Pergamon Clinical Psychology Review, Vol. 14, No. 7, 663-695, 1994 pp. Copright 0 1994 Elsevier Science Ltd Printed in the USA. All rights reserved 0272-7358/94 $6.00 + .OO 0272-7358(94)00033-6 zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUT MOOD PRIMING A ND C O NSTRUC T A C TIVA TIO N IN TESTS O F C O G NITIVE VULNERA BILITY TO UNIPO LA R DEPRESSIO N Zindel V Segal Clarke Institute of Psychiatry, University of Toronto Rick E. Ingram San Diego State University ABSTRACT. Cognitiue mod.els of depression have nominated speclfii risk factors for symptom onset or recurrence of affective di.s& The variables io!entajiid in these accounts are largely psychologi- cal in nature and re$!.ect attitudinal-, attribution&, or expectancy-based predtipositti for inter- preting th.e meaning of events in a patient 5 lge. This diathesis is typically inoperatiue in the course of nonnative information pmcessing, but is remtiuated in concert with spe~jii lzfe stress that rough- ly matchs the circumstances in which this vulnerability was initially acquired. While this model of risk is pivotal fm cognitive accounts of d+ression, in that it allows for a specification of outcomes bqrond th.e acute @&de of dep- ession, early attempts to assess its empirical adeguacy yiAd.edJind- ings that were e&her equivocal or disconjirming. More recently, howeve o?ataJiom studies that have been explicit in ensuring that th.e constructs to be tested were activated pior to assessment have been mope supportive. The peent reuiew e-oaluates this growing body of work, attempts to clan3 the nature of the jn-iming procedures used to achieve construct activation, and highlights some of the theoretical d$ffzulties associated with testing &bulutti in recovery. Finally, spec$.i recommen- dations fm d&r-mining the adegwlcy of procedures for piming vulwability variables are offered. THOUGHTS TEND, then, to awaken their most recent as well as their most habitual associates...Excitement of peculiar tracts...in the brain, leave a sort of tenderness or exalt- ed sensibility behind them which takes days to die away. As long as it lasts, those tracts or those modes are liable to have their activities awakened by causes which at other times might leave them in repose. (James, 1890/1983) Correspondence should be addressed to Zindel V. Segal, PhD, Cognitive Behaviour Therapy Unit, Clarke Institute of Psychiatry, 250 College Street, Toronto, Ontario M 5T lR8, Canada. 663