5 ms·

Michael Abrash once told about a study where the participants were shown a ball on the screen and the idea was to push the controller up, in an effort to keep t

by aantix 10y ago

Michael Abrash once told about a study where the participants were shown a ball on the screen and the idea was to push the controller up, in an effort to keep the ball above a virtual line in the middle of the screen. The first group was unknowingly given full control of the ball via the control, the second randomly was given some control, the third group had no control. Only those with a depression diagnosis were able to properly assess when they had no control. Wish I could find the original source..

carbocation 10y ago
Probably Alloy & Abramson, 1979, cited in the article posted above: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/528910 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/528910
- sz4kerto 10y ago
  I shared this with my partner as I often (somewhat jokingly, somewhat seriously) say that I'm not depressed, just realistic. But then she has just published a paper about non-reproducible psychology papers :)
  - samstave 10y ago
    Can you reproduce her paper? As a stocking stuffer for xmas...
whatshisface 10y ago
Curiously, overestimating leads to the correct behavior here: since attempting to control the ball has no cost, the only bad outcome would be deciding to not control it when you could have done so. This can be avoided by always attempting to control it. I wonder if the result of the study would persist if inaction was sometimes the right choice?
- samirillian 10y ago
  Gets back to the distinction between life as puzzle and life as game. Depressives may be better puzzle solvers, but optimists play the game better. Edit - or the distinction between the picture-theory of language and the tool-theory. Depressives draw a more accurate picture but optimists make better use of the "tools"
  - mamon 10y ago
    Which is why the optimal strategy is to be optimist most of the time, but fall into depressive mood when we encounter a lot of obstacles. Use that depressive time to assess your situation and then start changing it, fueled by your normal optimism. The issue is, if the obstacles we encounter are too many then we remain in low mood for too long, and that state becomes permament. Early in human evolution, when we were all living at savanah all the dangers and obstacles were short-term. This is entirely different in civilized society.
    - dfischer 10y ago
      Wow I really enjoyed reading your first paragraph. Thanks.
    - thesimpsons1022 10y ago
      do you know that depression is a real disease and not some frame of mind you can choose to be in or excuse at will? i get the point of your post but the terminology is really wrong.
      - striking 10y ago
        From Wikipedia: > A DSM diagnosis distinguishes an episode (or 'state') of depression from the habitual (or 'trait') depressive symptoms someone can experience as part of their personality. Depressive mood != depressive disorder. The terminology isn't wrong.
        10y ago
samstave 10y ago
Can you explain how this works? Why? Further, what was different in each group amongst their constituent members who did/did not have depression? Did each subset perform differently within each group?
rubicon33 10y ago
There's a great book called "Learned Optimism" which at one point talks about a very similar phenomenon, established by research. The gist of it is that depressed people perceive reality more accurately. The author posits that it's one of the reasons who depression even exists. The world is a nasty, brutal place, and interpreting it accurately has its advantages, especially in our early evolutionary time period.

by aantix 10y ago

carbocation 10y ago

Probably Alloy & Abramson, 1979, cited in the article posted above: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/528910 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/528910

sz4kerto 10y ago
I shared this with my partner as I often (somewhat jokingly, somewhat seriously) say that I'm not depressed, just realistic. But then she has just published a paper about non-reproducible psychology papers :)
- samstave 10y ago
  Can you reproduce her paper? As a stocking stuffer for xmas...

whatshisface 10y ago

Curiously, overestimating leads to the correct behavior here: since attempting to control the ball has no cost, the only bad outcome would be deciding to not control it when you could have done so. This can be avoided by always attempting to control it. I wonder if the result of the study would persist if inaction was sometimes the right choice?

samirillian 10y ago
Gets back to the distinction between life as puzzle and life as game. Depressives may be better puzzle solvers, but optimists play the game better. Edit - or the distinction between the picture-theory of language and the tool-theory. Depressives draw a more accurate picture but optimists make better use of the "tools"
- mamon 10y ago
  Which is why the optimal strategy is to be optimist most of the time, but fall into depressive mood when we encounter a lot of obstacles. Use that depressive time to assess your situation and then start changing it, fueled by your normal optimism. The issue is, if the obstacles we encounter are too many then we remain in low mood for too long, and that state becomes permament. Early in human evolution, when we were all living at savanah all the dangers and obstacles were short-term. This is entirely different in civilized society.
  - dfischer 10y ago
    Wow I really enjoyed reading your first paragraph. Thanks.
  - thesimpsons1022 10y ago
    do you know that depression is a real disease and not some frame of mind you can choose to be in or excuse at will? i get the point of your post but the terminology is really wrong.
    - striking 10y ago
      From Wikipedia: > A DSM diagnosis distinguishes an episode (or 'state') of depression from the habitual (or 'trait') depressive symptoms someone can experience as part of their personality. Depressive mood != depressive disorder. The terminology isn't wrong.
      - 10y ago

samstave 10y ago

Can you explain how this works? Why? Further, what was different in each group amongst their constituent members who did/did not have depression? Did each subset perform differently within each group?

rubicon33 10y ago

There's a great book called "Learned Optimism" which at one point talks about a very similar phenomenon, established by research. The gist of it is that depressed people perceive reality more accurately. The author posits that it's one of the reasons who depression even exists. The world is a nasty, brutal place, and interpreting it accurately has its advantages, especially in our early evolutionary time period.