Conversation

The depressive realism hypothesis is probably false because it tries to say too much. The initial study was related to locus of control *specifically,* and it was thought depressed people had a more realistic appraisal of degree of control over life events. That's not the same as having an over-all realistic outlook--there may be accurate perception in regard to degree of personal control over events, but inaccurate perception of the state of the world, for example.