When individuals dislike exposure to an actively coping role model: Mood change as related to depression and social comparison orientation

A total of 122 individuals, including those clinically depressed and nondepressed, were exposed to a description of a target who overcame his or her depression either through active coping (high effort), or seemingly by itself (low effort). Participants first completed the Beck Depression Inventory and the Iowa-Netherlands Comparison Orientation Measure. As predicted, among the nondepressed, with increasing levels of social comparison orientation, a high effort target evoked a relatively more positive mood change, and a low-effort target a relatively more negative one. In contrast, among the depressed, with increasing levels of social comparison orientation, a low-effort target evoked a relatively more positive mood change, and a high-effort target a relatively more negative one. The implications are that exposure to active role models may worsen a depression, and that social comparison orientation may have clinical implications.