Depressive realism is the proposition that people with depression have a more accurate view of reality. This proposition is contested. Proposition is a term used in logic to describe the content of assertions. ... Clinical depression (also called major depressive disorder, or sometimes unipolar when compared with bipolar disorder, which is sometimes called manic depression) is a state of intense sadness, melancholia or despair that has advanced to the point of being disruptive to an individuals social functioning and/or activities of daily... In the fields of science, engineering, industry and statistics, accuracy is the degree of conformity of a measured or calculated quantity to its actual (true) value. ...

Studies

Some studies have shown (Dobson and Franche, 1989) that depressed people appear to have a more realistic perception of their importance, reputation, locus of control, and abilities. In psychology and the cognitive sciences, perception is the process of acquiring, interpreting, selecting, and organizing sensory information. ... The references in this article would be clearer with a different style of citation, footnoting or external linking. ... The Locus of control is a concept in psychology, originally developed by Julian Rotter in the 1950s. ... Look up ability in Wiktionary, the free dictionary Ability - the quality of person of being able to perform; A quality that permits or facilitates achievement or accomplishment. ...

People without depression are more likely to have inflated self-images and look at the world through rose-colored glasses, thanks to cognitive dissonance and a variety of other defense mechanisms. A persons self image is the mental picture, generally of a kind that is quite resistant to change, that depicts not only details that are potentially available to objective investigation by others (height, weight, hair color, nature of external genitalia, I.Q. score, is this person double-jointed, etc. ... Cognitive dissonance is a psychological term which describes the uncomfortable tension that comes from holding two conflicting thoughts at the same time, or from engaging in behavior that conflicts with ones beliefs. ... It has been suggested that User:A Kiwi/Ego defense mechanisms be merged into this article or section. ...

This does not necessarily imply that a happy person is delusional. Also, depressed individuals can be unrealistically negative (e.g. Pacini, Muir and Epstein, 1998). “Happy” redirects here. ... A delusion is commonly defined as a fixed false belief and is used in everyday language to describe a belief that is either false, fanciful or derived from deception. ...

Arguments

Since there is evidence that positive illusions are more common in normally mentally healthy individuals than in depressed individuals, Taylor and Brown (1988) argue that they are adaptive. For other uses, see illusion (disambiguation). ... Health is the level of functional and/or metabolic efficiency of an organism at both the micro(cellular) and macro(social) level. ...

However, Pacini, Muir and Epstein (1998) have shown that the depressive realism effect may be because depressed people overcompensate for a tendency toward maladaptive intuitive processing by exercising excessive rational control in trivial situations, and note that the difference with non-depressed people disappears in more consequential circumstances. Look up Tendency in Wiktionary, the free dictionary Tendency may refer to: Bleeding tendency Central tendency Debs Tendency Direct Action Tendency Fist and Rose Tendency Fourth Internationalist Tendency International Bolshevik Tendency International Marxist Tendency International Revolutionary Marxist Tendency International Socialist Tendency International Spartacist Tendency Irish Militant Tendency Johnson-Forrest Tendency... In psychology, a behavior or trait is adaptive when it helps an individual adjust and function well within their environment. ... Intuition is an unconscious form of knowledge. ...

Knee and Zuckerman (1998) have challenged the definition of mental health used by Taylor and Brown and argue that lack of illusions is associated with a non-defensive personality oriented towards growth and learning and with low ego involvement in outcomes. They present evidence that self-determined individuals are less prone to these illusions. Mental states redirects here. ... “Learned” redirects here. ...

References

• Cummins, R. A., & Nistico, H. (2002). Maintaining life satisfaction: The role of positive cognitive bias. Journal of Happiness Studies 3, 37-69.
• Dobson, K. & Franche, R. L. (1989). A conceptual and empirical review of the depressive realism hypothesis. Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science 21, 419-433.
• Pacini, R., Muir, F., & Epstein, S. (1998). Depressive realism from the perspective of cognitive-experiential self-theory. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74(4), 1056-1068.
• Taylor, S. E., & Armor, D. A. (1996). Positive Illusions and Coping With Adversity. Journal of Personality, 64(4), 873-898.
• Taylor, S. E., & Brown, J. D. (1988). Illusion and Well-Being - a Social Psychological Perspective On Mental-Health. Psychological Bulletin, 103(2), 193-210.
• Zuckerman, M., Knee, C. R., Kieffer, S. C., Rawsthorne, L., & Bruce, L. M. (1996). Beliefs in Realistic and Unrealistic Control - Assessment and Implications. Journal of Personality, 64(2), 435-464.

This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... A central concept in science and the scientific method is that all evidence must be empirical, or empirically based, that is, dependent on evidence or consequences that are observable by the senses. ... Look up Hypothesis in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Look up perspective in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

See also

• Illusion of control
• List of cognitive biases
• Total Perspective Vortex
• Clinical depression