Rumination
is a cognitive style that is part of the repertoire of people who are prone
to depression. State-oriented thinking style and state-oriented questions
are naturally occuring in dysphoric ruminators when solving problems.
According to existing literature on this topic , deficits in social problem
solving have been suggested as a central feature of depression (Watkins
& Baracaia, 2002). A study by Watkins and Baracaia (2002) used
three groups of individuals (currently depressed, recovered depressed,
and never depressed) in three conditions (no questions, state-oriented
questions, and process-focused questions) to test the hypothesizes that
the impairment in social problem-solving in depression is a consequence
of state-oriented rumination. They hypothesized that "the thinking style
adopted when considering a problem influences the effectiveness of problem
solving" (p. 1179)
State-oriented questions, such as "What am I doing wrong?"; "What caused this problem?"; "Why can't I do better?"; "What is the reason behind all this?"; "What's wrong here?"; "Why can't I get things right?"; and "How can I understand this?" were used in this study to represent questions that occur naturally in the minds of people who tend to ruminate. Process-focused questions such as "How am I deciding on a way to solve this problem?"; "How am I deciding what do to next?"; "How do I know this is a good thing to do"; "How am I deciding what might prevent success?"; What am I thinking about in terms of starting to solve this problem?"; "How do I decide whether my plan needs to be changed?"; and "How do I decided whether that was a useful step towards a solutions?" were used to indicate awareness of mental processes involved in problem solving. These questions have been adapted from questions that had previously "improved solution performance on a logical task in non-depressed participants" as reported by the authors of the study (Watkins and Baracaia, 2000, p. 1183).
The results of the study indicated that manipulation of cognitive style (by assigning questions the participants would ask themselves while solving problems) influenced success at the tasks. This supports the hypothesis that the cognitive style adopted while solving a problem influences the outcome of problem solving in depressed people. In the author's words "the impaired social problem solving in depression is a consequence of state-oriented rumination, which can be ameliorated by process-focused thinking" (Watkins & Baracaia, 2002, p. 1186).
Watkins, E. & Baracaia, S. (2002). Rumination and
social problem-solving in depression. Behaviour Research and Therapy,
40,
1179-1189.