Abstract
One of the fundamental therapeutic goals of cognitive behavior therapy is to change maladaptive beliefs that a client holds about him/herself, a procedure often designated as cognitive restructuring, cognitive relabeling, or self-statement modification. The purpose of this paper is to propose that the persuasive communication research offers heuristic suggestions regarding factors that might be taken into account by the cognitive behavioral scientist/clinician concerned with the modification of self-statements. Source, message, and audience variables have all been shown to affect the degree of attitude change obtained through persuasive communications. In the present analogy the therapist is considered the source, the client is the audience, and the content of the message is the adaptive set of self-statements the therapist would like to persuade the client to come to believe. The latter are proposed therapeutic self-statements rather than the naturally occurring, internal cognitive responses/thoughts that the clients will make both prior to and after receiving such a communication. Relevant issues and factors that might affect the content and perceived credibility of these proposed self-statements are discussed as they relate to cognitive behavior therapy.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bandura, A.Principles of behavior modification. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1969.
Bandura, A.Social learning theory. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1977.
Beck, A. T.Cognitive therapy and the emotional disorders. New York: International Universities Press, 1976.
Bergin, A. E. Cognitive therapy and behavior therapy. Foci for a multidimensional approach to treatment.Behavior Therapy 1970,1 205–212.
Cacioppo, J. T., & Petty, R. E. The effects of message repetition and position on cognitive response, recall and persuasion.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, in press.
Cook, T. D., & Flay, B. F. The persistence of experimentally induced attitude change. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.),Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 8). New York: Academic Press, 1978.
Craighead, L. W. Self-instructional training for assertive-refusal behavior.Behavior Therapy 1979,10 529–542.
Craighead, W. E., Craighead, L. W., & Meyers, A. W. New directions in behavior modification with children. In M. Hersen, R. M. Eisler, & P. M. Miller (Eds.),Progress in behavior modification (Vol. 6). New York: Academic Press, 1978.
Craighead, W. E., Kazdin, A. E., & Mahoney, M. J.Behavior modification: Principles, issues, and applications. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1976.
Craighead, W. E., Kimball, W. H., & Rehak, P. J. Mood changes, physiological response, and self-statements during social rejection imagery.Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 1979,47 385–396.
Derlega, F. J. Effects of involvement, competence and discrepancy on opinion change.Journal of Social Psychology 1972,87 301–309.
Dulany, D. E. Awareness, rules, and propositional control: A confrontation with S-R behavior therapy. In T. R. Dixon & D. L. Horton (Eds.),Verbal behavior and general behavior theory. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1968.
Eagly, A. H., & Himmelfarb, S. Current trends in attitude theory and research. In S. Himmelfarb & A. H. Eagly (Eds.),Reading in attitude change. New York: Wiley, 1974.
Ellis, A.Reason and emotion in psychotherapy. New York: Lyle Stuart, 1962.
Fishbein, M., & Ajzen, I.Belief, attitude, intention and behavior: An introduction to theory and research. Reading, Massachusetts: Addison-Wesley, 1975.
Gorn, G. J. Effects of ego-involvement, communication discrepancy and communicator prestige on attitude change (Doctoral dissertation).Dissertation Abstracts International 1971,33 1-B, p. 420.
Greenwald, A. G. On defining attitudes and attitude theory. In A. G. Greenwald, T. C. Brock, & T. M. Ostrom (Eds.),Psychological foundations of attitudes. New York: Academic Press, 1968.
Greenwald, A. G., & Albert, R. D. Acceptance and recall of improvised arguments.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 1968,8 31–34.
Hovland, C. I., Harvey, O. J., & Sherif, M. Assimilation and contrast effects in reactions to communication and attitude change.Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology 1957,55 244–252.
Hovland, C. I., & Janis, I. L. (Eds.),Personality and persuasibility. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1959.
Hovland, C. I., Janis, J. L., & Kelly, H. H.Communication and persuasion. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1953.
Kazdin, A. E. Covert modeling and the reduction of avoidance behavior.Journal of Abnormal Psychology 1973,81 87–95.
