Irrational beliefs and personality

This study investigated the relationship between irrational beliefs and the nonpathological personality characteristics origence and intellectence described by Welsh (1972, 1975b). The Adjective Check List (ACL) and the Irrational Beliefs Test (IBT) were administered to 319 college students. Data were analyzed for the entire sample and for males and females separately. In each case, two combinations of scores yielding significant canonical correlation coefficients were produced. The results offer a refinement to Ellis' personality model and suggest that irrational beliefs are insufficient as indications of psychopathology.     

Irrational beliefs and conflict-handling orientations

Before a series of conflict-resolution and communication-skills workshops, measures were obtained on the dependent variables of conflict-handling orientations and on the independent variables of irrational beliefs. The population was rather general, i.e. nonstudent, nonclinical and non-volunteer, who were the managers and the engineers of three enterprises. Correlation analysis showed that irrational beliefs underlying anger, anxiety, frustration, guilt and other negative emotions were correlated with different conflict-handling orientations. On the basis of the obtained results a series of workshops was conducted in the format of Rational-Emotive Therapy (RET).Mikhael I. Timofeev, Ph.D., is a senior lecturer at the Inter-Branch Institute of Advanced Training, St. Petersburg Technical University, Politechnicheskaya, 29, St. Petersburg, 195251, Russia.     

Irrational beliefs and psychological needs

Studied the relationship between irrational beliefs and 15 psychological needs described by Murray. The Irrational Beliefs Test (IBT) and the Adjective Check List (ACL) were administered to 46 high school students and 50 adults. Results of stepwise multiple regression analyses indicated that five IBT scales and IBT Full-Scale were significantly associated with psychological needs. It was concluded that pathological behavior could not be readily predicted on the basis of irrational beliefs. It was further concluded that Ellis' model of personality obtained additional validating evidence.     

Irrational beliefs and psychosomatic disorders

Irrational beliefs were related to psychosomatic disorders in an adult sample of 57 male and 68 female psychotherapy clients and 62 male and 38 female adult nonclients. The client and nonclient samples differed markedly in a number of ways, but nevertheless, in both samples those with relatively high frequencies of psychosomatic disorders scored as more irrational on 7 of the 10 scales of the Jones Irrational Beliefs Test (IBT) compared to those with relatively low frequencies of psychosomatic disorders. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses found Anxious Overconcern (AO) to account for 31.7% of the variance in the psychosomatic illness scores for the nonclient sample and 10.8% of the variance for the client sample. Subgroups within each sample formed on the basis of their AO scores (a B-level variable in RET theory) were subsequently found to be significantly different on the C-level variables of anxiety and psychosomatic disorders. It is argued that causal connections are implied and that the results are better understood in a monistic mind-body-unit conceptualization of the human organism.Paul J. Woods, Ph. D., co-editor of this journal, is a Fellow and an RET training supervisor of the Institute for Rational-Emotive Therapy, a professor of psychology at Hollins College, and is engaged in private practice in Roanoke, Virginia. Larry C. Lyons is a graduate student in the Masters' program in psychology at Hollins College.     

Irrational beliefs and the anxiety disorders

This study investigated the levels of irrationality reported by a clinical sample of anxiety disorder patients, including simple and social phobics, panic disorder patients, agoraphobics, and obssessive compulsive patients. The levels of irrationality were compared between these groups and a group of normal control subjects, using the Rational Behavior Inventory (RBI). Agoraphobic patients were significantly less rational than control subjects on six of the RBI's subfactors and the total score of the Inventory. Patients in all diagnostic categories except simple phobia were significantly different from control subjects on the projected misfortune subfactor, and patients in all categories except simple phobia and panic disorder were significantly different from controls on the total RBI score. There were only four instances where patients in anxiety disorder categories significantly differed from each other in levels of irrationality. The implications of these findings, methodological limitations, and directions for future research are discussed.Joseph A. Himle, ACSW is a Clinical Social Worker at the Anxiety Disorders Program, Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan. David P. Himle, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of Social Work at the University of Michigan. Bruce A. Thyer, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of Social Work, University of Georgia and Faculty Fellow at the University Affiliated Program. He is also an Associate Clinical Professor at the Department of Psychiatry and Health Behavior, Medical College of Georgia.     

Irrational beliefs and the impact of stressful life events

The Ellis (1962) rational emotive therapy model would predict that individuals characterized by high levels of irrational beliefs would evaluate the impact of personally experienced life events as more negative (or less positive) than would individuals chartacterized by low levels of irrational beliefs. A sample of 155 undergraduate females provided data on irrational beliefs and a life experiences survey which included event impact ratings. The results provided general support for the hypothesis of a relationship between beliefs and perceived impact of stressful life events.     

