EFFECTS OF NORMATIVE INFORMATION ON TASK PERSISTENCE AMONG DEPRESSED AND NONDEPRESSED INDIVIDUALS

The impact of normative information on depressed and nondepressed subj ects' task persistence and task-related judgments was investigated. No rmative information-either stating that others had previously done wel l (success) or had done poorly (failure) on an anagram task-was given to experimental subjects, while a control group received no normative information. Subjects then performed the same task and were measured f or their task persistence. Although nondepressed and de-pressed subjec ts' task-related judgments were similarly influenced by the normative information, their task persistence was differentially affected by thi s information. Depressed subjects persisted less in response to both n ormative failure and success information (relative to control subjects ). However, nondepressed subjects' persistence was unaffected by both types of normative information. Results are interpreted in terms of in dividual differences in depression and social comparison processes.