Showing papers in "Cognitive Therapy and Research in 1981"

Self-efficacy and smoking cessation maintenance: A preliminary report

Abstract: This study operationalized the construct of self-efficacy developed by Bandura and applied it to the problem of long-term maintenance of smoking cessation. A measure of self-efficacy for avoiding smoking was used to analyze the relationship between self-efficacy and subjects' ability to maintain posttreatment abstinence at a 5-month follow-up. Subjects were confirmed, heavy smokers who previously had quit smoking by three different procedures. Subjects were administered the self-efficacy measure and a demographic and smoking history questionnaire an average of 4 weeks after quitting smoking. Maintenance was assessed at 5-month follow-up. Two-thirds of all subjects successfully maintained nonsmoking at follow-up with no group differences for success. Maintainers (N = 42)did not differ from recidivists (N = 21)on any demographic or smoking history variables. However, maintainers did show significantly higher self-efficacy scores than recidivists. The measure of self-efficacy for smoking cessation maintenance demonstrated good internal consistency.

Effects of stress inoculation on the anger and aggression management skills of institutionalized juvenile delinquents

Abstract: Thirty-eight institutionalized male delinquents evidencing verbal and physical aggression in response to anger provocations were randomly assigned to one of three experimental conditions: stress inoculation training, a treatment elements condition (which left out certain ingredients of stress inoculation), or a no-treatment control condition. Both active treatments reduced anger and aggression on three self-report scales. Only stress inoculation lowered verbal aggression in laboratory role-played provocations. Two demand analyses suggest that the latter difference is not artifactual. The social psychology of the institution may have been at least partly responsible for null effects on institutional behavior ratings.

Invalid use of the Beck Depression Inventory to identify depressed college-student subjects: A methodological comment

Abstract: Failure to reassess depression level immediately prior to conducting depression experiments using college-student subjects threatens the validity of the interpretation of results. This rather serious methodological error may hamper progress in depression research if unattended to by researchers (and reviewers) in the area. A recent article by Craighead, Hickey, and DeMonbreun (1979) is used to illustrate this methodological problem, though a survey of other published papers in the area indicates that the Craighead et al. (1979) study is clearly not an isolated example. The article (Craighead et al., 1979) describes an experiment that attempted to test a hypothesis derived from Beck's (1967) cognitive theory of depression, namely, that depressed subjects will distort their perception and recall of neutral task-performance feedback in a negative direction. The authors failed to find support for the hypothesis and proceeded to discuss the results as an apparent inconsistency with Beck's theory and the previous findings of others. However, the procedure used by these researchers for selection of depressed subjects is erroneous and therefore precludes any valid conclusions regarding the theoretical or empirical implications of their results.

Expectation as a mediator in alcohol intoxication: A reference level model

Abstract: The application of the construct of expectation to human psychopharmacology and alcohol research is briefly reviewed It is argued that application of Schachterian theory and its extensions in current models of alcohol and expectancy is inappropriate Furthermore, current models are based only on a limited set of findings and thus have limited utility A reference level model of alcohol intoxication is proposed as an alternative to current models of alcohol and expectancy It is shown that the reference level model can lead to significant progress in understanding past work and in stimulating new research

The effects of taste and caloric perceptions on the eating behavior of restrained and unrestrained subjects

Abstract: The present study explored the phenomenon of counterregulatory eating in chronic dieters by manipulating taste and caloric-information cues of a preload and taste of subsequent ad libfood. The results replicated the “restraint breaking” phenomenon reported by Herman and Mack (1975) and supported the hypothesis that this behavioral pattern is cognitively mediated. In addition, sensitivity to taste was found in restrained subjects when their chronic restraints were bypassed. These results were related to previous eating research, and their implications for self-control and dieting were examined.

