Cognitive View of Personality

1. Cognitive View of Personality

2. Beck • Cognition plays a significant role in personality and psychopathology • Cognition Forms • Automatic Thoughts • Processing Errors • Schema (core beliefs)

3. Beck • Basic model • Thinking Causes Feeling/Behavior • It’s not events that disturb us, it is what we think about these events.

4. BECK’S MODEL Schema Events Others’ Behavior Automatic Thoughts Distortions Emotions Behavior

5. BECK’S MODEL Bandura Schema Events The Environment Personal Factors Others’ Behavior Automatic Thoughts Distortions Reciprocal Determinism Emotions Behavior Overt Behavior

6. BECK’S MODEL Pavlov Schema Events NS-CS UCS? UCS? Others’ Behavior Automatic Thoughts Distortions Emotions Behavior UCS? UCR - CR

7. BECK’S MODEL Pavlov Schema Events CS Others’ Behavior Automatic Thoughts Distortions Emotions Behavior CR

8. BECK’S MODEL Skinner SA Schema Events NS-CS UCS? SC Others’ Behavior Automatic Thoughts Distortions Emotions Behavior SB UCR - CR

9. BECK’S MODEL SA Schema Events NS-CS Beck’s Unique Piece UCS? SC Others’ Behavior Automatic Thoughts Distortions Emotions Behavior SB UCR - CR

10. BECK’S MODEL An Application incompetence “A look” Schema Events I can’t do this Mind Reading Closer observation Others’ Behavior Automatic Thoughts Distortions Emotions Behavior Anxiety, Fear Visible nervousness Avoidance

11. Characteristics of Automatic Thoughts • Almost always believed • Spontaneous • Simple rules that worked in past • Idiosyncratic • Persistent and self-perpetuating • Different from public statements • Repeat habitual themes • Learned

12. Distortions • Filtering • tunnel vision • tendency to look at only one element of a situation • positives are discounted • negatives are counted

13. Distortions • Polarized thinking • black and white thinking • Splitting

14. Distortions • Overgeneralization • conclusion based on a single event or piece of evidence • includes global labels for people and places • e.g., jerk, stupid, etc. • contains a grain of truth • ignores all contrary evidence

15. Distortions • Mind Reading • you assume you know how others are thinking • then you make a judgment about them • you make assumptions about how others are reacting to you

16. Distortions • Catastrophizing • imagines the worst possible outcome

17. Distortions • Magnifying/Minimizing • blow things out of proportion (or opposite) • words: “huge, impossible, overwhelming”

18. Distortions • Personalization • constant comparing yourself to others • relate everything to yourself • person is a causal factor (when not)

19. Distortions • Shoulds • operating from a list of inflexible rules • applies to self and others • deviation from rules is bad • judging and finding fault

20. Distortions • Magical Reasoning • Thinking will make it happen

21. Distortions • Emotional Reasoning • I feel it, therefore it is true.

22. Schema • Schema • mental structures that guide behaviour • influences what we see and remember • sometimes called rules or beliefs • a product of previous learning

23. Schemas • Orders the world • Promotes efficiency • Reduces the amount of info we need to process • Usually adaptive

24. Types of Schema • About things • About procedures • About ourselves • About others

25. Cognitive Personality “Styles” Schema and Behavior

26. The Vigilant Style • love autonomy and indepedence • keep their own counsel • cautious and perceptive • stand up for themselves • alert to criticism • high premium on loyalty

27. The Solitary Style • are comfortable being alone • are independent • even-tempered, calm, unsentimental • are stoic (indifferent to pain and pleasure) • not driven by sexual needs • unswayed by praise or criticism

28. The Idiosyncratic Style • rich inner life • few close relationships • eccentric • do their own thing • have an expanding reality • drawn to abstract and speculative thinking • keen observers of others

29. The Adventurous Style • Nonconforming • like challenge and dares • Independent, tend to be persuasive • like to keep moving • may be hell-raisers and mischief makers • courageous and bold • no regrets (i.e., live in the present)

30. The Mercurial Style •  always be romantically attached to someone • intense, emotionally active and reactive • uninhibited, spontaneous, high energy • open-minded • skilled at distancing themselves from reality when it is painful or harsh

31. The Dramatic Style • live in an emotional world, rich imaginations • tell entertaining stories, like attention • pay a lot of attention to appearance • seductive, engaging and charming, • get involved in relationships quickly • eagerly respond to new ideas and suggestions from others

32. The Self-Confident Style • believe in themselves • expect to be treated well by others • ambitious, interest in politics, competitive • identify with people of rank and stature • have fantasies of greatness • are self-aware and poised

33. The Sensitive Style • likes the familiar • deeply concerned about what others think • cautious in dealing with others, polite • best in scripted settings • value privacy

34. The Devoted Style • dedicated in relationships • prefer the company of one or more • don't like to be alone, good teamplayers • tend to be deferent • promote harmony and considerate • find meaning in attachments with others

35. The Conscientious Style • hardworking, individuals of conscience • (like to do the right thing), like to do things the right way • perfectionists, persevering, ordered, detailed • prudent (i.e., thrifty, careful, cautious) • to accumulate things (i.e., pack rat)

36. Other Cognitive Types • Albert Ellis • George Kelly