Brief Lecture Notes for Unit 6
See main textbook chapters 8 and 9, which loosely parallel the second half of this unit.
Cognitive school: The basics
The key idea of the cognitive school of thought is mediated emotionality (sometimes called by the simpler term self-talk): namely, that how a person thinks about or interprets external reality is the primary determinant of her/his emotional life and behavioral responses.
Cognitivists generally blame irrational thinking for mental illness, claiming that emotional disturbances arise from faulty interpretations of life events. (Unfortunately to some extent this involves some degree of circular reasoning, since when asked to define what irrationality means, many will say that a thought is irrational if it causes emotional or behavioral pathology. If X is defined in terms of Y and Y is defined in terms of X, one has an enjoyable infinite regress.)
Personal construct theory
A personal construct is a way of thinking about or understanding reality. Constructs are inherently dichotomous (either/or), for instance the construct "good vs. bad" or the construct "friendly vs. unfriendly". All constructs have two poles, as can be seen from these examples.
All constructs are defined in terms of exemplars or instances of the opposing poles. A minimum of three exemplars are required: two that are alike (these define the emergent pole of the construct) and one that is different or contrasting in some defined way (this defines the implicit pole of the construct). For instance: Jim and Mary are "liberal" (emergent pole), but Tom is "conservative" (implicit pole).
Constructs always involve a range of convenience, that is, a domain of elements to which they can meaningfully be applied. For instance, the construct "liberal vs. conservative" can be applied to human adults who are politically active within an adversarial political system such as is found in most Western democracies, but not to politically apathetic adults, adults who live in nation-states ruled by single-party oligarchies, infants, cats, trees, quarks. The latter groups lie outside the range of convenience of the construct; it cannot meaningfully be applied to them.
Construct systems vary in the extent to which they are permeable (note connections to material on family systems theory from unit 5), that is, subject to change or alteration on the basis of experience. A permeable construct is readily modified (in the extreme, it is unstable because it is too readily modified by trivial experience). An impermeable construct is difficult to modify (in the extreme, it is pathologically stable because it is impervious even to dramatically contrary experience).
Constructs can be measured by means of the Rep Test (see in-class exercise, if time permits).
Rational emotive therapy (RET)
People with emotional difficulties, in Ellis' view, are those who are holding on to irrational (that is, dysfunctional or maladaptive) ideas or beliefs (IB's). While many people in our culture tend to think, falsely, that their reactions (emotions and behaviors) are the direct or unmediated result of events and experiences (stimuli in the environment), according to Ellis this simple (S-R) model is wrong. A more accurate model is a mediated (S-O-R) model in which a person's self-talk (internalized, and often implicit and only partially verbal or conscious, thinking) produces emotions and other sorts of reactions as an indirect result. We do not encounter external reality directly, in other words, but only indirectly through the filter of our cognitions (note links to the internal frame of reference concept of the phenomenological school of thought, though in many other respects Ellis has little in common with them). This A-B-C sequence, in which an Activating Event leads to a Belief and then to emotional and behavioral Consequences, is what underlies RET. For instance, a person fails an exam (A), thinks "I must be worthless" (B), and as a result becomes depressed and gives up on school (C). Failing the exam did not directly "cause" the depression as many people think; the IB ("those who fail exams are worthless people") did.
RET, in Ellis' own (1961) words, "largely consists of teaching the client effective self-analysis: how, specifically, to observe his [this was a pre-feminist era] own feelings and actions, how to evaluate them objectively... and how to change them, by consistent effort and practice." As such, RET is highly directive, even authoritative; and it differs from behaviorism in that its techniques "are designed to do more than change behavior... they are used to change basic philosophies [i.e., cognitive styles or thought patterns] and to give the client specific means of restructuring these again and again, until he or she rarely reverts to personally sabotaging... views and actions".
Reality therapy
When people are unable to meet their essential needs, this generates psychological symptoms whose severity is correlated with the extent to which core needs are unmet. When needs cannot be met, reality (whether pragmatic or moral reality) will inevitably be distorted or denied.