Verbal versus imaginal cognitive strategies in the inhibition of emotional arousal

Abstract: A substantial body of evidence indicates that psychiatric disorders are accompanied by altered lateral brain function. The left hemisphere appears to become highly activated and dysfunctional in schizophrenia (FlorHenry, 1974; Gruzelier & Hammond, 1976; Gur, 1978), while a specific right-hemisphere performance decrement has been found in affective disorders (Flor-Henry, 1974; Kronfol, Hamsher, Digre, & Waziri, 1978). These findings raise the issue of whether a particular alteration of hemispheric function is related to a predictable alteration of cognitive processes. The right hemisphere's documented importance to the understanding and expression of emotion (Heilman, Scholes, & Watson, 1975; Sackeim, Gur, & Saucy, 1978; Schwartz, Davidson, & Maer, 1975; Wechsler, 1973) seems to be facilitated by its capacity for global conceptual intregration of sensory with visceral cues (Safer & Leventhal, 1977; Semmes, 1968). Smokler and Shevrin (1979) contrasted college students who showed a hysteric cognitive style, wherein ongoing cognition is infused with emotion, with those who showed an obsessive-compulsive style, wherein the intellectualized ideation is isolated from affective significance (Shapiro, 1965); a high frequency of left lateral eye movements observed for the hystericstyle persons suggested the importance of the right hemisphere's contribution to their naturalistic ideation. A possible role for the left hemisphere's verbal and analytic ideation in modulating the fight hemisphere's emotional responsivity has been suggested by Tucker, Antes, Stenslie, and Barnhardt (1978). Characteristically anxious college students were observed to show a pattern of left-hemisphere activation and left-hemisphere performance impairment that may suggest a parallel in normal individuals to the pattern of left-hemisphere involvement in schizophrenia. Observing further that this apparent overactivation of the left hemisphere was accompanied by a decreased frequency of left lateral eye movements, 197

Effects of Problem Definition and Formulation on the Generation of Alternatives in the Social Problem-Solving Process

Abstract: The main purpose of the present study was to investigate the effects of training in D'Zurilla and Goldfried's (1971)procedure for defining and formulating socially oriented problems on performance in generating alternative solutions for such problems. A second objective was to replicate findings of a previous study which found support for the quantity principle on which the generation of alternatives component of this model is based. Results generally confirmed the original hypotheses, i.e., training in both these procedures independently increased the quality of solutions generated for two stimulus problems.

Causal attribution bias in shy males: Implications for self-esteem and self-confidence

Abstract: The present study examined the locus of control and the stability dimensions of causal attributions for past heterosexual social experiences in relation to social self-esteem and expectancy for success in interactions with persons of the opposite sex. Two hundred and fifty-four single college male subjects completed (a) a Social Self-Esteem Inventory (SSEI) and other scales, (b) a causal attribution questionnaire dealing with past heterosexual social experiences, and (c) an expectancy for heterosexual social success questionnaire. The overall results showed that high SSEI subjects made internal attributions in explaining past social successes and external attributions for past social failures with persons of the opposite sex. Low SSEI men, on the other hand, externalized the cause of their successes and assumed more personal responsibility for failure. Subjects who made stable (ability and task difficulty) attributions for past successes had greater expectancies for future success in heterosexual social relations than subjects who made unstable (effort and luck) attributions. These results were discussed in the context of attribution theory and cognitive approaches to depression, and in relation to cognitive factors that may underlie the etiology and treatment of shyness problems.

Relationships between depression and causal attributions about stressful life events

Abstract: Cognitive hypotheses about depression derived from the reformulated learned helplessness theory were tested in students' attributional analyses of the causes of their own recent stressful life events. Results supported the hypothesis that depression as measured by the Beck Depression Inventory is associated with certain causal cognitions, and these cognitions were predictive of the intensity, chronicity, and generality of depression 2 months after the initial testing. Cognitions especially related to depression emphasized perceived low control over causes of events and globality of the causes. Attribution theory-based predictions that internal locus of causality and stability would be related to naturally occurring depression were not supported. In addition, there were no sex differences in attributions. While the results support the possible role of cognitive mediators between life events and depressive reactions, they also suggest that depression-related causal analyses may vary across situations and populations.

