a Department of Psychology, Royal Holloway , University of London , Egham , UK.
Cogn Emot. 2013;27(8):1432-40. doi: 10.1080/02699931.2013.786680. Epub 2013 Apr 29.
Neurobiological theories predict decreased approach motivation and increased avoidance motivation in depression, but the results of previous studies have been equivocal. This study addressed a key limitation of previous research by assessing participants' underlying motivation for adopting their goals. Depressed (N=26) and non-depressed (N=33) participants listed approach and avoidance goals and wrote down their underlying reasons for adopting those goals. The groups did not differ on either the number of goals or underlying reasons but when underlying reasons were coded for approach or avoidance motivation depressed participants, compared to controls, showed less approach motivation and more avoidance motivation in relation to their approach goals. There were no effects related to avoidance goals. The results suggest that while the goals of depressed persons appear to be similar to those who are not depressed there are important differences at the level of underlying motivation.
神经生物学理论预测抑郁症患者的趋近动机降低，回避动机增加，但先前研究的结果一直存在争议。本研究通过评估参与者采用目标的潜在动机，解决了先前研究的一个关键局限性。抑郁组（N=26）和非抑郁组（N=33）参与者列出了趋近和回避目标，并写下了他们采用这些目标的潜在原因。两组在目标数量或潜在原因上没有差异，但当对潜在原因进行趋近或回避动机编码时，与对照组相比，抑郁组参与者在与趋近目标相关的动机方面表现出较少的趋近动机和更多的回避动机。与回避目标无关的影响。研究结果表明，虽然抑郁者的目标似乎与非抑郁者相似，但在潜在动机层面上存在重要差异。
