Cognitive Bias
- biased interpretation of ambiguous stimuli, which might include misinterpreting someone’s facial expression;
- making biased attributions such as misinterpreting the degree to which the cause of an event is to do with ourselves, or misinterpreting the degree to which the cause of an event is stable or transient;
- biased expectancies, such as a patient with anxiety expecting that negative outcomes are very likely to happen;
- biased heuristics, such as the emotional reasoning heuristic whereby mood influences the conclusions an individual draws.
Anger Thought Challenging Record
Worksheet
Behavioral Experiment (Portrait Format)
Worksheet
Catching Your Thoughts (CYP)
Worksheet
Challenging Your Negative Thinking (Archived)
Guide
Cognitive Behavioral Model Of Anorexia Nervosa (Fairburn, Cooper, Shafran, 2003)
Information Handout
Cognitive Behavioral Model Of Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD: Veale, 2004)
Information Handout
Cognitive Behavioral Model Of Bulimia Nervosa (Fairburn, Cooper, Shafran, 2003)
Information Handout
Cognitive Behavioral Model Of Health Anxiety (Salkovskis, Warwick, Deale, 2003)
Information Handout
Cognitive Behavioral Model Of Low Self-Esteem (Fennell, 1997)
Information Handout
Cognitive Behavioral Model Of Panic (Clark, 1986)
Information Handout
Cognitive Behavioral Model Of Social Phobia (Clark, Wells, 1995)
Information Handout
Cognitive Behavioral Model Of Tinnitus (McKenna, Handscombe, Hoare, Hall, 2014)
Information Handout
Core Belief Magnet Metaphor
Information Handout
Court Trial Thought Challenging Record (Archived)
Worksheet
Dysfunctional Thought Record
Worksheet
Evaluating Unhelpful Automatic Thoughts
Guide
Fact Or Opinion
Exercise
Health Anxiety Thought Record
Worksheet
Hindsight Bias
Information Handout
How Trauma Can Affect You (CYP)
Information Handout
Low Self-Esteem Formulation
Worksheet
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) Formulation
Worksheet
Process Focused Case Formulation
Worksheet
Prompts For Challenging Negative Thinking
Exercise
PTSD Formulation
Worksheet
Schema Formulation
Worksheet
Schema Metaphors
Information Handout
Social Anxiety Formulation
Worksheet
Thought Distortion Monitoring Record
Worksheet
Thought Record (Considered Response)
Worksheet
Thought Record (Evidence For And Against)
Worksheet
Thoughts And Depression
Information Handout
Thoughts In CBT (Psychology Tools For Living Well)
Chapter
Understanding Depression
Guide
Unhelpful Thinking Styles
Information Handout
What Is Memory?
Information Handout
What Keeps Depression Going?
Information Handout
What Keeps Low Self-Esteem Going?
Information Handout
Recommended Reading
- Beck, A. T., Rush, A. J., Shaw, B. F., Emery, G. (1979). Cognitive therapy of depression. New York: Guilford
- Burns, D. D. (1980. Feeling good. New York: Avon Books
What Is Cognitive Bias?
Disorders That May Be Maintained by Cognitive Bias
Cognitive biases, including biased interpretations, attributions, expectancies, or heuristics, are thought to contribute to the maintenance of:
- panic disorder (interpretation bias, attribution bias, expectancy bias, emotional reasoning);
- specific phobia (expectancy bias, emotional reasoning);
- social phobia (interpretation bias, attribution bias, expectancy bias);
- obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) (attribution bias, expectancy bias, emotional reasoning);
- post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (interpretation bias, attribution bias, expectancy bias, emotional reasoning);
- generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) (interpretation bias, attribution bias, expectancy bias, emotional reasoning);
- pain disorder (interpretation bias, expectancy bias);
- health anxiety (interpretation bias, attribution bias, expectancy bias);
- eating disorders (interpretation bias, attribution bias, expectancy bias);
- depression (interpretation bias, attribution bias, expectancy bias);
- bipolar disorder (attribution bias);
- psychosis (interpretation bias, attribution bias, expectancy bias);
- substance misuse (interpretation bias, attribution bias, expectancy bias).
Helpful Questions for Assessing Cognitive Bias
Some helpful questions for assessing cognitive bias:
- What do you think will happen if you do X or Y?
- What predictions are you making in this situation?
- What sort of evidence are you using to make this judgment or prediction?
- What do you expect will happen here?
- How do you know what will happen?
Treatment Approaches That Target Cognitive Bias
A wide range of treatment interventions are designed to target cognitive bias. These can include:
- data gathering exercises that aim to overcome attentional biases;
- thought-challenging exercises that aim to identify and then overcome cognitive distortions;
- exposure and behavioral experiments that target expectancy biases.
References
- Beck, A. T. (1963). Thinking and depression: I. Idiosyncratic content and cognitive distortions. Archives of General Psychiatry, 9(4), 324–333.
- Harvey, A. G., Watkins, E., Mansell, W., & Shafran, R. (2004). Cognitive behaviouralprocesses across psychological disorders: A transdiagnostic approach to research and treatment. New York: Oxford University Press.
- Kahneman, D. (2011). Thinking, fast and slow. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.