The Psychology Book (55 page)

by translating the binary chunks

psychology at Rockefeller

into decimal numbers: 01 became

University, New York, and

1, 10 became 2, and so on. He found

Princeton University. In 1991,

The kind of

that by using this system it was

he was awarded the National

linguistic recoding

possible to memorize and accurately

Medal of Science.

that people do

reproduce a string of 40 digits or

more, as long as the number of

seems to me to be

Key works

chunks was limited to the span

the very lifeblood of

of working memory.

the thought processes.

1951
Language and

As an aid to memorizing large

George Armitage Miller

Communication

1956
The Magical Number

amounts of information, chunking

Seven, Plus or Minus Two

and recoding is an obvious boon,

1960
Plans and the Structure

but it is more than a mnemonic

of Behavior
(with Eugene

trick. Miller pointed out that this

Galanter and Karl Pribram)

form of recoding is an “extremely

174

THERE’S MORE
IN CONTEXT

APPROACH

Cognitive therapy

TO THE SURFACE BEFORE

1890s
Sigmund Freud

proposes an analytic approach

to psychotherapy.

THAN MEETS

1940s and 1950s
Fritz Perls,

with Laura Perls and Paul

Goodman, develops Gestalt

THE EYE

therapy—a cognitive approach

to psychotherapy.

1955
Albert Ellis introduces

Rational Emotive Behavior

AARON BECK (1921– )

Therapy (REBT), breaking with

the tradition of analysis.

AFTER

1975
Martin Seligman defines

“learned helplessness” in

Helplessness: On Depression,

Development, and Death
.

1980s
A blend of Beck’s ideas

and the behavior therapies of

Joseph Wolpe give rise to new

cognitive behavioral therapies.

A
fter psychology had

become established as

a distinct field of study,

around the turn of the 20th century,

two main schools, or approaches,

emerged. These were experimental

psychology, which was dominated

by the behaviorism originating

from Ivan Pavlov’s experiments,

and which was enthusiastically

championed in the US; and clinical

psychology, which was largely

based on the psychoanalytical

approach of Sigmund Freud and

his followers. The two had little in

common. Behaviorists rejected the

introspective, philosophical

approach of earlier psychologists,

and strove to put the subject on a

COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY 175

See also:
Joseph Wolpe 86–87 ■ Sigmund Freud 92–99 ■ Fritz Perls 112–17 ■

Albert Ellis 142–45 ■ Martin Seligman 200–01 ■ Paul Salkovskis 212–13

Psychoanalytic therapy

Cognitive therapy

places an emphasis on

places an emphasis on

delving into the patient’s

examining people’s

unconscious
to solve

perceptions
of their

current disorders.

experiences.

Aaron Beck

The evidence for the

There is
strong

success of psychoanalytic

Born in Providence, Rhode

empirical evidence
for

therapy is based on

Island, Aaron Temkin Beck

the success of cognitive

personal accounts
rather

was the son of Russian Jewish

therapy.

than facts or research.

immigrants. Athletic and

outgoing as a young child, he

became far more studious and

introspective after suffering a

serious illness at the age of

The key to
effective treatment
lies not in the unconscious,

eight. He also acquired a fear

but in the examination of
how a disorder manifests itself

of all things medical and,

in a patient’s perceptions.

determined to overcome this,

decided to train as a doctor,

graduating from Yale in 1946.

Beck then worked at Rhode

Island Hospital, before

There’s more to the surface than meets the eye.

qualifying as a psychiatrist in

1953. Disillusioned with the

psychoanalytical approach

to clinical psychology, he

more scientific, evidence-based

to all of them. Some psychologists

instigated cognitive therapy

footing. The psychoanalysts

were beginning to question the

and later established the

explored those very introspections,

validity of this kind of therapy, and

Beck Institute for Cognitive

with theories, rather than proof,

Aaron Beck was among them.

Therapy and Research in

to support their case.

