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This study compared how extraversion, neuroticism, and extraversion  neuroticism are related to processing of pleasant and unpleasant emotional information as predicted by Eysenck's, Gray's, and Newman's theories. Initially, the participants' levels of extraversion (as measured by the sociability subscale) and neuroticism were assessed with Eysenck's Personality Inventory. They were then tested individually. After completing a questionnaire of current positive and negative moods, they completed three tasks measuring processing of pleasant, unpleasant, and also neutral information. The results showed that extraversion was associated positively with the processing of pleasant information, while neuroticism was associated positively with the processing of unpleasant information. These findings support predictions from Eysenck's theory.Studies have shown that cognitive processing of emotional stimuli (or stimuli that have emotional content) is associated with both current mood and stable personality traits. This raises the possibility that personality traits associated with mood states would be useful predictors of selective processing of emotional information. Although extraversion and neuroticism have been related to mood states, the relationships of these traits to positive and negative mood states differ in the personality theories proposed by Eysenck, Gray, and Newman. This implies that these theories will predict different relationships for extraversion and neuroticism in relation to the processing of emotional information. This study examines these relationships.One approach towards understanding cognitive processing of emotional information has been the mood-congruency hypothesis (Bower, 1991;Rusting, 1998). The moodcongruency hypothesis suggests that a positive mood state will be associated with bias for more pleasant perception, attention, interpretation, and judgment of emotional information, and also recall of more pleasant materials from memory. In contrast, a negative mood state will be associated with bias for more unpleasant perception, attention, interpretation, and judgment of emotional information, and also recall of more unpleasant materials from memory. A major theory that has influenced the mood-congruency hypothesis is Bower's (1981Bower's ( , 1991 network theory of affect. According to this theory, an emotion is represented by a corresponding emotion node, i.e. an emotion node is basically a cognitive network composed of memories and cognitions related to that particular emotion. The theory suggests that activation of a particular emotion node, by the relevant emotion, will evoke emotion-related attention, perception, memory, interpretation, and judgment.

In the study, the authors examined the measurement (configural, factor loadings, thresholds, and error variances) and structural (factor variances, covariances, and mean scores) invariance of the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI; Kovacs, 1992) across ratings provided by clinic-referred children and adolescents with (N = 383) and without (N = 412) depressive disorders. Multiple-group confirmatory factor analysis of the Craighead, Smucker, Craighead, and Ilardi (1998) CDI model supported full measurement invariance and invariance for structural variances and covariances. Invariance for thresholds was also supported by multiple indicators multiple causes (MIMIC) procedures that controlled for the effects of age; sex; and the presence or absence of anxiety disorders, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and oppositional defiant/conduct disorders. The MIMIC analyses showed that for latent mean scores, the group with depressive disorders had higher scores, with at least medium effect sizes, for Self-Deprecation and Biological Dysregulation. The theoretical, psychometric, and clinical implications of the findings are discussed.