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Depression and internal versus external focus of attention

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Abstract

Recent research has indicated that attentional processes may be an important mediator of several depressive phenomena. Specifically, it was hypothesized that depressed individuals demonstrate a tendency to self-focus their attention. Two studies were conducted to examine this relationship. In Study 1, a replication of earlier research demonstrating a relationship between depression and the dispositional tendency to self-focus attention was obtained using three different samples. In Study 2, depressed and nondepressed subjects were compared on a measure of current level of self-focusing. Results indicated that depressed subjects evidenced a greater self-focused responding and less externally focused responding. The possible role of self-focused attention in contributing to the negative affect, negative internal attributions, and lowered self-esteem in depression are discussed, and suggestions for future research are provided.

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The authors would like to thank Mary Fristad and David Roth for their comments on this paper.

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Ingram, R.E., Smith, T.W. Depression and internal versus external focus of attention. Cogn Ther Res 8, 139–151 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01173040

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