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Depression and causal attributions for success and failure
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
|March 1, 1978
Summary
This study found that depressed individuals attribute success internally, unlike nondepressed individuals who attribute success externally. These findings offer insights into depression and self-serving biases in causal attributions.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Clinical Psychology
Background:
- Depression is associated with negative self-perceptions and attributional styles.
- Understanding causal attributions is crucial for explaining and treating depression.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how depression influences causal attributions for success and failure.
- To examine the role of self-serving biases and self-blame in attributional patterns.
Main Methods:
- Female university students were categorized as depressed or nondepressed using the Costello-Comrey Depression Scale.
- Participants completed a word association task with varying reinforcement levels (20%, 55%, 80%).
- Attributions for success and failure were assessed based on effort, ability, task difficulty, and luck.
Main Results:
- Nondepressed individuals exhibited self-serving biases, attributing success to internal factors and failure to external factors.
- Depressed individuals attributed failure to internal factors, aligning with self-blame theories.
- Contrary to predictions, depressed individuals also attributed success to internal factors.
Conclusions:
- Depression alters causal attribution patterns, particularly for success, suggesting a departure from typical self-serving biases.
- Findings support the revised learned helplessness model of depression, emphasizing the role of attributions.
- Attributional differences between depressed and nondepressed individuals highlight distinct cognitive mechanisms in processing success and failure.