Date of Award
1981
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Psychology
Abstract
The hypotheses derived from Beck's theory that depressed individuals "minimize the positive" and "maximize the negative" were investigated using a series of positive and negative imaginary interpersonal situations. Fifty-two depressed and nondepressed college females responded to the imagined situations by rating their self-esteem and mood at three time intervals. Results showed that depressed subjects maintained lower levels of self-esteem and mood across all three measurements yet were less adversely affected with exposure to the negative situations than were nondepressed subjects. Additionally, depressed subjects showed a greater enhancement effect from the positive imagined experience even while maintaining lower levels of self-esteem and mood across all measurements. These unexpected findings are discussed in light of the immediate versus prolonged effects of stress, the needed specificity in the measurement of cognitive reactions, and a limiting effect in the processing of positive experience by depressed subjects. Clinical and research implications are discussed.
Recommended Citation
Hunter, Patricia Anne bowers, "The Processing of Experience and the Evaluation of the Self in Depressed and Nondepressed Females." (1981). LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses. 3638.
https://repository.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses/3638
Pages
101
DOI
10.31390/gradschool_disstheses.3638