Irrational Belief Systems Research Articles

Defining and redefining atheism: dictionary and encyclopedia entries for “atheism” and their critics in the anglophone world from the early modern period to the present

ABSTRACTThis article examines dictionaries and encyclopedias’ coverage of the term “atheism” in the anglophone world from the early modern period up until the twentieth century. The article recounts how most dictionary- and encyclopedia-makers often portrayed atheism as an irrational and immoral belief system, through their use of negative illustrative quotations or the idea of “atheism” as a denial of God. The article will also show how atheists responded to these dictionaries and encyclopedias, particularly by examining the alternative definition supplied in the middle of the nineteenth century by Charles Bradlaugh, the most important British atheist of the era.

Konseling Rasional Emotif Perilaku: Sebuah Tinjauan Filosofis

RATIONAL EMOTIVE BEHAVIOR COUNSELING: A PHILOSOPHICAL REVIEW. Rational Emotive Behavior Counseling is a comprehensive, active-directive, philosophical and empirical counseling based on psychotherapy that focuses on solving problems of emotional and behavioral disorders, as well as delivering individuals to happier and fulfilling lives more lives. The foundation of the philosophy of Rational Emotive Behavior Counseling is phenomology, which implies that there is no problem within oneself, which causes one to be troubled is his or her own. Rational emotive behavior counseling is done by using a varied and systematic procedure that is specifically intended to alter behavior within the boundaries of objectives that counselors and counselees work on together. General Purpose Rational Emotive Behavior Counseling helps counselees to identify irrational belief systems and then modify them to become more rational. Rational Counseling Emotive Behavior is practiced around the world and has many counseling applications, over 50 years of existence, Rational Emotive Behavior Counseling has been successfully applied to individuals, groups, marriages, families and for a variety of issues.

The Ambiguous Reach of Constitutional Secularism in Republican France: Revisiting the Idea of Laicite and Political Liberalism as Alternatives

In the scholarship and discourse on French republicanism, it has become something of a received wisdom that the distinct, yet amorphous concept of laïcité in the French history of thought is set apart from the political liberalism of the Anglo-American world. While embracing the separation of religious and civil authority, laïcité is also associated with a highly abstracted and unitary ideal of citizenship, seeking to commit religious, cultural and ethnic differences to the ‘private sphere’, and a formal equality of rights that eschews the deterministic politics of ‘difference’. It is true that the origins of the ideal lie partly in the perfectionist zeal of the late 19th century—when the neologism ‘laïcité’ emerged—during which the anticlericalists of the Third Republic conceived constitutional secularism as a tool with which to emancipate the citizenry from servile, irrational belief-systems. Audard claims that even today, the ‘positivist epistemic’ basis of laïcité renders it unsuitable as a basis for public justification within the ‘political’ strictures of Rawlsian liberalism. I argue that this overlooks the very mixed ideological pedigree of laïcité in the French history of thought—its committal of religious identities to the ‘private sphere’ being compatible with the Rawlsian recognition of ‘reasonable pluralism’. Moreover, this juxtaposition also overlooks certain underexplored, Rawlsian resonances in the French republican history of thought.

Impact Of Gender Bias On Health And Nutrition Of The Tribal Women In Relation To Dynamics Of Development In India

Tribal communities in India are economically and socially backward and mostly live in forests and hilly terrains isolated from the other elite communities. They have their own way of living and different socio-cultural and eco-geographical settings. Lack of proper education and health facilities, faulty feeding habits, certain irrational belief systems and special tribal chores are likely to aggravate their health and nutritional status. Tribal women, in general, enjoy better status in the society than the general caste people because they exercise decisive role in the family (mother work), society (social work) and economy (other work) in India. However, the ideological devaluation of women’s contribution and reorientation of gender and sex have brought about concomitant drastic changes in the status of women and their empowerment in different dimensions of deprivation and exploitation, and imposed restrictions on daily folk-chores of life. In few communities, a definite decline has been observed threatening their very existence. This decline may not be due to low level of fertility but rather high level of mortality and illogical health practices. The success of dynamic tribal development is dependent on various factors like improved literacy rate, sustainable socio-economic status, women’s empowerment, better health care and other human resource indicators. It is much desirable to make reproductive health care accessible and affordable, extending basic amenities, empowering women and enhancing their employment opportunities, and providing the transport and communication facilities.

