Many different measures have been used to assess cognitive distortions and

dysfunctional cognitions. I did a quick, unsystematic literature search and saw the
following measures mentioned: the Adolescent Cognitions Scale-Revised , the How I
Think Questionnaire, the CTJSO (Cognition and Treatment of Juvenile Sex Offenders)
Survey, the Irrational Beliefs Test, the Cognition Checklist, the Dysfunctional Attitude
Scale, the Automatic Thought Questionnaire (S. D. Hollon and P. C. Kendall, 1980), the
Children's Negative Cognitive Errors Questionnaire, the Negative and Positive Cognitive
Error Questionnaire, the Abel and Becker Cognition Scale, and the How I Think (HIT)
Questionnaire.

Here are a number of relevant abstracts (note that self-report questionnaires aren't the
only option):

Bonifazi, D. Z.; Crowther, J. H.; Mizes, J. S. (2000). Validity of questionnaires for

assessing dysfunctional cognitions in bulimia nervosa. International Journal of Eating
Disorders. 27(4), May 2000, 464-470.
Abstract Investigated the validity of the Bulimic Cognitive Distortions Scale (BCDS)
and the Mizes Anorectic Cognitions Questionnaire (MAC). The ability of these
questionnaires to discriminate among individuals with bulimia, restrained eaters, and
normals was also investigated. Scores on these retrospective self-report questionnaires
were compared to cognitions assessed via in vivo thought-sampling. Cognitions of 15
women with bulimia nervosa (mean age 20.1 yrs), 15 restrained eaters (mean age
19.5 yrs), and 15 non-eating disordered women (mean age 19.4 yrs) were assessed.
Results indicated that both the BCDS and the MAC successfully discriminated among
individuals with bulimia, restrained eaters, and normals, and adequately measured in
vivo attitudes and beliefs associated with food and eating, weight and body-image, and
low self-efficacy. These findings support the continued use of both the BCDS and the
MAC.

Vanhouche, W.; Vertommen, H. (1999). Assessing cognitive distortions in sex

offenders: A review of commonly used versus recently developed instruments.
Psychologica Belgica. 39(2-3), 1999, 163-187
Abstract Researchers studying cognitive distortions of sex offenders have focused
most of their efforts into developing psychometrically robust measures of dysfunctional
beliefs and attitudes. Eight scales designed to assess cognitive distortions in sex
offenders are discussed in this paper: 4 commonly accepted and widely used
measures, and 4 recently developed instruments. The authors conclude that although
some questionnaires are able to discriminate between target and control groups,
several are open to social desirability bias. Only 1 scale, the Child Molest Scale, is able
to discriminate between a target group not promised anonymity and a control group.
Although this instrument may herald a new step in the domain of assessment of
cognitive distortions, it is argued that future tests should tap automatic processing in
an attempt to avoid contamination by social desirability factors.

Shafran, R.; Teachman, B. A.; Kerry, S.; Rachman, S. (1999). A cognitive distortion
associated with eating disorders: Thought-shape fusion. British Journal of Clinical
Psychology. 38(2), Jun 1999, 167-179
Abstract The primary objective of this study was to describe and investigate a
cognitive distortion associated with eating psychopathology. This distortion, termed
"thought-shape fusion" (TSF), is said to occur when merely thinking about eating a
forbidden food increases the person's estimate of their shape or weight, elicits a
perception of moral wrongdoing and makes the person feel fat. Two studies were
conducted. The first was a psychometric study and the second utilized a within-
participants experimental design. In Study 1, TSF was assessed in a sample of 119
college students using a questionnaire. In Study 2, 30 college students with high TSF
scores participated in an experiment designed to elicit the distortion. TSF was found to
be significantly associated with measures of eating disorder psychopathology. The
questionnaire used to measure TSF had high internal consistency, a good factor
structure accounting for 46.2% of the variance and predictive validity. The results from
Study 2 indicated that the distortion can be elicited under experimental conditions,
produces negative emotional reactions and prompts the urge to engage in corrective
behavior (e.g., neutralizing/checking). This corrective behavior promptly reduces the
negative reactions.

