Faulty reasoning processes within verbalizations of non-psychotic psychotherapy patients
Date Issued
March 1, 1981
Author(s)
Brown, Larry Herbert
Advisor(s)
Wesley G. Morgan
Additional Advisor(s)
Kathleen Emmett
Kenneth Newton
Leonard Handler
Abstract
This research describes an attempt to develop and demonstrate a practical system for categorizing types of reasoning errors, taking advantage of the philosophical literature concerning reasoning fallacies. This literature has previously been neglected in the cognitive-behavioral literature despite expressed interest in irrationality as an aspect of psychological dysfunction. The proposed categorization system can be clinically applied toward better understanding cognitive processes in a wide range of types and degrees of psychological dysfunction, and consists of fifteen types of reasoning errors (arranged into eight groupings) which indicate faulty reasoning processes rather than specific cognitive content. The practicality of the categorization system as a clinically relevant rating scale is evaluated through methodology involving the rating of reasoning errors verbalized by patients during psychotherapy interviews. Results of this research support the conclusion that the following goals have been fulfilled; (1) Expansion of the number of types of errors in reasoning within the psychological literature; (2) Demonstration of the overt presence of errors in reasoning within a non-psychotic sample; (3) Demonstration that such errors occur within the context of a "normal" psychotherapeutic interview in which the elicitation of errors in reasoning is neither a special nor a primary concern of the interviewer; (4) Illustration of the potential clinical relevance of such errors in reasoning with regard to the assessment of psychological disturbance. The other goal of this research, that of demonstration of conceptual clarity of the proposed typology of faulty reasoning via interrater agreement was partially suggested, but not substantially fulfilled.
Degree
Doctor of Philosophy
Major
Psychology
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Thesis81b.B769.pdf
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