Neuroethics as a Brain-Based Philosophy of Life: The Case of Michael S. Gazzaniga

Michael S. Gazzaniga, a pioneer and world leader in cognitive neuroscience, has made an initial attempt to develop neuroethics into a brain-based philosophy of life that he hopes will replace the irrational religious and political belief-systems that still partly govern modern societies. This article critically examines Gazzaniga’s proposal and shows that his actual moral arguments have little to do with neuroscience. Instead, they are based on unexamined political, cultural and moral conceptions, narratives and values. A more promising way of interpreting the belief-forming system of the brain is to say that we cannot avoid thinking in terms of wider frameworks and narratives that are socially embedded and historically developed; consequently, any moral discussion has to be in terms of these frameworks and narratives.

Irrational Beliefs in Major Depression and Generalized Anxiety Disorders in an Iranian Sample: A Preliminary Study

Previous research on Rational Emotive Theory using western samples has shown that irrational belief systems are associated with emotional disorders such as anxiety and depression. In a replication of this work the present study was conducted to compare the scores of 29 clinically depressed, 31 clinically anxious, and 34 normal controls on the Irrational Beliefs Test in an Iranian sample. Consistent with Ellis's theory, depressed and anxious patients scored higher than the controls on scores for the full scale and all 10 subscales of the Irrational Beliefs Test. Also, the two patient groups differed significantly in their endorsement of 2 out of 10 irrational belief subscales but not in overall score on irrational beliefs. Results were interpreted in light of previous literature.

Irrational Fear of AIDS Associated with Suicidal Behavior

This article concerns patients who have an irrational conviction that they have AIDS, despite medical evidence to the contrary, and who, despite medical reassurance, go on to complete suicide or make serious suicide attempts. Patients with such irrational convictions often develop this symptom complex in the setting of extramarital affairs and subsequent feelings of guilt and shame. Two case reports are presented, one of completed suicide and one of serious attempted suicide. Both patients were on inpatient chemical dependency wards at the time of their suicidal acts. A comparison is made to syphilophobia. The literature on the irrational fear of AIDS and syphilophobia is reviewed. Although such cases are not common and suicidality among such patients is not common, it is helpful for clinicians to be aware of the potential risk for serious suicidal acts in patients who develop this irrational belief system.

“First Things First”: Maslow's Hierarchy as a Framework for Rebt in Promoting Disability Adjustment During Rehabilitation

Maslow's theory of hierarchical human needs can be integrated into a framework for identifying the psychological priorities of those faced with severe disablement and hospitalization. Within this framework can be identified a variety of behavioral and rational emotive interventions which can be tailored to the most logical sources of the key emotional discomforts in each category of Maslow's hierarchy. Interventions discussed range from those with a greater emphasis on educating and changing the staff-environment responsiveness regarding the patient's more basic and “prepotent” priorities, to an increasing focus on treating the patient's irrational belief system, as priorities at higher levels are addressed.

Pearce's "African Philosophy and the Sociological Thesis" a Response

Carole Pearce's argument against African philosophy is founded on a set of factual flaws and the fallacious assumption that African philosophy is equivalent to ethnophilosophy, which she defines as a form of intellectual apartheid founded on irrational belief systems. I argue that African philosophy is in no way qualitatively different from, say, French or Chinese philosophy, and that ethnophilosophy is merely one aspect of it But ethnophilosophy could play the important role of critically evaluating African ethnic belief systems and the interpretation of such by Western anthropologists. In general, African philoso phy is nothing more than the philosophical research (of whatever order) carried out by African philosophers in the context of African research paradigms.

