Depression and autonomic arousal reduction accompanying self-punitive behavior.

Placed 20 normal and 20 depressed male college students (defined by scores on the MMPI Depression scale and the Beck Depression Inventory) in a modified 2-person interaction situation in which they received periodic electric shocks from an aggressive partner (experimental accomplice). Ss could choose from among 3 counterresponses (shock, friendly gesture, or self-shock) on each interchange. During a middle phase of the procedure, the accomplice's behavior was arranged to reinforce self-punitive responses by the S. Depressives had a higher preference for self-punitive behavior than normals, and their intropunitive responses were accompanied by rapid autonomic arousal reduction. Further, the data suggest that strong self-punishment is more effective in enhancing intropunitiveness among depressives than is a weak self-punishing stimulus. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interpersonal betrayal and cooperation: Effects on self-evaluation in depression.

Assessed the effect of interpersonal betrayal and cooperative social interaction on self-evaluation processes among 54 female undergraduates scored as depressed or nondepressed on the Self-Rating Depression Scale. Depressed Ss who experienced interpersonal betrayal in a prisoner's dilemma game were more critical of their performance on a subsequent task than were nondepressed Ss or depressed Ss who had experienced a cooperative interaction. Depressed Ss in the betrayal condition also behaved more aggressively toward their betraying partner than did nondepressed betrayed Ss. Depressed Ss were more critical of their own personality characteristics than were nondepressed Ss, regardless of condition. Results suggest that some negative cognitive schema among depressed persons may be altered by interpersonal factors, although it is not clear whether such effects are secondary to increases in self-criticism after conflict or to decreases in self-critical tendencies after positive interaction. Researchers are urged to use multiple, diverse measures of self-evaluation in future efforts to study variability in self-appraisal. (36 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interpersonal behavior of depressive individuals in a mixed-motive game.

100 undergraduates were selected as Ss on the basis of their scores on the Beck Depression Inventory, a short form of the MMPI, and the Fear Survey Schedule. Three groups of Ss (depressed, nondepressed/other psychological problems, and normal) interacted with a same-sex normal person in a modified Prisoner's Dilemma procedure in which each player's relative power was manipulated. Dyads also had several opportunities to exchange communications during the game. Results indicate that when depressed Ss were in the high-power role, the interactive pattern in the Prisoner's Dilemma procedure was relatively exploitive and noncooperative. High-power depressed Ss also displayed elevation in communications of self-devaluation/sadness and helplessness. This array of behaviors elicited noncooperativeness, extrapunitiveness, and expressions of helplessness in their normal partners. Depressives in the low-power role exhibited no unique game behaviors but communicated self-devaluation and helpless messages; and in addition, they tended to blame their partner for their devalued condition—a pattern that elicited more ingratiating behaviors in their normal partners. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Role assignment and interpersonal influence.

15-minute discussions of the desegregation issue were held by 34 groups of 3 college students, 2 whose attitude scores had reflected nonsegregationist views and a 3rd who was E's accomplice and always expressed segregationist views. "When specific roles were not assigned [in half the groups], the nonaccomplice Ss: (a) had greater confidence in their appraisals of the accomplice's attitudes, (b) indicated greater sociometric preference for one another (rather than for the accomplice) at the conclusion of the discussion period, (c) produced shorter communications, and (d) yielded more to the segregationist arguments expressed by the accomplice. Contrary to expectation, when no roles were assigned, Ss did not indicate less esteem for the accomplice than was the case when roles were assigned." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Conversational and social responses to depressive interpersonal behavior.

Examined responses to depressive interpersonal behavior. 30 undergraduates interacted with a same-sex confederate for 7 min in the context of waiting together for an experiment to begin. Confederates employed either a depressed role (depressive interpersonal behavior and reporting serious deficits in functioning), a normal role (normal interpersonal behavior and reporting minimal deficits in functioning), or a physically ill role (normal interpersonal behavior and reporting serious deficits in functioning). Ss who interacted with a "depressive" responded with a higher rate of silences and directly negative comments and a lower rate of overall verbal responding. Their expressions of direct support were equivalent to those made to the "physically ill" confederates and greater than those in the normal condition. Ss also were more rejecting of partners who behaved in a depressed manner and described them in more negative terms and as having greater interpersonal impact than confederates in other roles. There were no induced mood differences. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Schematic processing and self-reference in clinical depression.

