A context-informed approach to the study of negative-feedback seeking in depression

The purpose of the current study was to examine the link between negative-feedback seeking (NFS) and depression using a behavioural task that addressed many of the limitations of existing measures of NFS, to use a remitted-depressive design to determine whether NFS is a temporary or stable feature of depression, and to examine the role of personality and contextual variables (e.g., marital quality, spousal characteristics) in NFS. Using a sample of 59 couples (12 wife currently depressed, 20 wife remitted-depressed, and 27 wife never-depressed), we designed a task that correlated with an established measure of NFS and was able to distinguish between non-depressed and currently depressed wives. Using this behavioural task, we found that NFS is stably associated with depression and that relationship and partner characteristics may protect depressed individuals from engaging in destructive interpersonal patterns.     

Where there is a way, is there a will? The effect of future choices on self-control

Choices often involve self-control conflicts such that options that are immediately appealing are less desirable in the long run. In the current research, the authors examine how viewing such a choice as one of a series of similar future choices rather than as an isolated decision decreases the preference for items requiring self-control. The authors show that (a) in a choice between a vice and a virtue, the share choosing vice increases when the decision is presented as one of a series of similar future choices versus when the same choice is viewed in isolation, and (b) the overall share choosing a vice increases when decisions are seen in connection with similar future choices. The findings contrast with the general wisdom that broader choice frames lead to the exercise of greater self-control. The authors propose that the context of similar future choices allows people to optimistically believe that they will choose a virtue in the future choice and hence provides them with a guilt-reducing justification to not exercise self-control in the present.     

A cross-cultural examination of the relation of marital communication behavior to marital satisfaction.

Numerous studies have examined the communication behaviors of Western, primarily North American, couples and have demonstrated a robust and reliable association between marital satisfaction and couple communication. However, there has been relatively less attention given to the generalizability of these findings to non-Western couples. To address this issue, the authors conducted an observational study of marital communication among couples from 3 different cultural groups: 50 White American couples, 52 Pakistani couples in Pakistan, and 48 immigrant Pakistani couples in America. The results show that positive and negative communication behaviors were associated with marital satisfaction within each of the 3 cultural groups. However, the American group's marital satisfaction was more strongly related to marital communication behaviors than was that of the Pakistani group and, to a lesser extent, the immigrant group.     

Relationship of Muslim Religiosity and Death Anxiety with the Mediating Effect of Optimism and Depression Among Cancer Patients in Pakistan

Journal of Religion and Health - Optimism and the practice of any religion are known to reduce depression and anxiety in cancer patients. In the present study, the specific role of Muslim...     

Revisiting the relationship between depressive symptoms and marital communication using an experimental paradigm: The moderating effect of acute sad mood

Although research has consistently demonstrated an association between depression and negative marital interactions, it remains unclear whether marital behaviors are specifically associated with depression, above and beyond the effects of a troubled marital relationship. Past research investigating this question has produced inconsistent results. In the present study, we re-examine this question and suggest that one possible reason for past inconsistencies is that across different investigations, samples may have differed in the acute mood state of the depressed partner. It is possible that the marital communication behaviors associated with depression only become evident during acute sad mood states. Seventy-one heterosexual couples who varied on marital satisfaction levels and wife depressive symptoms were videotaped during two marital problem-solving discussions, one of which was preceded by a sad mood induction for the wife. As predicted, results revealed a unique relationship between negative communication patterns and depressive symptoms only when wives had received a sad mood induction. Findings are discussed in light of interpersonal theories of depression.     

Self‐confirmation strivings in depression: An extension to the affective domain using an experimental design

The purpose of the present study was to compare the emotional reactions of depressed and nondepressed individuals to experiences of romantic rejection versus acceptance. We tested our hypotheses in a sample of 28 depressed and 43 nondepressed undergraduate students. In support of self‐consistency theories, the results showed that depressed individuals reported significantly greater negative mood in the romantic acceptance versus rejection condition, while there was no significant difference across the two conditions in the self‐reported mood of nondepressed individuals. Further, symptoms of anxiety mediated the interactive effects of depression status and rejection status on mood. Our findings demonstrate how the responses of depressed individuals to interpersonal feedback contribute to their affective disturbance. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The neural basis of the right visual field advantage in reading: an MEG analysis using virtual electrodes

Right-handed participants respond more quickly and more accurately to written words presented in the right visual field (RVF) than in the left visual field (LVF). Previous attempts to identify the neural basis of the RVF advantage have had limited success. Experiment 1 was a behavioral study of lateralized word naming which established that the words later used in Experiment 2 showed a reliable RVF advantage which persisted over multiple repetitions. In Experiment 2, the same words were interleaved with scrambled words and presented in the LVF and RVF to right-handed participants seated in an MEG scanner. Participants read the real words silently and responded "pattern" covertly to the scrambled words. A beamformer analysis created statistical maps of changes in oscillatory power within the brain. Those whole-brain maps revealed activation of the reading network by both LVF and RVF words. Virtual electrode analyses used the same beamforming method to reconstruct the responses to real and scrambled words in three regions of interest in both hemispheres. The middle occipital gyri showed faster and stronger responses to contralateral than to ipsilateral stimuli, with evidence of asymmetric channeling of information into the left hemisphere. The left mid fusiform gyrus at the site of the 'visual word form area' responded more strongly to RVF than to LVF words. Activity in speech-motor cortex was lateralized to the left hemisphere, and stronger to RVF than LVF words, which is interpreted as representing the proximal cause of the RVF advantage for naming written words.     

Inviting questions

Consumers are frequently invited to ask questions in everyday life. The current research provides an initial examination of how inviting consumers to ask questions influences their attitudes and intentions. Two experiments show that inviting questions can have a positive or negative effect depending on whether consumers actually ask them. Experiment 1 shows that merely inviting questions has a positive effect, but that this effect reverses when consumers actually ask questions. Following a similar logic, Experiment 2 shows that inviting questions has a positive effect under low involvement conditions, but a negative effect under high involvement conditions where the likelihood of generating questions is higher.