Cognitions and Depression: Some Thoughts About New Directions

Haaga, D. A. (1986). A review of the common principles approach to integration of psychotherapies. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 10, 527-538. Haaga, D. A. F., Dyck, M. J., & Ernst, D. (1991). Empirical status of cognitive theory of depression. Psychological Bulletin, 110, 215-236. Hammen, C., & Goodman-Brown, T. (1990). Self-schemas and vulnerability to specific life stress in children at risk for depression. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 14, 215-227. Hollon, S. D., & Kendall, P. C. (1980). Cognitive self-statements in depression: Development of an automatic thoughts questionnaire. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 4, 383-397. Ingram, R. E., & Wisnicki, K. S. (1988). Assessment of positive automatic cognition. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 56, 898902. Jones, R. (1968). Afactored measure of Ellis' irrational belief system with personality and maladjustment correlates. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Texas Technical College, Lubbock. Kendall, P. C., Howard, B. L., & Hays, R. C. (1989). Self-referent speech and psychopathology: The balance of positive and negative thinking. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 13, 583-598. Koestner, R., Zuroff, D. C., & Powers, T. A. (1991). Family origins of adolescent self-criticism and its continuity into adulthood. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 100, 191-197. Needles, D. J., & Abramson, L. Y. (1990). Positive life events, attributional style, and hopefulness: Testing a model of recovery from depression. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 99, 156-165. Perez-Bouchard, L., Johnson, J. L., & Ahrens, A. H. (1991). On the origins of depressogenic attributional style: Attributional style in children of substance abusers. Unpublished manuscript, The American University, Washington, DC. Peterson, C., & Seligman, M. E. P. (1984). Causal explanations as a risk factor for depression: Theory and evidence. Psychological Review, 91, 347-374. Peterson, C., Semmel, A., von Baeyer, C., Abramson, L. Y., Metalsky, G., & Seligman, M. E. P. (1982). The Attributional Style Questionnaire. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 6, 287-300. Plomin, R., Chipuer, H. M., & Loehlin, J. C. (1990). Behavioral genetics and personality. In L. A. Pervin (Ed.), Handbook ofpersonality: Theory and research (pp. 225-243). New York: Guilford. Scarr, S., & McCartney, K. (1983). How people make their own environments: A theory of genotype-environment effects. Child Development, 54, 424-435. Schwartz, R. M., & Garamoni, G. L. (1989). Cognitive balance and psychopathology: Evaluation of an information processing model of positive and negative states of mind. Clinical Psychology Review, 9, 271-294. Segal, Z. V. (1988). Appraisal of the self-schema construct in cognitive models of depression. Psychological Bulletin, 103, 147-162. Smith, T. W. (1989). Assessment in rational-emotive therapy: Empirical access to the ABCD model. In M. E. Bernard & R. DiGiuseppe (Eds.), Inside rational-emotive therapy: A critical appraisal of the theory and therapy of Albert Ellis (pp. 135-153). San Diego: Academic. Weissman, A. N., & Beck, A. T. (1978). Development and validation of the Dysfunctional Attitude Scale: A preliminary investigation. Paper presented at the meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Toronto.

Irrational thinking in humans: An evolutionary proposal for Ellis' genetic postulate

An evolutionary proposal is outlined for Ellis' genetic postulate for irrational thinking in the human species. Evolutionary bases are explored for demanding and grandiose thought constructs (cognitive products) which are either learned and/or created during one's lifetime due to a genetic potential to think irrationally (cognitive processes). Demandingness and grandiosity are emphasized because they serve as primary cognitive tendencies in rational-emotive therapy (RET) which appear to drive most other irrational belief systems. The main postulate is that a genetic potential to think irrationally has evolved and is genetically coded in humans because it facilitated adaptive behavioral and emotional responses as a means of securing critical advantages in early childhood development, increased reproductive success, and basic survival. Sociobiological and Darwinian principles are applied to support this hypothesis.

The contemplation of suicide: Its relationship to irrational beliefs in a client sample and the implications for long range suicide prevention

This study investigated differences in irrational belief systems between clients in psychotherapy who reported they were contemplating suicide and those who reported they were not. The sample included over 95% of all persons aged 16 and over seen for psychotherapy over a six-year period (90 males and 117 females). Those contemplating suicide (N=85) were significantly more irrational on a number of basic dimensions. The general composite picture was that of an individual who sees him/herself as a helpless victim of past and present circumstances who must, nevertheless, perform well, be approved of, and never have anything go wrong; any kind of failure would be awful for it would prove one to be a worthless person. Findings are consistent with other cognitive-behavioral research on suicide. Other approaches to the explanation of suicide are reviewed and criticized, especially those that in Rational-Emotive Therapy terms have made an “A-C error.”

Obsessional Thought Disturbance in a Gainfully Employed PTSD Patient

This is a single case study of obsessional thought disturbance in a currently employed Vietnam veteran who experienced traumatic stress during and subsequent to his tour of duty in Vietnam. It was hypothesized that with the diagnostic indicators present a systematic desensitization model with muscle relaxation, covert imagery, cognitive disputation and self-monitoring would offer relief to the patient's obsessive-compulsive features and allow maintenance of employment. Cognitive disputation, especially with spouse participation addressing the irrational belief system, proved to be a very effective component in the treatment program. The patient learned effective coping skills to guard against future obsessional thought disturbance and has been able to maintain gainful employment.

Irrationality profiles for anger and anxiety

A fundamental position in Rational-Emotive Therapy (RET) is that irrational belief systems cause emotional disturbance. This study adds to the body of recent research substantiating this position by showing significantly different profiles on the Jones Irrational Beliefs Test (IBT) (1968/1969) for a nonclinical population (N=446) differentiated according to low, medium, and high anxiety and low, medium, and high anger. The profile differences not only support the above fundamental position, but also offer some further evidence for the validity of the IBT.

