The Common Belief Inventory for Students: a measure of rationality in children

The Common Belief Inventory for Students (CBIS) was developed to create a measure of rationality in children. The CBIS was formulated within Ellis's conceptual framework of Rational Behavior Training. It was constructed to yield a total score as well as a score for each of Ellis's 11 irrational ideas. A pretest/post-test design was employed over experimental and control groups (n = 1,226), Subjects in the experimental group were exposed to one hour of Rational Behavior Training each week for six weeks. Results indicated that the items were reliable indicators of the total test score and the belief scores. Belief components were reliable indicators of the total test score. Total test reliability estimates were adequate. The CBIS also appeared sensitive to the use of RBT methods to enhance rational thinking.