Response Latencies for the Causal Explanations of Depressed, Paranoid, and Normal Individuals: Availability of Self-representations

Abstract

Introduction : Abnormal causal explanations (attributions) for significant events have been implicated in depression and paranoid delusions. We hypothesised that the speed with which internal (self-blaming) explanations are generated will be affected by the availability of positive and negative self-representations. Methods: Depressed, paranoid, and normal participants were timed as they generated likely causes for hypothetical positive and negative events. Results : Normal participants generated internal explanations more rapidly for positive than for negative events. This bias was absent in the depressed and deluded patients. Conclusions : These findings support the view that explanatory style and self-representations are interrelated cognitive processes. The findings are also consistent with the hypothesis that paranoid patients, like depressed patients, harbour self-representations that are less positive than those of normal people.