Abstract

The aim of the present study was to examine the surface as well as the deep aspects of self-cognition of depressed people with a self-reporting measurement and a experimental cognitive task. The surface or conscious aspect of self-cognition of depressed people was examined with the Multiphasic Self-Concept Inventory(MSCI) which had been developed to tap the multifaceted-ness and multidimensionality of self-concept, whereas the deep or unconscious structure and process of their self-cognition were evaluated with a self-referential judgment task in which subjects were asked to decide whether some positive or negative descriptors are self-referential or not. Subjects were 25 depressed college students and 25 nondepressed students selected by their score of BDI. The results show that the depressed group made more negative and less positive self-evaluation on the most self-subareas and evaluative dimensions(except the dimension of importance) of the MSCI than the nondepressed group did. The most noteworthy result on the self-referential judgment task was that the depressed group showed more difficulties in accepting positive descriptors and denying negative descriptors with longer response latency than the nondepressed group did, whereas the two groups showed no difference in denying positive discriptors and accepting negative descriptors. Some implications of these results were discussed for further research and psychotherapy of depression.