Kazdin, A. E. Covert modeling, model similarity and reduction of avoidance behavior.Behavior Therapy 1974,3 325–340. (a)
Kazdin, A. E. The effect of model identity and fear-relevant similarity on covert modeling.Behavior Therapy 1974,5 624–635. (b)
Kelly, G. A.The psychology of personal constructs. New York: Norton, 1955.
Kelman, H. C. Compliance, identification and internalization: Three processes of attitude change.Journal of Conflict Resolution 1958,2 51–60.
Kelman, H. C. Processes of opinion change.Public Opinion Quarterly 1961,25 57–78.
Kiesler, C. A.The psychology of commitment. New York: Academic Press, 1971.
Kiesler, C. A., Collins, B. E., & Miller, N.Attitude change: A critical analysis of theoretical approaches. New York: Wiley, 1969.
Lang, P. J. The psychophysiology of anxiety. In H. Akiskal (Ed.),Psychiatric diagnosis: Exploration of biological criteria. New York: Spectrum, in press.
Lazarus, A. A.Multimodal behavior therapy. New York: Springer, 1976.
Leventhal, H. Findings and theory in the study of fear communications. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.),Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 5). New York: Academic Press, 1970.
Mahoney, M. J.Cognition and behavior modification. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Ballinger, 1974.
Mahoney, M. J. Psychotherapy and the structure of personal revolutions. In M. J. Mahoney (Ed.),Psychotherapy process. New York: Plenum, 1980.
McGuire, W. J. Inducing resistance to persuasion: Some contemporary approaches. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.),Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 1). New York: Academic Press, 1964.
McGuire, W. J. The nature of attitudes and attitude change. In G. Lindzey & E. Aronson (Eds.),The handbook of social psychology. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Addison-Wesley, 1969.
McGuire, W. J., & Papageorgis, D. The relative efficacy of various types of prior belief defense in producing immunity against persuasion.Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology 1961,62 327–337.
Meichenbaum, D. Examination of model characteristics in reducing avoidance behavior.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 1971,17 298–307.
Meichenbaum, D. Toward a cognitive theory of self-control. In G. Schwartz & D. Shapiro (Eds.),Consciousness and self-regulation: Advances in research. New York: Plenum Press, 1975.
Meichenbaum, D.Cognitive-behavior modification: An integrative approach. New York: Plenum Press, 1977.
Miller, N. Involvement and dogmatism as inhibitors of attitude change.Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 1965,1 121–132.
Murphy, G.Personality. New York: Harper & Row, 1947.
Petty, R. E., & Cacioppo, J. T. Forewarning, cognitive responding, and resistance to persuasion.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 1977,35 645–655.
Petty, R. E., Ostrom, T. M., & Brock, T. C. (Eds.).Cognitive responses in persuasion: A text in attitude change. New York: McGraw-Hill, in press.
Rhine, R. J., & Severance, L. J. Ego-involvement, discrepancy, source credibility, and attitude change.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 1970,16 175–190.
Rosenberg, M. Psychological selectivity in self-esteem formation. In C. W. Sherif & M. Sherif (Eds.),Attitude, ego-involvement, and change. New York: Wiley, 1967.
Schwartz, R. M., & Gottman, J. M. Toward a task analysis of assertive behavior.Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 1976,44 910–920.
Sherif, C. W.Orientation in social psychology. New York: Harper & Row, 1976.
Sherif, C. W., Kelly, M., Rogers, H. L., Sarup, G., & Tittler, B. I. Personal involvement, social judgment and action.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 1973,27 311–328.
Sherif, M., & Hovland, C. I.Social judgment: Assimilation and contrast effects in communication and attitude change. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1961.
Tesser, A. Self-generated attitude change. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.),Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 8). New York: Academic Press, 1978.
Thorpe, G. L., Amatu, H. I., Blakey, R. S., & Burns, L. E. Contributions of overt instructional rehearsal and “specific insight” to the effectiveness of self-instructional training: A preliminary study.Behavior Therapy 1976,7 504–511.
Triandis, H. C.Attitude and attitude change. New York: Wiley, 1971.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Craighead, L.W., Craighead, W.E. Implications of persuasive communication research for the modification of self-statements. Cogn Ther Res 4, 117–134 (1980). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01173644
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01173644