Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Feb;132(2):156-164.
doi: 10.1037/abn0000797.

Reduced social risk-taking in depression

Daisy Follett  1 , Caitlin Hitchcock  1 , Tim Dalgleish  1 , Jason Stretton  1
Affiliations

Reduced social risk-taking in depression

Daisy Follett et al. J Psychopathol Clin Sci. 2023 Feb.

Abstract

Evolutionary models of depression posit that depressed mood represents an adaptive response to unacceptably low social status, motivating the inhibition of social risk-taking in favor of submissive behaviors which reduce the likelihood of social exclusion. We tested the hypothesis of reduced social risk taking using a novel adaptation of the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART) in participants with major depressive disorder (MDD; n = 27) and never-depressed comparison participants (n = 35). The BART requires participants to pump up virtual balloons. The more the balloon is pumped up, the more money a participant gains on that trial. However, more pumps also increase the risk the balloon will burst such that all money is lost. Prior to performing the BART, participants took part in a team induction in small groups in order to prime social-group membership. Participants then completed two conditions of the BART: an Individual condition where they risked only their own money, and a Social condition, where they risked the money of their social group. The groups did not differ in their performance in the individual condition (Cohen's d = 0.07). However, the MDD group risked fewer pumps in the Social condition than the never-depressed group (d = 0.57). The study supports the notion of an aversion to social risk-taking in depression. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. The BART as it was Presented to Participants, Including “Loss” and “Bank” Screens
Note. See the online article for the color version of this figure.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Performance of the Depressed and Control Groups on the Social and Individual Conditions of the Social Balloon Analogue Risk Task
Note. Error bars = 95% confidence intervals. See the online article for the color version of this figure.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Aklin W., Lejuez C., Zvolensky M., Kahler C., & Gwadz M. (2005). Evaluation of behavioural measures of risk-taking propensity with inner city adolescents. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 43(2), 215–228. 10.1016/j.brat.2003.12.007 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Allan S., & Gilbert P. (1997). Submissive behaviour and psychopathology. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 36(4), 467–488. 10.1111/j.2044-8260.1997.tb01255.x - DOI - PubMed
    1. Allen N. B., & Badcock P. B. (2003). The social risk hypothesis of depressed mood: Evolutionary, psychosocial, and neurobiological perspectives. Psychological Bulletin, 129(6), 887–913. 10.1037/0033-2909.129.6.887 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Allen T., Lam R., Milev R., Rizvi S., Frey B., Macqueen G., Muller D., Uher R., Kennedy S., & Quilty L. (2019). Early change in reward and punishment sensitivity as a predictor of response to antidepressant treatment for major depressive disorder: A CAN-BIND-1 report. Psychological Medicine, 49(10), 1629–1638. 10.1017/S0033291718002441 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Alonso J., Vilagut G., Chatterji S., Heeringa S., Schoenbaum M., Bedirhan Üstün T., Rojas-Farreras S., Angermeyer M., Bromet E., Bruffaerts R., de Girolamo G., Gureje O., Haro J. M., Karam A. N., Kovess V., Levinson D., Liu Z., Medina-Mora M. E., Ormel J., et al. Kessler R. C. (2011). Including information about co-morbidity in estimates of disease burden: Results from the World Health Organization World Mental Health Surveys. Psychological Medicine, 41(4), 873–886. 10.1017/S0033291710001212 - DOI - PMC - PubMed