Investigated differences in self-schema content among 16 clinical depressives, 16 nondepressed psychiatric control patients, and 16 normal nondepressives (18–65 yr old females administered the Beck Depression Inventory and Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression). Ss were required to make structural (Small letters?), semantic (Means same as a given word?), and self-referent (Describes you?) ratings on depressed- and nondepressed-content personal adjectives. Ratings were followed immediately by an incidental recall period in which Ss recalled as many of the adjectives as possible. In accord with predictions generated from a self-as-schema model, adjective recall was greater for the self-referent rating task, relative to the other tasks. Furthermore, consistent with the content-specificity component of this model, both normal and nondepressed psychiatric controls displayed superior recall only for self-referenced, nondepressed-content adjectives. Also, depressives displayed significantly enhanced recall only for depressed-content adjectives rated under the self-referent task. Results support the proposal of A. T. Beck et al (1979) that an efficient negative self-schema exists, specific to the disorder of depression. (24 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of attributions for success on the alleviation of learned helplessness and depression.

Investigated the effects of attributions for success on the alleviation of mood and performance deficits of 104 19–60 yr old clinically depressed inpatients. Ss were assigned to either an acutely depressed group or an improved depressed group that was exposed to a learned helplessness induction procedure. Ss received 80% positive feedback on a task allegedly measuring social intelligence. Concurrently, Ss were exposed to experimental manipulations designed to induce attributions of this experience to 1 of 4 types of causes (internal–general, internal–specific, external–general, external–specific). Following this task, Ss' mood, expectancies, and anagram performance were assessed. Results indicate that helpless and depressed Ss who received the internal attribution manipulations reported less depressed mood than Ss in the external attribution conditions. Similarly, Ss in the general attribution conditions performed better and reported higher expectancies for success on the anagrams than Ss in the specific attribution conditions. Results are supportive of an attribution theory model of learned helplessness and depression. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Expectancy changes in depression and schizophrenia.

Does the learned helplessness model of depression apply to clinically depressed patients and is it specific to depression? Changes in expectancy following success and failure in skill and chance tasks were assessed for depressed nonschizophrenics (unipolar depressives), depressed schizophrenics, nondepressed schizophrenics, and normal controls (32 Ss, aged 18–50 yrs). Unipolar depressives showed smaller changes in expectancy of future success after failure in the skill task than did the controls and both schizophrenic groups. Depressed schizophrenics did not show smaller expectancy changes than nondepressed schizophrenics. The learned helplessness model has been tested primarily in populations with subclinical depression; the present results provide partial support for learned helplessness as a model of one type of severe clinical depression and suggest that learned helplessness is not a general feature of psychopathology. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Facial muscle patterning and lateralization during elation and depression imagery.

26 18–30 yr old female Ss read a standard set of self-referent statements and imagined scenes with elated, depressed, and neutral content. The dependent measures were subjective mood ratings (Self-Rating Depression Scale) and left and right zygomatic- and corrugator-muscle activity. The self-statements elicited feelings of elation and depression in approximately 70% of Ss. Among these Ss, elation was accompanied by immediate increases in zygomatic activity, especially on the right side of the face in pure right-handed Ss. Depression was accompanied by bilateral increases in corrugator activity that grew over time. In the remaining 30% of Ss who reported experiencing little or no subjective differences between the elation and depression self-statements, similar though smaller facial patterns of zygomatic and corrugator activity were found that reliably differentiated the affective conditions. Data support the hypothesis that facial EMG patterning is a sensitive psychophysiological indicator of mood. (39 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Influences of sex roles on the development of learned helplessness.

160 college students participated in an experiment concerning the relationships among sex roles, sex, and learned helplessness. Included in each of the 4 following sex role types were 20 males and 20 females: androgynous, masculine sex typed, feminine sex typed, and undifferentiated. Half the Ss in each sex role type were given unsolvable concept formation problems (helpless condition); the other Ss were given solvable concept formation problems (nonhelpless condition). Sex of experimenter was counterbalanced across sex of S, sex role type, and experimental condition. As predicted, the 4 sex role types responded differently to the helpless condition. Feminine-sex-typed and masculine-sex-typed Ss showed cognitive and motivational deficits as well as dysphoric mood in the helpless condition; helpless androgynous Ss showed only dysphoric mood; and undifferentiated Ss were unaffected by the helpless condition. This pattern of results was found for both males and females and was unrelated to sex of experimenter. (24 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Emotional experience and expression in schizophrenia and depression.

