focus his or her attention on the one weak answer and conclude that the per-
formance was poor.
Not surprisingly, depressive thoughts go hand-in-hand with other depres-
sion symptoms, such as sad mood and decreased activity. Cognitive theorists
see the causal arrow between depressive cognitions and these other symptoms
running both ways (Clark et al., 1999). That is, depressing thoughts can cause
depression, and depression can lead to an increase in depressing thoughts.
However, several studies suggest that although negative thoughts decline aspeople recover from an episode of depression, the underlying cognitive network
often remains in place (Dozois & Dobson, 2001; Hedlund & Rude, 1995; Ilardi
& Craighead, 1999; Ingram & Ritter, 2000; Segal, Gemar, & Williams, 1999).If a strong depressive schema stays intact, the individual may be vulnerable
to future bouts of depression (Havermans, Nicolson, & deVries, 2007;
Lewinsohn, Joiner, & Rohde, 2001). In fact, people with strong depressiveschemas may face a daily battle to fend off depression. Formerly depressed
patients in one study showed an increase in negative thoughts simply after lis-
tening to a sad piece of music (Gemar, Segal, Sagrati, & Kennedy, 2001).
Negative Cognitive Style
In Chapter 14 we looked at research on learned helplessness. As you recall,
psychologists initially demonstrated this effect in dogs that failed to escape
from electric shocks after first experiencing inescapable shocks. The dogs
learned they were helpless in one situation and inappropriately generalized
that perception to the new situation. Not long after the demonstrations with
animals, researchers found that people also sometimes generalize helpless feel-
ings to controllable situations. Similarities between learned helplessness parti-cipants and depressed patients led some psychologists to propose learned
helplessness as a model for understanding depression.
However, investigators soon found the simple model used to explain ani-
mal behavior was insufficient for understanding learned helplessness in peo-ple. Human research participants reacted to some uncontrollable situations
with helplessness, but not others. Feelings of helplessness generalized to sometasks, but not every task. People exposed to inescapable noise sometimes be-
came less motivated, but occasionally motivation increased (Costello, 1978;
Depue & Monroe, 1978; Roth, 1980).
The limitations of the original model led some investigators to argue that
negative life experiences alone are not sufficient to produce depression.Rather, how we interpret these events is the key (Abramson, Seligman, &
Teasdale, 1978; Miller & Norman, 1979). If you attribute the loss of a job
to a general lack of skills and aptitude that will keep you from getting a
good job anywhere else, you may be headed for depression. However, if you
fail an algebra class and conclude it ’s because this particular instructor used a
strange and unfair grading system, it is unlikely you’ ll generalize feelings of
helplessness to other math classes or other subjects.
Psychologists soon observed individual differences in the way people ex-
plain the events they encounter. In particular, researchers identified whatCognitions and Depression 449