When Beck qualified as a

Philadelphia, now run by his

psychiatrist in 1953, experimental

daughter, Dr. Judith Beck.

Cognitive revolution

psychology was focused on the

Key works

By the mid-20th century, both

study of mental processes—it

approaches to psychology were

was the dawn of the “cognitive

1972
Depression: Causes and

being critically examined. But

revolution.” However, the practical

Treatment

although behaviorism was being

approach of cognitive psychologists

1975
Cognitive Therapy and

overtaken by cognitive psychology

remained much the same as that of

the Emotional Disorders

in experimental work, the clinical

the behaviorists. If anything, they

1980
Depression: Clinical,

sphere was offering no alternative

were frequently even more rigorous

Experimental, and Theoretical

to the psychoanalytical model.

in establishing evidence for their

1999
Prisoners of Hate: The

Psychotherapy had evolved into

theories. Beck was no exception

Cognitive Basis of Anger,

many forms, but the basic idea of

to this. He had trained in and

Hostility, and Violence

psychoanalysis and exploration

practiced psychoanalysis, but grew

of the unconscious was common

skeptical of its effectiveness as a ❯❯

176 AARON BECK

Psychoanalytic Institute on the

and evaluate how realistic or

grounds that his “desire to conduct

distorted their perceptions were

scientific studies signaled that he’d

was the first step in overcoming

been improperly analyzed.” Those

depression. This flew in the face of

who found fault with the idea of

conventional psychoanalysis, which

analysis did so, some analysts

sought and examined underlying

I concluded that

argued, because of insufficient

drives, emotions, and repressions.

psychoanalysis was a

analysis of themselves.

Beck’s “cognitive therapy” saw

faith-based therapy.

Beck was suspicious of both

this as unnecessary or even

Aaron Beck

the circularity of these arguments,

counterproductive. The patient’s

and the link with the therapist’s

perception could be taken at face

own personality. Coupled with his

value because, as he was fond of

personal experience as a practicing

putting it, “there’s more to the

psychoanalyst, this led him to

surface than meets the eye.”

examine thoroughly every aspect of

What Beck meant by this was

therapy, looking for ways in which

that the immediate manifestations

therapy. He could find no reliable

it could be improved. He carried out

of depression—the negative

studies of the success rates of

a series of experiments designed to

“automatic thoughts”—provide all

psychoanalysis—only anecdotal

evaluate the basis and treatment of

the information needed for therapy.

evidence of case reports. In his

depression, one of the most common

If these thoughts are examined

experience, only a minority of

reasons for seeking psychotherapy,

and compared with an objective,

patients showed improvement

and found that far from confirming

rational view of the same situation,

under analysis, and the general

the idea that this condition could

the patient can recognize how

consensus among therapists was

be treated by examination of

his perception is distorted. For

that some got better, some got

unconscious emotions and drives,

example, a patient who has been

worse, and some stayed about the

his results pointed to a very

offered a promotion at work might

same, in almost equal numbers.

different interpretation.

express negative thoughts such as

Of particular concern was the

“I’ll find the new job too difficult,

resistance of many psychoanalysts

Changing perceptions

and fail,” a perception of the

to objective scientific examination.

In describing their depression,

Compared with experimental

Beck’s patients often expressed

psychology, or with medicine,

negative ideas about themselves,

psychoanalysis seemed largely

their future, and society in general,

faith-based, with widely different

which came to them involuntarily.

results between individual

These “automatic thoughts,” as Beck

practitioners. Reputation was

called them, led him to conclude

frequently based solely on the

that the way the patients perceived

charisma of a particular analyst.

their experiences—their cognition

Beck concluded that “the

of them—was not just a symptom

psychoanalytic mystique was

of their depression, but also the key

overwhelming… It was a little bit

to finding an effective therapy.

like the evangelical movement.”

This idea, which came to him in

Many psychoanalysts regarded