The Psychology Book (66 page)

210

ONE IS NOT

ONE

JON KABA ’

T- S

ZI T

NN (194 H

4– ) OUGH

TS

IN CONTEXT

APPROACH

F
ollowing World War II, there Based Stress Reduction (MBSR),

was an increased interest

which integrates meditation into

in Eastern philosophies

the framework of cognitive therapy.

throughout Europe and the US,

Mindfulness meditation

bringing ideas such as meditation

Practicing mindfulness

BEFORE

into mainstream culture. The

Central to Kabat-Zinn’s approach

medical benefits of meditation

is “mindfulness.” In this form of

c.500 BCE
Siddhartha

attracted the interest of American

meditation, the object is to observe

Gautama (the Buddha)

biologist and psychologist Jon Kabat-

thoughts and mental processes (as

includes right mindfulness

Zinn, who went on to pioneer an

well as body or physical processes)

as the seventh step of the

approach known as Mindfulness-

in a detached, decentered, and

Eightfold Path to end suffering.

nonjudgemental way; “to stay in the

1960s
Vietnamese Buddhist

body, and to watch what’s going on

monk Thich Nhat Hanh

in the mind, learning neither to reject

popularizes mindful

things nor to pursue things, but

meditation in the US.

just to let them be and let them go.”

In mindfulness meditation, we

AFTER

learn to observe thought processes

1990s
Mindfulness-Based

calmly, without identifying with

Cognitive Therapy (MBCT)

them, and realize that our minds

is developed by Zindel Segal,

have a life of their own. A thought

Mark Williams, and John

of failure, for instance, is seen as

Teasdale for the treatment

simply an event in the mind, not as

of depression, and is based

a springboard to the conclusion “I

on Kabat-Zinn’s MBSR.

am a failure.” With practice we can

learn to see mind and body as one

1993
Dialectical Behavior

Buddhist meditation
has encouraged

thing: a “wholeness.” Each of us is

Therapy uses mindfulness

the practice of mindfulness for more than

more than just a body, says Kabat-

without meditation for people

2,000 years, but its mental and physical

Zinn, and more than the thoughts

too disturbed to achieve the

health benefits were not clinically tested

and proven until the early 1990s.

that go through our minds. ■

necessary state of mind.

See also:
Joseph Wolpe 86–87 ■ Fritz Perls 112–17 ■ Erich Fromm 124–29 ■

Aaron Beck 174–77 ■ Neal Miller 337 ■ John D. Teasdale 339

COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY 211

THE FEAR IS THAT

BIOLOGY WILL

DEBUNK ALL THAT

WE HOLD SACRED

STEVEN PINKER (1954– )

IN CONTEXT

APPROACH

T
he debate over how much futile. The third fear is that if our

of our behavior is innate

behavior is determined by genes,

(inborn) and how much can

we can abdicate responsibility for

be attributed to our environment

our misdemeanors, and blame them

Evolutionary psychology

dates back thousands of years. Some

on our genetic make-up. The final

BEFORE

cognitive psychologists have claimed

fear, Pinker says, is the most

that not only do we inherit certain

fundamental. This is the fear that

1859
Biologist Charles Darwin

psychological characteristics they

if we accept that we are shaped by

says that emotion, perception,

are also subject to the same sort of

evolutionary psychology, our “finer

and cognition are evolutionary

natural selection as our physical

feelings”—our perceptions, motives,

adaptations.

characteristics. They point out that

and emotions—will be reduced to

1960s
Noam Chomsky claims

the mind is a product of the brain,

mere processes of our genetic

that the capacity for language

and the brain is shaped by genetics.

evolution, and so biology will

is an innate ability.

This new field of evolutionary

“debunk all that we hold sacred.” ■

psychology has met with strong

1969
John Bowlby argues that

opposition, but one of its champions

the attachment of newborn

is the Canadian psychologist Steven

babies to their mothers is

Pinker, who has identified four fears

genetically programmed.

that lie behind our reluctance to

1976
In
The Selfish Gene
,

accept evolutionary psychology

British biologist Richard

despite the empirical evidence. The

The Blank Slate…

Dawkins states that behavioral

first fear is one of inequality: if the

promised to make racism,

tendencies evolve through

mind is a “blank slate” when we

sexism, and class prejudice

interaction with others over a

are born, we are all born equal. But

factually untenable.

long period of time.

if we inherit mental traits, some

Steven Pinker

people have a natural advantage.

