On seeing clearly and thriving: Interpersonal perspicacity as adaptive (not depressive) realism (or where three theories meet)

Does realism characterize good mental health or maladjustment? In this paper, it is argued that illusory views of social reality, even if self-enhancing, represent a feature of mental distress (not health). Two studies of unselected undergraduates and their same-sex roommates were reported. in Study 1, 466 undergraduates completed a measure of depressive symptoms, and provided global self-ratings; their roommates provided ratings of them. A curvilinear relation between self-other discrepancies and depressive symptoms was detected, in which discrepancies of any kind (even if self-enhancing) were associated with higher depressive symptoms. Using a similar design, Study 2 (N = 143) replicated this finding and extended it to other symptoms and to longitudinal analyses. It is concluded that illusory views of interpersonal reality (even if self-enhancing), far from bolstering adjustment, represent a pattern of attitudes that typifies maladjustment.