The Cognitive Approach Flashcards
What are the basic assumptions of the cognitive Approach?
> Basic assumption = person’s thoughts are responsible for their behaviour
> deals with how information is processed in the brain and the impact of this on behaviour
> The individual is an active processor of information
> It is how a person PERCEIVES, ANTICIPATES and EVALUATES events, rather than the events themselves, which will have an impact of behaviour
What is Maladaptive behaviour?
[cognitive]
- Caused by faulty and irrational cognitions
- Individuals can overcome mental disorders by learning to use more appropriate cognitions
- Aim to be more positive and rational
Who devised Irrational thinking and when?
[cognitive]
Ellis (1962)
Link the cognitive approach to Ellis’s (1962) irrational thinking
- The approach assumes emotional problems can be attributed directly to distortion in our cognitions (thinking processes)
- Distortions take the form of negative thoughts, irrational beliefs, and illogical errors such as polarized thinking and overgeneralisation.
Examples of irrational thinking include: Magnification and minimisation: glass half empty/ half full. Overgeneralisation: making a sweeping conclusion based on one event, e.g. your life is over because you failed one exam
Individuals can overcome mental disorders by learning to use more adaptive cognitions
Who created the cognitive triad and when?
Beck (1967)
Beck uses the Cognitive Triad to refer to the three main forms of negative thinking - what are they and how do they link to mental illness?
-Beck’s theory: irrational thoughts that depressed individuals are about:
(1) Self
(2) world
(3) future
The three loop in that order in a cyclical motion. As the three components interact, they interfere with normal cognitive processing, leading to impairments in perception, memory and problem solving. The person becomes obsessed with negative thoughts. Constant exposure to faulty cognitions can lead to abnormality, e.g. depression
What is Overgeneralisation?
Faulty logic
Errors in logic – depressed people draw illogical conclusions from self-evaluations, e.g. seeing straight A’s as mediocre/a failure
Evaluate the Cognitive Approach
Research Support :-)
- Research has shown that many people suffering from mental disorders do exhibit thought patterns associated with maladaptive functioning:
>Gustafson (1992) found that maladaptive thinking processes were displayed in many with psychological disorders such as anxiety, depression and sexual disorders
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) :-)
- Influential; the approach is favoured in many fields of psychology and CBT is a favoured method of treatments by psychologists and clinicians: an effective treatment of depression.
Cause or effect :-( (irrational thinking)
does not attempt to examine the origins of irrational thinking, nor does the treatment address these origins. >Beck (1991) = although cognitive processes are involved in many psychological disorders, they may well be a consequence rather than a cause of the problem.
Individual is responsible/ Blame :-(
- It suggests that everyone should be self-sufficient. Ellis regarded depression as overindulgent or self-defeating thoughts.
Self-sufficiency lays blame for psychological disorders firmly within the individual, rather than with the social environment.
Reductionist :-( - Like all other approaches the cognitive model rarely supplies the complete solution to abnormal behaviour by itself. There may be social and environmental influences affecting a person’s mental health. Focussing only on a person’s’ cognitions, may be too narrow of an approach.