Examined the emotional responses of schizophrenic, depressed, and normal Ss and whether differences in the emotional responding of these groups depended on how emotional responses were elicited or measured. 23 blunted and 20 nonblunted schizophrenics, 17 unipolar depressed Ss, and 20 normal Ss were exposed to a series of affect-eliciting stimuli. The stimuli varied in valence (positive vs negative) and in level of cognitive demand. Ss reported their subjective experiences, and their facial expressions were videotaped. Blunted schizophrenics were the least facially expressive, although their reported subjective experiences did not differ from those of the other groups. The nonblunted schizophrenics were more responsive than the depressed Ss to the positive stimuli, although the 2 groups did not differ in their clinical ratings of affective flatness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive patterns in symptomatic and remitted unipolar major depression.

Examined maladaptive thinking in 11 endogenous and 13 nonendogenous, unipolar, nonpsychotic depressed 22–70 yr old female patients when symptomatic (Time 1) and, later, when clinically remitted (Time 2). As a control, 17 nondepressed Ss were tested at 2 times, as were 7 unremitted depressed Ss. Ss were administered a battery of scales, including the Beck Depression Inventory and the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression. Symptomatic depressed Ss had more dysfunctional attitudes, depressive attributional biases, and negative automatic thoughts than did controls, whereas the 2 symptomatic depressed groups did not differ with regard to thinking patterns. With remission, negative automatic thoughts equaled normal control values, although biased attitudes and attributions continued to persist in both endogenous and nonendogenous remitted groups. Attributional but not attitudinal biases correlated with several measures of chronicity, which suggested that attributional biases either result from long-term depressions or lead to greater time spent in depressive episodes. (35 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Depression, social comparison, and the false-consensus effect.

Refers to the fact that in general, people perceive high consensus for their own attributes—the "false-consensus effect." 20 depressed and 20 nondepressed undergraduates (10 men and 10 women in each group) were asked about the extent to which depression-relevant and depression-irrelevant attributes were true of themselves and true of the "average college student." Ss were also asked questions assessing the accuracy of their perceptions of others. Depressed Ss showed less false consensus than nondepressed Ss. Although depressives characterized themselves as dissimilar to others, they showed no consistent bias to deprecate themselves relative to others. Nondepressives consistently enhanced themselves relative to others, although the magnitude of their self–other differences was smaller than that of depressives. The tendency to deprecate oneself relative to others on negative depression-relevant items was a better predictor of severity of depression than self-perceptions or other perceptions alone. Findings regarding the accuracy of perceptions of others were mixed. The discussion includes implications for the false-consensus effect, depressive attributional style, nondepressive self-serving biases, and therapy for depression. (1? p ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An investigation of cognition and affect in the depressive experiences of normal men.

Administered the Depression Adjective Check List and a projective story completion test as measures of depression to 30 male undergraduates 5 times over a 2-mo period. Data demonstrate the existence of a unified, negative content that is associated with depressed mood among normal Ss and suggest a similarity in the depressive processes of pathological depression and depressed mood. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An attempt to reverse performance deficits associated with depression and experimentally induced helplessness.

The learned helplessness model of depression predicts that any effective treatment for reactive depression should also reverse performance deficits associated with experimentally induced helplessness, and vice versa. A study was conducted to test this prediction. Ss were 62 college students who were exposed to experimental manipulations designed to induce helplessness or who scored above a group mean on the Beck Depression Inventory. Depressed and helpless Ss were randomly assigned to 4 groups. The 2 treatment groups received either E. Velten's (1968) mood statements for the induction of elation or a set of simple anagrams to solve. The 2 remaining groups were exposed to no-treatment conditions. All Ss were tested for helplessness on a series of concept formation problems. Results fail to confirm the predictions of the learned helplessness model of depression. Although treatment was effective with helpless Ss, the performance of treated depressed Ss was not enhanced. Also, depressed Ss given anagrams performed more poorly than depressed Ss given mood statements. Several possible explanations for the findings are considered. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychosocial adjustment of adolescent children of a depressed, arthritic, or normal parent.

