Mediating role of activity level in the depressive realism effect

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dc.contributor.authorBlanco Bregón, Fernando
dc.contributor.authorMatute, Helena
dc.contributor.authorVadillo, Miguel A.
dc.date.accessioned2026-05-29T07:17:12Z
dc.date.available2026-05-29T07:17:12Z
dc.date.issued2012-09-27
dc.date.updated2026-05-29T07:17:12Z
dc.description.abstractSeveral classic studies have concluded that the accuracy of identifying uncontrollable situations depends heavily on depressive mood. Nondepressed participants tend to exhibit an optimistic illusion of control, whereas depressed participants tend to better detect a lack of control. Recently, we suggested that the different activity levels (measured as the probability of responding during a contingency learning task) exhibited by depressed and nondepressed individuals is partly responsible for this effect. The two studies presented in this paper provide further support for this mediational hypothesis, in which mood is the distal cause of the illusion of control operating through activity level, the proximal cause. In Study 1, the probability of responding, P(R), was found to be a mediator variable between the depressive symptoms and the judgments of control. In Study 2, we intervened directly on the mediator variable: The P(R) for both depressed and nondepressed participants was manipulated through instructions. Our results confirm that P(R) manipulation produced differences in the participants' perceptions of uncontrollability. Importantly, the intervention on the mediator variable cancelled the effect of the distal cause; the participants' judgments of control were no longer mood dependent when the P(R) was manipulated. This result supports the hypothesis that the so-called depressive realism effect is actually mediated by the probability of responding. en
dc.description.sponsorshipSupport for this research was provided by the Dirección General de Investigación of the Spanish Government (Grant PSI2011-26965) and the Departamento de Educación, Universidades e Investigación of the Basque Government (Grant PI2012-56)en
dc.identifier.citationBlanco, F., Matute, H., & Vadillo, M. A. (2012). Mediating role of activity level in the depressive realism effect. PLoS ONE, 7(9). https://doi.org/10.1371/JOURNAL.PONE.0046203
dc.identifier.doi10.1371/JOURNAL.PONE.0046203
dc.identifier.eissn1932-6203
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14454/6111
dc.language.isoeng
dc.publisherPublic Library of Science
dc.rights© 2012 Blanco et al.
dc.titleMediating role of activity level in the depressive realism effecten
dc.typejournal article
dcterms.accessRightsopen access
oaire.citation.issue9
oaire.citation.titlePLoS ONE
oaire.citation.volume7
oaire.versionVoR
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