived social support moderated this relation using data from a 5-year prospective study of 496 school-recruited adolescent girls. Initial negative emotionality, but not depressive symptoms, and deficits in parental, but not peer, support predicted future substance abuse onset in a multivariate hazard model. Tests of the interaction between negative affect dimensions and social support suggested that support did not moderate the relation of negative affect to risk for substance abuse onset. Results provide prospective support for the etiological role in the onset of substance abuse of trait-linked negative affect and of parental support. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Infants of Chronically Depressed Mothers Learn in Response to Male, But Not Female, Infant-Directed Speech.

Previous research using a conditioned-attention paradigm demonstrated that 4-month-old infants of depressed mothers (a) failed to acquire associations when a segment of their mothers' infant-directed (ID) speech signaled the presentation of a smiling face but (b) did acquire associations when a segment of an unfamiliar nondepressed mother's ID speech signaled the face (P. S. Kaplan, J. -A. Bachorowski, M. J. Smoski, & W. J. Hudenko, 2002). In the present study, 5- to 13-month-old infants of depressed mothers failed to acquire associations when either their own mothers' (Experiment 1) or an unfamiliar nondepressed mother's (Experiments 1 and 2) ID speech signaled a face. However, these infants acquired associations when a segment of an unfamiliar nondepressed father's ID speech served as the signal (Experiment 2). One possible explanation of these results is that infants of depressed mothers selectively "tune out" ID speech from their mothers and from other, nondepressed, women. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of social power on aspiration setting and striving.

"Individual Ss were observed in a situation similar to the one used by Rotter (1942) for studying the level of aspiration, while they were to perceive themselves as members of a team which was not physically present. In two experimental conditions… the Ss were provided standards of individual performance, for a series of trials, said to originate in others members of their team. Events were so arranged that Ss… did not attain the performance levels put before them by the others… . Assumptions were made that: (a) scores are evaluated in terms of internal levels of aspiration; (b) referent social pressures more strongly influence… internal levels of aspiration than do coercive… and (c) a discrepancy between an internal level of aspiration and an obtained score generates forces to reduce this discrepancy." Results confirmed the hypotheses. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interpersonal perceptions and consequences of depressive-significant other relationships: A naturalistic study of college roommates.

Investigated social perceptions and consequences of depression and anxiety in roommate relationships. Mildly depressed, anxious but nondepressed, and nondepressed-nonanxious students (targets) and normal, same-sex roommates (79 roommate pairs) (1) rated the interpersonal impact on themselves of typical associations with their roommates and (2) judged their own interpersonal impact. Only depressed men received negative evaluations and emotional reactions from their roommates. However, depressed women reported more negative reactions to their normal roommates than vice versa. Finally, depressed targets perceived their interpersonal impact negatively, whereas their normal roommates perceived their own interpersonal impact as overly positive. These findings suggest that negative relationships between depressives and nondepressed others may be attributable, at least in part, to both participants' misperceptions of their social behavior and its consequences. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

When, what, and whom to watch? Quantifying attention in ravens (Corvus corax) and jackdaws (Corvus monedula).

Complex social life requires monitoring of conspecifics. The amount and focus of attention toward others has been suggested to depend on the social relationships between individuals. Yet there are surprisingly few experiments that have tested these assumptions. This study compared attention patterns toward conspecifics in two corvid species, ravens (Corvus corax) and jackdaws (Corvus monedula). Birds were confronted with affiliated and non-affiliated conspecifics engaged in foraging and object manipulation. Visual access to the model bird was provided through two observation holes, which allowed measurement of exactly how often and for how long observers watched the other. Overall, ravens were more attentive to conspecifics than were jackdaws. Moreover, only ravens showed higher interest toward food-related than object-related behaviors of the model and toward close affiliates than non-affiliates by increasing the duration rather than the frequency of looks. These results are in accordance with predictions derived from the species' foraging biology and suggest that the facultative social, but highly manipulative, ravens use and value information from others differently than do the obligate social jackdaws. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social competence and depression: The role of illusory self-perceptions.

Attempted to evaluate the role in clinical depression of 2 personal variables: social competencies (as perceived by others) and their encoding or self-perception by the individual. Both self-ratings and ratings from observers were obtained for 71 depressed, 59 psychiatric control, and 73 normal control individuals following a group interaction at different times in the course of treatment. As expected, the depressed Ss initially rated themselves and were rated by others as less socially competent than the 2 control groups, and their self-perceptions improved with treatment. Surprisingly, the depressed were more realistic in their self-perceptions than the controls. Specifically, the controls perceived themselves more positively than others saw them, whereas the depressed saw themselves as they were seen. This realism of the depressed tended to decrease in the course of treatment. The theoretical implications of a possibly illusory flow for appropriate affect and self-regulation are discussed. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Marital quality, coping with conflict, marital complaints, and affection in couples with a depressed wife.

This study compared 3 groups of women--outpatient depressed, inpatient depressed, and community control--and their husbands on a range of variables including marital functioning and styles of coping with conflict. Outpatient depressed couples reported greater marital distress and more destructive and less constructive tactics for resolving conflict than did community control couples. They also were more likely to have been previously married and to express regrets about having married their current husbands. There were smaller and less consistent differences for couples with inpatient depressed spouses, although inpatient couples with younger wives were similar to outpatient depressed couples. Both groups of depressed women and their husbands reported fewer expressions of affection and more complaints about the marriage than did control couples. Results are discussed in terms of interpersonal perspectives on depression. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Crying threshold and intensity in major depressive disorder.

