This thesis reports a series of experiments conducted to elucidate
the nature of the relationship between attribution and depression. After an extended review of the literature on attribution and
depression it was concluded that further research is needed to
evaluate the aetiological importance of depressogenic attributions,
and also to elucidate the nature of the relationship they may
entertain with depression.
A series of experiments and studies were performed to address
these and other issues. In experiments l-3 subjects' attributions
for success and failure were manipulated and their effects on
subsequent mood, expectations and psychomotor performance were
assessed. The results showed that depression and its correlates
are causally influenced by negative self-attributions. A further
study, in which depressed and non-depressed patients' attributions
were assessed, also provided evidence in support of the
aetiological importance of these kinds of attributions.
Experiments 5 and 6 were designed to clarify the nature of the
relationship between attributions and depressed mood. Experiment
6 showed that mood can affect attributions, suggesting that the
relationship between these two variables is at least reciprocal.
The implications of this finding for cognitive formulations of
depression were discussed.
Another part of the programme was concerned with the determinants
of depressogenic attributions. Two studies investigated ways in
which depressed and non-depressed subjects used information to
formulate attributions. The results suggest that depressed
subjects' maladaptive attributions may develop as a result of a
tendency to use personal rather than environmental information.
Finally, a multifactorial model was proposed, and its
implications for the understanding of the aetiology and
development of depression were discussed.St. Lawrence's Hospital,
Bodmin, Cornwal