Reframing Cognitive Therapy to Integrate Recent Research on Emotion, Imagery, and Self-Talk

Abstract

The current research was designed to demonstrate that people concoct stories to explain lingering emotions, when the true source of emotion has passed without conscious integration. While viewing a DVD recording of nine abstract paintings in succession, subjects observed a) subliminal pictures of disgusting stimuli in the inter-painting intervals; b) supraliminal pictures of disgusting stimuli in the inter-painting intervals; or c) no pictures in the intervals. Over half of the subliminally stimulated subjects who experienced disgust failed to identify any of the disgusting stimuli and concocted stories about the source of their disgust. Future-oriented stories were more prevalent in subjects who were “desirous of explanations” and who had a futuristic attribution style, whereas past-oriented stories were more prevalent in subjects whose attribution style was not futuristic. The current results, like other findings reviewed in the introduction to this study, are not consistent with the theoretical underpinnings of cognitive therapy. Alternative research-based reasons for the effectiveness of cognitive therapy are suggested, and clinical cases integrating these suggestions are discussed.

Building Success: The Intersection of Emotional Intelligence, Self-Regulation, Grit and Mindset, and High Approval Teaching

“…Another cognitive behavioral strategy that parents and teachers can employ to help children or adolescents learn to self-regulate their emotions involves the use of "verbal self-instruction" or "self-talk" [15,16]. This technique can be effective in reducing emotional outbursts by training through active rehearsal, a series of pivotal questions that the child or adolescent can ask her/himself in the face of increased feelings of anger or other problematic emotions or behaviors.…”

“…To date, there are no definitive answers to these questions; understanding that both theories are so integrally intertwined requires that interventions with students must address both issues [25]. According to Polirstok [4], grit and mindset intervention strategies that teach students how to persist and make choices that lead to success can include: personal student narratives about overcoming obstacles and persevering [26,27]; biographies and adolescent literature about well-known individuals in pop culture who have made difficult choices that have propelled them to success [28]; computer programs about mindsets [29]; choices and outcomes [20,30]; self-evaluation [14,31,32] and selftalk protocols [15]; and training students to serve as peer tutors in order to strengthen their own ideas about following rules and on-task behavior that help students to be successful [7,33,34].…”

Strategies to Improve Academic Achievement in Secondary School Students: Perspectives on Grit and Mindset

“…A matching procedure with the significant rater can also help students learn to appreciate the perspective of the significant rater (parent, teacher, or work supervisor), which can help to maintain proacademic and prosocial behaviors over time "Score-It" application for cell phones makes data collection for students fairly simple, provides opportunities for matching ratings with significant other Ardoin and Martens (2004) Polirstok (1987, 1989) Margolis and McCabe (2006) Verbal self-instruction Students can regulate their own academic and/or social behaviors through a metacognitive "self-talk" process. The self-talk can be scripted and practiced; fix-up strategies can be part of self-talk Kunzendorf, McGlone, and Hulihan (2004) Margolis and McCabe (2006) …”

“…Verbal self-instruction. Another approach used by teachers to help adolescents learn to manage their time on-task and/or limit their own self-defeating thoughts around academic performance is termed "verbal self-instruction," a form of "self-talk" (Graybill, Jamison, & Swerdlik, 1984;Kunzendorf, McGlone, & Hulihan, 2004). Margolis and McCabe (2006) suggest that to increase self-efficacy in students, the teacher needs to use verbal persuasion to convince them that they are competent and can succeed if they employ a particular strategy.…”

Asperger Syndrome: A primer for behavioral interventionists.

“…Teaching "Self-Talk" To Mediate Anger or Frustration Responses Another strategy that teachers and parents can employ to help children and adolescents learn to self-regulate their emotions involves the use of "verbal self-instruction" or "self-talk" (Graybill, Jamison & Swerdlik, 1984;Kunzendorf, McGlone & Hulihan, 2004). This technique can be effective in reducing emotional outbursts by training through active rehearsal, a series of pivotal questions that the child or adolescent can ask himself or herself in the face of increased feelings of anger or other problematic emotions or behaviors.…”