BECK (1967) Negative triad

• Faulty information processing 


  BECK (1967) suggested that some people are more prone to depression because of faulty information processing, i.e thinking in a flawed way. 

  When depressed people attend to the negative aspects of a situation and ignore positives, they also tend to blow small problems out of proportion and think in ‘black-and-white’ terms.
• Depressed people have negative self-schema 


  A schema is a ‘package’ of ideas and information developed through experience. We use schema to interpret the world, so if a person has a negative self-schema they interpret all information about themselves in a negative way.
• The negative triad 


  There are 3 elements to the negative triad:

  1. Negative view of the world, e.g ‘the world is a cold hard place’
  2. Negative view of the future, e.g ‘there isn’t much chance that the economy will get any better.
  3. Negative view of the self, e.g thinking ‘I am a failure’ and this negatively impacts upon self-esteem.