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Experimental manipulation of beliefs about the importance of thoughts and the effect on an aggressive impulse

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 May 2020

A. Jiménez-Ros ,
L. Faísca ,
T. Martins ,
L. Janeiro  and
A.T. Martins
A. Jiménez-Ros*
Affiliation:
Psychology Research Centre (CIP/UAL) and Universidade do Algarve, Portugal
L. Faísca
Affiliation:
Centre for Biomedical Research (CBMR) and Universidade do Algarve, Portugal
T. Martins
Affiliation:
Universidade do Algarve
L. Janeiro
Affiliation:
Psychology Research Centre (CIP/UAL) and Universidade do Algarve, Portugal
A.T. Martins
Affiliation:
Centre for Biomedical Research (CBMR) and Universidade do Algarve, Portugal
*
*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

Background:

Cognitive models of obsessive-compulsive disorder attribute a causal role to maladaptive beliefs.

Aims:

To test this hypothesis, we manipulated Overimportance of Thoughts (OT) beliefs and experimentally evaluated their effect on the response to an induced aggressive impulse.

Method:

Eighty-five participants completed a battery of self-report instruments assessing obsession symptoms, thought control, affectivity and obsessive beliefs, and were then randomly assigned to two conditions. In the experimental condition participants read a scientific abstract on the importance of thought control whilst those in the control condition read a neutral abstract. All participants identified a loved person and imagined feeling the impulse to stab this person, then completed again OT beliefs measures (Overimportance of Thought, Moral-Thought Action Fusion and Thought Action Fusion Likelihood).

Results:

The Moral component of the Thought Action Fusion was reduced by reading a brief text about the possibility and desirability of thought control. However, experimentally induced changes in beliefs did not yield differences in the intrusiveness of the aggressive impulse.

Conclusions:

Some beliefs can be modified through a single session in which information similar to what could be obtained in quotidian life is provided.

Keywords

aggressive intrusionsobsessive-compulsive disorderoverimportance of thought beliefsTAF-Moral beliefs
Type
Brief Clinical Report
Information
Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy , Volume 48 , Issue 5 , September 2020 , pp. 626 - 630
Copyright
© British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies 2020

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