failures to other people or unfortunate circumstances. However, another inves-
tigation comparing American and Chinese students found that the kinds of ex-planations that predict depression in the United States are also associated with
depression in China (Anderson, 1999). Thus, although the way people in two
cultures typically explain events may be different, the cognitive style that leads
to depression is the same.
SUMMARY
1. Psychologists have looked at the role of hostile cognitions in aggressive
behavior. They find that aggressive responses are more likely when asituation activates hostile thoughts and emotions. Hostile cognitionsinclude aggressive behavior scripts. When hostile cognitions are highly
accessible, the likelihood of acting aggressively increases. Boys with a
history of reacting to minor events aggressively tend to interpret uninten-tional acts as deliberate and hostile.
2. Some psychologists have looked at differences in men ’s and women ’s
abilities to recall certain kinds of information. These researchers findevidence that women are more likely than men to organize self-relevant
information around emotions. Women also have been found to have
strong cognitive connections between mental representations of themselvesand the mental representations they have of close friends and loved ones.
3. The cognitive approach assumes that depressing thoughts are an impor-
tant cause of depression. Depressed people are said to process informa-
tion through a depressive schema. Depressed people recall depressing
information and remember depressing events more readily than non-
depressed people. Other researchers look at negative cognitive style.
People who tend to interpret negative events in terms of enduring and
widespread causes are more prone to depression than those who do not
rely on this cognitive style.25
20
15
10
No Prior 
DepressionLow Risk
High Risk
Prior 
Depression30
5Percent Experiencing
Major Depression
FIGURE 16.8 Students Experiencing Depression
Source: Alloy et al. (2006).Summary 451