Social cognitive complexity and depression: cognitive complexity moderates the correlation between depression self-ratings and global self-evaluation.

The authors studied the psychometric characteristics of a standardized data-collection method for assessing the complexity of an individual's cognitions about self and other people (social cognitive complexity). A total of 437 college undergraduates were assessed using this method and concurrently assessed for depression, self-deception, impression management, self-esteem, and positive/negative affectivity. It was found that a measure of overall social cognitive complexity was internally consistent and demonstrated concurrent and discriminant validity. In particular, a composite measure of the complexity of both positive and negative cognitions of self and other was associated with greater self-reported depression, after controlling for the other variables studied (, impression management). It was also found that social cognitive complexity moderated the degree of global self-evaluation in self-reported depression, such that global self-evaluation accounted for a considerably higher amount of the variance of depression in low-complex individuals than it did in high-complex individuals.