Irrational attitudes and erroneous beliefs. Albert Ellis test. Methodology for diagnosing irrational attitudes. Rational emotive therapy (RET). Installation of predicting a negative future

Negative emotions appear in people not as a result of the events around them, but as a result of a negative interpretation due to irrational (erroneous) attitudes (beliefs, beliefs, ideas, assumptions, etc.) learned from childhood and throughout life.

An attitude is an unconscious psychological state, an internal quality of a subject, based on his previous experience, predisposition to a certain activity in a certain situation.

The founder of Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy (REBT, 1955), Albert Ellis (September 27, 1913 - July 24, 2007), an American cognitive therapist, argued that all people are prone to constructing illogical, irrational thought combinations. In fact, all human problems are the result of thinking, submission to numerous “shoulds”, “needs” and “musts”.

Since a person unwittingly causes himself to suffer, he can also force himself to stop suffering. The main task in such a situation is to learn to control your thought process and make it orderly.

List of the most common irrational (dysfunctional) attitudes.

To facilitate the process of identifying, recording and checking them, it is recommended to use so-called marker words. These words, both voiced and discovered during introspection as thoughts, ideas and images, in most cases indicate the presence of an irrational attitude of the corresponding type. The more of them are revealed during analysis in verbalized thoughts and statements, the greater the severity (intensity of manifestation) and rigidity of the irrational attitude.

1. Establishing an obligation.

The central idea of the installation is the idea of duty. The word “should” itself is in most cases a linguistic trap. The meaning of the word “should” is only one way and no other way. Therefore, the words “shall”, “should”, “must” and the like denote a situation where there is no alternative. But this designation of the situation is valid only in very rare cases, almost in exceptional cases. For example, the statement “a person must breathe air” would be adequate, since there is physically no alternative. A statement like “you must appear at the appointed place at 9:00” is inadequate, since in fact it hides other designations and explanations (or simply words). For example: “I want you to come by 9:00”, “If you want to get something you need, you should come by 9:00.” The work of the should attitude inevitably leads to stress, acute or chronic.

The attitude manifests itself in three areas.

The attitude of obligation in relation to myself is what I owe to others. Having the belief that you owe something to someone will serve as a source of stress in the following case: when something reminds you of this debt and something at the same time prevents you from fulfilling it. Situations often do not work out in our favor, so fulfilling this “duty” under certain unfavorable circumstances becomes problematic. Therefore, a person falls into a trap constructed by himself: there is no possibility of “repaying the debt,” but there is also no possibility of “not repaying it.”
The second area of obligation is the obligation in relation to others - what others owe me. That is, how other people should behave with me, how to speak in my presence, what to do. And this is one of the most powerful sources of stress, because never in anyone’s life in the entire history of mankind has there been such an environment that it always and in everything met our expectations. Even among respected citizens, even among supreme rulers and priests, even among the most obsessed tyrants, people appeared in their field of vision who acted “not as they should.” And it is natural that when we come across a person who acts “in relation to me not as he should,” the level of psycho-emotional arousal rapidly increases. Hence the stress.
Settings of ought - requirements imposed on the surrounding world - what nature, weather, government, etc. “owe” us. To transform this irrational attitude, you should change your internal attitude towards many phenomena in your life from “should” to “would like”, and this is guaranteed to save the person from destructive and fruitless experiences. One should choose a wish, a preference, instead of an absolute requirement.

Marker words: “should” (“must”, “must”, “must not”, “must not”, “must not”, etc.), “necessarily”, “at all costs”, "nosebleed"

2. Installation of catastrophizing.

This attitude is characterized by a sharp exaggeration of the negative nature of a phenomenon or situation and reflects the irrational belief that there are catastrophic events in the world that lie outside any assessment system. The attitude manifests itself in statements that are extremely negative. When we are under the influence of a catastrophizing attitude, we evaluate some event that is unpleasant for us as something inevitable and monstrous. Like something that will destroy our lives once and for all. We assess the event as a “catastrophe of universal proportions”, which we cannot influence in any way.

Marker words: “catastrophe”, “nightmare”, “horror”, “end of the world”.

To transform this irrational attitude, you should consciously replace in your beliefs an extremely negative assessment of the situation, which is not based on real facts, and develop an objective view of the situation.

3. Setting the prediction of a negative future.

This attitude is the tendency to believe that expectations of negative developments will be realized, regardless of whether these expectations were expressed or existed in the form of mental images.

“By becoming prophets, or rather pseudo-prophets, we predict failures, then, unnoticed by ourselves, we do everything to implement them, and in the end we get them. But does such forecasting seem reasonable and rational? Clearly not. Because our opinion about the future is not the future itself. This is just a hypothesis, which, like any theoretical assumption, must be tested for truth. And this is possible in some cases only empirically (by trial and error). In other cases, when we have experience of similar situations, we should still adhere to a more realistic assessment of the likelihood of certain options occurring. In this world, everything is possible, but with different chances of realization. We sometimes artificially downplay the possibility of some events occurring, as a result of which we take unnecessary risks, and on the contrary, we sharply exaggerate the likelihood of other events (with negligible chances) and their consequences, as a result of which we experience unnecessary worries and bodily discomfort.”

Marker words: “what if”, “what if”, “but maybe”, etc.

4. Installation of maximalism.

This attitude is characterized by the choice for oneself and/or other persons of the highest hypothetically possible standards, even unattainable ones, and their subsequent use as a standard for determining the value of an action, phenomenon or person. Thinking is characterized by an “all or nothing!” attitude. An extreme form of the maximalist attitude is the perfectionist attitude (Latin: perfectio - ideal, perfect).

Marker words: “to the maximum”, “only excellent”, “a five”, “100%” (“one hundred percent”).

5. Installation of dichotomous thinking.

Dichotomous thinking is the tendency to place life experiences into one of two mutually exclusive categories, such as perfect or imperfect, blameless or despicable, saint or sinner. Thinking influenced by such an attitude can be described as “black and white,” characterized by a tendency to think in extremes. Concepts that are actually located on a continuum are assessed as antagonists, as mutually exclusive options.

