EFFECTS OF NORMATIVE INFORMATION ON TASK PERSISTENCE AMONG DEPRESSED AND NONDEPRESSED INDIVIDUALS

The impact of normative information on depressed and nondepressed subjects' task persistence and task-related judgments was investigated. Normative information-either stating that others had previously done well (success) or had done poorly (failure) on an anagram task-was given to experimental subjects, while a control group received no normative information. Subjects then performed the same task and were measured for their task persistence. Although nondepressed and de-pressed subjects' task-related judgments were similarly influenced by the normative information, their task persistence was differentially affected by this information. Depressed subjects persisted less in response to both normative failure and success information (relative to control subjects). However, nondepressed subjects' persistence was unaffected by both types of normative information. Results are interpreted in terms of individual differences in depression and social comparison processes.