Social Reinforcement of Activity and Problem-Solving Training in the Treatment of Depressed Institutionalized Elderly Patients

Abstract: Thirty-six depressed nursing-home patients over 60 were divided into two experimental groups to test the relative effectiveness of two approaches to reduce geriatric depression. Twelve subjects received social reinforcement (SR)for their participation in an activity, 12 received problem-solving training (PS),and 12 served as a waiting list control condition (WLC).During the 2nd treatment week, the subjects were randomly divided into the following conditions: PS-PS, PS-SR, SR-SR, SR-PS, WLC-WLC, and WLC-IC. The BDI, a self-rating scale (SRS),and the HAS were administered to the subjects. After the initial treatment week, the two experimental conditions showed significantly lower BDI and SRS scores than the WLC group. After the random division of the groups (treatment week 2),when compared with the waiting list controls, only those groups that received problem-solving training significantly reduced their scores on the BDI.

Correlational relationships between self-statements and affective states

Abstract: The current study examined the correlational relationship between specific cognitions and affective states in normal individuals. A research inventory composed of five hypothetical situations and a series of self-report measures of psychopathology was administered to 224 undergraduates. Participants responded to the inventory by rating the situational characteristicness of specific self-statements and affects. An additional 212 participants completed only an observer version of the inventory. Specific self-statements were found to be highly correlated with corresponding affective states in both the actor and observer inventory conditions. Specific irrational self-statements were also significantly related to noncorresponding dysphoric affects, while a negative relationship was obtained between rational cognitions and dysphoric affects. The magnitude of these relationships was significantly greater for low cross-situationally consistent individuals. Multiple-regression analyses indicated that although specific irrational self-statements and affects were only moderately correlated with corresponding self-report measures of psychopathology, the relationship between specific self-statements and affects with respect to the measures was an interactional one. The methodological features of the study and the implications of the findings are discussed.

Determinants of children's self-efficacy beliefs in an academic environment.

Abstract: Two studies assessed the determinants of children's academic self-efficacy beliefs. First, the effects of performance accomplishments, modeling, locus of control, and their interaction were investigated on 504 children's [Mage = 11 years 7 months)self-efficacy beliefs. Contrary to theoretical predictions, performance accomplishments did not account for any of the variance in self-efficacy beliefs, although modeling was highly significant. The significant modeling ×attributional style interaction showed that externally oriented children were more amenable to modeling effects. The second study assessed whether contextual factors together with performance accomplishments and modeling account for more of the variance in self-efficacy beliefs. Modeling was again the most significant predictor of self-efficacy beliefs. However, when performance accomplishments reflected the self-rating of continuous participation in the classroom, self-efficacy was predicted significantly. In addition, a contextual factor, Rule Specification, also predicted self-efficacy beliefs significantly. In general, theoretical predictions were supported, although the hypothesized order of the importance of performance accomplishments and modeling was reversed, and this was attributed to the age of the present sample.

Positive changes in depression, anxiety, and assertion following individual and group cognitive behavior therapy intervention

Abstract: The primary purpose of this study was to evaluate the relative efficacy of both group and individual cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) approaches in treating anxiety and depression. A secondary purpose was to compare these treatments to an interpersonal group therapy approach. Several outcome studies with various patient populations have compared the effectiveness of CBT in both individual and group formats with waiting list controls and other psychotherapy comparison groups. Generally, regardless of format, CBT has been found to be more effective than the various other treatments (Beck, Rush, Shaw, & Emery, 1979). To date only two studies have examined the relationship between format (group or individual) and outcome of CBT treatment (Rush & Watkins, 1981; Shaw & Hollon, 1978). Treatment outcomes for these two studies were similar in that individual CBT appeared to produce a greater reduction in depressive symptomatology than group CBT. However, both group and individual treatments were associated with significant remission of symptoms. These results are not considered conclusive, however, since in the Shaw and Hollon study patients were not randomly assigned to treatments, and in the Rush and Watkins study the group patients were not part of the same randomly assigned subject pool as the individual patients.

Differential cognitive contributions of the cerebral hemispheres in the modulation of emotional arousal

Abstract: To examine the differential roles of the two cerebral hemispheres in emotional processes, college students viewed sexual or aversive slides under instructions to either facilitate or inhibit their emotional responses. An auditory attentional bias measure suggested that reported aversive emosional arousal was associated with relatively greater activation of the right hemisphere. Analysis of the subjects' naturalistic cognitive strategies suggested that analytic and verbal ideation was most often used to inhibit arousal, while global and imaginal thinking was used to facilitate emotion.

