CBT CBT Theory & Core Principles 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Albert Ellis's Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) uses the ABC model. What does the 'B' stand for?
- Behavior
- Beliefs (Correct answer)
- Bias
- Baseline
Correct answer: Beliefs
In Ellis's ABC model, B stands for Beliefs — the rational or irrational beliefs about the activating event that produce emotional consequences.
Question 2: Which cognitive distortion involves concluding that one negative event will lead to a never-ending pattern of defeat?
- Personalization
- Overgeneralization (Correct answer)
- Catastrophizing
- Emotional reasoning
Correct answer: Overgeneralization
Overgeneralization draws a sweeping conclusion from a single negative incident, applying it globally to all future situations.
Question 3: Behavioral experiments in CBT differ from exposure exercises primarily in that they:
- Always involve imaginal rather than in vivo tasks
- Are designed to test the validity of specific beliefs rather than reduce anxiety through habituation (Correct answer)
- Use therapist modeling instead of client action
- Are only used in third-wave CBT approaches
Correct answer: Are designed to test the validity of specific beliefs rather than reduce anxiety through habituation
Behavioral experiments are designed to gather evidence that directly tests a specific belief, while exposure targets anxiety reduction through habituation or inhibitory learning.
Question 4: The concept of 'reciprocal determinism,' introduced by Bandura, contributes to CBT by explaining that:
- Reinforcement automatically shapes behavior without cognitive mediation
- Behavior, cognition, and environment all mutually influence each other (Correct answer)
- Genetic factors determine emotional responses
- Past trauma determines current behavior
Correct answer: Behavior, cognition, and environment all mutually influence each other
Reciprocal determinism holds that behavior, cognitive factors, and environmental influences are interdependent and continuously interact.
Question 5: Which of the following is NOT one of Beck's original cognitive distortions?
- Selective abstraction
- Mind reading
- Flooding (Correct answer)
- Magnification
Correct answer: Flooding
Flooding is a behavioral technique involving prolonged exposure, not a cognitive distortion in Beck's taxonomy.
Question 6: In the CBT formulation, 'maintenance factors' refer to:
- Historical events that caused the problem
- Current processes keeping the problem alive despite its original cause (Correct answer)
- The therapist's plan for sustaining treatment gains
- Medication management during therapy
Correct answer: Current processes keeping the problem alive despite its original cause
Maintenance factors are the ongoing cognitive, behavioral, and environmental processes that perpetuate the problem in the present.
Question 7: Which metaphor is commonly used in ACT (a third-wave CBT) to illustrate cognitive defusion?
- The ladder of inference
- Leaves floating on a stream (Correct answer)
- The thought record
- The fear hierarchy
Correct answer: Leaves floating on a stream
ACT uses the 'leaves on a stream' exercise to help clients observe thoughts passing by without fusing with them.
CBT CBT Theory & Core Principles 3
Albert Ellis's Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) uses the ABC model.
What does the 'B' stand for?