Marker words: “either - or” (“either yes or no”, “either pan - or gone”), “either - or” (“either alive or dead”).

6. Setting up personalization.

This attitude manifests itself as a tendency to associate events with one’s personality when there is no basis for such a conclusion, to interpret events in terms of personal meanings: “They are probably whispering about me” or “Everyone is looking at me.”

Marker words: pronouns “I”, “me”, “me”, “me”, etc.

7. Installation of overgeneralization.

Overgeneralization means deriving a general rule or arriving at a general conclusion based on one or more isolated episodes. The influence of this attitude leads to a categorical judgment based on a single attribute (criterion, episode) about the entire population. The result is that unwarranted generalizations are made based on selective information. For example: “If it doesn’t work out right away, it will never work out.” A principle is formed - if something is true in one case, it is true in all other more or less similar cases.

Marker words: “all”, “nobody”, “nothing”, “everywhere”, “nowhere”, “never”, “always”, “forever”, “constantly”.

To transform this irrational attitude from maladaptive to adaptive, you should consciously replace categoricalness in your judgments, unifying objects, situations and phenomena.

8. Installation of mind reading.

This attitude creates a tendency to attribute unspoken judgments, opinions and specific thoughts to other people. A boss's gloomy look can be interpreted by an anxious subordinate as a thought or even a ripe decision to fire him. This interpretation may be followed by a sleepless night of painful thoughts and the decision: “I will not give him the pleasure of firing me - I will quit of my own free will.” And the next morning, at the very beginning of the working day, the boss, who yesterday was tormented by stomach pains (which was the reason for his “stern” look), is trying to understand why his not the best employee suddenly decided to quit.

Marker words: “he (she/they) think(s).”

9. Evaluation installation.

This attitude manifests itself in the case of assessing a person’s personality as a whole, and not his individual traits, qualities, actions, etc. Assessment is irrational in nature when a separate aspect of a person is identified with the entire personality.

minutes

The A. Ellis test has 50 questions, 6 scales, of which 4 scales are basic and correspond to 4 groups of irrational thinking attitudes identified by the author:

"catastrophization"
"obligation towards oneself"
"obligation towards others"
"evaluative attitude".

* Rational emotive therapy (RET)

RET is based on a number of assumptions about human nature and the origins of human unhappiness, or emotional disturbances. Here are some of these assumptions:

1. People combine the rational and the irrational. When they think and act rationally, they are more likely to be effective, happy, and competent.

2. Thoughts and emotions are inseparable. Emotions accompany thinking, and thinking is usually biased, subjective and irrational. Emotional or psychological disturbance is the result of irrational and illogical thinking.

3. People, by their biological nature, are predisposed to irrational thinking, and build their surrounding conditions and experiences in accordance with this.

4. Human thinking usually occurs using symbols or language. Individuals with severe emotional disturbances are characterized by the fact that they maintain their disturbances and maintain illogical behavior through internal verbalization of their irrational ideas and thoughts. Ellis argues that the phrases and sentences that people repeat to themselves often become their thoughts and emotions. According to him, constant stimulation causes the persistence of behavioral and emotional disorders, and simply understanding the roots of the disorder in the process of psychoanalysis is not a sufficient condition for eliminating the disorder.

5. The duration of states of emotional disturbances that result from internal verbalization is thus determined not by external events or circumstances, but by the perceptions and attitudes towards these events that are included in internalized statements about them. Ellis finds the origins of this concept in Epictetus and quotes him as saying: “People are upset not so much by things as by the way they look at them.” He also quotes a similar phrase from Hamlet: “There is neither good nor bad, everything is made one way or another by our mind.”

6. Negative and self-harming thoughts and emotions can be eliminated by restructuring perception and thinking so that thinking becomes logical and rational, ceasing to be illogical and irrational.

Albert Ellis highlighted two types of cognitions: descriptive and evaluative.

Descriptive cognitions contain information about reality, about what a person has perceived in the world; this is “pure” information about reality.

Evaluative cognitions reflect a person’s attitude towards this reality.

Descriptive cognitions are necessarily connected with evaluative connections of varying degrees of rigidity.

The source of psychological disorders, according to Ellis, is a system of individual irrational ideas about the world, learned, as a rule, in childhood from significant adults. A. Ellis called these violations irrational attitudes. From the point of view of A. Ellis, these are strict connections between descriptive and evaluative cognitions such as instructions, demands, mandatory orders that have no exceptions. Therefore, irrational attitudes do not correspond to reality both in strength and in quality of this prescription. If irrational attitudes are not realized, they lead to long-lasting emotions that are inadequate to the situation and complicate the individual’s activities. The core of emotional disorders, according to Ellis, is self-blame.

A normally functioning person has a rational system of evaluative cognitions, which is a system of flexible connections between descriptive and evaluative cognitions. It rather expresses a wish, a preference for a certain development of events, and therefore leads to moderate emotions, although sometimes they can be intense, but do not capture the individual for a long time and therefore do not block his activities or interfere with the achievement of goals.

The first and most important principle of the rational-emotive theory is that thoughts are the main factor determining the emotional state.

The second main principle of the rational-emotive theory states that the pathology of emotions and many psychopathological conditions are based on disturbances in thought processes. These include: exaggeration, simplification, overgeneralization, illogical assumptions, erroneous conclusions, absolutization. Ellis uses the term "irrational judgment" to describe these cognitive errors.

Thus, pathological emotional reactions are most often based on irrational beliefs.

Albert Ellis in 1958 identified 12 Basic Irrational Ideas.

1. For an adult, it is absolutely necessary that every step he takes is attractive to others.

2. There are vicious and nasty actions. And those responsible should be severely punished.

3. It's a disaster when everything doesn't go as we would like.

4. All troubles are imposed on us from the outside - by people or circumstances.

5. If something scares or causes concern, be constantly on alert.

6. It is easier to avoid responsibility and difficulties than to overcome them.

7. Everyone needs something stronger and more significant than what he feels in himself.

8. You must be competent, adequate, reasonable and successful in all respects. (You need to know everything, be able to do everything, understand everything and achieve success in everything).

