Biomedical subjects

G Weary

Publications and source records attributed to G Weary.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1991

Effect of depression on quantity and quality of social inferences.

Two studies explored depressives' sensitivity to social information as an impediment to their gaining a sense of confidence and control. In Study 1, Ss viewed a videotape of an actor performing an achievement task and were asked to list their impressions of the actor. As compared with nondepressed Ss, depressed Ss generated more inferences overall, generated more abstract inferences, and exhibited less overall confidence in their impression of the actor. In Study 2, Ss reported their beliefs of the utility of information about a person's past behaviors and personality for understanding, predicting future behavior, and describing that person. Depressed Ss expressed more interest than did nondepressed Ss in both types of information but were less confident of the utility of the information for prediction.

Adult↗

PubMed1990

Depressive self-presentation: beyond self-handicapping.

An experiment was conducted to examine the notion that depressives' responses would reflect a protective self-presentation style (Hill, Weary, & Williams, 1986), the underlying goal of which would be the avoidance of future performance demands and potential losses in self-esteem. In this study, depressed and nondepressed Ss were asked to perform a relatively simple visual-motor task. Half of the depressed and half of the nondepressed Ss were told that if they were successful at the task, they would be asked to perform a 2nd, similar task. The remaining Ss were given no such expectation of future performance. We predicted and found that depressed compared with nondepressed Ss strategically failed at the task when presented with the possibility of future performance and further losses in esteem. Moreover, this strategic failure was associated with some costs; depressed-future performance expectancy Ss experienced more discomfort or negative affect as a result of their performance. The relationship between this depressive self-presentation and self-handicapping strategies is discussed.

Achievement↗

PubMed1987

Attributional and social comparison processes in depression.

In this study we examined the consequences for depressed and nondepressed individuals of receiving comparison feedback regarding their causal understandings of an event. Specifically, the effects of similar, dissimilar, or no-comparison feedback on depressed and nondepressed subjects' evaluations of the comparison other and on their feelings about themselves were investigated. Because the reduction of uncertainty about one's conception of social reality is a major motive underlying social-comparison processes, we expected that depressed individuals, who are assumed to have experienced heightened uncertainty associated with frequent exposure to uncontrollable life events, would be more motivated to engage in social comparison and would be more sensitive to social-comparison feedback. Results generally were consistent with this reasoning. The implications of the results in terms of the development and maintenance of depression were discussed.

Depressive Disorder↗

PubMed1985

The attributional norm of internality and depressive sensitivity to social information.

Two studies examined the existence, within an achievement-related context, of a social norm favoring internal explanations for task performances. In the first study, we investigated the reactions of observers to an actor's high, moderate, or low self-attribution of causal responsibility for his negative performance outcome on an ostensibly standardized aptitude test. The results indicated that the actor was evaluated more positively to the degree that he accepted more personal responsibility for his performance. In the second study, we examined the reactions of depressed and nondepressed observers to an actor's high or low self-attributions of causal responsibility for his poor performance on a test of analytical ability. On the basis of the notion that the chronic lack of control and resultant uncertainty, presumably characteristic of depressed persons, motivates attributional information processing, we expected depressed observers to be more sensitive to the actor's violation of the norm of internality and to respond with more social disapproval than nondepressed observers. Results generally were consistent with this reasoning. Experimental findings are discussed in terms of the interpersonal implications of expressed attributions.

Achievement↗