Explicit and implicit cognition: A preliminary test of a dual-process theory of cognitive vulnerability to depression

• Published in: Behaviour research and therapy Vol. 45; no. 6; pp. 1155 - 1167
• Main Authors: Haeffel, Gerald J., Abramson, Lyn Y., Brazy, Paige C., Shah, James Y., Teachman, Bethany A., Nosek, Brian A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 01-06-2007; Elsevier Science; Elsevier Science Ltd
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Associative memory; Biological and medical sciences; Cognition; Cognition & reasoning; Cognitive processes; Cognitive vulnerability; Cross-Sectional Studies; Depression; Depression - etiology; Depression - psychology; Disease Susceptibility; Dual-process; Effects; Explicit; Female; Humans; Implicit; Male; Medical sciences; Mental depression; Mood disorders; Prospective studies; Psychiatry; Psychological Theory; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Stress, Psychological - psychology; Theory; Vulnerability; Depression; Explicit; Implicit; Cognitive vulnerability; Dual-process; Mood disorder; Human; Cognitive theory; Cognition; Vulnerability
• ISSN: 0005-7967; 1873-622X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.brat.2006.09.003

Two studies were conducted to test a dual-process theory of cognitive vulnerability to depression. According to this theory, implicit and explicit cognitive processes have differential effects on depressive reactions to stressful life events. Implicit processes are hypothesized to be critical in determining an individual's immediate affective reaction to stress whereas explicit cognitions are thought to be more involved in long-term depressive reactions. Consistent with hypotheses, the results of study 1 (cross-sectional;
N=237) showed that implicit, but not explicit, cognitions predicted immediate affective reactions to a lab stressor. Study 2 (longitudinal;
N=251) also supported the dual-process model of cognitive vulnerability to depression. Results showed that both the implicit and explicit measures interacted with life stress to predict prospective changes in depressive symptoms, respectively. However, when both implicit and explicit predictors were entered into a regression equation simultaneously, only the explicit measure interacted with stress to remain a unique predictor of depressive symptoms over the five-week prospective interval.