9. What greatly influenced your life once will always influence it.

10. Our well-being is influenced by the actions of other people, so we must do everything to ensure that these people change in the direction we desire.

11. Going with the flow and doing nothing is the path to happiness.

12. We have no control over our emotions and cannot help but experience them.

Continuing to develop RET, he came to the conclusion that all irrational beliefs can be reduced to three main ones. All the rest are, as it were, their sub-items.

Ellis formulated these three beliefs in the following way:

1. “I have to succeed and get the approval of significant others, and if I don’t do what I should and should, then there’s something wrong with me. It’s terrible, and I’m worthless.” This irrational belief leads to depression, anxiety, despair, and self-doubt. This is the demand of the Ego. “I must succeed, otherwise I am a “nonentity.”

2. The second irrational belief is: “You - the people with whom I communicate, my parents, my family, my relatives and employees - must, must treat me well and be fair! It’s just terrible that you don’t do this!” Hence the bitterness, rage, murder, genocide.

3. Third irrational belief: “The conditions in which I live - the environment, social relations, political situation - should be arranged so that I can easily, without making much effort, get everything I need. Isn’t it a nightmare, that these conditions are difficult and cause me grief? I can’t stand it! I can’t possibly be happy; I’ll either remain unhappy forever or kill myself!” Hence the low resistance to frustration.

Ellis is convinced that these false ideas, accepted and reinforced by constant self-hypnosis, can lead to emotional disturbances or neurosis, since they cannot be implemented.

These core irrational beliefs, which are actually various combinations of twelve ideas boiled down to three, reflect another key point of RET: the use of expressions like “should,” “should,” and “should” in our thinking. Bold statements of this type reflect irrationality and may cause or worsen emotional disturbance. All of these “shoulds” are hallmarks of irrational or illogical beliefs in the RET system.

Analysis of the words used by the client helps identify irrational attitudes. Usually, irrational attitudes are associated with words that reflect the extreme degree of emotional involvement of the client (nightmarish, terrible, amazing, unbearable, etc.), having the nature of a mandatory prescription (necessary, must, must, obliged, etc.), as well as global assessments of a person or object or events.

A. Ellis identified the four most common groups of irrational attitudes that create problems:

1. Catastrophic installations.

2. Installations of mandatory obligation.

3. Installations for the mandatory fulfillment of one’s needs.

4. Global assessment settings.

List of the most common irrational (dysfunctional) attitudes.

1. Establishing an obligation.

A statement like “you must appear at the appointed place at 9:00” is inadequate, since in fact it hides other designations and explanations (or simply words). For example: “I want you to come by 9:00”, “If you want to get something you need, you should come by 9:00.” The work of the should attitude inevitably leads to stress, acute or chronic.

The attitude manifests itself in three areas.

The first area is the establishment of an obligation in relation to oneself - what I owe to others. Having the belief that you owe something to someone will serve as a source of stress in the following case: when something reminds you of this debt and something at the same time prevents you from fulfilling it. Situations often do not work out in our favor, so fulfilling this “duty” under certain unfavorable circumstances becomes problematic. Therefore, a person falls into a trap constructed by himself: there is no possibility of “repaying the debt,” but there is also no possibility of “not repaying it.”

The second area of obligation is the obligation in relation to others - what others owe me. That is, how other people should behave with me, how to speak in my presence, what to do. And this is one of the most powerful sources of stress, because never in anyone’s life in the entire history of mankind has there been such an environment that it always and in everything met our expectations. Even among respected citizens, even among supreme rulers and priests, even among the most obsessed tyrants, people appeared in their field of vision who acted “not as they should.” And it is natural that when we encounter a person who acts “in relation to me not as he should,” the level of psycho-emotional arousal rapidly increases. Hence the stress.

The third area of the installation of obligation is the requirements imposed on the surrounding world - what nature, weather, government, etc. “owe” us.

To transform this irrational attitude, you should change your internal attitude towards many phenomena in your life from “should” to “would like”, and this is guaranteed to save the person from destructive and fruitless experiences. One should choose a wish, a preference, instead of an absolute requirement.

Marker words: “should” (“must”, “must”, “must not”, “must not”, “must not”, etc.), “necessarily”, “at all costs”, "nose bleed"

2. Installation of catastrophizing.

When we are under the influence of a catastrophizing attitude, we evaluate some event that is unpleasant for us as something inevitable and monstrous. Like something that will destroy our lives once and for all. We assess the event as a “catastrophe of universal proportions”, which we cannot influence in any way.

Marker words: “catastrophe”, “nightmare”, “horror”, “end of the world”.

3. Setting the prediction of a negative future.

This attitude is the tendency to believe that expectations of negative developments will be realized, regardless of whether these expectations were expressed or existed in the form of mental images.

“By becoming prophets, or rather pseudo-prophets, we predict failures, then, unnoticed by ourselves, we do everything to make them come true, and in the end we get them. But does such forecasting look reasonable and rational? It is clear that it is not. Because our opinion about the future is not the future itself. It is just a hypothesis, which, like any theoretical assumption, must be tested for truth. And perhaps this in some cases only empirically (by trial and error). In other cases, when we have experience similar situations, we should still adhere to a more realistic assessment of the probability of the occurrence of certain options. In this world, everything is possible, but with different chances of implementation. We sometimes artificially reduce the possibility of the occurrence of some events, as a result of which we take unnecessary risks, and, on the contrary, the probability of other events (having negligible chances) and their consequences we sharply exaggerate, as a result of which we experience unnecessary experiences and bodily discomfort."

Marker words: “what if”, “what if”, “but maybe”, etc.

4. Installation of maximalism.

Marker words: “to the maximum”, “only excellent”, “a five”, “100%” (“one hundred percent”).

