The results of a simple experiment led to a seminal idea in psychology.
They wanted to find out if depressed people underestimate their ability to influence the world.
The college student volunteers were categorized as depressed and nondepressed based on their symptoms and given a button and light. The volunteers were asked how much control they had over the light.
They discovered something that was unexpected. It was found that the depressed people had a more accurate reading of their abilities. The idea of depressed people having a more realistic view of their conditions is calledpressive realism.
The idea, summarized in the original paper as "sadder but wise", has been taught to decades of students in the class. The idea that depression may provide its sufferers with some gifts was introduced through our culture.
The conclusion of the study was called into question.
The new research team found no correlation between the two variables in the original experiment. The patients with more depressive symptoms underestimated their control in one sample and did not predict any bias in the other.
There is no evidence that depression is tied to realism.
According to Don A. Moore, one of the authors of the new study, the team had coalesced around the question of whether positive illusions can enhance performance, and that this had led them back to the 1979 study.
It can be hard to wind it back up since it has been pervasive in so many aspects of research and pop culture.
A little bit of self-delusion is helpful for getting through life. You need to believe in yourself more than reality will allow.
He wondered if the effect would hold up.
A 2012 meta-analysis of 75 studies on depression found that the effect was small and that results were influenced by the study's methodology. It remained a well-established idea that we faced skepticism along the way.
He said that it was an uphill climb to disprove a false positive.
Dr. Alloy, one of the two psychologists who designed the original experiment, said in an interview that she did not think the new work constituted a major challenge to depression realism because the research team failed to directly replicate the original 1979 experiment.
The professor of psychology at Temple University said that they didn't do a direct replica of their study. It isn't a big challenge. The findings remain the same.
The design of the two experiments may have an effect on the results. She said that the 1979 team's illusion of control was unusual and made it difficult to interpret the results.
The new team asked the subjects to assess the probability of bulb lighting if they pushed the button, instead of waiting until the experiment was over. She said that the new researchers pre-screened subjects for symptoms of depression, rather than screening them on the day of the experiment, so their mood might have changed.
The second experiment in the 1979 paper had the least robust findings.
She said that the characterization of depression was only done under certain conditions.
She denied that depressed people were more accurate in their perception of the world. It's too broad and general. She said that the studies identified conditions under which depression was present. It is possible that what is out there in the public did not keep up with that.
The "sadder but wiser" idea has not guided emerging treatments. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy helps depressed patients identify distortions in their thoughts.
Allen Miller, a clinical psychologist at the Beck Institute, was not involved in the study.
The new paper was a reasonable attempt to duplicate it, but they were not able to do it.
Brian A. Nosek is a psychology professor at the University of Virginia who coordinated the 2015 Reproducibility Project.
He said that it confronted them to revise their confidence in previous findings. There is no conclusive replication.
Young scientists were seen as an attack on established researchers a decade ago. They have become more normalized since then as part of an ongoing scientific dialogue. He said that their findings are like possessions.
The 1979 study, which engaged with the mysteries of human behavior and the mind, has a ripple effect, he said.
He said, "This is a classic finding that I really want to be true, and many people do." That has consequences. The icons of the field are being pulled down. When we pull those down, what's left?