Features of Interpersonal Cognition in People with High Interpersonal Sensitivity and Privileged Self: Personality Features of “Modern-Type” Depression

Since the 1990s, “modern-type” depression (MTD), which has different features from melancholic depression, has been reported and has become a mental health problem in Japan. Although psychological studies of MTD are very limited, previous studies have proposed Interpersonal Sensitivity (IS) and Privileged Self (PS) as personality features of MTD. IS and PS are measured by the Interpersonal Sensitivity/Privileged Self Scale (IPS), and the present study examined correlations of IPS scores with several personality scales to clarify the interpersonal cognition tendencies of people with high IS and PS. A total of 439 Japanese undergraduates participated in the study, answering several questionnaires including the IPS. Results showed that people with high IS scores were inclined to be concerned with how they were seen by others, tended to take notice of others, and had a weaker sense of independent self, but a stronger sense of interdependent self. These characteristics are thought to be common in anxiety as well as melancholic depression. People with high PS scores were more likely to disregard others and showed higher tendencies to dogmatism and a diffuse/avoidant identity style, which may be unique in MTD.