Lefebvre, M. F. (1981). Cognitive distortion and cognitive errors in depressed

psychiatric and low back pain patients. Journal of Consulting & Clinical Psychology.
49(4), Aug 1981, 517-525
Abstract Measured the tendency to make cognitive errors in 18 depressed psychiatric
patients, 19 depressed low back pain (LBP) patients, 29 nondepressed LBP patients,
and 23 nondepressed persons without LBP. Ss were administered 2 cognitive error
questionnaires that focused in either general or LBP-related life experiences. These
were designed to measure general cognitive distortion as well as 4 empirically derived
dysphoric cognitive errors (catastrophizing, overgeneralization, personalization, and
selective abstraction). Results indicate that all cognitive errors were endorsed
significantly more strongly by depressed Ss with or without LBP. Although depressed
LBP Ss made cognitive errors in interpreting many general experiences, they endorsed
3 out of 4 errors focused on LBP experiences significantly more strongly than
depressed nonpain Ss. Findings suggest that depression in LBP patients is a function of
both LBP and cognitive errors. Thus, cognitive therapy designed to correct cognitive
errors may alleviate depression in LBP patients despite the persistence of pain. (29 ref)

Perrez, M.; Wilhelm, P. (2000). Control psychology under the control of

questionnaires? The search for an alternative assessment procedure. In:Perrig, Walter
J. (Ed); Grob, Alexander (Ed) (2000). Control of human behavior, mental processes,
and consciousness: Essays in honor of the 60th birthday of August Flammer. (pp. 245-
261). Mahwah, NJ, US: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers. (2000), xi, 603 pp.
Abstract Describes the development of a method to allow access to control and
attribution related psychological phenomena and which allows new theoretical
questions that are difficult to test with traditional questionnaires. Typical trait oriented
questionnaires for revealing individual differences, e.g. concerning locus of control,
query the subjects' generalized cognitive representation of their beliefs, behavior,
emotional reaction, etc. They usually do not record concrete beliefs or behavior in
concrete situation or specific emotions in specific situations, and if they do so, they rely
heavily on the subjects' memory. An assessment strategy is described that avoids the
impairing effects on validity of usual--and especially of retrospective--self-report data.
The procedure should allow (a) assessment of positive mood and emotions as well as
stressful episodes in daily life and the social and environmental conditions in which
these states and events occur, (b) the time lag between the event and its recording
should be as short as possible, and (c) the method should assess psychologically
relevant data, not using a diary free text self description. The use of such an
assessment, a systematic family self observation method, with 267 Ss (aged 13-60
yrs) is studied.

Molina, S.; Borkovec, T. D.; Peasley, C.; Person, D. (1998). Content analysis of
worrisome streams of consciousness in anxious and dysphoric participants. Cognitive
Therapy & Research. 22(2), Apr 1998, 109-123.
Abstract 45 female college students completed questionnaires assessing worry and
anxiety. Ss were divided into 3 S groups: 13 Ss met generalized anxiety disorder
criteria, 15 met criteria for dysphoric disorder, and 17 controls. Examination of the
streams-of-consciousness content of Ss during neutral and worry periods revealed that
worrying in general was associated with (1) being less present focused; (2)
experiencing elevated levels of negatively valenced, high arousal affect; (3)
referencing the immediate environment to a lesser degree; (4) more frequent
occurrence of words reflecting cognitive distortions; and (5) shifting from one topic to
another topic to a lesser extent. Significant group differences in the use of specific
theoretically relevant words and statements were found. Compared to dysphoric and
control participants, anxious participants used a higher relative frequency of somatic
anxiety words, statements implying catastrophic interpretations of events, and
statements implying a rigid, rule-bound manner of interpreting events. Additionally,
the results reveal that dysphoric participants made use of derivatives of the word
worry at an exceptionally high frequency.

Steenbergh, T. A.; Meyers, A. W.; May, R. K.; Whelan, J. P. (2002). Development and
validation of the Gamblers' Beliefs Questionnaire. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors.
16(2), Jun 2002, 143-149.
Abstract The Gamblers' Beliefs Questionnaire (GBQ) is a self-report measure of
gamblers' cognitive distortions. GBQ test items were constructed on the basis of
theory, empirical evidence, and expert review. Four hundred three adults completed
the initial set of items, and 21 items werr selected to make up the final GBQ. The
factor structure of the GBQ consisted of 2 closely related factors: Luck/Perseverance
and Illusion of Control. The full scale showed good internal consistency .77). Problem
and = .92) and adequate test-retest reliability (r = (α pathological gamblers scored
higher than nonproblem gamblers on the GBQ and its factors. GBQ scores were
moderately correlated with the duration of gambling sessions among problem and
pathological gamblers, and there was no relationship between GBQ scores and social
desirability.

