Hopelessness Theory and the Approach System: Cognitive Vulnerability Predicts Decreases in Goal-Directed Behavior

Abstract The study tested an integration of the hopelessness theory of depression (Abramson et al. 1989) and Davidson’s (1994) approach/withdrawal theory of depression in a sample of undergraduates (N = 248). According to this integrated theory (Abramson et al. 2002), cognitive vulnerability to depression interacts with stress to produce hopelessness, which signals a shut-down of the approach system. A shut-down of the approach system is reflected by decreases in goal-directed behavior, and in turn, the symptoms of depression. The study tested the hypothesized etiological chain of cognitive vulnerability-stress, hopelessness, goal-directed behavior, and depressive symptoms. Consistent with hypoth-eses, cognitive vulnerability interacted with stress to predict changes in goal-directed behavior. Importantly, the relationship between the cognitive vulnerability-stress interac-tion and goal-directed behavior was mediated by hopelessness. Participants who experi-enced a decrease in goal-directed behavior had higher levels of depressive symptoms than those who did not experience a decrease in goal-directed behavior