5. Installation of dichotomous thinking.

Dichotomous thinking is the tendency to place life experiences into one of two mutually exclusive categories, such as perfect or imperfect, blameless or despicable, saint or sinner.

Thinking influenced by such an attitude can be described as “black and white,” characterized by a tendency to think in extremes. Concepts that are actually located on a continuum are assessed as antagonists, as mutually exclusive options.

Marker words: “either - or” (“either yes or no”, “either pan - or gone”), “either - or” (“either alive or dead”).

6. Setting up personalization.

Marker words: pronouns “I”, “me”, “by me”, “to me”, etc.

7. Installation of overgeneralization.

“If it doesn’t work out right away, it will never work out.” A principle is formed - if something is true in one case, it is true in all other more or less similar cases.

Marker words: “all”, “nobody”, “nothing”, “everywhere”, “nowhere”, “never”, “always”, “forever”, “constantly”.

To transform this irrational attitude from maladaptive to adaptive, you should consciously replace categoricalness in your judgments, unifying objects, situations and phenomena.

8. Mind reading setup.

Marker words: “he (she/they) think(s).”

9. Evaluation installation.

Marker words: “bad”, “good”, “worthless”, “stupid”, etc.2

10. Installation of anthropomorphism.

Marker words: “wants”, “thinks”, “considers”, “fairly”, “honestly”, etc. statements not addressed to a person.

ABC theory of personality (ABC model)

ABCModel:

A (activating event) – a situation, an event that triggers certain feelings in us;

B (beliefs) – our beliefs, life principles and attitudes, ideas about a particular situation;

C (consequences) – consequences: feelings and behavior.

Ellis has an ABC theory of personality (ABC model), to which he added D and E to cover change and the desired outcome of change.

Additionally, the letter G may be placed first to provide context for human ABC patterns.

Ts (G - Goals) Goals, fundamental and primary.

A (A - Activating) Activating events in a person’s life.

B (B - Beliefs) Beliefs, beliefs, rational and irrational.

P (C - Consequences) Consequences, emotional and behavioral.

D (D - Disputing) Discussion of irrational beliefs.

E (E - Effective) Effective new philosophy of life.

By thinking rationally about activating events (A) that either help or confirm, or block or sabotage their goals (C), people engage in preferential thinking. Preferential thinking, as opposed to rigidly demanding thinking, involves either explicitly and/or tacitly responding through belief systems (B) in realistic ways and experiencing corresponding emotional and practice-derived goal-oriented behavioral consequences (P). Below are ABC diagrams for activating events that strengthen and block goals.

ABC schemes for activating events that strengthen and block goals:

A - An activating event perceived as helping or confirming goals.

B - A belief system that involves a preferred mindset: "This is good! I like this activating event."

P - Consequences: emotional - pleasure or happiness; behavioral - approaching and trying to repeat this activating event.

A - Activating event perceived as blocking or sabotage of goals.

B - A belief system that involves a preferred mindset: "This is bad! I don't like this activating event."

P - Consequences: emotional - frustration or unhappiness; behavioral - avoiding or trying to eliminate this activating event.

Negative emotions appear in people not as a result of events that happen to them, but as a result of their negative interpretation, due to irrational attitudes that they have learned from childhood and throughout life.

False conclusions arise based on beliefs devoid of rationality. For example, after some accomplished fact, a person arbitrarily makes the conclusion: “I couldn’t pass the entrance exams, which means I’m not capable of anything.” The resulting connection, in turn, can lead to a self-established new irrational attitude.

The main task in such a situation is to learn to control your thought process and make it orderly.

An attitude is a tendency towards a certain interpretation of what is happening, and the quality of adaptation, that is, the quality of a person’s life, depends on the adequacy of this interpretation.
Irrational attitudes have the nature of a prescription, a demand, an order and are absolutist in nature.

In connection with these features, irrational attitudes confront reality, contradict objectively prevailing conditions and naturally lead to personality disadaptation.

Such rules are triggered at the moment of understanding the situation and manifest themselves inside the psyche in the form of automatic thoughts.

AUTOMATIC THOUGHTS- these are thoughts that appear spontaneously and are triggered by circumstances. These thoughts arise between the event and the person's emotional and behavioral reactions. They are perceived without criticism, as indisputable, without checking their logic and realism.
Such beliefs are formed from childhood impressions or adopted from parents and peers. Many of them are based on family rules.

Most of our problems arise from irrational attitudes that darken people's lives and lead to neuroses. A person who is at odds with himself and others is often characterized by irrational thinking. By eliminating irrational attitudes, you can change your life for the better.

To facilitate the process of identifying, recording and checking them, it is recommended to use so-called marker words.

Here's some SCROLL most common IRRATIONAL INSTALLATIONS:

1. ESTABLISHMENT OF POSITION

The attitude manifests itself in three areas.

The third area of the attitude of obligation is the requirements imposed on the surrounding world - what nature, weather, government, etc. “owe” us.
By enclosing the internal attitude towards many phenomena of one’s life in the formula “I would like”, a person is guaranteed to save himself from destructive and fruitless experiences. And changing the attitude from “should” to “would like” is one of the fundamental anti-stress factors. That is, a person chooses a wish, a preference instead of an absolute requirement.

MARKER WORDS: must (should, must, shouldn't, shouldn't, shouldn't, etc.), necessarily, “at all costs,” “nosebleed.”

2. INSTALLATION OF CATASTROPHIZATION

MARKER WORDS: disaster, nightmare, horror, end of the world.

3. INSTALLATION OF PREDICTION OF A NEGATIVE FUTURE

This attitude is the tendency to believe that expectations of negative developments will be realized, regardless of whether these expectations were expressed or existed in the form of mental images.

This is how, becoming prophets, or rather pseudo-prophets, we predict failures, then, unnoticed by ourselves, we do everything to implement them, and in the end we get them.
But does such forecasting seem reasonable and rational? Clearly not. Because our opinion about the future is not the future itself. This is just a hypothesis, which, like any theoretical assumption, must be tested for truth.

MARKER WORDS: what if, what if, but maybe... etc.

