Motivational and associative aspects of mild depression in skill and chance tasks.

Abstract

In Experiment 1, the levels of aspiration and expectancies for success of mildly depressed and nondepressed college students on a skill and chance task were studied. The two groups did not differ in expectations for success, but the depressed students displayed elevated levels of aspiration, particularly for the skill task. Experiment 2 tested the prediction, based on an attainment discrepancy model, that increases in expectancy for success would be a function of the interaction of performance level and the skill-chance nature of a task for • mildly depressed students but not for nondepressed students. Comparisons of increases in expectancy for success following average and superior performance supported this prediction. The prediction that locus of control and depression would not be significantly correlated was also confirmed. The results were interpreted as indicating that the level of aspiration of mildly depressed persons may be particularly elevated in skill tasks, resulting in the perception of average performance in such tasks as unsuccessful.Recently, there has been an interest in the relation between psychopathology and approaches to skill and chance tasks (Golin, 1974;Miller & Seligman, 1973). In a skill task, a subject believes he has control over reinforcers; whereas in a chance task, he believes reinforcers are a consequence of factors outside his control. Golin (1974) found that normal subjects performed a stressful task better under skill than under chance conditions; high-anxious subjects, however, did not improve their performance under skill conditions. Miller and Seligman (1973) reported that nondepressed subjects showed greater expectancy changes following reinforcement in a skill task than depressed subjects; the two groups did not differ in this regard in a chance task.How are different reactions to skill and chance tasks to be interpreted? Typically, they have been viewed within the framework of social-learning theory (

A comparison of classmate and self-evaluation of dysphoric and nondysphoric Chinese students

“…Empirical findings, however, failed to reach a consistent conclusion. Some findings showed supportive evidence (Golin & Terrell, 1977;Hewitt & Flett, 1991a, b), but many did not (Alden, Bieling, & Wallace, 1994;Carver & Ganellen, 1983;Kanfer & Zeiss, 1983;Wright & Mischel, 1982). Qian and Chen (1996) compared depressed and nondepressed people and found that depressed people did not hold excessively high standards in comparison with nondepressed people, whereas they did evaluate themselves as being lower ability than nondepressed subjects.…”

Effects of task outcome and subjective standard on state depression for cognitive and social tasks

“…More depressed subjects expressed a greater need to excel in all endeavors to feel worthwhile. Similarly, Golin and Terrell (1977) found that depressed subjects have higher maximum and minimum goals on a test of infonnation than do nondepressed subjects. Finally, some indirect evidence regarding standards has been reported by Biennan (1981), who found that given the same objective level of perfonnance on a social empathy task, nondepressed subjects are significantly more likely to rate their own perfonnance as successful than depressed subjects are.…”

“…SUbjects with high subjective standards expressed significantly more confidence than subjects with low subjective standards. Since Fibel and Hale (1978) have reported that depression in college students is negatively correlated with expectancy for success, whereas Golin and Terrell (1977) have reported no difference between depressed and nondepressed subjects in task expectancy, it appears unlikely that higher levels of self-confidence would be expressed by more depressed subjects. Such a finding would also run counter to studies that have consistently found depressed subjects to be lower in selfesteem (Flippo & Lewinsohn, 1971).…”

Cognitive-behavioral treatment of depression, part V: Enhancing self-esteem and self-control

“…Adults with low self-esteem tend to evaluate their performance negatively, not so much because they have been less successful, but because of the stringent criteria they use for evaluating their performance as successful (Warren, 1976). When the client's level of aspiration is too high, average performance may be deemed a failure (Golin & Terrell, 1977). For example, one client became depressed when his annual salary dropped for the first time in eight years.…”

“…Excessively high goals may make it difficult for clients to believe they deserve praise or positive reinforcement for their efforts (Golin & Terrell, 1977). Depressed clients often set goals that are unrealistic, unobtainable, overly abstract, vague, or too far into the future (Rehm, 1982).…”