1. The cognitive approach views abnormalities as resulting from errors in thinking between a stimulus and response. 2. It posits that mental disorders stem directly from distortions in cognitive processes like thinking biases such as minimization or maximization. 3. A key concept is Beck's negative triad - negative views of the self, world, and future - which has been shown to accurately characterize depressed thinking.

1. Cognitive Approach

2. Main Ideas
Abnormalities are
the result of
Thinking between
stimulus and response errors in
thinking

3. Cognitive Approach contd...
• Errors in thinking
• Heavily influenced by the behavioural
approach
• Thinking between the stimulus and the
response
• Mental disorders are linked directly to
distortions in the thinking process

4. Cognitive Explanations
1.Cognitive Bias
Negative automatic thoughts (NAT’s)
2. Negative Triad
Negative views of self, world and
future

5. E.g. of Cognitive Bias
Minimisation
• Minimising successes – e.g. Good exam grade was luck
Maximisation
• Maximising trivial failures – e.g. Failing at Sudoku puzzle
Selective Abstraction
• Focussing on negative aspects of life, ignoring wider picture
All or Nothing thinking
• Black and white thinking (ignoring middle ground) e.g. Success OR failure

6. Negative Triad
Beck’s model of depression
3 main forms of negative thinking
“I am worthless” Self
World Future
“Everything is “Nothing will
against me” ever change”

7. How would the cognitive approach
investigate abnormality?
Experiments
Assumptions of the cognitive approach
are often tested experimentally
If a cognitive therapy works it suggests that the cause
was cognitive
Thase et al (2007) compared cognitive therapies with
antidepressants (the IV) and measured the effectiveness of
each in treating depression (the DV)
Evidence like this has provided a huge amount of support for
the cognitive approach

8. Effectiveness of therapies
E.g. CBT has been found to be as
effective as prozac in treating
depression
This is positive because it shows that
changing thinking can work so there
must be a cognitive element to the
disorder.

9. Support for the negative triad
For example, Beck compared people
with depression to those without,
depressed individuals are more
negative in terms of themselves,
world and the future
Positive as it suggests that the negative
triad is an accurate illustration of
depressed thinking

10. Blames the patient
For example, the approach
considers the individuals
disorder to be caused by their
faulty thinking
This is problematic as situational
factors are overlooked and it might not
be beneficial to place blame on a person
prone to negative thoughts & depression.

11. Cause and Effect?
For example, do NAT’s cause depression
or does the depression cause the NAT’s?
This is problematic because it’s hard to
determine cause & effect and raises the
question over the best way to treat the
patient

12. Key terms / Buzz words
Cause and Experiments Errors in
Effect Behavioural thinking
All or Nothing
approach Minimisation
Cognitive Bias Maximisation
NAT’s Selective
Therapies are abstraction
Negative effective
Support for
triad World negative
Self
triad Cog therapy
Thase et al
Future Vs. drugs
(2007) Blame patient