How do people translate their experiences into abstract attribute preferences?

'I am tired, sad and kind': self-evaluation and symptoms of depression in adolescents

INTRODUCTION

Although self-evaluation i.e., negative perceptions of the self is a common depression symptom in adolescents, little is known about how this population spontaneously describe their self and available data on adolescent self-evaluation is limited. This study aimed to generate and report on a list of words used by healthy adolescents and those with elevated depression symptoms to describe their self-evaluation. Linguistic analysis (LIWC) was then used to compare self-evaluation between the two groups.

METHODS

Adolescents aged 13-18 years (n = 549) completed a measure of depression symptoms (the Mood and Feelings Questionnaire) and a measure of self-evaluation (the Twenty Statements Test). Responses were then collated and presented in a freely accessible resource and coded using Linguistic Inquiry Word Count (LIWC) analysis.

RESULTS

Self-evaluation words generated by adolescents were uploaded to a publicly accessible site for future research: https://doi.org/10.15125/BATH-01234 . Adolescents with elevated depression symptoms described themselves as 'Tired' and 'Sad' more than healthy adolescents. However, there was no difference between groups in respect to their use of specific positive, prosocial self-evaluation 'words' (i.e., 'Caring' and 'Kind). Following Linguistic Inquiry Word Count (LIWC) analysis, adolescents with elevated depression symptoms generated significantly more words than healthy adolescents, generated more words classified as negative emotion, anxiety and sadness and generated fewer words classified positive emotion than healthy adolescents.

CONCLUSIONS

As predicted by the cognitive model of depression, our findings suggest that adolescents with elevated symptoms of depression generated more negative self-evaluation words than healthy adolescents; however they also generated prosocial positive self-evaluation words at the same rate as non-depressed adolescents. These novel data therefore identify an 'island' of resilience that could be targeted and amplified by psychological treatments for adolescent depression, and thus provide an additional technique of change.

Does Temporal Distance Influence Abstraction? A Large Pre-Registered Experiment

Construal level theory has been extraordinarily generative both within and beyond social psychology, yet the individual effects that form the empirical foundation of the theory have yet to be carefully probed and precisely estimated using large samples and preregistered analysis plans. In a highly powered and preregistered study, we tested the effect of temporal distance on abstraction, using one of the most common operationalizations of temporal distance (thinking about a future point in time that is one day vs. one year from today) and one of the most common operationalizations of abstraction (preference for more abstract vs. concrete action representations, as assessed by the Behavioral Identification Form). Participants preferred significantly more abstract action representations in the distant (vs. near) future condition, with an effect size of d = .276, 95% CI [.097, .455]. We discuss implications, future directions, and constraints on the generality of these results.

Experiences of liking versus ideas about liking

We leverage the notion that abstraction enables prediction to generate novel insights and hypotheses for the literatures on attitudes and mate preferences. We suggest that ideas about liking (e.g., evaluations of categories or overall traits) are more abstract than experiences of liking (e.g., evaluations of particular exemplars), and that ideas about liking may facilitate mental travel beyond the here-and-now.