Irrational beliefs as predictors of negative affective states

One effort to specify cognitive mediators related to dysfunctional emotional responses has been made by Ellis, who proposed that certain irrational beliefs elicit maladaptive emotional reactions. In order to test Ellis's hypotheses in a nonclinical sample, the Irrational Beliefs Test, two anxiety inventories, the MMPI-168, and a locus of control scale were completed by 32 male heavy social drinker undergraduates, who then kept daily records of their anxiety, anger, unhappiness, and drinking behaviors for 7 months. Four factors underlay the 10 beliefs but did not necessarily correlate with dysphoric affect. Certain irrational beliefs predicted daily unhappiness ratings over the 7-month period and daily anger ratings over 3 months, but the beliefs exhibited only a weak relationship with daily general anxiety ratings. Irrational beliefs, especially worrying about approval and competence, were strongly related to test anxiety and Spielberger's trait anxiety measure, were somewhat related to social anxiety and general anxiety, were minimally related to locus of control and social desirability, and were essentially unrelated to the MMPI-168's measures of depression and anxiety and to drinking behaviors. Although 2 of the irrational beliefs failed to exhibit relationships with negative affect, the other 8 show the predicted relationships to moods, providing support for a cognitive mediational model of maladaptive emotions in a nonpathological population.This research was partially supported by grants from the Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Institute, University of Washington, Seattle, from a National Institute of Mental Health small grant AA03947-01, and from a National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism postdoctoral training fellowship No. 1T32AA07171-01. We would like to thank Jean Chapman, Ph.D., for her advice on the statistics and Dorothy Knapp, Ph.D., for her painstaking scoring and coding of all the data records.     

Depressive symptoms and conspiracy beliefs

Conspiratorial beliefs can endanger individuals and societies by increasing the likelihood of harmful behaviors such as the flouting of public health guidelines. While scholars have identified various correlates of conspiracy beliefs, one factor that has received scant attention is depressive symptoms. We use three large surveys to explore the connection between depression and conspiracy beliefs. We find a consistent association, with the extent of the relationship depending on individual and situational factors. Interestingly, those from relatively advantaged demographic groups (i.e., White, male, high income, educated) exhibit a stronger relationship between depression and conspiracy beliefs than those not from such groups. Furthermore, situational variables that ostensibly increase stress—such as having COVID-19 or parenting during COVID-19—exacerbate the relationship while those that seem to decrease stress, such as social support, vitiate it. The results provide insight about the development of targeted interventions and accentuate the need for theorizing about the mechanisms that lead depression to correlate with conspiracy beliefs.     

Irrational beliefs,situational attributions,and the coping responses of adolescent runaways

Data collected from a sample of 181 adolescent runaways was used to investigate the relationship between irrational beliefs, situational attributions and different coping responses. The findings support the hypothesis that irrational beliefs and situational attributions directly relate to coping. Further, particular sets of irrational beliefs and attributions were found to be differentially associated with both adaptive and non-adaptive coping responses. Contrary to a second hypothesis, however, irrational beliefs failed to moderate the relationship between attributions and coping, and thus did not appear to influence coping responses through the meaning ascribed to stressful situations. Clinical applications based upon information about the cognitive phenomenology of the coping pathway suggested by this study are discussed.Dr. Martin S. Denoff is an Associate Professor of Social Work at the University of Tampa. He is in private practice and is a consultant to the Hillsborough County Department of Children's Services—Beach Place Runaway Services Center.Support for this research was partially provided by a faculty development grant.     

Irrational beliefs in the articulated thoughts of college students with social anxiety

Cognitive conceptualizations of social anxiety emphasize the role of negative self-statements, unrealistic expectations, and irrational beliefs in the development and maintenance of anxiety in social-evaluative situations. Research into these cognitive factors has entailed administration of questionnaires and instructions to subjects to write down their thoughts during a preceding or impending real-life encounter. These methodologies are criticized on several grounds, such as their assessment of abstract, generalized views by the subject of his/her typical way of thinking over a broad range of circumstances; constraints on responses because of experimenter-provided alternatives; and delays between the eliciting events and self-talk such that recall is subject to distortion and forgetting. Reported here is the use of a recently developed paradigm for uncovering thoughts in complex social situations. In the articulated thoughts during simulated situations method, subjects role-play participation in an audiotaped interpersonal encounter and, at predetermined points, verbalize thoughts elicited by a short segment of the fictitious event. The think-aloud data are taped for later content analysis. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between irrational beliefs and social anxiety. Results confirm those of two previous related experiments in that subjects articulated thoughts of greater irrationality when confronted with a stressful social-evaluative situation than with a neutral one. In addition, individuals with a tendency to become anxious in social situations articulated more irrational thoughts than did control subjects, confirming the basic assumption of cognitive-behavioral approaches that certain paterns of unrealistic thinking are associated with psychological distress.     