Moss-Morris, R. & Petrie, K. J. (1997). Cognitive distortions of somatic experiences:

Revision and validation of a measure. Journal of Psychosomatic Research. 43(3), Sep
1997, 293-306.
Abstract Reports on the revision of the Cognitive Errors Questionnaire (CEQ),
originally developed to measure cognitive distortions specific to chronic pain. The
CEQ--Revised (CEQ--R) contains 2 subscales: Somatic--distortions specific to somatic
experiences; and General--distortions to everyday life events. Validation of the scale
with a total of 141 chronic fatigue syndrome, depressed, and chronic pain and healthy
control Ss (aged 18-65 yrs) confirms the CEQ--R loads onto general and somatic
factors. Both subscales have high internal consistency and good test-retest reliability.
The pattern of Ss' responses to the CEQ--R scores show that the depressed group
scored significantly higher on the General CEQ--R scale than the other groups, whereas
the fatigue and chronic pain groups scored higher than healthy controls on the Somatic
CEQ--R. Somatic CEQ--R scores showed a significant decrease over the course of a
pain management program, with a concomitant decrease in disability and depression
scores. Further analyses showed the Somatic CEQ--R to be significantly related to self
and symptom focusing, whereas the General CEQ--R was found to be significantly
correlated with higher depression, lower self-esteem, and self focusing.

Hamamci, Z & Büyükoztürk, S. (2004). The interpersonal cognitive distortions scale:

Development and psychometric characteristics. Psychological Reports. 95(1), Aug
2004, 291-303.
Abstract In this study, an Interpersonal Cognitive Distortions Scale was developed to
assess cognitive distortions in individuals' interpersonal relationships. The sample
comprised 425 university students. A factor analysis yielded three factors:
Interpersonal Rejection, Unrealistic Relationship Expectation and Interpersonal
Misperception. To examine construct validity the correlations between the scores on
the Interpersonal Cognitive Distortions Scale and the Automatic Thoughts Scale (.54),
the Irrational Belief Scale (.54), and the Conflict Tendency Scale (.53) were estimated.
The first factor, the second factor, and the total scale discriminated married individuals
who had low and high conflict intensity and conflict frequency. The reliability of the
scale was estimated by performing a test-retest correlation (.74). Cronbach internal
consistency coefficient alpha was .67.

Barriga, A Q. & Gibbs, J. C. (1996). Measuring cognitive distortion in antisocial youth:

Development and preliminary validation of the "How I Think" Questionnaire. Aggressive
Behavior. 22(5), 1996, 333-343.
Abstract Describes the development and preliminary validation of the "How I Think"
Questionnaire (HIT), a new measure of self-serving cognitive distortion. The HIT is
based upon the J. C. Gibbs et al (1995) 4-category typology of cognitive distortion:
Self-Centered, Blaming Others, Minimizing/Mislabeling, and Assuming the Worst. In a
study involving 147 male 14-20-yr-olds, 55 of whom were incarcerated at a juvenile
correctional facility, the preliminary HIT exhibited high test-retest and internal
consistency reliability, and generally good construct validity. Correlations between the
HIT and self-reported antisocial or externalizing behavior remained significant after
controlling for internalizing disorders. The 4 typological categories performed
comparably well. The HIT was partially successful in discriminating criterion groups.

2.Abstract

This study compared the extent to which negative and positive cognitive errors,
dysfunctional attitudes, and self-reported symptoms of depression predicted change in
college students' depressed mood and social self-esteem following an experimentally
arranged negative social event. The amount of negative cognitive errors, the ratio of
negative-to-positive cognitive errors, the amount of dysfunctional attitudes, and the
amount of depressive symptoms obtained several weeks earlier each separately
predicted change in depressed mood following the receipt of bogus negative social
feedback. A subsequent 4-step hierarchical regression analysis found that the ratio of
negative-to-positive cognitive errors contributed unique variance to the prediction of
change in depressed mood after controlling for prior self-reported symptoms of
depression and dysfunctional attitudes. Further, only the ratio score significantly
predicted change in social self-esteem. Implications for Beck's cognitive model of
depression, the limitations of the current study, and suggestions for further research are
discussed.

cognitive errors - cognitive distortions - dysfunctional attitudes - depression

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