Depression Study Suggests New Cause: Undeserved Self-praise

A New Source for Depression?
It’s important that individuals recognize personal strengths. Acknowledging past success can be a powerful motivator, one with compelling evidence that cannot be ignored. But can self-praise backfire and even cause depression? One depression study published in the journal “Emotion” by the American Psychological Association set off to measure this very relationship, prompting some to rethink perceived inadequacy.

Who Participated in the Depression and Self-praise Study?
How did depression study researchers measure the effect of undeserved self-praise on depression? To acquire cross-cultural data, researchers from the American Psychological Association asked students from the U.S.A. And Hong Kong to participate in a multistage correlation study. Specifically, three groups of American students consisting of 295 college undergraduates and 2,780 Hong Kong high school students were included in the depression and self-praise correlation study.

The Depression and Self-praise Study Procedure
In the first half of the depression and self-praise correlation study, depression researchers asked the Hong Kong group and one of the American groups to complete an academic assessment test, rate their speculated performance in comparison to their peers, and complete a depression indicator questionnaire. Contrastingly, in the second part of the depression and self-praise correlation study, researchers also asked American depression study participants to complete an academic assessment, but purposefully gave the students who performed well feedback which indicated poor performance, and students who performed poorly were given feedback which indicated excellent performance. Furthermore, a control group who received no feedback was also used.

The Depression and Self-praise Study Results
All data suggested that those who rated their success as high were more likely to experience symptoms of depression, as indicated by the depression indicator study participants filled out. Even the most convincing liars must eventually face the truth, especially when lying to themselves. While becoming distressed over an inadequacy can be inhibitory and potentially lead to depression, this depression study suggests that ignoring an inadequacy can have just as negative an effect. When we pump ourselves with self-praise, we may lose sight of our true talents. This creates two issues. Firstly, an excess of self-praise may condition us to think we do not need to improve upon something, self-praise may set ourselves up for settling into mediocrity or allowing our skills to atrophy. Secondly and most specific to the investigated depression study, self-praise, when undeserved, can backfire when we are forced to acknowledge that we are not as skilled in a specific area or task as we allowed ourselves to previously believe. This may shock and disappoint us, leading to depression.

WORKS CITED
“Too Much Undeserved Self-praise Can Lead to Depression.” Science Daily: News & Articles in Science, Health, Environment & Technology. 20 Oct. 2011. Web. 23 Oct. 2011. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/10/111020024846.htm.


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