Wiers. (2020). ABC training: A new theory-based form of cognitive-bias modification to foster automatization of alternative choices in the treatment of addiction and related disorders.

Question 1

Recent years have seen a surge in the popularity of interventions that target common distortions in thinking (cognitive-bias modification, or CBM). Although there is evidence of their effectiveness as add-ons to regular treatment in alcohol addiction, the effects are typically small, and recent findings from lab studies have called into question the dominant theoretical underpinnings of CBM. We provide a novel theoretical approach in terms of automatic inferences that integrates previous findings and suggests ways to improve CBM into ABC training. In ABC training, patients are trained …..

Answer 1

in the context of personally relevant antecedents (A) to make behavioral choices (B) that accord with patients’ health goals in light of their consequences (C). We discuss preliminary evidence suggesting that ABC training might be a useful tool in the treatment of addictions and related disorders.

Question 2

Initial CBM research was rooted in….

Answer 2

dual-process models and developed to target distortions in automatic mental processes drawing on associative representations.

Accordingly, CBM would change dominant associations underlying mental disorders (e.g., stronger links in memory between representations of alcohol and approach tendencies than between alcohol and avoid tendencies.

Question 3

maar, wat klopte er niet

Answer 3

• recent studies yielded results that do not fit well with associative explanations.

1. repeated avoidance is not enough, we need beliefs
2. Moreover, approach–avoidance effects can be based on verbal instruction rather than on extensive training
3. And change requires awareness of relevant contingencies

Question 4

dus hoe werkt CBM niet, en hoe werkt het wel?

Answer 4

Accordingly, CBM works not by replacing one association (alcohol approach) with a new association (alcohol avoidance), but through changes in propositional representations containing information about how concepts are causally related.

Specifically, CBM (e.g., alcohol-avoidance training) invokes propositions about the contingencies between stimuli (e.g., alcohol), responses (e.g., avoidance), and outcomes (e.g., positive effects) that translate into behavior. From the inferential perspective, maladaptive behavior does not reflect automatic activation of mental associations between stimuli and responses as suggested by associative accounts (and the compulsive-habit accounts of addiction). Rather, it reflects goal-driven inferences that are learned and evoked on the basis of beliefs about their instrumental relevance to people’s goals.

Question 5

the inferential approach suggests that CBM interventions might be more effective if they are designed to automatize adaptive goal-directed predictions

Answer 5

oke

Question 6

hoe werkt het dan bij alcohol-avoidance training

Answer 6

during alcohol-avoidance training, participants may learn new inferences about action tendencies (e.g., alcohol avoidance) that would result in valued outcomes (e.g., abstinence or recovery). These inferences can facilitate the implementation of similar actions (e.g., avoid) when participants are confronted with similar contextual cues (e.g., alcohol) in the future. When the inferences are well practiced (i.e., automatized), they will be more readily available and translated into behavior.

Question 7

3 aspecten van ABC training

Answer 7

1. goal-relevant alternative behaviours
2. personally relevant consequences
3. personally relevant antecedent context

-> contextual antecedents (A) trigger an adaptive behavioral choice (B) in light of goal-relevant health-related consequences (C)