Crîsteți, Laura (2026) Underestimating the Self: Depressive Symptoms and Competence Perceptions in Interactive Digital Play. Bachelor thesis, Psychology.
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Abstract
Depressive symptoms are commonly associated with negative self-evaluations and distorted perceptions of personal competence. In interactive digital games, perceived competence plays a central role in shaping player experience and may be influenced both by individual differences in depressive symptoms and by how games are framed (i.e., as mental health–related versus commercial). The present study examined whether depressive symptom severity predicts underestimation of perceived competence in an interactive digital game context and whether this relationship is moderated by game framing. A sample of 144 university students played Fractured Minds after viewing either a mental health–framed or commercially framed trailer. Perceived competence was measured both before and after gameplay. Objective in-game performance was indexed using level progression and gameplay duration, while depressive symptoms were assessed with the DASS-21. Contrary to the hypotheses, depressive symptoms were not associated with lower pre-game perceived competence, nor did they predict post-game underestimation of competence above and beyond actual performance. Instead, objective performance emerged as the strongest predictor of post-game perceived competence across participants. Moreover, game framing did not moderate the relationship between depressive symptoms and perceived competence. These findings suggest that, within certain types of gameplay, perceived competence may be more closely aligned with actual performance than with depressive symptom severity or framing context. Keywords: depressive symptoms, video games, Self-Determination Theory, perceived competence, objective performance, game framing.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Bachelor) |
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| Supervisor name: | Poppelaars, M. |
| Degree programme: | Psychology |
| Differentiation route: | None [Bachelor Psychology] |
| Date Deposited: | 09 Mar 2026 07:28 |
| Last Modified: | 09 Mar 2026 07:28 |
| URI: | http://gmwpublic.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/6306 |
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