DYSPHORIA AS A MODERATOR OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PERCEIVED EFFORTAND PERCEIVED ABILITY

Although Heiderian logic (E Heider, 1958) proposes an inverse relation ship between ability, and effort, research has uncovered dramatic indi vidual differences in the judged relationship between the two. Some vi ew ability and effort as positively related; others view them as negat ively related. Study 1 explored dysphoria as a moderator of this relat ionship by gathering dysphoric and nondysphoric individuals' perceptio ns of their effort and ability on daily activities. Although ability a nd effort generally were positively related. dysphorics reported lower ability on high effort tasks. In Study 2, Ss rated their effort as hi gh or low. Dysphorics discounted ability when effort was high; nondysp horics reported the greatest ability when they expended the greatest e ffort. Collectively, there was no support for an inverse relationship between ability and effort. However, dysphorics infer less ability tha n nondysphorics following high effort.