Depression, self-focused attention, and expectancies for positive and negative future life events for self and others

In two studies, we examined depressed and nondepressed persons' judgments of the probability of future positive and negative life events occurring to themselves and to others. Study 1 demonstrated that depressed subjects were generally less optimistic than their nondepressed counterparts: Although nondepressed subjects rated positive events as more likely to happen to themselves than negative events, depressed subjects did not. In addition, relative to nondepressed subjects, depressed subjects rated positive events as less likely to occur to themselves and more likely to occur to others and negative events as more likely to occur to both self and others. Study 2 investigated the role that differential levels of self-focused attention might play in mediating these differences. On the basis of prior findings that depressed persons generally engage in higher levels of self-focus than nondepressed persons do and the notion that self-focus activates one's self-schema, we hypothesized that inducing depressed subjects to focus externally would attenuate their pessimistic tendencies. Data from Study 2 supported the hypothesis that high levels of self-focus partially mediate depressive pessimism: Whereas self-focused depressed subjects were more pessimistic than nondepressed subjects, externally focused depressed subjects were not. The role of attentional focus in maintaining these and other depressive pessimistic tendencies was discussed.     

Coping and physical health during caregiving: the roles of positive and negative affect

The associations among coping, mood, and health variables were examined prospectively over 2 years in 86 HIV positive (HIV+) and 167 HIV negative (HIV-) gay men undergoing the stress of AIDS-related caregiving. Path models suggested that including both positive and negative mood and the men's associated coping strategies increases understanding of why some people suffer adverse health effects during times of stress. Among the HIV- caregivers, higher levels of social coping predicted increases in positive affect, which in turn resulted in lower levels of physical symptoms. In contrast, higher levels of cognitive avoidance predicted increases in negative affect, which in turn resulted in higher levels of physical symptoms. Self-injurious forms of avoidance coping predicted higher levels of physical symptoms independent of mood among the HIV+ caregivers.     

Hardiness and sense of coherence and their relation to negative affect

This study attempted to determine the degree to which measures of health proneness and measures of negative affect represent two distinct, although related, constructs. In addition, it examined the relation between Antonovsky's salutogenic construct of sense of coherence (SOC) and Kobasa's health proneness construct of hardiness. Five health proneness and three negative affect measures were filled out by 164 male patients with coronary heart disease. The pattern of correlations between these measures and confirmatory factor analysis indicated that although the measures of health proneness are negatively related to measures of negative affect, these two sets of measures and the constructs to which they are related can be differentiated from each other. However, SOC was found to be less independent of negative affect than was hardiness.     

Differential neuronal responses to the self and others in the extrastriate body area and the fusiform body area

The extrastriate body area (EBA) and the fusiform body area (FBA) are selectively activated by viewing human bodies. However, the role of these functionally defined brain areas in self-other discrimination is still unresolved. Thirty-one females were presented with 16 pictures of their own body and another body in a bikini and with scrambled images while fMRI was performed. Moreover, standardized stimulus material was used in order to localize the EBA and FBA. Region-of-interest analysis showed an enhanced BOLD response to the self-images relative to the non-self-images in the right EBA and FBA. The right EBA and FBA are activated differently by viewing oneself and others and might thus play a role in visual self-other discrimination.     

Confusions of self with close others

This article explores the cognitive underpinnings of interpersonal closeness in the theoretical context of "including other in the self" and, specifically, the notion of overlap between cognitive representations of self and close others. In each of three studies, participants first rated different traits for self, close others (e.g., romantic partner, best friend), and less close others (e.g., media personalities), followed by a surprise source recognition task (who was each trait rated for?). As predicted, in each study, there were more source confusions between traits rated for self and close others (e.g., a trait rated for self recalled as having been rated for the close other) than between self (or close others) and non-close others. Furthermore, several results suggest that the greater confusions between self and close others are due specifically to interpersonal closeness and not to greater familiarity or similarity with close others     

Electroencephalogram asymmetry during emotionally evocative films and its relation to positive and negative affectivity

The purpose of the present study was to determine if there were differences in hemispheric lateralization during the experience of emotions and if those differences were related to personality style. College-age adult subjects selected for high positive and negative affectivity on Tellegen's Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire (MPQ; Tellegen, 1982) viewed video stimuli selected for their emotionally evocative nature and rated the intensity of the emotions they experienced. The ongoing electroencephalogram (EEG) was recorded while they watched the video clips. Analyses of the EEG data revealed that there were differences in regional activation during the emotional video clips, especially for those stimuli selected to elicit either happy or disgust emotions. These results support the hypothesis that the right hemisphere is specialized for the experience of certain negative affects, whereas the left hemisphere is specialized for the experience of certain positive affects. The findings also indicated some support for the theory that individual differences in personality style are related to differing levels of hemispheric arousal.     

Sex differences in domain-specific depressogenic cognitive responses to negative and positive life events

Maladaptive cognitive responses to stressful life events represent well-replicated risk factors for depression. Research indicates that stressful life events that are dependent on the individual to occur or are interpersonal may generate more maladaptive cognitive responses than those that are independent and/or non-interpersonal. The current study examined the roles of sex and life event domains in eliciting depressogenic cognitive responses. Participants were 212 (71% female) undergraduate students who completed seven weekly questionnaires on participant-identified most negative and most positive life events over the previous 7 days. Additionally, participants reported levels of brooding and cognitive style in response to the most negative event and levels of positive rumination and dampening in response to the most positive event. Data were analyzed using mixed ANOVAs. Results indicated that females engaged in greater brooding regardless of event dependency. In addition, dependent and interpersonal life events generated greater brooding while dependent and non-interpersonal negative events generated greater negative cognitive style. An interaction between sex and domain was observed for dampening positive life events, such that males did not differ between interpersonal and non-interpersonal life events while females were more likely to dampen following interpersonal life events than non-interpersonal events.     

Intraindividual and interindividual analyses of positive and negative affect: their relation to health complaints, perceived stress, and daily activities

I examined correlates of Negative Affect (NA) and Positive Affect (PA) through both within- and between-subjects analyses. Eighty subjects completed a daily questionnaire for 6-8 weeks. Each day they rated (a) their mood, (b) the extent to which they suffered from various minor physical problems, (c) their level of stress, (d) the time they spent socializing, and (e) whether or not they had exercised. Subjects also completed several trait tests measuring their general affective level, frequency of health problems, and social tendencies. A between-subjects analysis showed the expected pattern: Level of physical complaints and perceived stress were correlated with individual differences in NA but not in PA, whereas social indicators and frequency of exercise were related only to PA. The within-subjects results generally exhibited a similar pattern: Social activity and exercise were more strongly related to PA, whereas perceived stress was highly related to NA. However, the most significant finding was that, contrary to prediction, health complaints were as strongly related to intraindividual fluctuations in PA as in NA. Possible interpretations of the observed correlates of NA and PA are discussed.