Effects of Sadness and Hostility on Depressive Attentional Allocation Processes

Abstract

A large proportion of individuals with unipolar depression experience predominantly hostile as opposed to sad mood. The consideration of hostile mood states has been virtually ignored, however, in depression research. To gain a better understanding of these processes, the current study explored the impact of hostility and sadness on attentional allocation patterns in dysphoria. Individuals exhibiting dysphoria completed questionnaires as well as a computer task during which they rated themselves and others with respect to trait adjectives. Attention was measured using pupillary response, reaction time, and recall of adjectives. Structural equation modeling was used for analyses, and results indicated that hostility and sadness seem to differentially impact attentional processes in dysphoria.