Cognitive Science and Explanations of Psychopathology

Cratsley, Kelso; Samuels, Richard J.

doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199579563.013.0027

Cited by 14 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…To conclude, this comprehensive meta-analysis investigated the robustness of the association between irrational beliefs and various types of psychological distress: a test of one of the major basic associations in modern psychology since the cognitive revolution [2,3]. The results show that the overall strength of the relationship between irrational beliefs and psychological distress is modest; however, this relationship holds across different samples, measurements, and study design.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, in order to establish and disseminate psychotherapeutic treatments, there is not only a claim to investigate their efficacy/effectiveness, but also a demand for a clear understanding of their underlying theory and psychological mechanisms [2,3]. Therefore, investigating how fundamental psychological mechanisms postulated to produce change in these treatments relate to psychological distress becomes a necessary step towards validating these treatments.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Irrational Beliefs and Psychological Distress: A Meta-Analysis

Vîslă¹,

Flückiger²,

Holtforth³

et al. 2015

Psychother Psychosom

153

104

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Background: Since the cognitive revolution of the early 1950s, cognitions have been discussed as central components in the understanding and treatment of mental illnesses. Even though there is an extensive literature on the association between therapy-related cognitions such as irrational beliefs and psychological distress over the past 60 years, there is little meta-analytical knowledge about the nature of this association. Methods: The relationship between irrational beliefs and distress was examined based on a systematic review that included 100 independent samples, gathered in 83 primary studies, using a random-effect model. The overall effects as well as potential moderators were examined: (a) distress measure, (b) irrational belief measure, (c) irrational belief type, (d) method of assessment of distress, (e) nature of irrational beliefs, (f) time lag between irrational beliefs and distress assessment, (g) nature of stressful events, (h) sample characteristics (i.e. age, gender, income, and educational, marital, occupational and clinical status), (i) developer/validator status of the author(s), and (k) publication year and country. Results: Overall, irrational beliefs were positively associated with various types of distress, such as general distress, anxiety, depression, anger, and guilt (omnibus: r = 0.38). The following variables were significant moderators of the relationship between the intensity of irrational beliefs and the level of distress: irrational belief measure and type, stressful event, age, educational and clinical status, and developer/validator status of the author. Conclusions: Irrational beliefs and distress are moderately connected to each other; this relationship remains significant even after controlling for several potential covariates.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Irrational Beliefs and Psychological Distress: A Meta-Analysis

Vîslă¹,

Flückiger²,

Holtforth³

et al. 2015

Psychother Psychosom

153

104

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…“The study of psychopathology has… become an important facet of the cognitive sciences, and the cognitive sciences have, in turn, exerted an important influence on many regions of psychiatry” (Cratsley and Samuels, 2013, p. 413). One of the characteristics of many cognitive science theories is that while each step of the argument makes sense, when viewed as a complete chain of inferential reasoning, the transition from premises to conclusion may be implausible, in a C.P.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition to making a case for AGM, one of our main objectives in this review has been to illustrate a point of intersection between cognitive science and clinical psychology, two fields which long have enjoyed an uneasy rapprochement (Macleod, 2010 ). “The study of psychopathology has… become an important facet of the cognitive sciences, and the cognitive sciences have, in turn, exerted an important influence on many regions of psychiatry” (Cratsley and Samuels, 2013 , p. 413). One of the characteristics of many cognitive science theories is that while each step of the argument makes sense, when viewed as a complete chain of inferential reasoning, the transition from premises to conclusion may be implausible, in a C.P.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A non-linear dynamical approach to belief revision in cognitive behavioral therapy

Kronemyer

Bystritsky

2014

Front. Comput. Neurosci.

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Belief revision is the key change mechanism underlying the psychological intervention known as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). It both motivates and reinforces new behavior. In this review we analyze and apply a novel approach to this process based on AGM theory of belief revision, named after its proponents, Carlos Alchourrón, Peter Gärdenfors and David Makinson. AGM is a set-theoretical model. We reconceptualize it as describing a non-linear, dynamical system that occurs within a semantic space, which can be represented as a phase plane comprising all of the brain's attentional, cognitive, affective and physiological resources. Triggering events, such as anxiety-producing or depressing situations in the real world, or their imaginal equivalents, mobilize these assets so they converge on an equilibrium point. A preference function then evaluates and integrates evidentiary data associated with individual beliefs, selecting some of them and comprising them into a belief set, which is a metastable state. Belief sets evolve in time from one metastable state to another. In the phase space, this evolution creates a heteroclinic channel. AGM regulates this process and characterizes the outcome at each equilibrium point. Its objective is to define the necessary and sufficient conditions for belief revision by simultaneously minimizing the set of new beliefs that have to be adopted, and the set of old beliefs that have to be discarded or reformulated. Using AGM, belief revision can be modeled using three (and only three) fundamental syntactical operations performed on belief sets, which are expansion; revision; and contraction. Expansion is like adding a new belief without changing any old ones. Revision is like adding a new belief and changing old, inconsistent ones. Contraction is like changing an old belief without adding any new ones. We provide operationalized examples of this process in action.

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Hearing Voices and Other Matters of the Mind

McCauley¹,

Graham²

2020

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This book endorses an ecumenical naturalism toward all cognition, which will illuminate the long-recognized and striking similarities between features of mental disorders and features of religions. The authors emphasize underlying cognitive continuities between familiar features of religiosity, of mental disorders, and of everyday thinking and action. They contend that much religious thought and behavior can be explained in terms of the cultural activation of maturationally natural cognitive systems, which address fundamental problems of human survival, encompassing such capacities as hazard precautions, agency detection, language processing, and theory of mind. The associated skills are not taught and appear independent of general intelligence. Religions’ representations cue such systems’ operations. The authors hypothesize that in doing so they sometimes elicit responses that mimic features of cognition and conduct associated with mental disorders. Both in schizophrenia and in religions some people hear alien voices. The inability of depressed participants to communicate with or sense their religions’ powerful, caring gods can exacerbate their depression. Often religions can domesticate the concerns and compulsions of people with OCD. Religions’ rituals and pronouncements about moral thought-action fusion can temporarily evoke similar obsessions and compulsions in the general population. A chapter is devoted to each of these and to the exception that proves the rule. The authors argue that if autistic spectrum disorder involves theory-of mind-deficits, then people with ASD will lack intuitive insight and find inferences with many religious representations challenging. Ecumenical naturalism’s approach to mental abnormalities and religiosity promises both explanatory and therapeutic understanding.

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Cognitive Science and Explanations of Psychopathology

Cited by 14 publications

References 0 publications

Irrational Beliefs and Psychological Distress: A Meta-Analysis

Irrational Beliefs and Psychological Distress: A Meta-Analysis

A non-linear dynamical approach to belief revision in cognitive behavioral therapy

Hearing Voices and Other Matters of the Mind

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