Optimal helplesness Normative models of depression (original) (raw)

Page 1. Optimal helplesness Normative models of depression Quentin Huys and Peter Dayan July 2006, CNS, Edinburgh Optimal helplesness :: Normative models of depression Quentin Huys, Gatsby Unit – p. 1 Page 2.

Normative Models and Their Success

Philosophy of the Social Sciences

In this paper, we explore an under-investigated question concerning the class of formal models that aim at providing normative guidance. We call such models normative models. In particular, we examine the question of how normative models can successfully exert normative guidance. First, we highlight the absence of a discussion of this question—which is surprising given the extensive debate about the success conditions of descriptive models—and motivate its importance. Second, we introduce and discuss two potential accounts of the success conditions of normative models. Our tentative conclusion is that the second account is more promising.

Commentary: Using Psychological Theory in Help-Seeking Research

Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 2009

... Wills, 1992b). This process is amenable to analysis through the lens of social comparison theory, which has propositions about who troubled people will compare with and what will ensue (Wills & Sandy, 2001). Social comparison ...

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Prinstein, M.J., Heilbron, N., Browne, C.B.*, Guerry, J.D., & Franklin, J.C. (2009) Peer relations. In Ingram, R.E. (Ed.), The International Encyclopedia of Depression. New York, NY: Springer Publishing Company.

2009