Irrational beliefs and unconditional self-acceptance. I. Correlational evidence linking two key features of REBT

In a study with 102 non-clinical adults, relationships between measures of irrational beliefs, unconditional self-acceptance, self-esteem and the Big-5 personality dimensions were investigated. As expected, unconditional self-acceptance was highly correlated with self-esteem. In line with key tenets of REBT, individuals who scored highly on unconditional self-acceptance scored low on irrational beliefs even after self-esteem had been partialled out. Unconditional self-acceptance was found to be significantly (negatively) correlated with Neuroticism but not with other Big-5 personality dimensions. Irrational beliefs were found to correlate positively with Neuroticism and negatively with Openness. Factor analysis of the unconditional self-acceptance scale did not show a simple one-dimensional structure. A revised version of the scale comprising those items that did not load on a self-esteem factor produced a purer measure of unconditional self-acceptance that did not correlate significantly with self-esteem. The findings have implications for investigating unconditional self-acceptance in studies of therapeutic outcome.     

Outcome of group cognitive-behavior therapy for bulimia nervosa: the role of core beliefs

It is hypothesized that individuals who benefit less from CBT will be those who have more pathological core beliefs (unconditional beliefs, unrelated to food, shape and weight). Twenty bulimic women were treated using 12 sessions of conventional group CBT. Eating behavior and attitudes were assessed pre- and posttreatment. Core beliefs were assessed at the beginning of the programme, and were used as predictors of change across treatment (once any effect of pretreatment psychopathology was taken into account). Group CBT was effective, with reductions of over 50% in bulimic symptoms. Outcome on most indices was associated with pretreatment levels of pathological core beliefs. Possible reasons for these findings are discussed.     

Irrational beliefs in major depression and generalized anxiety disorders in an Iranian sample: a preliminary study

Previous research on Rational Emotive Theory using western samples has shown that irrational belief systems are associated with emotional disorders such as anxiety and depression. In a replication of this work the present study was conducted to compare the scores of 29 clinically depressed, 31 clinically anxious, and 34 normal controls on the Irrational Beliefs Test in an Iranian sample. Consistent with Ellis's theory, depressed and anxious patients scored higher than the controls on scores for the full scale and all 10 subscales of the Irrational Beliefs Test. Also, the two patient groups differed significantly in their endorsement of 2 out of 10 irrational belief subscales but not in overall score on irrational beliefs. Results were interpreted in light of previous literature.     

Perceived acceptability of anorexia and bulimia in women with and without eating disorder symptoms

Perceptions of the acceptability of eating‐disordered behaviour were examined in young adult women with (n = 44) and without (n = 268) eating disorder symptoms. All participants viewed vignettes of anorexia nervosa (AN) and bulimia nervosa (BN) and responded to the same series of questions—addressing different possible ways in which the conditions described might be seen to be acceptable—in relation to each vignette. Participants with eating disorder symptoms perceived eating‐disordered behaviour to be more acceptable than asymptomatic participants, and this was the case for both AN and BN vignettes and for a range of different items. Differences on items tapping the perception that it ‘might not be too bad’ to have an eating disorder and that an eating disorder is ‘nothing to be concerned about’ were particularly pronounced. The findings could not be accounted for by between‐group differences in body weight. The findings indicate the ambivalence towards eating‐disordered behaviour that exists among a subgroup of young women in the community and the clear association between such ambivalence and actual eating disorder symptoms. The perceived acceptability of eating‐disordered behaviour may need to be addressed in prevention and early‐intervention programs for eating disorders.     

Linking obsessional beliefs to OCD symptoms in older and younger adults

There are many open questions about the phenomenology of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) in the elderly, and theories about the development of OCD have rarely been applied to older populations. The current study uses structural equation models to evaluate the relationship between obsessional beliefs and OCD symptoms across young and older adult age groups in a large community sample (aged 18-93; N=335), and to examine whether subjective concerns about cognitive decline partially mediate this relationship. Results support partial mediation, and follow-up analyses suggest that the pattern of relationships among subjective cognitive concerns, obsessional beliefs and OCD symptoms is invariant for younger and older adults, but older adults report relatively greater levels of subjective cognitive concerns.     

Irrational beliefs that can lead to academic failure for African American middle school students who are academically at-risk

This article describes how rational emotive behavior therapy and other cognitive-behavioral therapies can be used to improve the achievement of academically at-risk African American students at the middle-school level. Definitions of at-risk and a review of relevant literature are provided. This article offers an outline of several main irrational beliefs that can lead to academic failure for African American students at the middle-school level. This author suggested that escalating preferences for justice, acceptance within the African American community, and acceptance by European Americans are at the core for causing academic failure for many of these students. The author describes empirical data which show that once these students learn a realistic philosophy of life—to be more rational, tolerant, nonutopian, and nondemanding—the students improve in their academic self-concept and achievement.