Depressive realism: Effects of depression severity and interpretation time

This study examined the theory of depressive realism, which posits that dep ressed people often are more accurate in perceptions and judgments than non depressed people. Two possible qualifications to this theory were examined: (1) severity of depression moderates the effect, and (2) length of process ing time will impact the presence of bias in depressed people, that is, neg ative bias will develop over time. College students were presented with a b ogus personality profile that actually consisted of items previously rated as neutral in desirability. Participants rated these profiles for desirabil ity initially and then again three days later. Results indicated a signific ant effect of depression severity on desirability rating. Nondepressed and mildly depressed students found their profiles to be more positive than the moderately/severely depressed students, with both groups having scores in the positive range. However, those participants who were moderately/severel y depressed showed a negative bias in their ratings. No support was found f or the effect of different times of interpretation. (C) 2000 John Wiley & S ons, Inc.