Depressive Symptoms and Self-Esteem as Moderators of Metaperceptions of Social Rejection Versus Acceptance: A Truth and Bias Analysis

Abstract

Metaperception involves making judgments regarding what others think of us and is important in navigating the social world. We measured the degree of accuracy and bias in metaperceptions of liking and desire for future contact following unstructured social interactions with new acquaintances and tested how depression and self-esteem influence bias and accuracy in these judgments. Results indicated that depression and lower self-esteem are associated with negative directional biases but are also associated with lower reciprocity bias (the tendency to assume that partners return one’s feelings of liking and acceptance). In addition, individuals with lower self-esteem displayed greater meta-insight (accuracy when controlling for bias) compared with those with higher self-esteem. Implications for cognitive and depressive realism theories of depression are discussed.