The depressonogenic attributional style : its differential application to self, strangers, and close others PDF
Preview The depressonogenic attributional style : its differential application to self, strangers, and close others
THEDEPRESSONOGENICATTRIBUTIONALSTYLE: ITSDIFFERENTIAL APPLICATIONTO SELF,STRANGERS, ANDCLOSEOTHERS BY RODOLFOMURPHY ADISSERTATION PRESENTEDTOTHEGRADUATESCHOOLOFTHE UNIVERSITYOFFLORIDAINPARTIALFULFILLMENTOFTHE REQUIREMENTSFORTHEDEGREEOFDOCTOROFPHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITYOFFLORIDA ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 1wouldliketoexpressmyappreciationtoMonicaBiernatforthesupport andencouragementshegavemeatthebeginningofmytenurehereat Florida.Iwouldalsoliketothankmyresearchassistants, ReneDanielsand CarrieSpringer,fortheirreliabilityandhardwork,themembersofmy committee,andBarrySchlenkerforhisinputduringvariousstagesofthis project.Finally,Iwouldliketothankmyfamily. Needlesstosay,without theirsupportthisprojectcouldnothavebeencompleted. II TABLEOFCONTENTS page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS jj ABSTRACT .v INTRODUCTION 1. PessimismasaRiskFactorinDepression 1 TheValidityandReliabilityoftheAttributionalStyle 4 DotheAttributionsofDepressivesandNondepressivesDiffer? 6 TheUseofCausalCues 15 PessimismforSelfVersusOthers 20 SummaryandHypotheses 24 METHOD 27 Subjects 27 MaterialsandProcedure 27 RESULTS 32 PerceptionsofCovariation 32 Consensus 32 Distinctiveness 34 Consistency 36 RatingsoftheUsefulnessofCovariationInformation 38 Consensus 40 Distinctiveness 40 Consistency 40 InternalConsistencyoftheASQ 40 AttributionalBiases 41 ComparisonsBetweenSelfandOthers 43 EstimatesAbouttheFuture 46 RatingsofQualityofRelationships 48 QualityofRelationshipsandBiases 50 CausalCuesandAttributions 52 Note 62 DISCUSSION 63 SelfversusOther 67 TheUseofCausalCues 72 CONCLUSIONS 77 APPENDIXA CES-DC 82 APPENDIXB HYPOTHETICALEVENTSOFTHEASQ 83 APPENDIXC RELATIONSHIPOUESTIONNAIRE .84 APPENDIXD ATTRIBUTIONALSTYLEOUESTIONNAIRE 89 APPENDIXE ESTIMATESOFOTHERS' SUCCESSESANDFAILURES 91 REFERENCES 92 BIOGRAPHICALSKETCH .100 IV AbstractofDissertationPresentedtotheGraduateSchool oftheUniversityofFloridainPartialFulfillment oftheRequirementsfortheDegreeofDoctorofPhilosophy THEDEPRESSONOGENICATTRIBUTIONALSTYLE: ITSDIFFERENTIAL APPLICATIONTO SELF,STRANGERSANDCLOSEOTHERS By RodolfoMurphy August, 1993 Chairman:BarryR. Schlenker,Ph.D. MajorDepartment: Psychology Thisstudyexamineddifferencesbetweendepressivesand nondepressivesinthemanifestationofoptimisticbiasesforself,strangers andcloseothers.SubjectscompletedamodifiedversionoftheAttributional StyleOuestionnairewhichrequiresthemtoprovidecausalexplanationsfor sixpositiveandsixnegativehypotheticalevents,andrateeachexplanation alonginternality,stability, andglobalitydimensions. Inthismodifiedversion subjectsalsoprovidedestimatesforthethreecovariationcriteriaidentified byattributiontheory.Finally,subjectscompletedtheRelationshipQuality Questionnaireusingparentorroommateastargetofevaluation. Contrarytothecognitivemodelsofdepression,bothdepressivesand nondepressivesexhibitedoptimisticbiases.Thesebiases, however,were morepronouncedamongnondepressives.Depressivesexhibitedapositive V attributionalbiaswhenevaluatingtheself,closeothers,orstrangers. Nondepressives,ontheotherhand,exhibitedapositiveattributionalbias onlywhenevaluatingselforstrangers. Nodifferenceswerefoundbetweendepressivesandnondepressivesin theirratingsofthequalityoftheirrelationshipwithparentorroommate. In addition,thepatternofcorrelationsbetweenestimatesofcovariationand ratingsofattributionaldimensionsdidnotreplicatethosefoundbyprevious research,andweregenerallyinconsistentwithattributiontheory.Also,these correlationsvariedwithdifferenttargetsofevaluationandeventtypes (positiveversusnegative).Implicationsforthecognitivemodelsof depressionarediscussed. VI INTRODUCTION PessimismasaRiskFactorinDepression Manypeopleatsomepointintheirliveshaveexperiencedanepisodeof depression.Althoughinmostcasesdepressionislimitedtoatemporary episodeofmilddysphoria,estimatesindicatethatinaparticularyearupto 15%ofadultsmaysufferfromclinicallysignificantdepressivesymptoms (Sarason&Sarason, 1980). Forthisreasondepressionhasreceivedintense attentioninthepsychologicalliterature(seeAlloy, 1988). Onedominantapproachforunderstandingandtreatingdepressionisthe cognitivemodel. Thismodel,introducedbyBeck(1967), hasemphasized theroleofirrationalordistortedthinkingintheetiologyofthedisorder. Beckdistinguishedbetweenthedescriptivefeaturesandthecauseof depression.Thedescriptivefeaturesconsistofacognitivetriadinvolving