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The accuracy of self-monitoring and its relationship to self-focused attention in dysphoria and clinical depression
Authors:
DUNN, B.D., DALGLEISH, T., LAWRENCE, A.D. & Ogilvie, A.D.
Reference:
Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 116(1), 1-15
Year of publication:
2007
CBU number:
6389
Abstract:
The accuracy with which dysphoric (Study One) and clinically depressed (Study Two) individuals make self-regulatory judgments about their own performance in the absence of external feedback and the extent to which this relates to trait self-focused attention (SFA) were examined. Relative to objective criteria, both dysphoric and depressed participants showed a positive judgment bias, overestimating the number of trials they had performed correctly. Relative to control participants, the dysphoric and depressed groups showed a reduction in the extent of this positive bias in that they judged error trials more accurately and correctly-performed trials less accurately. While the dysphoric and depressed groups both reported elevated trait SFA, this did not correlate significantly with accuracy of self-judgment on the performance-monitoring task. Implications for self-regulation models of depression are discussed.