Examined the joint effects of having a parent with a psychological or physical disability and stressful life events on the mental health of 3 groups of adolescents: 16 adolescent children of a depressed parent, 16 adolescent children of a parent with rheumatoid arthritis, and 16 adolescent children of parents free from psychological or physical disability. Ss were asked to complete a battery of assessments, including the SCL-90, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, Family Environment Scale, and scales assessing life events and satisfaction with school. It was found that, in contrast to the normal group, Ss with arthritic parents reported lower self-esteem, whereas Ss with depressed parents reported lower self-esteem and more symptomatology. However, the 2 risk groups did not differ in terms of mental health or family and school adjustment. Both negative and positive life events were strongly related to poorer adjustment, but only for Ss with depressed and arthritic parents. There was a significant interaction effect of parental disability (depressed vs normal) and negative life events on symptomatology, with the Ss with depressed parents who experienced few negative life events reporting symptom levels equivalent to that of the normal group. Within-group analyses revealed that a positive familial social climate was related to better adjustment among all 3 groups: satisfactory school involvements were related to better adjustment among the depressed-parent and normal groups. (39 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex role identity and the decision to regain control among women: A learned helplessness investigation.

280 female undergraduates from 4 sex-role identity groups underwent either an initial loss of control (helpless) or control (nonhelpless) experience. Ss were then allowed to choose their role in a team problem-solving task. They could either (a) have total control over the team's decisions, (b) have no control over the team's decisions, or (c) not participate in the task. Compared to Ss low on masculinity, Ss high on masculinity chose to be in control of team problem solving in both the helpless and nonhelpless conditions. None of the 14 feminine-sex-typed Ss chose to control the team's decisions in the helpless condition, whereas 10 of the 14 masculine-sex-typed Ss made this choice. Results are discussed relative to the high rates of depression among women. (30 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Information processing for masked and unmasked stimuli in schizophrenia and old age.

Compared 36 hospitalized schizophrenics, depressives, and normal elderly Ss (mean ages 24.7, 31.8, and 67.5 yrs) on tasks involving the identification of briefly exposed masked and unmasked stimuli. The critical stimulus duration (CSD), defined as the minimum exposure required to consistently identify a target stimulus without a mask, was obtained for each S. The target stimulus was followed by a pattern mask. Masking functions were estimated at 3 levels of exposure duration, including the S's CSD. At each exposure duration the mask followed at 4 interstimulus intervals. The elderly required longer durations for criterion identification of unmasked stimuli than the other Ss. For masked stimuli, however, the elderly did not differ from depressed inpatients, and both of these groups exceeded the schizophrenics when the test stimulus was exposed at Ss' CSD. Results indicate that when the initial availability of input information is controlled, schizophrenics show a mask-induced deficit relative to depressed inpatients, but the elderly do not. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychological distance in the family as schematized by families of normal, disturbed, and learning-problem children.

Used a family doll placement technique to study psychological distance within 30 families with a disturbed and a nondisturbed boy. The father, mother, and 2 children each did the task individually, and then as a family group. Families were divided into 3 groups of 10 in which the S was (a) normal, (b) emotionally disturbed, or (c) had serious learning problems. Psychological distance was measured by the actual distance placed between doll dyads. As hypothesized, both groups of disturbed Ss placed greater distance between the mother doll and the doll representing himself than normal Ss in negative story themes. Unexpectedly, female siblings of disturbed Ss placed greater distance between the father doll and the doll representing herself than female siblings of normal Ss in negative story themes. These differences also appeared when the family group did the task. Teacher ratings showed the disturbed Ss to be more interpersonally distant and dependent than the normal Ss. (23 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Induction of depressive affect after prolonged exposure to a mildly depressed individual.

Administered the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) to 44 undergraduate roommate pairs during the 1st, 5th, and 11th wks of a 13-wk quarter. 22 pairs contained mildly or moderately depressed Ss; the other 22 pairs contained only nondepressed Ss (NSs). These mildly or moderately depressed Ss included 8 unremitted depressives and 14 transient-remitted depressives. Analyses indicated that after 5 wks and 11 wks of living together, the roommates of unremitted depressives had significantly higher BDI scores than NSs. Moreover, their BDI scores at 5 and 11 wks were significantly higher than they were at the 1st wk. Results also show that at 5 and 11 wks the BDI scores of the roommates of transient-remitted persons were significantly higher than scores of NSs. Possible causes for this induction of depressive affect include direct induction stemming from day-to-day contact, a modeling process, or increased dysphoria associated with an unhappy roommate relationship. (9 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)