THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN SOCIOTROPIC AND AUTONOMOUS PERSONALITY STYLES AND DEPRESSIVE REALISM IN DYSPHORIC AND NONDYSPHORIC UNIVERSITY-STUDENTS

The current study examined the hypothesis that participants' responses to depressive realism tasks are not only a function of mood state, bu t also a function of sociotropic and autonomous personality style. In the first experiment, university students who scored high or low on a measure of sociotropy and high or low on a measure of dysphoria were e xposed to a depressive realism paradigm in which they engaged in dyadi c interaction with a friend. Following the interaction, participants' estimates of their performance were compared with the evaluations of t heir friend. In the second experiment, participants who scored high or low on a measure of autonomy and high or low on dysphoria were expose d to a computerized success/failure task. The results across both expe riments did not support the depressive realism hypothesis, in that the participants' degree of realism, distortion and/or bias generally var ied as a function of both personality style and mood state in the pred icted directions. Implications of these findings for the depressive re alism literature are discussed.