Brief Interaction with Individuals under Depressive State: Revisiting Coyne’s Interpersonal Theory of Depression

• Main Authors: Huang Hui-Shiuan, 黃惠萱
• Other Authors: Emily Tung-Hsueh Liu
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2008
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/94292848431088036278

碩士 === 輔仁大學 === 臨床心理學系碩士班 === 96 === The present study aimed to investigate Coyne’s (1976b) interpersonal theory of depression via a brief face-to-face interaction design. The research design avoided several methodological flaws associated past studies. Coyne proposed that the specific behavioral patterns of depressed individuals tend to elicit negative feelings and rejection from others, and the response of others in turn lead to the maintenance or deterioration of the depressive symptoms in the depressed individuals. The research findings of the interpersonal theory of depression are inconsistent for two reasons：First, the “depressed” people may not be in a depressed state during the interpersonal interactions; Second, past studies neglected some other important factors that likely affect interpersonal interactions. Therefore, the present study added mood induction procedures (MIPs) to address the first problem, and examined four factors that have been found to be important for interpersonal interactions, including gender, social desirability, perceived similarity, and physical attractiveness. With the improvement in research design, the situation that each subject experienced in the experiment would be more consistent with the theory that Coyne proposed. Hypotheses：1) The “negative” music will induce depressed mood for the depressed targets；2) Following the interaction, the subjects who interacted with the depressed targets will become more depressed than those who interacted with the non-depressed targets；3) Following the interaction, subjects who interacted with the depressed targets will display more interpersonal rejection；4) Following the interaction, subjects who interacted with the depressed targets will hold more negative perceptions of targets；5) Gender, social desirability, perceived similarity, and physical attractiveness will affect the relationship between the independent and the dependent variables. Participants：Participants were 98 college undergraduates, ranging from freshmen to seniors,. There were 72 females and 26 males. All of the participants were assigned to a partner of the same gender. Participants were randomly assigned to four groups -- depressed target group, depressed subject group, non-depressed target group, and non-depressed subject group. The targets interacted with the subjects. Method：Before the interaction, subjects in the depressed target group listened to “negative” music for 10 minutes, and the other three groups listen to neutral music for 10 minutes. After the mood induction procedure, subjects engaged in a 15-minute interpersonal interaction. Before and after the interaction, all subjects filled out the Multiple Affect Adjective Check List-Revised (MAACL), Desire for Future Interactions Impression Management (DFFIS), Interpersonal Judgment/Perception Scale. Results：The negative music successfully induced the depressed mood of the depressed target group. However, contrary to the predictions, interactions with a depressed target or interaction with a non-depressed target did not have a significant effect on the affect, perception, or interpersonal rejection. Further, no significant differences were found in gender, social desirability, or perceived similarity between the groups. However, the depressed subject group exhibited significantly lower ratings of physical attractiveness than the non-depressed subject group. Discussion：Despite the improvement in research design, the findings of the present study did not provide support for Coyne’s interpersonal theory of depression. According to the past and present findings, it appears that Coyne’s model would only apply to ”those who have experienced a depressive episode, who have been under the depressed state for a period of time, and who are under the depression state at the time of interaction."