Attitude formation in depression: evidence for deficits in forming positive attitudes

While a wealth of research has found that depressive symptoms are related to current attitudes, new evidence suggests depressive symptoms may be related to a fundamental deficit in forming new attitudes. Researchers investigating individual differences in attitude formation have found that depressive symptoms are strongly correlated with poorer learning of positive stimuli. This study extended these findings to a sample including clinically depressed participants. Results show that, as compared to nondepressed individuals, depressed individuals are characterized by a large deficit in their learning of positive stimuli. Implications of this fundamental deficit are discussed.