Cognitive Belief Systems and Their Persistence: Test-Retest Reliability of the Rational Behavior Inventory

It is a basic tenet of rational emotive and other cognitive restructuring psychotherapies that irrational belief systems are relatively stable constructs. The present study investigated this premise by examining the 10-wk. test-retest reliability of the Rational Behavior Inventory, a well-documented measure of irrational beliefs, employing a sample of 74 undergraduates. Correlations between scores for the first and second administrations of the inventory were moderate to high, and significant. There were no significant differences in scores taken at the beginning and end of 10 wk. These data confirm that irrational beliefs exhibit temporal stability.

Phobic anxiety and irrational belief systems.

In a test of the hypothesis that irrational thinking is associated with phobic anxiety, the Rational Behavior Inventory and the Fear Survey Schedule were administered to 128 undergraduates. Although a statistically significant correlation between irrationality and phobic anxiety was found, the result appears to have little clinical meaning. Other evidence is cited which suggests that rational emotive therapy is best suited for the treatment of generalized anxiety, whereas deconditioning treatments are appropriate for most cases of phobic anxiety.

The effects of rational and irrational self-verbalizations on performance efficiency and levels of anxiety.

Investigated the effects of rational vs. irrational belief systems (as measured by the Ellis Irrational Values Scale) and rational vs. irrational self-verbalizations on levels of anxiety and persistence on a performance task. Ss (N = 40) were instructed to assemble a virtually insolvable task call Soma. The variables of interest were how long each S would persist on this task and how much anxiety (as measured by the A-State portion of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory) was aroused in working on this task. Following a baseline trial trying to solve Soma, Ss were assigned to either a rational or irrational self-talk condition and were led to believe that such self-talk would help in a second attempt to solve Soma. In line with cognitive models of psychology, it was found that rational self-talk Ss showed a significant decrease in levels of state anxiety compared to irrational self-talk Ss in attempting to solve Soma in the second trial. Contrary to cognitive models of psychology, scores obtained from the EIVS and the A-Trait portion of the STAI were not found to be related to persistence.

Relationships between irrational thinking and psychiatric symptomatology.

Previous research on the clinical theory of Rational Emotive Therapy has shown that irrational belief systems are associated with global indices of psychopathology such as state and trait anxiety and depression. In an extension of this earlier work a correlational study was conducted on the relationships between irrationality and a self-report measure of highly specific indices of psychiatric symptomatology, the Symptom Checklist-90. The sample consisted of 62 undergraduates (37 female, 25 male, means age = 21 years) enrolled in an upper-level psychology course. Seven of the nine correlations were statistically significant, indicating that greater irrationality was associated with higher levels of psychiatric symptomatology. These results provide additional evidence in support of the clinical theory of Rational Emotive Therapy.

Discriminant validity of the Rational Behavior Inventory with respect to social desirability.

The clinical theory of rational-emotive therapy suggests that various forms of neurosis are characterized by specific patterns of irrational th~nking (2 ) . This position is supported by recent investigations which employed the Rational Behavior Inventory ( 4 ) as a measure of irrational belief system; strong associations were found between irrationality and various indices of psychopathology such as test, sute and trait anxiety, depression, a more external locus of control and psychiauic symptomatologf (3, 5 ) . It is possible however, that these associations may represent the variance the Rational Behavior Inventory shares with other measures through the common component of social desirability or the extent to which respondents formulate their answers to present che most favorable image of themselves. To investigate this possibility. the Rational Behavior Inventory and the Social Desirability Scale (1) were administered to 57 college undergraduates, 30 men and 27 women whose mean age was 20 yr., Means, standard deviations and ranges for the total scores of the two inventories are presented in the table below. Men and women did not score significantly differently on these measures. Pearson product-moment correlations were calculated between the Social Desirability Scale and the total Rational Behavior Inventory score and each of its 11 s u b factors. Total scores for the two inventories were not significantly related and only one subfactor, number nine (self-disparagmenr) achieved significance ( r = .36, p < .01). This small association between rationality and social desirability suggesn that relationships between the Rational Behavior Inventory and other measures represent meaningful findings rather than artifacts.

A Multivariate Analysis of Japanese Attitude Toward Life and Death

In an attempt to uncover various factors which would be considered to underlie Japanese attitudes and behaviors, probes into the deeply routed irrational feeling and belief systems such as luck, superstition, religious awareness and, especially, attitude toward life and death have been made. Presented here are results obtained from an analysis of the attitude toward life and death as measured by questionnaire method. The responses to individual questions were subjected to Hayashi’s Quantification III and POSA. The religious-philosophical and ethical-moral aspects of the views were found to be two dimensions of the attitude. Further analyses of the responses in terms of demographic attributes and other awarenesses and behaviors related to the attitude revealed some attitude characteristics which would seem to be peculiar to the Japanese, such as views toward death of the war-surviving generation and views toward mother-child suicide of females in general. The background of these peculiarities were discussed.