negativeviewsoftheself,theworld,andthefuture. Thecauseofthis cognitivetriad istheoperationofadepressonogenicself-schemata. AsecondcognitivemodelconstitutesMartinSeligman'sreformulated learnedhelplessnessmodel(Abramson,Teasdale&Seligman, 1978). Seligman'searlyresearchhadshown,tothedismayoflearningtheorists, thatlaboratoryanimalscouldlearnintheabsenceoftraditionalrewardsor punishment.Inparticular,whenactionswerefutile,thatis,whennomatter 1 2 whattheanimaldidpainfulshockcouldnotbeavoided,animalsbecame passiveandfailedtoinitiateaction.Thisstateofhelplessness,wasdefined asaconditioninwhichnothingasubjectdoesaffectswhathappensto him/her. Asalaboratorymodelofdepression,however,learned helplessnesssoonprovedinadequateinpredictingdepressivesymptoms amonghumansexposedtothesimilarnoncontingentconsequencestowhich laboratoryanimalshadbeenexposed.Seligmanobservedthatsomesubjects wouldnotbecomehelplessnomatterwhathappenedtothemorhowmany timestheyreceivedfailurefeedbackfromtheexperimenter.Thisled Seligmanandhiscolleaguestosearchforpersonalitydifferenceswhich mightmediateeffectsofexposuretononcontingentnegativeconsequences amonghumans.Abramson,Teasdale,andSeligman(1978)subsequently proposedthatwhatdeterminesifanindividualwillbecomehelpless followingrepeatedfailureishis/hercharacteristicwayofexplaining outcomes.This"attributionalstyle"was,thus, proposedasthepersonality characteristicwhichdetermineswhobecomeshelplessinresponseto repeatedfailure. Seligman'sapproach,nowreferredtoasthehopelessnesstheoryof depression(seeAbramson,Alloy, &Metalsky, 1988), proposesthatwhen anindividualexperiencesanegativeevent,adepressonogenicattributional stylemaybecomeactivatedresultinginthegenerationofcausalattributions. Theseattributionscanvaryalongthreedimensions:Internality/specificity, 3 stability/instability, globality/specificity.Whennegativeeventsoccur,causal attributionsthatareinternal,stable,andglobalresultinexpectationsof futureuncontrollability(hopelessness).Atendencytomakeinternal,stable, andglobalattributionsfornegative,butnotpositive,eventsconstitutesthe deoressonoaenicattributionalstyle.Thispessimisticattributionalstyleis viewedasadistalcontributory(neithernecessarynorsufficient)causeof depression.Thus,thepresenceofadepressonogenicattributionalstyle increasestheprobabilitythattheindividualwillexperiencedepressionif confrontedwithnegativeevents,althoughthepresenceofanegative attributionalstylealonewould notproducedepression. Inaddition,people cangetdepressedeveniftheydonotpossesanegativeattributionalstyle. InBeck's(1967) model,maladaptivecognitiveschemataconstitutedistal contributorycauseofdepression.Thus, bothBeck'sandSeligman's approachestodepressioncanbeconceptualizedascognitivediathesis-stress theories(Alloy,Hartlage&Abramson, 1988),whereparticularcognitive styles(thediathesis)arehypothesizedtomakeindividuals,whoare confrontedwithnegativelifeexperiences(thestress),vulnerableto depression. Oneofthegoalsofthisstudyistoexaminetheextenttowhichthis depressivepessimismisconfinedtoselforifitextendstoothers.Beck (1967),forexample,arguedthatdepressives'inferencesarecharacterized by"biasesagainsttheself." However,Abramson,Teasdale,andSeligman 4 (1978)distinguishedbetween personalanduniversalhelplessness.Personal helplessnessreferstotheconditionwhereasubjectexpectsoutcomestobe contingentontheresponsesofrelevantothersbutnotcontingentonany responseinhis/herrepertoire.Universalhelplessnessreferstothecondition wherethesubjectexpectsoutcomesnottobecontingentontheresponse ofanyrelevantotherpeopleoronanyresponseinhis/herownrepertoire. Abramsonetal. (1978)suggestthatpersonallyhelplessindividualswill showlowerself-esteemthanuniversallyhelplessindividuals,althoughboth willshowthecognitiveandmotivationaldeficitsassociatedwithdepression. Aredepressivesequallypessimisticabouttheoutcomesofothersasthey mightbeabouttheirownoutcomes? Iwillexaminethesepotential differencesinpessimismbetweendepressivesandnondepressivesinterms oftheirattributionsforpositiveandnegativeevents,theirexpectations aboutthefuture,andtheir judgmentsabouttheextenttowhichothers experienceasmanysuccessesandfailuresastheydo. TheValidityandReliabilityoftheAttributionalStyle Theattributionalstylehasbeendefinedasatendencytomake particularkindsofattributionsacrosssituationsandovertime. However,the hypothesizedexistenceofatrait-likeattributionalstylehasgenerated controversy.Majorobjectionstoanattributionalanalysisofhelplessness emphasizedthelackofexperimentalevidencesupportingthenotionthat peoplespontaneouslymakecausalattributionsaftersuccessorfailure,and
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