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Dysphoria, attributional reasoning and future event probability
Author(s) -
Cropley Mark,
MacLeod Andrew K.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
clinical psychology and psychotherapy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.315
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1099-0879
pISSN - 1063-3995
DOI - 10.1002/cpp.360
Subject(s) - attribution , psychology , dysphoria , pessimism , recall , globality , mood , event (particle physics) , misattribution of memory , social psychology , developmental psychology , cognition , cognitive psychology , anxiety , psychiatry , philosophy , physics , epistemology , quantum mechanics , economics , market economy , globalization
This study investigated the relationship between attributional thinking and future expectations, in a group of mildly depressed (dysphoric) and non‐depressed control individuals. Participants were asked to recall eight positive and eight negative cued autobiographical memories, and then generate a short attributional statement giving the reason why they thought each event had happened. They then rated the likelihood of each event happening in the future. Each attribution was coded along three attributional dimensions: Internality, Stability, and Globality and ratings were combined to yield a composite score for positive items and a composite score for negative items. Relative to controls, dysphorics gave more internal, stable and global attributions for negative events, but their attributions for positive events were more external, unstable and specific. The dysphoric group also showed greater pessimism for future events. Irrespective of mood state, when recalled past events were attributed to internal, stable and global causes, participants gave greater likelihood expectations, compared to when events were attributed to external, unstable and specific causes. It was concluded that attributions do play a part in the link between memory retrieval and future judgements. The explanations people give of their past experiences are important in influencing their perceptions of the likelihood of such experiences in the future. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley &Sons, Ltd.