The Negative Core Beliefs Inventory: Development and Psychometric Properties

Abstract

Although the core belief construct is central in A. T. Beck’s cognitive theory, little empirical research has been conducted to date to establish its psychometric properties as well as the way it explains manifestations of psychopathology. The aims of this study were to develop and provide the first evidence of validity and reliability of a new measure of core beliefs that quantifies negative core beliefs about the self (nCB-S) and negative core beliefs about others (nCB-O). Results indicated that this measure has adequate internal consistency and test–retest reliability. Factor analyses confirmed that nCB-S and nCB-O fall on separate dimensions, and they provided preliminary evidence that nCB-S can be separated further into (a) helplessness/inferiority, (b) helplessness/vulnerability, (c) unlovability, and (d) worthlessness. Consistent with expectations, the scores on the nCB-S and nCB-O scales correlated positively with reports of negative experiences in childhood, attachment styles, anxiety, and depression. These preliminary results suggest that core beliefs can be measured in a reliable and valid manner and that the instrument proposed in this article can be used in studies designed to validate aspects of A. T. Beck’s cognitive theory.

How Our Caregivers Shape Who We Are: The Seven Dimensions of Attachment at the Core of Personality

“…Personality can be defined as the fairly stable psychological characteristics of an individual ( McCrae and Costa, 2003 ; Corr and Matthews, 2009 ; Engler, 2013 ; Beck et al, 2015 ; Friedman and Schustack, 2015 ), which, according to a cognitive approach, are critically determined by the individual’s core knowledge – a set of core beliefs ( Young, 2002 ; Dweck, 2008 ; Perdighe and Mancini, 2010 ; Beck et al, 2015 ; Osmo et al, 2018 ). This perspective, of course, raises two questions: (1) What are these core beliefs?…”

A Randomized Clinical Trial to Assess the Efficacy of Online-Treatment with Trial-Based Cognitive Therapy, Mindfulness-Based Health Promotion and Positive Psychotherapy for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Study Protocol

“…TBCT is a psychotherapeutic intervention whose foundation lies on Beckian CBT [ 28 , 50 ]. Although TBCT, like CBT, includes psychoeducation, cognitive restructuring and behavior experiments assigned as homework, it differs from other CBT approaches in terms of formulation (e.g., TBCT conceptualization diagram), techniques (e.g., participation grid to deal with guilt) and measurement instruments, such as the Cognitive Distortions Questionnaire (CD-Quest) [ 51 ] and the Negative Core Beliefs Inventory (NCBI) [ 52 ], making TBCT a distinctive approach in restructuring cognition at the three levels of cognition, especially in modifying the dysfunctional negative CBs of patients.…”

Natural language processing for cognitive therapy: Extracting schemas from thought records

“…Unlike automatic thoughts, schemas have received little attention in empirical research to date [ 5 ]. When considered, they have typically been explored in a top-down manner with measurement instruments developed on the basis of cognitive theory and validated with exploratory factor analyses (for example, [ 5 , 6 ]).…”

“…Unlike automatic thoughts, schemas have received little attention in empirical research to date [ 5 ]. When considered, they have typically been explored in a top-down manner with measurement instruments developed on the basis of cognitive theory and validated with exploratory factor analyses (for example, [ 5 , 6 ]). To the best of our knowledge, only one classification rubric for schemas exists that was not exclusively derived from theory but created from a content analysis of a set of thought records (also including DAT) collected with an online self-help cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) program, namely the schema rubric of Millings and Carnelley [ 7 ].…”