stories told by the wives were more vivid and contained more details than
those described by the husbands. In short, evidence from many sources makes
a strong case that men and women differ in the way they store and recall in-
formation about relationships and thus about themselves.
COGNITIONS AND DEPRESSION
For a moment, try to think of a time when you felt a little depressed. One ofthe first things you may notice is that this is relatively easy if you already feel
a little down today and relatively difficult if you feel pretty good. Depressed
people not only remember sad experiences more easily but may also have dif-
ficulty keeping themselves from generating one depressing thought after an-
other. Sad people easily recall times when they felt lonely and unloved. They
tend to dwell on their problems and worry about all the things that might gowrong. They recall embarrassing mishaps, things they wish they had never
said, and experiences they wish they could erase. Even when good things hap-
pen, depressed people look for the gray cloud to go with the silver lining. Justgot accepted into a good school? Think of all that pressure and what happens
if you fail. Been invited to a party? What if you don ’t know anyone or you
embarrass yourself there? In short, when you ’re depressed, your mind fills
with depressing thoughts.
These observations make it clear that depressing thoughts are tied to de-
pressing feelings. This is why psychologists increasingly are turning to cogni-
tive approaches to understand depression. Although negative thoughts are
often considered a symptom of depression, the cognitive perspective argues
that these thoughts can also cause people to become depressed (Clark, Beck,
& Alford, 1999). Psychologists sometimes describe the thoughts of depressed012345Females
Males
Self Alone Self With OthersNumber of Photographs
FIGURE 16.5 Number of Photographs Used to Portray Self
Source: With kind permission from Springer Science+Business Media: “Photographic depictions of the self:
Gender and age differences in social connectedness, ”by S. M. Clancy and S. J. Dollinger, Sex Roles , 29,
477–495 (1993). Copyright © 1993 by Plenum Publishing Corporation. Reprinted by permission of Springer.Cognitions and Depression 445