DYSPHORIA AND SPECIFICITY IN SELF-FOCUSED ATTENTION

The hypothesis was that dysphoric individuals, greater self-focused attention reflect attempts at self-understanding as opposed to awareness of their thoughts and feelings. Subjects in Study 1 completed the short form of the Beck Depression Inventory and the Self-Consciousness Scale. As expected, more-dysphoric subjects reported higher self-reflectiveness but not higher internal state awareness. This finding was replicated in Study 2, in which subjects also completed the Attributional Complexity Scale; other results suggest that dysphoric individuals' attainment of higher scores on the Attributional Complexity Scale, which includes self-referent items, is intrinsically related to their tendency for self-reflection. Dysphonic individuals may engage in self-reflection because of poor understanding of self; various indexes of maladjustment seem associated with a poor understanding of self. Other possible causal links are discussed.