AFTER

The second fear is that if certain

2000
In
The Mating Mind
,

imperfections are innate, they are

American evolutionary

not susceptible to change, so social

psychologist Geoffrey Miller

reform to help the disadvantaged is

says that human intelligence

is shaped by sexual selection.

See also:
Francis Galton 28–29 ■ Konrad Lorenz 77 ■ Roger Brown 237 ■

John Bowlby 274–77 ■ Noam Chomsky 294–97

212

COMPULSIVE BEHAVIOR

RITUALS ARE ATTEMPTS

TO CONTROL INTRUSIVE

THOUGHTS

PAUL SALKOVSKIS (1950S– )

trauma, Salkovskis explained

IN CONTEXT

the problem in terms of cognitive

psychology, and offered a cognitive

APPROACH

T
he second half of the 20th

century saw a profound

change in clinical

psychology. Psychoanalysis was

and behavioral treatment.

Cognitive behavioral

seen by many psychologists as less

therapy

than scientific, and by the 1960s it

Obsessive thoughts

was replaced as the treatment for

BEFORE

Salkovskis suggests that obsessive-

some disorders by behaviorist

1950s
Joseph Wolpe applies

compulsive disorder has its basis in

therapies, or the newer cognitive

behaviorist ideas to clinical

the sort of unwelcome and intrusive

therapy developed by Aaron Beck.

psychology in techniques such

thoughts that we all have from time

Combinations of these approaches,

as systematic desensitization.

to time—the idea that something

under the umbrella term cognitive

terrible is about to happen, or that

1952
Behavior and personality

behavioral therapy (CBT), evolved in

we will suffer or cause some awful

theorist Hans J. Eysenck

the 1980s, pioneered in Britain by

misfortune. Most of the time, we

causes controversy with

Paul Salkovskis. CBT, he found, was

can put these thoughts out of our

claims that psychotherapy has

especially successful in treating

minds and carry on with life, but

no beneficial effect.

obsessive-compulsive disorder

sometimes they are more difficult

(OCD); where psychoanalysis had

to shake off. At the extreme end of

1955
Albert Ellis offers an

failed to find a root cause for the

the scale, the thoughts become

alternative to traditional

disorder in repression or past

obsessive and bring with them a

psychotherapy with his

feeling of dread and responsibility.

Rational Emotive Behavior

People predisposed to these kinds

Therapy (REBT).

of obsessive thoughts find it

1960s
Aaron Beck questions

difficult to make a rational

whether psychoanalytical

appraisal of their importance,

therapy is effective; he goes on

and overestimate not only any

to develop cognitive therapy.

risk of harm, but also the amount

of control they have to prevent it.

AFTER

2000s
Cognitive behavioral

Compulsive activities
such as

therapy becomes a standard

repeated hand washing may be an

treatment for anxiety, panic

attempt to control intrusive thoughts.

attacks, and other disorders.

Shakespeare’s Lady Macbeth is driven

by guilt to continually wash her hands.

COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY 213

See also:
Joseph Wolpe 86–87 ■ Fritz Perls 112–17 ■ Albert Ellis 142–45 ■

Aaron Beck 174–77

We all have unwelcome
intrusive thoughts
.

But some people have trouble shaking them off, and the

thoughts become
over-important and obsessional
.

Paul Salkovskis

A graduate of the Institute

of Psychiatry, London in 1979,

They feel
responsible

They overestimate the
threat

Paul Salkovskis took up a post

for any harm implied by

posed by these thoughts.

at the University of Oxford

these intrusive thoughts.

in 1985 to research panic

disorders. His interest in the

application of cognitive theory

to anxiety disorders led to

his appointment as a Senior

Fellow and later as Professor

They therefore feel compelled to take action to counter

of Cognitive Psychology.

the threats and control the thoughts.

While at Oxford, the

emphasis of his work moved

to the treatment of obsessive-

compulsive disorder using

cognitive behavioral therapy.

Compulsive behavior rituals are

In 2000, he became Professor

of Clinical Psychology and

attempts to control intrusive thoughts.