Negative mood, perceived self-efficacy, and personal standards in dysphoria: The effects of contextual cues on self-defeating patterns of cognition

The present study investigated the effects of mood-related cues on the rela tion between performance standards and self-efficacy perceptions in dysphor ic anti nondysphoric individuals. Participants' personal standards and self -efficacy perceptions for various everyday activities were assessed. In the absence of mood-related cues, dysphoric participants, unlike nondysphorics , held standards that slightly exceeded their self-efficacy perceptions. A cue that highlighted the potential influence of mood on self-judgments elim inated the difference between dysphoric and nondysphoric participants. A cu e that highlighted a potential external source of current mood magnified th e group difference, lending dysphoric individuals to strongly exhibit a "se lf-defeating" cognitive pattern in which they adopted standards that far ex ceeded their self-efficacy levels. The cues also moderated the strength of relations between mood and personal standards. Current affect appears to pl ay a role in the construction of standards and self-efficacy perceptions, a nd different affective processes may operate in the self-judgments of dysph oric versus nondysphoric individuals.