602 CHAPTER 15
- Magnification and minimization: Here a person blows bad things out of propor-
tion while not emphasizing good things. Example: A student who has received
good grades on every other exam believes that the C she got on the last quiz means
she’s not going to succeed in college. - Personalization: In personalization, an individual takes responsibility or blame for
events that are not really connected to the individual. Example: When Sandy’s hus-
band comes home in a bad mood because of something that happened at work, she
immediately assumes that he is angry with her.
A cognitive therapist tries to get clients to look at their beliefs and test them to see
how accurate they really are. The first step is to identify an illogical or unrealistic belief,
which the therapist and client do in their initial talks. Then the client is guided by the
therapist through a process of asking questions about that belief, such as “When did this
belief of mine begin?” or “What is the evidence for this belief?”
Don’t those questions sound like critical thinking, which was
discussed in Chapter One?Cognitive therapy really is critical thinking applied to one’s own thoughts and
beliefs. Just as cognitive psychology grew out of behaviorism, to Learning
Objectives 1.3 and 1.4, therapies using cognitive methods have behavioral elements
within them as well, leading to the term cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT).cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT)
action therapy in which the goal is to
help clients overcome problems by
learning to think more rationally and
logically, which in turn will impact
their behavior. *inferences: conclusions drawn from observations and facts.
“It’s been almost 5 minutes and Madison
has still not yet said yes to my request to
follow her on Instagram. She must not like
me......”
How many times have you jumped to a
conclusion without first examining the actual
evidence, or getting the whole story?
CBT focuses on the present rather than the past (like behaviorism) but also
assumes that people interact with the world with more than simple, automatic reac-
tions to external stimuli. People observe the world and the people in the world around
them, make assumptions and inferences* based on those observations or cognitions,
and then decide how to respond (Rachman & Hodgson, 1980). CBT also assumes that
disorders come from illogical, irrational cognitions and that changing the thinking pat-
terns to more rational, logical ones will relieve the symptoms of the disorder, making it
an action therapy. CBT has three basic elements: cognitions affect behavior, cognitionsWatch the Video Cognitive-Behavioral TherapyCC