Irrational and Basic Beliefs of Students: The Problem of Interrelation and Mutual Influence

Introduction. The relevance of the problem is due to the importance of studying personal characteristics, which express deep, often unconscious attitudes of a person to the world around them and their place in this world. These attitudes include basic and irrational beliefs.

Objective. Identification of the interrelation and mutual influence of the basic and irrational beliefs on each other.

Materials and Methods. As diagnostic tools, we used the questionnaire (list) of A. Beck and A. Freeman to identify irrational beliefs and the questionnaire of R. Yanoff-Bulman adapted by M. A. Padun and A. V. Kotelnikova to identify basic beliefs. The results were processed using correlation analysis (Pearson’s dichotomous correlation coefficient was used) and regression analysis (a variant of binary logistic regression).

Results. A total of 206 students and undergraduates from Moscow City Pedagogical University and Cherepovets State University aged 17 to 50 years, mean age 23.67 (SD = 7.48), 93 men (45.15%) participated in the study. Based on correlation and regression analysis, it was found that the irrational belief of the avoidant type negatively interacts with such basic beliefs as the justice of the surrounding world, the value of the «I», luck and control, the irrational belief of the obsessive-compulsive type is positively associated with the belief in the benevolence of the world, and the irrational belief of the paranoid type negatively interacts with the basic beliefs in the and in the justice of the world.

Discussion. During the discussion, it is concluded that irrational beliefs, with some exceptions, are more likely to negatively correlate with each other and basic beliefs are more likely to positively correlate with each other. Only three types of irrational beliefs out of nine were actually associated with basic beliefs and can act as their predictors, just as basic beliefs can act as predictors of irrational beliefs: these are irrational beliefs of the avoidant type, paranoid type (negative relationship and mutual influence), and obsessive – compulsive type (positive relationship and mutual influence). The results obtained can be used in the correction of pronounced irrational and weakly expressed basic beliefs with students.

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