Cognitive Therapy and Research, Vol. 8, No. 2, 1984, pp. 139-152 Depression and Internal versus External Focus of Attention 1 Rick E. lngram 2 San Diego State University Timothy W. Smith University o f Utah Recent research has indicated that attentional processes may be an important mediator of several depressive phenomena. Specifically, it was hypothesized that depressed individuals demonstrate a tendency to self- focus their attention. Two studies were conducted to examine this relationship. In Study 1, a replication of earlier research demonstrating a relationship between depression and the dispositional tendency to self-focus attention was obtained using three different samples. In Study 2, depressed and nondepressed subjects were compared on a measure of current level of self-focusing. Results indicated that depressed subjects evidenced a greater self-focused responding and less externally focused responding. The possible role of self-focused attention in contributing to the negative affect, negative internal attributions, and lowered self-esteem in depression are discussed, and suggestions for future research are provided. 1The authors would like to thank Mary Fristad and David Roth for their comments on this paper. 2Address all correspondence to Rick E. Ingram, Department of Psychology, San Diego State University, San Diego, California 92182. 139 0147-5916/84/0400-0139503.50/0 © I984 Plenum PublishingCorporation