Problem-solving strategies in depressed and nondepressed college students

Abstract: The efficiency and style of problem solving for rules of varying difficulty was examined in a depressed college group. The depressed group and a control group of nondepressed students did not differ in the time required to solve conceptual problems. There were differences for the more difficult problems in the number of cards required for solution and problem-solving efficiency (defined as a strategy score).Both groups were able to improve their performance scores between problem (rule)learning and identification phases of the study. Expectations for and ratings of performance did not show a comparable pattern of results to the problem-solving measures; whereas the depressives had fixed perceptions of their performance, the nondepressed group altered their perception of performance in keeping with the improvement in the second phase of the study. The results implicated both a problem-solving deficit and a conservative problem-solving style in depression. The importance of the task difficulty as an intermediary variable in problem-solving studies was also discussed.

Private thought in rational emotive psychotherapy

Abstract: This paper, which is theoretical in orientation, advances the argument that the characteristics of a client's thought are overlooked in rational emotive psychotherapy and that new avenues of professional practice and research may evolve from a detailed examination of the nature of thought. Psychodynamic, psycholinguistic, and cognitive-behavioral conceptions of factors that interfere with a client's ability to report his/her private thoughts are discussed. A model of thought is proposed that postulates levels of thought that vary in client awareness and that can be represented on a continuum from covert verbalization to abbreviated, elliptical private thought. Implications of this model for professional practice are discussed in the form of two therapeutic techniques that are directed to ward the assessment of private thought. It is argued that rational emotive assessment techniques may be too directive to ensure sufficient levels of self-discovery. It is further argued that to facilitate the maintenance and generalization of client change, therapeutic instructions should be expressed in a form that is compatible with and can be incorporated within the client's idiosyncratic intrapersonal communication system and cognitive structure.

The effects of expectations of self-intoxication and partner's drinking on anxiety in dyadic social interaction

Abstract: Thirty-two male social drinkers were randomly assigned to four conditions in a 2 ×2 factorial design that controlled for differential expectations concerning alcohol consumption in a dyadic social interaction. Subjects were led to believe that they had consumed either alcohol or tonic water (no alcohol was actually administered)prior to interacting with a female confederate. Half of each of these groups were told that the confederate was another subject in the study who had just consumed a moderate amount of alcohol; the other half were simply informed that the confederate was another subject. Multiple measures of anxiety, including heart rate, observational ratings, and self-report, were obtained. Subjects who believed that the female had been drinking showed significantly less anxiety than their counterparts who did not have this information. There were no major effects of the self-intoxication expectation. The theoretical significance of these findings is discussed.

Self-initiated attempts to cope with depression

Abstract: Depression has recently been conceptualized as involving deficits in selfcontrol (Mathews, 1977; Rehm, 1977). According to this model specific dysfunctions in self-control are responsible for depression. Initial evidence indicates that self-control programs designed to remediate these deficits are effective in alleviating depression (Fuchs & Rehm, 1977; Rehm, Fuchs, Roth, Kornblith, & Romano, 1979). Another line of research indicates that most people try to cope with depression on their own (Rippere, 1976, 1977, 1979). This suggests that selfinitiated attempts to cope with depression are a frequent occurrence. Surprisingly, very little is known about these naturally occurring attempts at self-control. The present study explored the role of behavioral self-control techniques in these self-initiated efforts to alleviate depression. Specifically, this study focused on the differences between people who had successfully coped with depression on their own and those who had not (cf. Perri & Richards, 1977).

