## Inadequate Personal Constructs People experience psychological problems not because of past traumas, but because of how they *interpret* those experiences through their personal constructs. Think of personal constructs as the mental frameworks we use to understand the world. * **Defective Constructs:** When these constructs fail to accurately represent reality, or are inadequate for dealing with life's challenges, psychological distress can arise. Someone with a rigid construct of "success" might experience anxiety if they don't meet unrealistic expectations. * **Anxiety and Incoherence:** Anxiety often stems from a mismatch between personal constructs and real-world events. When our mental models fail to explain our experiences, we feel anxious and confused. Identifying and modifying these inadequate constructs is key to alleviating anxiety. * **Construct Replacement:** Individuals often generate new constructs to replace inadequate ones, a process of cognitive restructuring. This is a crucial aspect of cognitive therapies. ## Cognitive Representations of the Self Our understanding of ourselves is shaped by our cognitive representations – unique mental models of who we are. * **Self-Concept:** This is a relatively stable cognitive representation of oneself, playing a central role in information processing. Don't confuse self-concept with self-esteem; self-esteem is an evaluation, while self-concept is a description. ## Self-Schemas Self-schemas are cognitive structures that organize and process self-relevant information. They consist of important behaviors and attributes. * **Trait Concepts:** These are part of our self-schemas, representing our beliefs about our personality traits. Individual differences in self-schemas lead to different behaviors. Someone with a "helpful" self-schema is more likely to volunteer than someone with a "self-reliant" self-schema. * **Information Organization:** Self-schemas provide a framework for storing and retrieving information about ourselves. ## Possible Selves These are cognitive representations of who we *might* become. They influence our behavior by: * **Motivating Future Actions:** Possible selves act as incentives, driving us towards desired future outcomes. The "successful doctor" possible self might motivate someone to study hard in medical school. * **Interpreting Experiences:** They help us understand our current behaviors and life events. ## Application: Cognitive (Behavior) Psychotherapy This therapy helps clients identify and replace inappropriate thoughts with more adaptive ones. It focuses on present-day problems and teaches coping mechanisms for future challenges. * **Focus:** Primarily addresses psychological problems rooted in irrational and self-defeating thinking. ## Rational Emotive (Behavior) Therapy (REBT) Developed by Albert Ellis, REBT focuses on faulty reasoning and irrational beliefs as the root of emotional distress. * **The A-B-C Process:** * **A:** Activating experience (e.g., failing an exam) * **B:** Irrational belief (e.g., "I'm a complete failure") * **C:** Emotional consequence (e.g., depression) * **Goal:** To help clients identify their irrational beliefs, challenge their faulty reasoning, and replace them with rational ones. ## Strengths and Criticisms of the Cognitive Approach **Strengths:** * **Empirical Basis:** Many cognitive concepts are supported by empirical research. * **Current Relevance:** It aligns well with contemporary psychological trends. * **Widespread Influence:** Aspects of cognitive therapy are integrated into many other therapeutic approaches. **Criticisms:** * **Abstract Concepts:** Some cognitive concepts are difficult to study empirically. * **Individual Differences:** The cognitive approach struggles to fully account for individual differences in behavior. * **Lack of Unified Model:** There isn't a single, universally accepted cognitive model. ## Chapter 16: General Aggression Model (GAM) GAM proposes that aggression is more likely when situations involve provocation, frustration, or encouragement of violence. * **Personal and Situational Factors:** These factors influence aggression by activating aggression-related thoughts and emotions. * **Aggressive Thoughts:** Aggression occurs when aggressive thoughts become accessible and readily available. * **Aggressive Behavior Scripts:** Learned and practiced ways of acting aggressively; their accessibility determines a person's aggressiveness. * **Understanding Violence:** GAM helps explain why certain conditions and experiences increase the likelihood of violent behavior. ## Reactive Aggression in Boys Some boys exhibit angry and aggressive responses to even mild frustrations. * **Hostile Thoughts:** Chronically accessible hostile thoughts lead them to misinterpret harmless acts as threatening. * **Interventions:** Programs focus on changing aggression-related cognitions. ## Gender, Memory, and Self-Construal Men and women often differ in what they remember, potentially due to differences in how they process self-relevant information. * **Emotional Encoding:** Women tend to encode self-relevant information in terms of emotions. * **Emotional Memory Links:** Women have stronger connections between emotional memories. * **Recall:** Women generally recall emotional memories better than men. * **Relationship Memories:** Men and women form different cognitive representations of themselves and their relationships. ## Cognitions and Depression Depressive thoughts are linked to negative feelings. * **Depressive Cognitive Triad:** Depressed individuals: * Have negative thoughts about themselves. * Are pessimistic about the future. * Interpret experiences negatively. ## Negative Schemas These cognitive structures contain memories of depressing events and thoughts. * **Information Processing:** Individuals using these schemas: * Attend to negative information. * Interpret ambiguous information negatively. * Easily recall depressing memories. * Associate current sad experiences with past ones. ## Characteristics of Individuals with Negative Cognitive Style * **Attribution:** Attribute problems to stable and global causes. * **Anticipation:** Anticipate the worst possible consequences. * **Self-Blame:** Believe problems are due to personal shortcomings. * **Stability:** This cognitive style tends to be stable over time. * **Depression Link:** Strongly related to depression and predicts vulnerability to future episodes. * **Cultural Influence:** The link between cognitive style and depression may be influenced by culture. Cognitive behavioral therapy is a common treatment for depression.