4. SETTING MAXIMALISM

The well-known expression is indicative: “To fall in love is like a queen, but to steal is like a million!”
Thinking is characterized by an “all or nothing!” attitude.

MARKER WORDS: to the maximum, only excellent, A, 100% (“one hundred percent”).

5. INSTALLING PERSONALIZATION

This attitude manifests itself as a tendency to associate events with one’s personality, when there is no basis for such a conclusion, to interpret events in terms of personal meanings:
“They're probably whispering about me” or “Everyone is looking at me.”

MARKER WORDS: pronouns “I, me, me, me”, etc.

6. OVERGENERALIZATION SETTING

MARKER WORDS: everything, no one, everything, nothing, everywhere, nowhere, never, always, forever, constantly.

7. MIND READING INSTALLATION

MARKER WORDS: he (she/they) thinks.

Fortunately, cognitive phenomena can be observed through introspection, so their nature and relationships can be tested in a wide variety of systematic experiments. Only by identifying and correcting thinking errors can a person realize himself more fully and improve the quality of his life.

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Fragment from the book. Kovpak D.V., “How to get rid of anxiety and fear.” A practical guide for a psychotherapist. - St. Petersburg: Science and Technology, 2007. - 240 p.

During the course of life, on the relatively blank sheet that is our psyche at birth, our reactions to stimuli are recorded in huge quantities, and over time they turn it into a manuscript covered with many writings.

And, as the outstanding Georgian psychologist and philosopher Dmitry Nikolaevich Uznadze (1886 - 1950) established, the so-called installation, or willingness to react in a certain way in a certain situation. This concept was first formulated by the German psychologist L. Lange in 1888, but the modern concept of “attitude”, generally accepted and recognized by the scientific community, appeared later in the works of Uznadze.

Our perception of the world is not a passive, but a very active process. We see events, people and facts not objectively and impartially, but through certain glasses, filters, prisms that distort reality for each of us in a whimsical and varied way. This bias, selectivity and arbitrary coloring of perception in psychology is designated by the term “attitude”. Seeing what is desired instead of what is real, perceiving reality in the halo of expectations is an amazing human property. In many cases, when we are confident that we act and judge quite sensibly, upon mature reflection it turns out that our specific attitude has worked. Information that has gone through this mill of distorting perception sometimes takes on an unrecognizable appearance.

The concept of “attitude” has occupied an important place in psychology, because the phenomena of attitude permeate almost all spheres of human mental life. The state of readiness, or installation, has fundamental functional significance. A person prepared for a certain action has the ability to carry it out quickly and accurately, that is, more effectively than an unprepared person. However, the installation may work incorrectly and, as a result, may not correspond to real circumstances. In such a situation, we become hostage to our attitudes.

A classic example explaining the concept of installation is one of the experiments conducted by Dmitry Nikolaevich. It was as follows. The subject received a series of words written in Latin. Over a period of time he read them. Then the subject received a series of Russian words. But continued to read them as Latin for some time. For example, instead of the word "axe" he read "monop". Analyzing experience. Uznadze writes: “...In the process of reading Latin words, the subject activated the corresponding attitude - the attitude to read in Latin, and when he is offered a Russian word, that is, a word in a language well understood by him, he reads it as if it were Latin Only after a certain period of time the subject will begin to notice his mistake... When it comes to installation, it is assumed that this is a certain state that, as it were, precedes the solution of the problem, as if in advance includes the direction in which the problem should be resolved ..."

Unconscious automatisms usually mean actions or acts that are performed “by themselves,” without the participation of consciousness. Sometimes they talk about “mechanical work,” about work in which “the head remains free.” "Free head" means lack of conscious control.

Analysis of automatic processes reveals their dual origin. Some of these processes were never realized, while others passed through consciousness and ceased to be realized.

The former make up the group of primary automatisms, the latter - the group of secondary automatisms. The former are automatic actions, the latter are automated actions, or skills.

The group of automatic actions includes either congenital acts or those that are formed very early, often during the first year of a child’s life. For example, lip sucking movements, blinking, walking and many others.

The group of automated actions, or skills, is particularly broad and interesting. Thanks to the formation of a skill, a twofold effect is achieved: firstly, the action begins to be carried out quickly and accurately; secondly, there is a release of consciousness, which can be aimed at mastering a more complex action. This process is of utmost importance in the life of every person. It underlies the development of all our skills and abilities.

The field of consciousness is heterogeneous: it has a focus, a periphery, and finally, a boundary beyond which the area of the unconscious begins. The later and most complex components of action become the focus of consciousness; the following fall to the periphery of consciousness; finally, the simplest and most refined components go beyond the borders of consciousness.

Remember how you mastered the computer (those who have already mastered it). At first, searching for the right key required, at best, tens of seconds, if not a minute. And each action was preceded by a technological pause: it was necessary to examine the entire keyboard to find the required button. And any hindrance was like a disaster, because it led to many mistakes. The music, noises, and someone's movements were terribly annoying. But time has passed. Now these “first steps” in the distant past (approximately at the level of the Mesozoic era) seem somewhat unreal. It’s hard to imagine that it once took more than one minute to find the right key and press it. Now there is no thinking about “when to press which key,” and the duration of pauses has been sharply reduced. Everything is done automatically: it’s as if the fingers have gained sight - they themselves find the right button and press it. And while working, you can listen to the sounds of music, be distracted by some extraneous topics, drink coffee, chew a sandwich, without fear for the result, because a clear, so-called dynamic stereotype has developed: actions are practiced and controlled unconsciously.

The unconsciousness of attitudes, on the one hand, makes our life easier by “unloading our heads” from regular routine affairs, on the other hand, it can significantly complicate life if we mistakenly include attitudes that are inappropriate or have become, due to changed circumstances, unsuitable. Erroneous or inadequately used attitudes will be the cause of our unpleasant surprise caused by our own behavior, which is striking in its unreasonableness and uncontrollability.

