title: Social cognitive complexity and depression: cognitive complexity moderates the correlation between depression self-ratings and global self-evaluation.
abstract: The authors studied the psychometric characteristics of a standardized data-collection method for assessing the complexity of an individual's cognitions about self and other people (social cognitive complexity). A total of 437 college undergraduates were assessed using this method and concurrently assessed for depression, self-deception, impression management, self-esteem, and positive/negative affectivity. It was found that a measure of overall social cognitive complexity was internally consistent and demonstrated concurrent and discriminant validity. In particular, a composite measure of the complexity of both positive and negative cognitions of self and other was associated with greater self-reported depression, after controlling for the other variables studied (, impression management). It was also found that social cognitive complexity moderated the degree of global self-evaluation in self-reported depression, such that global self-evaluation accounted for a considerably higher amount of the variance of depression in low-complex individuals than it did in high-complex individuals.
authors.affiliation: University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Department of Psychiatry, 671 Hoes Lane, Piscataway, New Jersey, 08855-1392, USA.
authors.forename: Michael A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Gara
authors.forename: Robert L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Woolfolk
authors.forename: Lesley A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Allen
mesh_terms: D003071:Cognition; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology*; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008960:Models, Psychological; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012649:Self Concept; D012938:Social Perception