Construct accessibility and depression: An examination of cognitive and affective factors.

Two experiments with undergraduates examined the parameters of construct accessibility in depression. In Exp I, 30 depressed and nondepressed (the Beck Depression Inventory) Ss were required to name the colors of tachistiscopically presented depressed-content, neutral-content, and manic-content words. Because of the predicted accessibility and interference effects of the depressed-content words, depressed Ss were predicted to demonstrate longer response latencies to these words than to the non-depressed-content words. Results support the prediction: Nondepressed Ss did not demonstrate differential response latencies. In Exp II (30 Ss), a mood-induction paradigm was used to investigate whether the interference effects obtained in Exp I were due to temporary mood differences between depressed and nondepressed Ss or were a function of more stable depression-associated patterns of information processing. Although predicted group differences were obtained on a mood adjective checklist, no effects were found for task performance. Findings suggest that transient mood is not a sufficient explanation for the results obtained in Exp I. Implications for the understanding of both construct accessibility and depression are discussed. (68 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)