Abnormal Psychology

54 CHAPTER 2

Consider the disorder hypochondriasis, which is marked by a preoccupation with

bodily sensations, combined with a belief of having a serious illness despite a lack

of medical evidence. People suffering from hypochondriasis have a memory bias:

They are better able to remember health-related words than non–health-related

words (Brown et al., 1999), which is not surprising considering that the disorder

involves a preoccupation with illness.

Thus, various mental processes can contribute to psychopathology by

infl uencing what people pay attention to, how they perceive various stimuli, and

what they remember. In turn, these alterations in mental processes infl uence the con-

tent of people’s thoughts by shifting their awareness of various situations, objects,

and stimuli.

Mental Contents

The contents of people’s thoughts can play a role in the development of psychological

disorders, as noted in Chapter 1. Psychiatrist Aaron Beck (1967) proposed that dys-

functional, maladaptive thoughts are the root cause of psychological problems. These

dysfunctional thoughts are cognitive distortionsof reality. An example of a dysfunc-

tional belief is a woman’s conviction that she is unlovable—that if her boyfriend really

knew her, he couldn’t love her. Cognitive distortions can make a person vulnerable

to psychological disorders and are sometimes referred to as cognitive vulnerabilities

(Riskind & Alloy, 2006). Beck (1967) also argued that recognizing these false and

dysfunctional thoughts, and adopting realistic and adaptive thoughts, can reduce psy-

chological problems. Cognitive distortions can arise as a result of maladaptive learn-

ing from previous experiences. A man with a classically conditioned fear of rodents,

for instance, may come to believe that rodents are dangerous because of the fear and

anxiety he experiences when he’s with them. Operant conditioning can also give rise to

cognitive distortions. For instance, a child who is repeatedly rejected by her father can

grow up to believe that nobody could love her. In this case, the conditioning could have

occurred every time she tried to hug her father, if he removed her arms from his body

and turned away. Several common cognitive distortions are presented in Table 2.2.

Cognitive distortions
Dysfunctional, maladaptive thoughts that
are not accurate refl ections of reality and
contribute to psychological disorders.

Cognitive Distortion Defi nition Example

All-or-Nothing

Thinking

Seeing things in black and white You think that if you are not perfect, you are a failure.

Overgeneralization Seeing a single negative event as part of a

never-ending pattern of such events

While having a bad day, you predict that subsequent

days will also be bad.

Mental Filter Focusing too strongly on negative qualities

or events to the exclusion of the other

qualities or events

Although your overall appearance is fi ne, you focus

persistently on the bad haircut you recently had.

Disqualifying the

Positive

Not recognizing or accepting positive

experiences or events, thus emphasizing

the negative

After giving a good presentation, you discount the

positive feedback you received and focus only on what

you didn’t like about your performance.

Jumping to

Conclusions

Making an unsubstantiated negative

interpretation of events

Although there is no evidence for your inference, you

assume that your boss didn’t like your presentation.

Personalization Seeing yourself as the cause of a negative

event when in fact you were not actually

responsible

When your parents fi ght about fi nances, you think their

problems are somehow your fault, despite the fact that

their fi nancial troubles weren’t caused by you.

Source: Copyright © 1980 by David D. Burns, M.D. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, William Morrow. For more information see

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Table 2.2 • Cognitive Distortions