The Relational Self and Pre-existing Depression: Implicit Activation of Significant-other Representations Exacerbates Dysphoria and Evokes Rejection in the Working Self-concept

Abstract

This research tested the hypothesis that increased dysphoric mood and rejection in the working self-concept would emerge among individuals with pre-existing symptoms of depression—based on implicit activation (vs. not) of a mental representation of a loved-but-rejecting family member (rather than a disliked/rejecting one). Dysphoric college students randomly assigned to anticipate an interaction with a new person resembling a loved significant other showed increases in depressed mood and offered freely listed self-descriptions that were more characterized (according to judges) by a sense of “rejection” (relative to a control condition). No such effects occurred among non-dysphoric individuals. Dysphoric individuals may be especially vulnerable emotionally to expected encounters with new people who resemble loved family members by whom they have felt rejected.