Cognitive distortions mediate depression and affective response to social acceptance and rejection
Open accessAbstract
Background The emotional context insensitivity (ECI) hypothesis suggests individuals with depression have blunted affective responses to both positive and negative events. We tested ECI in a social context to examine how depression relates to affective responses to social acceptance and rejection outcomes. Furthermore, we aimed to identify cognitive mechanisms linking depression with affective response to social feedback. Finally, we tested whether these processes are similar for social anxiety.Method 90 participants (age 18-26 years; 53 women) completed the two-visit Chatroom task. At Visit 1 they rated their expectations about being liked by 60 peers. At Visit 2 they completed self-reports of depressive and social anxiety symptoms, and of cognitive flexibility, then received acceptance or rejection feedback from each peer and rated their affective response.Results Greater depressive symptoms related to negative expectancy bias, lower cognitive flexibility, and less positive affective response to acceptance, but did not relate to rejection. Negative expectations and cognitive flexibility mediated the relationship between depressive symptoms and affective response for acceptance; only negative expectations mediated rejection responses. These cognitive mechanisms were not related to social anxiety.Limitations A community sample was used to assess depression. Rumination and current mood state were omitted as potential predictors of affective response.Conclusions Findings support the ECI framework. Depression but not social anxiety interferes with positive and negative affect through cognitively mediated dampening of emotional response to social acceptance and rejection. Emotion regulation strategies in depression therapy can target social flexibility to improve alignment of affective reactions to social outcomes.
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People with SAD experience diminished positive affect and increased negative affect in social interactions in general.
“For example, people with SAD experience diminished positive affect and increased negative affect in social interactions in general (32), and reduced positivity in response to social acceptance and enhanced negativity in response to social rejection (33).”
From MDMA-Assisted Therapy as a Means to Alter Affective, Cognitive, Behavioral, and Neurological Systems Underlying Social Dysfunction in Social Anxiety Disorder (2021) · cites this paper as [33]
In Results > Secondary Analyses: Social Anxiety Symptoms as a Predictor (page unavailable), greater social anxiety symptoms predicted a less positive response to acceptance, supporting one part of the claim. The study examined responses to specific social feedback, not social interactions in general or people diagnosed with SAD; it also found a less negative response to rejection, rather than increased negative affect. (LLM, conf=0.87)
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“For example, people with SAD experience diminished positive affect and increased negative affect in social interactions in general (32), and reduced positivity in response to social acceptance and enhanced negativity in response to social rejection (33).”
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- Authors
- Caouette, J. D., & Guyer, A. E.
- Affiliations
- University of California, Davis (US)
- Corresponding author
- Caouette, Justin D.
- Venue
- Journal of Affective Disorders
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2016-01
- Volume
- 190
- Pages
- 792-799
- ISSN
- 0165-0327 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC4745658
- OpenAlex
- W2185769514
- Cited by
- 46
- References
- 55
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 4 · 2017: 1 · 2016: 3
- FWCI
- 2.01
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Journal of Affective Disorders (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health (5t32mh020006-19)
- National Institute of Mental Health (T32MH020006), R00MH080076)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Death Anxiety and Social Exclusion
- Keywords
- depression, cognitive distortions, social acceptance, social rejection, emotional responses, cognitive flexibility, social anxiety, emotion regulation, peer feedback
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Affect, Anxiety, Cognition, Depression, Emotions, Female, Humans, Male, Peer Group, Psychological Distance, Young Adult, Self Report
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