Social confirmation of dysphoria: Shared and private reactions to depression.

Abstract

Social responses to dysphoria were investigated. Subjects conversed for 15 minutes with persons selected on the basis of the presence or absence of depressed mood. Following the conversations, mood measures were administered along with social perception questionnaires that were described as either being confidential or to be shared with the other person. Subjects who interacted with depressed persons were anxious, depressed, and hostile, and the subjects rejected them. Contrary to predictions, subjects were willing to share their negative responses with the depressed persons. The depressed persons correctly anticipated rejection and reciprocated. The authors argue that cognitive models of depression need to be integrated with a conception of the social environment as being active and responsive. Judgments of cognitive distortion cannot be made without an understanding of the feedback typically available from the social environment.

When individuals dislike exposure to an actively coping role model: mood change as related to depression and social comparison orientation

“…Coyne, Burchill, & Stiles, 1991;Strack & Coyne, 1983). However, it is argued here that this response to depressed individuals depends in part on how the target copes with his or her depression.…”

Satisfaction in interpersonal interactions as a function of similarity in level of dysphoria.

“…A fourth study (Gibbons, 1986) found that following a worsening of their moods, depressed college students preferred to read descriptions of life events written by individuals also experiencing negative moods. Finally, in a study involving actual face-toface interactions, Strack and Coyne (1983) found that depressed subjects were less interested than nondepressed subjects in future interactions with a nondepressed partner. This study did not examine the reactions of depressed subjects to a depressed partner.…”

“…Two studies compared nondepressed students interacting face-to-face with depressed or nondepressed students in a 15-min "get acquainted" conversation (Gotlib & Robinson, 1982;Strack & Coyne, 1983). One found that the nondepressed subjects who had talked with depressed people came to feel more hostile, depressed, anxious, and less willing to interact with their partner in the future (Strack & Coync, 1983).…”

COIN 1.0 Formulation

“…This is shown in the bottom HD chart of Figure D-3 where the HD goes to zero. Strack and Coyne (1983) found that happy people working with depressed or sad people tended to become sad very quickly. Gotlieb and Robinson (1982) had similar results.…”