The Utilization of Positive and Negative Feedback in the Self- Evaluation Responses of Depressed and Nondepressed Psychiatric Patients

Investigation of positive and negative feedback in psychiatric inpatients suggests that depressed patients are likely to utilize positive, personally relevant information to enhance their low self-esteem, whereas nondepressed patients are more likely to counteract negative feedback that is inconsistent with their self-evaluations.

Abstract

Utilization of positive and negative feedback was investigated in a sample of 20 depressed and 20 nondepressed psychiatric inpatients. Patients, selected on the basis of Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory scores and clinical diagnoses, received primarily positive or negative feedback after completing a moral judgment task. Results suggest that depressed patients are likely to utilize positive, personally relevant information to enhance their low self-esteem, whereas nondepressed patients are more likely to counteract negative feedback that is inconsistent with their self-evaluations. The results fail to confirm the presence of memory deficits for positive feedback in depression, proposed by Kovacs and Beck (Am. J. Psychiatry, 135: 525-532, 1978), and are more consistent with the prediction of Mischel et al. (J. Consult. Clin. Psychiatry, 44: 92-103, 1976) that people tend to be cognitively biased toward success and toward perpetuating positive emotional states.