Psychological Explanation

• What does the cognitive approach see as the cause of depression?

  Faulty or irrational thinking
• How do depressed individuals typically think?

  They focus on negatives and ignore positives
• What feelings are created by black-and-white thinking in depression?

  Feelings of hopelessness and depression
• What are schemas in the cognitive approach?

  Mental frameworks containing ideas and information
• What does a negative self-schema lead to?

  Interpreting information about oneself negatively
• What is attribution in psychology?

  The process of explaining causes of behavior
• What type of attributional style did Seligman propose leads to depression?

  A negative attributional style
• What are the three types of attributions that can result in depression?

  Internal, stable, and global attributions
• How is a negative attributional style learned according to Seligman?

  Through unpleasant experiences leading to learned helplessness
• What is learned helplessness?

  Learning to give up trying after failure
• What is a strength of the cognitive approach regarding learned helplessness?

  • Research support for learned helplessness
  • Seligman's demonstration with dogs
  • Supports explanation of depression due to negative attributions
• What is a strength of the cognitive explanation in treating depression?

  • Leads to cognitive behavior therapy
  • Teaches rational thinking
  • Helps relieve depression effectively
• What did Alloy and Abramson find about depressed individuals' beliefs?

  They gave more accurate disaster estimates
• What does the term 'sadder but wiser' imply about negative attributional styles?

  They may not be entirely negative