Clinical lore suggests that depression is associated with frequent and intense crying. To test these postulations empirically, a standardized cry-evoking stimulus was presented to depressed and nondepressed participants, and their likelihood of crying and the magnitude of crying-related changes in their emotion experience, behavior, and autonomic physiology were compared. Unexpectedly, crying was no more likely in depressed than in nondepressed participants. Within the nondepressed group, participants who cried exhibited increases in the report and display of sadness and had greater cardiac and electrodermal activation than did participants who did not cry. There was less evidence of this crying-related emotional activation within the depressed group. The lack of emotional activation among clinically depressed participants who cried provides a tantalizing clue concerning how emotions are dysregulated in this disorder. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Risk and protective factors associated with trajectories of depressed mood from adolescence to early adulthood.

This study used semi-parametric group-based modeling to explore unconditional and conditional trajectories of self-reported depressed mood from ages 12 to 25 years. Drawing on data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (N = 11,559), 4 distinct trajectories were identified: no depressed mood, stable low depressed mood, early high declining depressed mood, and late escalating depressed mood. Baseline risk factors associated with greater likelihood of membership in depressed mood trajectory groups compared with the no depressed mood group included being female, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino American, or Pacific Islander or Asian American; having lower socioeconomic status; using alcohol, tobacco, or other drugs on a weekly basis; and engaging in delinquent behavior. Baseline protective factors associated with greater likelihood of membership in the no depressed mood group compared with the depressed mood trajectory groups included 2-parent family structure; feeling connected to parents, peers, or school; and self-esteem. With the exception of delinquent behavior, risk and protective factors also distinguished the likelihood of membership among several of the 3 depressed mood groups. The results add to basic etiologic research regarding developmental pathways of depressed mood in adolescence and young adulthood. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Family Functioning and Children's Adjustment: Associations Among Parents' Depressed Mood, Marital Hostility, Parent-Child Hostility, and Children's Adjustment.

Relations between parents' depressed mood, marital conflict, parent-child hostility, and children's adjustment were examined in a community sample of 136 ten-year-olds and their parents. Videotaped observational and self-report data were used to examine these relations in path analyses. A proposed model was tested in which mothers' and fathers' depressed mood and marital hostility were associated with children's adjustment problems through disruptions in parent-child relationships. Results showed that both mothers' and fathers' marital hostility were linked to parent-child hostility, which in turn was linked to children's internalizing problems. Fathers' depressed mood was linked to children's internalizing problems indirectly through father-child hostility. Fathers' depressed mood was directly linked to children's externalizing problems and indirectly linked through father-child hostility. For mothers, marital hostility was directly linked to children's externalizing problems, and marital hostility in fathers was indirectly linked to children's externalizing problems through father-child hostility. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social exchanges and subjective well-being among older Chinese: Does age make a difference?

The authors examined the effects of social support and negative interactions on life satisfaction and depressed affect among older Chinese, and age differences in these associations. The sample consisted of 2,943 Chinese elders who were 60-94 years of age. Structural equation modeling results suggest that both social support and negative interactions have significant contributions to life satisfaction and depressed affect. Social support has stronger effects than negative interactions on life satisfaction; their effects on depressed affect are comparable. Further, depressed affect of old-old (70+ years) Chinese reacts more strongly to both social support and negative interactions than the young-old (60-69 years). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Some effects of reward upon the social perception and motivation of psychiatric patients varying in depression.

This study is concerned with the effects of task performance upon the affective state and social judgments of depressed individuals. Nondepressed and depressed male psychiatric patients were randomly assigned to an experimentally-induced superior- and inferior-performance condition. Prior to and immediately following the experimental task, Ss rated their own mood and judged photographs of male and female adults on a happiness-sadness continuum. Indices of self-confidence were also obtained. Ss in the superior-performance group in comparison to inferior-performance Ss were more self-confident, rated themselves as happier, and perceived others as happier. Depressive Ss tended to be more affected than nondepressed Ss by task performance when estimating how they would do in a future task; the groups did not differ, however, in performance effects on self-ratings or on judgments of photographs. (18 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The regulatory function of self-conscious emotion: Insights from patients with orbitofrontal damage.

Although once considered disruptive, self-conscious emotions are now theorized to be fundamentally involved in the regulation of social behavior. The present study examined the social regulation function of self-conscious emotions by comparing healthy participants with a neuropsychological population--patients with orbitofrontal lesions--characterized by selective regulatory deficits. Orbitofrontal patients and healthy controls participated in a series of tasks designed to assess their social regulation and self-conscious emotions. Another task assessed the ability to infer others' emotional states, an appraisal process involved in self-conscious emotion. Consistent with the theory that self-conscious emotions are important for regulating social behavior, the findings show that deficient behavioral regulation is associated with inappropriate self-conscious emotions that reinforce maladaptive behavior. Additionally, deficient behavioral regulation is associated with impairments in interpreting the self-conscious emotions of others. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A Daily Process Examination of the Stress-Response Dampening Effects of Alcohol Consumption.

The authors used a daily process design to assess alcohol's stress-response dampening (SRD) effects. Moderate to heavy social drinkers (N=100) reported on palmtop computers their alcohol consumption and social context in vivo for 30 days. Participants also reported on their mood states in the late morning and early evening and completed a paper-and-pencil daily diary in which they recorded their negative events. The association between negative events and mood was weaker on days when individuals consumed alcohol prior to the final mood assessment. However, the moderating effect of alcohol on the negative event-mood association was limited to drinking in social situations. Alcohol's SRD effects varied as a function of several between-person risk factors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)