This article attempts to disentangle the role in clinical depression of two potentially relevant personal variables: social competencies (as perceived by others) and their encoding, or self-perception by the individual. Both selfratings and ratings from observers were obtained for depressed, psychiatric control, and normal control individuals following a group interaction at different times in the course of treatment. As expected, the depressed individuals initially rated themselves and were rated by others as less socially competent than the two control groups, and their self-perceptions improved with treatment. Surprisingly, the depressed were more realistic in their self-perceptions than the controls. Specifically, the controls perceived themselves more positively than others saw them, whereas the depressed saw themselves as they were seen. This realism of the depressed tended to decrease in the course of treatment. The theoretical implications of a possibly illusory glow for appropriate affect and self-regulation are discussed.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.