title: No praise, please: Depressive symptoms, reactivity to positive social interaction, and fear of positive evaluation.
abstract: Depression is characterized by depressed mood and loss of interest or pleasure. Resulting alterations in emotional reactivity have been explained by three different accounts: 'positive attenuation', 'negative potentiation', and 'emotion context insensitivity'. Despite the importance of depression-related emotional alteration in social interactions, research with naturalistic interpersonal stimuli is scarce and underlying mechanisms largely unknown.
  
  
  
  Hence, the present study examined subjective emotional reactivity to brief negative, positive, and neutral social-evaluative videos as a function of depressive symptoms in an adult sample (N = 84). Fear of positive evaluation (FPE) and fear of negative evaluation (FNE), often conceptualized as cognitive components of social anxiety, were examined as possible mediators.
  
  
  
  Results revealed that more depression symptoms were related to diminished pleasantness responses to both positive and neutral videos. When considering all three video conditions simultaneously, only responses to positive videos remained significantly related to depression scores, supporting the 'positive attenuation' account. Moreover, FPE was found to uniquely mediate the relationship between depressive symptoms and pleasantness responses to positive videos.
  
  
  
  Results indicate that emotional reactivity to positive interpersonal stimuli is relevant for theoretical and clinical considerations of depression. This research underlines the importance of FPE not only for understanding social anxiety but also depression.
authors: Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria; Department of Psychology, University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria. Electronic address: julia.reichenberger@sbg.ac.at.
authors: Julia
authors: J
authors: Reichenberger
authors: Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria; Department of Psychology, University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria.
authors: Nicole
authors: N
authors: Wiggert
authors: Division of Social Psychology, Department of Psychology, University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria.
authors: Dmitrij
authors: D
authors: Agroskin
authors: Department of Psychology, Division of Clinical Psychology, Health Psychology and Psychotherapy, University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria.
authors: Frank H
authors: FH
authors: Wilhelm
authors: Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria; Department of Psychology, University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria.
authors: Jens
authors: J
authors: Blechert
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology; D003863:Depression / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology*; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D005239:Fear / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Depression; Emotional reactivity; Fear of positive evaluation; Film; Major depressive disorder; Social anxiety disorder; Social interaction; Social-evaluative stimuli