When failure is not so bad: How social identity can lead to more positive attributions and reduce negative mood

People who belong to many groups tend to have better health, including less depression. Group membership appears to have this protective function because it fosters an individual ’s social identity: their sense of self in terms of their group memberships. However, there has been limited research regarding why social identity acts as a buffer against depression. This study proposed that social identity protects against depression because it leads to more positive attributions. The study involved 115 first year psychology students. The type of identity made salient was manipulated with four between - groups conditions (con trol, personal identity, social identity, multiple social ide ntities). In order to see whether social identity would be protective in times of hardship all participants experienced failure - p articipants received a score of zero on a purported problem - solving task. The central dependent variables were participant s’ attributions and mood following the failure. As hypothesis ed , those in th e social identity condition had more positive attributions and less negative mood following the failure compared to those in the control condition . A mediation analysis revealed that a change in attributions fully mediated the effect of social identity on mood. The personal identity and multiple social identities conditions were included for exploratory purposes. These conditions had comparable effects to the social identity con dition. Compared to a control condition, thinking about personal or social identity reduced negative mood by leading to more positive attributions. Possible reasons why both social identity and personal identity may influence mood through attributions we re considered. Implications for the treatment of depression were also discussed