The effects of self-focus on negative mood among depressed and nondepressed Japanese students.
Self-focus may contribute to depression. Most investigations of the effects of self-focus on mood and cognition have taken place in the United States. Because cultural differences have been reported between the United States and Japan in both self-processes and depression, the U.S. studies should be replicated in Japan. In the present study, the effects of self-focus on mood were examined in a sample of Japanese university students. A total of 60 participants were assigned randomly to self-, other-, and social-focus conditions. Before and after the manipulation of their attention focus, the participants rated their moods as positive or negative. Under self-focus conditions, the depressed participants reported more negative feelings than did their nondepressed counterparts; however, in other-focus and social-focus conditions, no significant difference emerged between the 2 groups. Consistent with the U.S. studies, the negative effects of self-focus were limited to the depressed participants.
Sakamoto
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Department of Sociocultural Environmental Research, National Institute of Mental Health, Chiba, Japan.
D000293:Adolescent; D000339:Affect; D001288:Attention; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology*; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D012649:Self Concept; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*