Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-fv566 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-23T10:17:40.911Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Relationship between Affect, Behaviour, and Cognition in Behavioural and Cognitive Treatments of Depression and Phobic Anxiety

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 October 2014

Georg H. Eifert  and
Lyn Craill
Georg H. Eifert*
Affiliation:
James Cook University of North Queensland
Lyn Craill
Affiliation:
James Cook University of North Queensland
*
Department of Behavioural Sciences, James Cook University of North Queensland, Townsville Qld 4811
Get access

Abstract

Cognitive theories and therapies of emotional dysfunctions are based on the premise that the affective, behavioural, and cognitive response repertoires are fused and highly interdependent. Such views have been criticised with the argument that affect and cognition are relatively independent and that there is a much more direct and stronger link between affect and behaviour. In an attempt to clarify potential differences in the interplay between affect, behaviour, and cognition in unipolar depression and phobic anxiety, a quantitative review of the relative efficacy of performance-based (behavioural) versus cognitive intervention for these disorders was conducted. The relative superiority of cognitive over performance-based interventions in the treatment of unipolar depression supports the notion of a reasonably direct link between cognition and affect for this disorder providing a fairly effective pathway for treatment. On the other hand, the relative success of performance-based techniques in the treatment of phobias suggests that for these disorders the link between behaviour and affect is more direct and much stronger than the link between cognition and affect. It is concluded that the relative effectiveness of cognitive and performance-based intervention techniques depends on and points to differences in the specific type of affect-behaviour-cognition interface that underlies and is controlling depression and phobic anxiety.

Type
Research Article
Information
Behaviour Change , Volume 6 , Issue 2 , June 1989 , pp. 96 - 103
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 1989

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Barlow, D. (1988). Anxiety and its disorders. New York: Guilford.Google Scholar
Beck, A.T. (1970). Cognitive therapy: Nature and relation to behavior therapy. Behavior Therapy, 1, 184–200.Google Scholar
Bootzin, R.R. (1985). Affect and cognition in behavior therapy. In Reiss, S. & Bootzin, R.R. (Eds.), Theoretical issues in behavior therapy. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Cohen, J. (1977). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Craill, L. (1986). The affect-behaviour-cognition interface. A meta-analytic evaluation of cognitive behavioural treatments for anxiety disorders and unipolar depression. Unpublished honours thesis. James Cook University of North Queensland, Townsville.Google Scholar
Dush, D.M., Hirt, M.L. & Schroeder, H. (1983). Self-statement modification with adults: A metaanalysis. Psychological Bulletin, 94, 408–422.Google Scholar
Eifert, G.H. (1987). Language conditioning: Clinical issues and applications in behavior therapy. In Eysenck, H.J. & Martin, I.M. (Eds.) Theoretical foundations of behavior therapy. New York: Plenum.Google Scholar
Eifert, G.H. (in press). The acquisition and cognitive-behavioral therapy of phobic fear. In Eifert, G.H. & Evans, I.M. (Eds.) Unifying behavior therapy: Contributions of paradigmatic behaviorism. New York: Springer.Google Scholar
Eifert, G.H., Craill, L., O'Connor, C. & Carey, E. (1988). Affect modification through evaluative conditioning with music. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 26, 321–330.Google Scholar
Evans, I.M. & Eifert, G.H. (in press). Unifying behavior therapy from a paradigmatic behaviorism perspective. In Eifert, G.H. & Evans, I.M. (Eds.) Unifying behavior therapy: Contributions of paradigmatic behaviorism. New York: Springer.Google Scholar
Glass, G.McGaw, B. & Smith, M. (1981). Metaanalysis in social research. London: Sage.Google Scholar
Heiby, E.M. (1988). Paradigmatic behavioral theory of depression: Implications for subtypes. Symposium paper presented at the 24th International Congress of Psychology, Sydney, Australia.Google Scholar
Lang, P. (1984). Cognition in emotion: Concept and action. In Izard, C., Kagan, J., & Zajonc, R., (Eds.), Emotion, cognition, and behavior. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Latimer, P. & Sweet, A. (1984). Cognitive versus behavioral procedures in cognitive-behavior therapy: A critical review of the evidence. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 15, 9–22.Google Scholar
Lazarus, R.S. (1984). On the primacy of cognition. American Psychologist, 39, 124–129Google Scholar
Lee, C. (1987). Affective behavior modification: A case for empirical behaviorism. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 18, 203–213.Google Scholar
Martin, I.M. & Levey, A.B. (1985). Conditioning, evaluations, and cognitions: an axis for integration. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 23, 167–175.Google Scholar
Martin, I.M. & Levey, A.B. (1987). Learning what will happen next: Conditioning, evaluation, and cognitive processes. In Davey, G., (Ed.), Cognitive processes and Pavlovian conditioning in humans. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Miller, R.C. & Berman, J.S. (1983). The efficacy of cognitive behavior therapies: A quantitative review of the research evidence. Psychological Bulletin, 94, 39–53.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rachman, S.J. (1981). The primacy of affect: Some theoretical implications. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 19, 279–290.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Staats, A.W. & Heiby, E. (1985). The social behaviorism theory of depression. In Reiss, S. & Bootzin, R. (Eds.), Theoretical issues in behavior therapy. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Teasdale, J. (1983). Negative thinking in depression: cause, effect, or reciprocal relationship? Advances in Behaviour Research and Therapy, 5, 3–25.Google Scholar
Zajonc, R. (1984). On the primacy of affect. American Psychologist, 39, 117–123.Google Scholar