One example of the determining effect of an attitude on a person's life is the amazing effectiveness of witchcraft in lullaby civilizations. A Western anthropologist doing field work in the Australian desert and the Aborigines crowding around him are, despite their spatial proximity, in completely different worlds. Australian aboriginal sorcerers carry the bones of giant lizards with them, playing the role of a magic wand. As soon as a sorcerer pronounces a death sentence and points this wand at one of his fellow tribesmen, he immediately develops a state corresponding to severe depression. But not from the action of the bones, of course, but from boundless faith in the power of the sorcerer. The fact is that, having learned about the curse, the unfortunate person cannot even imagine another scenario other than his inevitable death from the influence of the sorcerer. An attitude was formed in his psyche that dictated imminent death. In the body of a person who is confident that he will die in any case, all stages of stress quickly go through, vital processes slow down and exhaustion develops. Here is a description of the action of such a “death command”:

But if the sorcerer tries to do the same with one of the Europeans, at least with the same anthropologist, it is unlikely that anything will work out. A European simply will not understand the significance of what is happening - he will see in front of him a short naked man waving an animal bone and muttering some words. If it were otherwise, Australian sorcerers would have ruled the world long ago! An Australian aborigine who attended a session with Anatoly Mikhailovich Kashpirovsky, with his “good attitude,” would hardly have realized the significance of the situation - most likely, he would have simply seen a gloomy man in a European suit, muttering some words and looking intently from under his brows into the hall. Otherwise, Kashpirovsky could have long ago become the main shaman of the Australian aborigines.

By the way, the very phenomenon of Voodoo rituals or so-called zombification can be easily explained from a scientific point of view, primarily based on the concept of “attitude.”

Attitude is the general name for the mechanism that guides our behavior in private situations. The content of the installation is ideational. that is, mental processes. It is the attitude that determines the readiness to respond with positive emotions in one situation, and negative emotions in another. The installation performs the task of filtering and selecting incoming information. It determines the stable, purposeful nature of the course of activity and frees a person from the need to consciously make decisions and arbitrarily control activities in standard situations. However, in some cases, an attitude can serve as a factor that provokes stress, reducing a person’s quality of life, causing inertia and rigidity in activity and making it difficult to adequately adapt to new situations.

Irrational stress-generating attitudes

All attitudes are based on normal psychological mechanisms that ensure the most rational knowledge of the surrounding world and the most painless adaptation of a person in it. After all, as already mentioned, an attitude is a tendency towards a certain interpretation and comprehension of what is happening, and the quality of adaptation, that is, the quality of a person’s life, depends on the adequacy of this interpretation.

Whether your attitudes are more rational or irrational depends, of course, on biological factors, but to a greater extent on the influence of the psychological and social environment in which you grew up and developed.

However, almost every person is given the opportunity to get rid of conscious and unconscious cognitive (mental) errors and misconceptions through the formation of more rational views and attitudes, reasonable and adaptive thinking. But in order to do this, it is necessary to understand what exactly prevents us from living in harmony with ourselves and the world. We must “know the enemy by sight.”

A decisive factor for the survival of the organism is the rapid and accurate processing of incoming information, which is greatly influenced by systematic bias. In other words, people's thinking is often biased and biased.

“The human mind,” said F. Bacon more than three hundred years ago, “is likened to an uneven mirror, which, mixing its nature with the nature of things, reflects things in a distorted and disfigured form.”

Each person has his own weak point in his thinking - “cognitive vulnerability” - which determines his predisposition to psychological stress.

Personality is formed by schemas or, as psychologists say, cognitive structures, which represent basic beliefs (positions). These schemes begin to form in childhood on the basis of personal experience and identification with significant others: people, virtual images - such as heroes of books and films. Consciousness forms ideas and concepts - about oneself, others, about how the world works and functions. These concepts are reinforced by further experience and, in turn, influence the formation of beliefs, values and attitudes.

Schemas can be beneficial, helping to survive and improve the quality of life, or harmful, contributing to unnecessary worries, problems and stress (adaptive or dysfunctional). They are stable structures that become active when they are “turned on” by specific stimuli, stressors and circumstances.

Harmful (dysfunctional) schemes and attitudes differ from useful (adaptive) ones by the presence of so-called cognitive distortions. Cognitive biases are systematic errors in thinking.

Harmful irrational attitudes are rigid mental-emotional connections. According to A. Ellis, they have the nature of a prescription, requirement, order and are unconditional. In connection with these features, irrational attitudes come into confrontation with reality, contradict objectively prevailing conditions and naturally lead to maladjustment and emotional problems of the individual. Failure to implement actions prescribed by irrational attitudes leads to prolonged inappropriate emotions.

As each person develops, he learns certain rules; they can be designated as formulas, programs or algorithms through which he tries to comprehend reality. These formulas (views, positions, attitudes) determine how a person explains the events that happen to him and how they should be treated. In essence, from these basic rules a personal matrix of values and meanings is formed, orienting the individual in reality. Such rules are triggered at the moment of understanding the situation and inside the psyche they manifest themselves in the form of latent and automatic thoughts. Automatic thoughts are thoughts that appear spontaneously and are set in motion by circumstances. These thoughts “delve between the event (or, as is commonly called, the stimulus) and the emotional and behavioral reactions of the individual. They are perceived without criticism, as indisputable, without checking their logic and realism (confirmation by facts).

Such beliefs are formed from childhood impressions or adopted from parents and peers. Many of them are based on family rules. For example, a mother says to her daughter: “If you don’t be a good girl, then daddy and I will stop loving you!” The girl thinks, repeats what she heard out loud and to herself, and then begins to say this to herself regularly and automatically. After some time, this commandment is transformed into the rule - “my value depends on what others think of me.”

The child perceives irrational judgments and ideas, in the absence of critical analysis skills and sufficient experience, as given and true. Using the language of Gestalt therapy, the child introjects, “swallows” certain ideas that dictate a special type of behavior.

Most emotional problems often have one or more central ideas at their core. It is the cornerstone that underlies most beliefs, opinions and actions. These central attitudes can serve as the underlying cause of the vast majority of psychological problems and inadequate emotional states.

