Interpersonal Decentering and Interpersonal Problems: Testing the Multi-Method Utility of Person-Situation Interactions in Thematic Apperception Tests.

Mature interpersonal decentering is a form of social cognitive role-taking involving reflective thought about one's interpersonal relationships. Previous research examining main effects for persons, card situation content, story content, and person-card interactions found more mature decentering in stories about heterosexual romantic-pull Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) cards (HRC) as compared with stories about nonromantic cards (NRC). To see whether differences in means corresponded to differential criterion validity, this multi-method study examined Inventory of Interpersonal Problems circumplex (IIP-C) scores associated with young adults' decentering maturity and deficits, comparing correlations with IIP-C scores of decentering scores calculated from HRC versus NRC. Similarly, to test the effect of story content, IIP-C scores were correlated with decentering scores calculated from stories having romantic versus nonromantic story content. Using circumplex statistical tests, decentering deficits were associated with domineering/vindictive interpersonal problems, and mature decentering with nonassertive/exploitable problems. Men who reported more exploitable problems decentered more maturely across all situations. Women who decentered more maturely in response to HRC reported more socially avoidant problems, whereas those who decentered more maturely to NRC reported more exploitable problems. Results for romantic versus nonromantic story content were largely uninterpretable (did not meet circumplexity assumption). Findings might assist clinicians' card selection.

Depressive Symptomatology and Priming Effects Among Younger and Older Adults.

Background/Study Context: This study examined the potential impact of self-reported depressive symptoms on the age-related capacity for inhibition and suppression, utilizing a negative priming paradigm. METHODS: One hundred eighty-five community-residing adults varying in age (98 younger adults, Mage = 22; 87 older adults, Mage = 69) completed a nonconscious priming task, the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS), the White Bear Suppression Inventory (WBSI), the Depression Sensitivity Scale (DSS), a free thought suppression task, as well as several measures indexing overall cognitive ability and psychomotor speed. Hierarchical regressions investigated the interaction of depressive symptoms with age and its effect on both positive and negative priming performance, indexing both facilitation and inhibition effects, respectively. RESULTS: Results support the hypothesis that noncognitive factors affect effortful performance among older adults, although this influence varied with the specific component of the GDS, i.e., Dysphoria, Social Withdrawal, and Cognitive Control, and with the measure of depressive symptoms, i.e., GDS versus DSS. CONCLUSION: These data suggest that aging's impact on both facilitation and inhibition, e.g., positive and negative priming, are to an extent, a function of individual differences in depressive symptoms that interact with age in influencing the necessity to reallocate one's cognitive resources to deal with depressive thoughts and feelings.