Cognitive and relaxation coping skills in stress inoculation

Abstract: Stress inoculation (Meichenbaum, 1972) is as effective as, if not more effective than, interventions such as desensitization (Jaremko, 1979). Stress inoculation contains training in two different types of coping skills: (a) self-instructional training aimed at replacing task-irrelevant thoughts with task-oriented self-instruction (cognitive), and (b) a coping form of desensitization (relaxation). The critical treatment components, however, remain unclear. Does its effectiveness derive primarily from training in cognitive self-instruction, from the development of relaxation coping skills, or do the elements interact synergistically to create a treatment more powerful than either component alone? The present study addressed these questions through a parametric analysis of stress inoculation. Test-anxious subjects received one of four conditions: (a) cognitive coping skills (CCS), (b) relaxation coping skills (RCS), (c) combination of cognitive and relaxation coping skills (C + RCS), or (d) waitlist control (WLC). The 47 (31 female and 16 male) psychology students who scored in the upper 25% on the debilitating (D) scale of the Achievement Anxiety Test (AAT; Alpert & Haber, 1960) volunteered for group treatment; on completion of pretreatment assessment they were stratified on level

Relationship of test-taking strategies to test anxiety and performance: Toward a task analysis of examination behavior

Abstract: An open-ended questionnaire was developed to gather retrospective descriptions of test-taking strategies used in working classroom exam questions. Responses were independently rated on a 3-point scale of effectiveness based on the degree to which subjects' strategies matched methods recommended by experts in remedial education. The study focused initially on evaluating the reliability and validity of the Questionnaire of How You Take Tests (QHTT).Reliability estimates were very adequate and the QHTT was unrelated to verbal ability and sex. Subsequently, the QHTT was used as a dependent measure to assess the degree to which lack of confidence (high text anxiety)in evaluative situations is related to deficits in test-taking strategies. Subjects with high and moderate levels of general test anxiety evidenced significantly less effective problem-solving strategies than low-anxiety subjects. Also, subjects with high and moderate levels of math anxiety were significantly less knowledgeable about effective tactics for working math-reading items than were low math anxiety subjects. The relationship between subjects' repertoire of test-taking strategies and their academic performance was also analyzed. High compared to low QHTT scorers attained significantly higher grade point averages over two consecutive semesters. Ways in which the results extend laboratory investigations of problem-solving skills and text anxiety are discussed as well as the limitations of the current method of assessing cognitive strategies.

Self-directed attention and facilitation of intellectual performance among persons high in test anxiety

Abstract: Theorists in the area of test anxiety have begun to emphasize cognitive and attentional variables, rather than physiological arousal (e.g., Sarason, 1980). For example, Wine (1971, 1980) has suggested that test anxiety is characterized by a high degree of self-focus. This self-focus presumably occupies the attention of test-anxious persons to the point where they cannot deal effectively with the task at hand. Evidence for this analysis is indirect and correlational, however. Self-focus has not been intentionally manipulated by researchers in this area. At about the same time as Wine was developing her ideas on this subject, Duval and Wicklund (1972) proposed quite a different consequence of self-attention. They proposed that self-focus leads one to become more cognizant of one's present behavior and of how that behavior compares to whatever is salient as a standard of appropriate behavior. The normal consequence o f this heightened awareness is an active attempt to conform behaviorally to the salient standard (see, for example, Carver, 1974, 1975). At least under some circumstances, the result of this attempt is performance f ac i l i t a t ion through self-focus (cf. Wicklund & Duval, 1971). Could self-focus ever facilitate performance among the testanxious? Wine's analysis would seem to predict that self-focus should invariably be debilitating for such persons. The other model suggests that

Thought content and gap time in basketball

Abstract: 'This study was partly supported by Grant No. MH 24804 from the National Institute of Mental Health. The authors thank Richard T. Johnson for his assistance, and the team members for their cooperative participation.

A cognitive analysis of guilt over assertion

Abstract: The present study investigated whether assertion and cognitive responses vary as a function of guilt over assertion. Eighty-seven women students were assessed for level of guilt over assertion, conceptualized as refusal. Low-guilt, moderate-guilt, and high-guilt groups were compared for assertive responses, frequency of self-statements hypothesized to be guiltrelated, and judgments of the impact of self-statements on assertion. It was predicted that the high-guilt group would be less assertive and would demonstrate a distinctive cognitive response pattern that could maintain guilty reaction. The results reflect considerable support for the hypotheses. The high-guilt group was significantly less assertive than the low-guilt group, and reported significantly more self-statements about harm to the other party and about their own personal responsibility than either the moderate-guilt or low-guilt group. The high-guilt group also judged the impact of the self-statement categories as significantly less helpful in facilitating refusal, compared to impact ratings by less guilty persons. The findings are related to cognitive-behavioral premises about maladaptive emotion.