Fortunately, because cognitive phenomena can be observed through introspection (observing one's verbal thoughts and mental images), their nature and relationships can be tested in a huge variety of situations and systematic experiments. By giving up the idea of oneself as a helpless product of biochemical reactions, blind impulses or automatic reflexes, a person is able to see in himself a being prone to giving birth to erroneous ideas, but also capable of unlearning them or correcting them. Only by identifying and correcting thinking errors can a person organize a life with higher levels of self-fulfillment and quality.

The cognitive behavioral approach brings the understanding (and treatment) of emotional disorders closer to people's everyday experiences. For example, realizing that one has a problem associated with a misunderstanding that a person has shown many times throughout life. In addition, everyone has no doubt had success in the past in correcting misinterpretations - either by obtaining more accurate, adequate information, or by realizing the error of their understanding.

Below is a list of the most common harmful irrational (dysfunctional) attitudes. To facilitate the process of identifying, recording and clarifying them (verification), we recommend using so-called marker words. These words, both expressed and discovered during self-observation as thoughts, ideas and images, in most cases indicate the presence of an irrational attitude of the type corresponding to them. The more of them are revealed in thoughts and statements during analysis, the greater the severity (intensity of manifestation) and rigidity of the irrational attitude.

Installation of must

The central idea of such an attitude is the idea of duty. The word “should” itself is in most cases a linguistic trap. The meaning of the word “should” means only this way and no other way. Therefore, the word “shall”, “shall”, “must” and the like denote a situation where there is no alternative. But this designation of the situation is valid only in very rare, almost exceptional cases. For example, the statement “a person, if he wants to survive, must breathe air” would be adequate, since there is no physical alternative. A statement like: “You must report to the appointed place at 9.00” is in reality inaccurate, since, in fact, it hides other designations and explanations (or just words). For example: “I want you to come by 9.00”, “If you want to get something you need for yourself, you should come by 9.00.” It would seem, what difference does it make how you say or think? But the fact is that by thinking this way regularly and giving the “green light” to the should attitude, we inevitably lead ourselves to stress, acute or chronic.

The attitude of obligation manifests itself in three areas. The first is the attitude of obligation in relation to oneself - that “I owe others.” Having the belief that you owe something to someone will serve as a source of stress every time someone or something reminds you of this debt and something or someone at the same time prevents you from fulfilling it .

Circumstances are often not in our favor, so fulfilling this “duty” under certain unfavorable circumstances becomes problematic. In this case, a person also falls into a mistake that he himself created: there is no possibility of “repaying the debt,” but there is also no possibility of “not repaying it.” In short, a complete dead end, threatening, moreover, “global” troubles.

The second sphere of establishing an obligation is more important than others. That is, we are talking about what “other people owe me”: how they should behave with me, how to speak in my presence, what to do. And this is one of the most powerful sources of stress, because never in anyone’s life, in the entire history of mankind, has there been such an environment where they always behaved “appropriately” in everything. Even among the highest-ranking leaders, even among the pharaohs and priests, even among the most odious tyrants (and this attitude is one of the reasons that they became tyrants), people appeared in their field of vision who acted “not as they should.” And, naturally, when we see a person who does not act as he supposedly “should towards me,” the level of psycho-emotional indignation rapidly increases. Hence the stress.

The third area of the attitude of obligation is the requirements imposed on the surrounding world. This is something that acts as a complaint about nature, the weather, the economic situation, the government, etc.

Words-markers: must (should, should, shouldn't, shouldn't, shouldn't, etc.), definitely, at all costs, "nosebleed."

Installation of catastrophizing

This attitude is characterized by exaggeration of the negative nature of a phenomenon or situation. It reflects the irrational belief that there are catastrophic events in the world that are assessed so objectively, outside of any frame of reference. The attitude manifests itself in statements of a negative nature, expressed to the most extreme extent. For example: “It’s terrible to be left alone in your old age,” “It would be a disaster to start panicking in front of everyone,” “Better the end of the world than blurting out something wrong in front of a lot of people.”

In the case of the influence of the catastrophizing attitude, a simply unpleasant event is assessed as something inevitable, monstrous and terrifying, destroying the basic values of a person once and for all. The event that occurred is assessed as a “universal catastrophe” and the person who finds himself in the sphere of influence of this event feels that he is unable to change anything for the better. For example, having made a number of mistakes and expecting inevitable claims from management, a certain employee begins an internal monologue, which he may not even realize: “Oh, horror! Hv, this is the end! I will be fired! This is monstrous! What will I do! This is a disaster !..” It is clear that, thinking in this way, a person begins to create a lot of negative emotions and after them physical discomfort appears.

But it is completely pointless to consciously “wind up” oneself, oppress and suppress oneself by reasoning about what happened, perceiving it as a universal catastrophe. Of course, being fired is unpleasant. But is this a disaster? No. Or is it something life-threatening, posing a mortal danger? Also no. Is it rational to go into tragic experiences rather than look for ways out of current circumstances?

Marker words: disaster, nightmare, horror, end of the world.

Installation of predicting a negative future

The tendency to believe one's specific expectations, either stated verbally or as mental images.

Remember one famous fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm. It's called "Smart Elsa". In a free paraphrase it sounds like this:

One day the wife (Elsa) went to the basement for milk (in the original - for beer!) and disappeared. The husband (Hans) waited and waited, but still no wife. And I already want to eat (drink), but she doesn’t come. He became worried: “Did something happen?” And he went to the basement to get her. He goes down the steps and sees: his missus is sitting and sobbing bitter tears. "What's happened?" - exclaimed the husband. And she answered: “Do you see the ax hanging by the stairs?” He: “Well, yes, so what?” And she burst into tears more and more. “What happened, finally tell me!” - the husband begged. The wife says: “When we have a child, he will go into the basement when he grows up, and the ax will fall off and kill him to death! What horror and bitter grief!” The husband, of course, reassured his other half, not forgetting to call her “smart” (in the original he even rejoiced with all his heart: “I don’t need more intelligence in my household”), and checked whether the ax was securely fastened. But the wife has already ruined her mood with her far-fetched assumptions. And she did it completely in vain. Now you have to calm down and restore your peace of mind for several hours...

