Control Motivation, Depression, and Counterfactual Thought

Abstract

(from the book) Examines secondary control strategies and the cognitive and motivational consequences of chronic interpretational schemas in reactions to threats to control. The authors discuss 2 studies on the manner in which the generalized and chronic control concerns characteristic of depressed individuals influence the way they mentally "undo" or engage in counterfactual thinking about past negative events. The evidence from these studies provides support for the notion that such chronic control concerns result in the generation of counterfactuals that focus on controllable relative to uncontrollable features of the event. Moreover, both studies suggest that such counterfactual generation has several important functional consequences for depressed perceivers; mutating more controllable than uncontrollable aspects of negative life events enhances feelings of retrospective control over these events. At the same time, the authors suggest that negative affect and self-blame can be the undesirable by-products of cognitions directed toward the attainment and reestablishment of control perceptions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2000 APA, all rights reserved)