To meet their basic needs, people must be involved with at least one other person who is in touch with reality and able to fulfill his or her own basic needs.
The two basic needs in Glasser's view are (a) to love and to be loved, (b) to have a sense of self-worth. Combined, these might be thought of as a sense of significance or identity.
Self-worth comes through responsibility, or fulfilling one's needs in a manner that does not deprive others of the ability to do so. The concept of responsibility implies an external standard of measurement. The counselor "attaches direct values to behavior, measuring in counseling a person's success or failure against these values and how well the values have been met. Responsibility serves as the foundation concept: a value in itself [ens entium], against which all [!] other values are measured."
Three basic steps in Reality Therapy: (a) development of a genuine personal involvement with the client, (b) confrontation of irresponsibility, (c) psychoeducation (teaching or coaching the person how to be more effective in meeting their basic needs).
Brain-based approaches
Review earlier material on the mind-body problem, as well as neurophysiological correlates of temperament, please.
With that out of the way, let's
take a look at an overview of five major brain centers.
The deep limbic system can be thought of as the emotional bonding and mood control center of the brain. When it is not functioning properly, an affective disorder is likely to result.
The basal ganglia control the brain’s “idling speed” – overactivity in this area is likely to generate an anxiety disorder. In addition, this part of the brain is associated with the reward system.
The prefrontal cortex is the “supervisory” part of the brain, associated with mental focus, planning and strategizing, decision making, and impulse control. Underactivity in this area may lead to attention deficit problems including short attention span, disorganization, and weak follow through.
The cingulate gyrus can be thought of as the brain’s “gear shifter”. It allows you to shift attention from thought to thought or behavior to behavior. An overactive cingulate may cause pathologically perseverant behavior such as might be associated with obsessive-compulsive patterns, or with repetitive worry (as opposed to diffuse anxiety) and behavioral rigidity.
The temporal lobes of the brain are associated with a diffuse range of cognitive skills including memory, language, and control of emotive reactions. Underactivity here can cause deficits in any of the above. Some clinicians associated overactivity in this region with symptoms analogous to those of the cognitive disorders.
While this is a vast oversimplification, one might think of these five brain regions as major determinants of (or influences on) personality development. They could be linked, from a dispositional standpoint, to five personality traits: what Cattell might call I, O, C, Q3, and M respectively.
Evolutionary psychology
While I don't agree with everything presented in text chapter 9 (and if feeling very brave will present you with an "alternate viewpoint" reading), this material is very important and influential in psychology these days. Controversies usually center around the perceived reductionism of the model, as well as difficulties with falsification (the same two problems that plagued psychodynamicism, as you should recall). I'll pick and choose from the chapter, but since I am not yet sure which material we'll be covering, I'll quit typing for now.
Study Guide 6
1. What is meant by mediated emotionality? How do mediated and unmediated models differ?
2. What is meant by a personal construct? What is a construct system? What does it mean to say that constructs are inherently dichotomous?
3. How do the emergent and the implicit poles of a construct differ? Give some examples.
4. What is the relationship between construct systems and personality?
5. What is meant by a range of convenience? By permeability? Give some examples.
6. Explain the use of the Rep Test in personality assessment.
7. What is an irrational belief? Give some examples. What is the relationship between IB's and the mediated-unmediated controversy in theories of emotion? What is the A-B-C sequence? Give some examples.
8. Discuss the nature of RET and how it differs from psychodynamic, behavioral, and phenomenological approaches.
9. What is the source of adjustment difficulties, according to Glasser? How is this related to the concept of reality?
10. What is the fundamental requirement for psychological health in Glasser's model?
11. What are the two basic needs? What is their relationship to the concept of responsibility? What role does responsibility play in Glasser's model?
12. What are the three steps of Reality Therapy?
13. What are two views of the mind-brain relationship and how do they differ?
14. What are five brain regions that play a pivotal role in the development of personality, and what is the specific role of each?
15. Discuss controversies and key concepts related to evolutionary psychology.