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Too Much of a Good Thing: Testing the Efficacy of a Cognitive Bias Modification Task for Cognitively Vulnerable Individuals

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Abstract

A growing body of research indicates that cognitive bias modification (CBM) may be an effective intervention for individuals with anxiety. However, few studies have tested whether CBM works for other disorders characterized by negative cognitive biases such as depression. This experiment tested the efficacy of CBM for altering depressogenic self-worth biases. Consistent with hypotheses, results showed that CBM was more effective than a control condition in teaching participants a more adaptive cognitive style (i.e., increased attention for adaptive self-worth stimuli). Those who successfully learned a more adaptive style reported fewer depressive symptoms and exhibited greater persistence (i.e., less helplessness) on a difficult laboratory task. However, the task proved difficult for cognitively vulnerable participants; they were not able to maintain their new learning over the entire course of the CBM training. Rather, their negative cognitive bias began to re-emerge after only 20 learning trials. These results indicate that CBM attention training might be most effective in reducing cognitive vulnerability when initially used in small doses.

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Notes

  1. It is important to note that even associative and implicit learning tasks (similar to the dot-probe training task) require cognitive resources and working memory (Carter et al. 2003; Jonides et al. 1998; Reber and Kotovsky 1997; Ridderinkhof et al. 2004).

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Author information

Author notes

  1. Jennifer L. Hames & Jessica Technow

    Present address: Department of Psychology, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Notre Dame, Haggar Hall, Notre Dame, IN, 46556, USA

    Gerald J. Haeffel, David C. Rozek, Jennifer L. Hames & Jessica Technow

  2. Department of Psychology, University of Denver, Denver, CO, USA

    Jessica Technow

Authors
  1. Gerald J. Haeffel
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  2. David C. Rozek
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  3. Jennifer L. Hames
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  4. Jessica Technow
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gerald J. Haeffel.

Additional information

This research was supported in part by an Undergraduate Research Opportunity Grant to Jennifer Hames.

Appendix

Appendix

Negative Scenarios

Negative scenarios: failed a class presentation, rejected by friend, got low grade on a paper, couldn’t finish your homework, partner breaks up with you, you are unhappy, job performance criticized, betrayed by family member, GPA is low, parents disapproved of your behavior, got in serious trouble, felt unattractive, not in a romantic relationship, fired from job, failed to achieve goal, people not interested in you, have no close friends, failed a test, criticized by professor, rejected by romantic partner

Maladaptive Adjectives

Maladaptive adjectives: dumb, failure, incompetent, inadequate, incapable, inept, inferior, loser, nobody, pathetic, pitiful, stupid, unable, unfit, unimportant, unlovable, unwanted, useless, weak, worthless

Adaptive Adjectives

Adaptive adjectives: able, capable, competent, confident, desirable, determined, hopeful, important, inspire, lovable, motivated, proficient, skillful, smart, talented, useful, valuable, winner, worthy

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Haeffel, G.J., Rozek, D.C., Hames, J.L. et al. Too Much of a Good Thing: Testing the Efficacy of a Cognitive Bias Modification Task for Cognitively Vulnerable Individuals. Cogn Ther Res 36, 493–501 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-011-9379-6

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