Abstract
Concepts of cognition as causal entities, fundamentally antecedent to other psychological processes, are criticized. It is argued that such conceptions involve a loss of a sense of the complex appraisal processes encompassed in cognition, the generation of pseudoissues about the causal priority of cognition, and a tendency to detach persons being studied from their environment in a way that loses them in thought. In light of this analysis, the role of cognition in depression is discussed. An adequate model of depressive cognitions is not possible without an understanding of the depressed person's ecological niche and the informational consequences of depressive behavior. Cognitive theorists need to come to terms with the apparent receptivity of depressed persons to performance-based feedback.
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Writing of this paper was supported in part by a research grant from the National Institute on Aging (AG 00799) and a National Institutes of Health Biomedical Research Grant (PR-0706). Special thanks to Ken Holroyd for his comments on an earlier draft, and thanks also to the angry anonymous reviewer who nonetheless had a positive impact on this paper's final form.
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Coyne, J.C. A critique of cognitions as causal entities with particular reference to depression. Cogn Ther Res 6, 3–13 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01185722
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01185722