Cognitive School
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Cognitive School is very consciously positioning itself at the level of consciousness, and they try to solve problems within the level of consciousness. In addition to the representative Baker mentioned in the previous section, the explanation and treatment of depression shows that the concept of subconsciousness is not needed, another representative Alice also insists on constructing theories within the level of consciousness.
The solution adopted by the cognitive school is the second method, which is to find intermediate links in the causal relationship in the past. Ellis adds a link between stimulation and behavioral emotions, cognition. He believes that it is not the events that cause our behavior and emotions to occur, but our perception of events is the real reason. Take the interview rejection as an example. It is not that the interview result causes your mood to change, but that your view on the interview result causes your mood to change. In other words, the interview rejection is just the first domino. There is also a domino separated from the emotions. My understanding of this matter. Different cognitions can lead to different emotional reactions. If you think that being rejected in an interview means you will lose your job, then you will obviously be anxious and disappointed, and if you think this is just a small episode in your employment process, then you obviously won’t care too much.
does this causal chain only have these three links? No, why does the perception of unemployment lead to worse mood? Ellis believes that the perception of unemployment on the surface causes you to be anxious, but in fact, your desires lead to your anxiety, that is, the idea of not wanting to be unemployed causes you to be anxious. If you don’t care whether you are unemployed or not, you will not be anxious about unemployment. Of course, you will not be anxious about unemployment. Therefore, a negative evaluation leads to a negative emotion, which actually omits a goal. If you have no hope for life, then the good or bad life will not affect your mood.
If we expand the concept of purpose and include all the so-called desires, motivations, standards, and norms, we think it is very reasonable for Ellis' analysis, that is, the goal that does not appear usually exists. For example, in the second case of the book "Depression", the purpose of not wanting to divorce is reasonable. But this goal does not appear clearly in the consciousness, but is just a convenient summary of what it thinks and does. Then the word goal needs to be as cautious as the subconscious mind.
is like this. The cognitive school mainly explains the probability nature of the causal relationship at the conscious level by looking for intermediate links. They add cognition, goals, and evaluations between events and behaviors, and experiences, extend the causal chain and form an intersection to form a complex causal network, and construct a detailed psychological structure at the conscious level.
However, the cognitive school sometimes has the problem of using its own theories beyond the scope. They hope to solve more problems at the level of consciousness, so the problem of forced explanations arises.
takes Ellis' analysis of love anxiety as an example. In his book "Control Anxiety", about love anxiety, he wrote: Let's take one of the most common examples: Suppose you really fall in love with someone. And you obviously feel that this person has not made any special response to your feelings. He ignores your love and even doesn't seem to like you, but you still hope that he will respond to your love. So if he doesn't respond, you'll be anxious. How can you relieve this anxiety? first. Suppose you are not just eager for your beloved to love you as well. You also have an extremely strong desire, that he must love you, why? Why do we make such assumptions? Because you are now trying rational emotional behavior therapy. And this theory points out that when you are in abnormally anxious situations, you are likely to have a must-have belief. So, let's assume that this situation exists. The passage of
is very conscious. Ellis assumes that there is an absolute concept, and the reason is the need for rational emotional behavior therapy.But it is inappropriate to force such an absolute belief to add to the theoretical need. This is a bit similar to the subconscious in psychoanalysis . In fact, cognitive therapy often causes clients to admit that they have such necessary beliefs. Is this inspiring, reminiscence-like consciousness real or fictional? This issue needs to be paid attention to. Instead of barely focusing on the psychological structure at the level of consciousness, it is better to use the psychological structure at the level of brain to explain it to be real and natural.
Elis later noticed that it is impossible to rely solely on the consciousness level to solve all problems, so the treatment method he later founded was called rational emotional behavior therapy. This treatment method actually includes three levels: consciousness level, brain area level and nerve level. This not only greatly increases the theoretical interpretation ability, but also enriches the tools available for use.