Towards maintenance and generalization of behavior change: Teaching children self-regulation and self-instructional skills

Abstract: Teaching self-control skills to children emerged in the late 1970s as a strategy to directly program for maintenance of produced changes in behavior. Kanfer (e.g., Kanfer & Karoly, 1972) provided a conceptually and heuristically useful framework for empirically investigating selfcontrol processes. Kanfer's three-component self-regulation model was the impetus for the present self-regulation package for children, which has four components: self-monitoring, self-goal-setting, self-evaluation, and self-reinforcement. Self-monitoring generally refers to observing one's own behavior. An operationalization of this component would be the explicit recording or charting of one's own behavior. Self-goal-setting refers to the process by which one establishes the criterion for subsequent performance evaluation. Self-evaluation describes a comparison between the individual's own performance and a performance criterion or goal. Self-reinforcement is defined as the self-distribution of rewards after one has evaluated one's performance in respect to a goal. An initial test of the present package by Neilans, Israel, and Pravder (Note 1) demonstrated that children could take responsibility for selfmonitoring, self-evaluation, and self-goal-setting without an increase in disruptive behavior from the level achieved through the use of other-

Depression and attribution: Some new data and a review of old data

Abstract: Depressed, formerly depressed, and never depressed college women were randomly assigned to success or failure conditions on a supposed measure of “accurate empathy.” Based on the Abramson, Seligman, and Teasdale (1978)theory, it was predicted that depressed subjects would favor internal, stable attributions for failure and external, unstable attributions for success. Consistent with previous research, depressed subjects made more internal attributions for failure than did never depressed subjects. In absolute terms, however, they favored external over internal attributions for failure and internal over external attributions for success. Depressed subjects tended to favor stable attributions for both success and failure. These results were compared with previously published ones, and it was concluded that there is, at best, inconsistent evidence that depressives attribute failure internally and that there is relatively clear evidence that they do not attribute success externally and unstably.

A comparison of cognitive strategies in modifying the cognitive style of impulsive third-grade children

Abstract: The present study was designed to test the relative effectiveness of two cognitive strategies in the modification of an impulsive cognitive tempo among school-age children. Twenty-four third-grade children were assigned through a three-step randomized block procedure to one of the four following experimental conditions: (1)Scanning Strategy Instructions, (2)Verbal Self-Instructions, (3)Scanning Strategy Instructions plus Verbal Self-Instructions, and (4)Attention Control. The results of the current investigation suggest that a streamlined cognitive training procedure, involving either scanning strategy instructions or verbal self-instructions, is sufficient when the goal is the modification of an impulsive cognitive tempo exhibited by normal elementary school children. The effects of the cognitive training procedures generalized to the children's academic work, but not to their nonacademic behavior in the classroom.

The effects of self-correction on cognitive distortions in depression

Abstract: Past research has demonstrated that depressed individuals tend to distort their recall of positive feedback in a negative fashion. In the current study an attempt was made to replicate the finding and then to stop this negative distortion through a self-correction (reality-testing) procedure. Groups of depressed and nondepressed college students were randomly assigned to high positive (HP) or low positive (LP) feedback conditions. In the first half of the study, there was a replication of the cognitive distortion of HP feedback by the depressed group. The reality-testing procedure invoked in the second half of the study, however, made no impact on the cognitive distortions made by the depressed group under HP feedback conditions. Under conditions of LP feedback, the reality-testing procedure had the paradoxical effect of increasing the distortions shown by the depressed group. The implications of this study for therapy were elaborated upon and the utility of reality testing, as an isolated treatment component, was called into question.

Cognitive therapy for test anxiety

Abstract: A cognitive therapy was administered in a group format to test-anxious college students. Subjects were randomly assigned to groups meeting for eight weekly sessions, groups meeting for four weekly sessions, or a waiting list control group. The overall pattern of results suggested that the eight-session condition was superior to the four-session condition, which was superior to the control condition in reducing self-reported test anxiety. On the other hand, neither a task performance measure nor grade point average showed any effect of treatment.