This is how, becoming prophets, or rather pseudo-prophets, we predict failures, then we do everything to make them come true, and in the end we get them. But, in fact, does such forecasting seem reasonable and rational? Clearly not. Because our opinion about the future is not the future. This is just a hypothesis, which, like any theoretical assumption, must be tested for truth. And this is possible in some cases only experimentally (by trial and error). Of course, doubts are needed in order to find the truth and not make mistakes. But sometimes, getting in the way, they block movement and interfere with achieving results.

Marker words: what if; but what if; but it could be.

Maximalism setting

This attitude is characterized by the selection for oneself and/or other persons of the highest hypothetically possible standards (even if no one is able to achieve them), and the subsequent use of them as a standard for determining the value of an action, phenomenon or person.

The well-known expression is indicative: “To love is like a queen, to steal is like a million!”

Thinking is characterized by an “all or nothing!” attitude. The extreme form of the maximalist attitude is the perfectionist attitude (from perfectio (lat.) - ideal, perfect).

Marker words: to the maximum, only excellent/five, 100% (“one hundred percent”).

Dichotomous thinking mindset

Literally translated into Russian, po means “cut into two parts.” Dichotomous thinking is the tendency to place life experiences into one of two opposing categories, such as perfect or imperfect, blameless or despicable, saint or sinner.

Thinking under the dictates of such an attitude can be characterized as “black and white,” characterized by a tendency to think in extremes. Concepts (which are actually located on a continuum (in inextricable interaction)) are assessed as antagonists and as mutually exclusive options.

The statement: “In this world, you are either a winner or a loser” clearly demonstrates the polarity of the options presented and their harsh confrontation.

Marker words: or... - or... ("either yes - or no", "either pan or gone"), or - or... ("either alive or dead").

Setting up personalization

Manifests itself as a tendency to associate events exclusively with oneself, when there is no basis for such a conclusion, and also to interpret most events as concerning oneself.

“Everyone is looking at me,” “Surely these two are evaluating me now,” etc.

Marker words: pronouns - I, me, me, me.

Overgeneralization setting

Overgeneralization refers to patterns of formulating a general rule based on one or more isolated episodes. The influence of this attitude leads to a categorical judgment based on a single attribute (criterion, episode) about the entire set of phenomena. The result is unjustified generalization based on selective information. For example: “All men are pigs,” “If it doesn’t work out right away, then it will never work out.” A principle is formed - if something is true in one case, it is true in all other more or less similar cases.

Marker words: everything, no one, nothing, everywhere, nowhere, never, always, forever, constantly.

Mind Reading Installation

This attitude creates a tendency to attribute unspoken judgments, opinions and specific thoughts to other people. The gloomy look of the boss can be regarded by an anxious subordinate as thoughts, or even a ripe decision to fire him. This may be followed by a sleepless night of painful thoughts, and the decision: “I won’t let him get the pleasure of mocking me - I’ll quit of my own free will.” And the next morning, at the very beginning of the working day, the boss, who yesterday was tormented by stomach pains (which was the reason for his “stern” look), is trying to understand why suddenly his not the worst employee wants to quit so abruptly and with obvious irritation. work.

Marker words: he (she/they) thinks.

Evaluation installation

This attitude manifests itself in the case of assessing a person’s personality as a whole, and not his individual traits, qualities, actions, etc. Evaluation shows its irrational character when a separate aspect of a person is identified with the characteristics of his entire personality.

Marker words: bad, good, worthless, stupid, etc.

Anthropomorphism setting

Attribution of human properties and qualities to objects and phenomena of living and inanimate nature.

Marker words: wants, thinks, believes, fairly, honestly and similar statements addressed to inanimate objects.

Dmitry Kovpak, “How to get rid of anxiety and fear”

Good day, dear friend!

Analysis and examples of irrational attitudes

1. Everyone should love me and approve of my actions

Analysis: this is an irrational idea, since this goal is unattainable, trying to achieve it, a person loses independence, becomes insecure and, as a result, self-destructs, like sandstone.

It is advisable to be a loved one; True, reasonable people will not sacrifice their aspirations and interests in a hopeless attempt to achieve such a goal.

2. There is always an ideal or only correct solution to any problem and it must be found, otherwise problems cannot be avoided

Analysis: Irrational belief, since there is no ideal solution, the imagined results of unsuccessful attempts to find the ideal solution are unrealistic and can cause panic or anxiety, and such perfectionism leads to making a suboptimal decision. Smart people try to find different possible solutions to a problem and accept the ones that are most suitable and best for them, understanding that there is no perfect answer.

3. Frightening or dangerous events are the basis for strong feelings, this must be constantly remembered

Analysis: This is an irrational idea, since anxiety and worry interfere with an objective assessment of the possibility of a dangerous event occurring. Often they interfere with effective coping with it, if it occurs; anxiety can even increase the likelihood of a dangerous event, leading to an increase in the possibility of its occurrence, without preventing inevitable events, and as a result of anxiety, many unpleasant situations seem much worse than they really are.

People with rational thinking understand that potential dangers are not as catastrophic as they might seem at first glance; They also understand that anxiety cannot prevent frightening events and may even make them more likely to occur. Anxiety itself can cause more harm than the cause that caused it. A rational person understands that it is necessary to do what you are afraid of in order to make sure that there is no real danger.

These common irrational beliefs are, in reality, various combinations of eleven ideas, boiled down to three: the use of expressions like “should,” “should,” and “should” in our thinking.

It is categorical thinking (“I should...”, “I should...” and “I need...”) that gets people into trouble. Bold statements of this nature reflect irrationality and may aggravate or cause emotional disturbance. It is best to fight them using rational argument (for example, using rational analysis to fight your categorical thinking).