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Core beliefs, conditional assumptions, and coping strategies impact how we interpret and respond to things.

People with anxiety tend to have more problematic beliefs, assumptions, and coping strategies.

It is possible to identify and reshape problematic patterns in day-to-day life.

Within our minds is a complex cognitive system of core beliefs, conditional assumptions, and coping strategies. All of these components work together, leading us to interpret and respond to the things that happen in our day-to-day lives.

Let’s go through each of these components in some detail to provide a picture of how the inner workings of our complex minds can lead us into troublesome thought patterns and behaviors.

Core beliefs are unconditional beliefs we have that allow us to screen, categorize, and interpret our experiences. These beliefs shape the way we view ourselves, others, the world, and the future. They play a critical role in how we understand the world and can be thought of as index cards that are filed in our brains. Each one of our core beliefs guides us in terms of what to pay attention to and how to interpret information.

Importantly, core beliefs can be helpful and adaptive. They can also be unhelpful and maladaptive. Maladaptive beliefs tend to be rigid, global, and extreme. Contrarily, adaptive beliefs tend to promote resilience, personal agency, flexibility, and balanced or nuanced thinking.

See below for examples of helpful core beliefs about the self, the world, others, and the future.

The world has risks, but it is generally manageable.

Most people are trying their best.

I am lovable and worthy.

Bad things happen, but they are not constant.

There is both good and bad in the world.

Problems can usually be worked through.

See below for examples of unhelpful core beliefs about the self, the world, others, and the future.

The world is dangerous, and nothing is safe.

If something can go wrong, it will.

Disaster is always around the corner.

The world is unfair and always against me.

People will hurt you if you let them.

You can’t trust anyone.

A couple of key pieces of information about core beliefs:

1. Core beliefs are based on our past experiences. How we remember prior situations guides how we interpret current ones. Let us look at an example.

Jackie grew up in a home with a mother who had unreasonably high expectations and was difficult to please. As a result of this (among other things), she developed a core belief that she is inadequate. As you might imagine, this had an impact on her self-image and confidence as an adult. She is always critical of herself and questions whether or not she is “good enough.”

2. Core beliefs are also based on our present experiences. Core beliefs maintain themselves because they are continuously reinforced. We scan our environments and select cues that further reinforce an existing core belief, while ignoring cues that challenge that belief. In other words, core beliefs work like mental magnets. They attract pieces of evidence that confirm what we believe and repel pieces of evidence that disconfirm what we believe.

What Does "Self Help" Mean?

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Jackie, believing she is inadequate, pays special attention to situations she believes confirm her inadequacy (e.g., when someone corrected her use of a word in a conversation, or when a colleague didn’t use her suggestion on a work task). Meanwhile, she ignores all of the examples that point to her being adequate (e.g., received a promotion at work, receives compliments from colleagues and friends about her talents).

Conditional Assumptions

Conditional assumptions are different than core beliefs. While core beliefs are unconditional and involve views that are broader and more general, conditional assumptions influence a person’s response to what is specifically happening around them. They often involve the use of words like “if… then.” They stem from our core beliefs about ourselves, others, and the world.

Jackie, with her core belief that she is inadequate, often says to herself, “If I work hard enough to prove myself and don’t let others see me make mistakes, people will believe I am good enough.”

Coping strategies are attempts to cope with problematic core beliefs and conditional assumptions. Another way to put it is that we use coping strategies to protect ourselves—we might be trying to prevent others from seeing the “truth” about us (that we aren’t good enough), or we might be trying to prevent others from hurting us.

For example, Jackie often says to herself, “If I spend a lot of extra time perfecting my work, then I may be able to make everyone believe I am adequate and belong here.”

All of these assumptions and beliefs lead us to interpret things in a biased way. People with unhelpful core beliefs and assumptions often engage in what are called thinking errors. These problematic thinking patterns can further reinforce dysfunctional beliefs and assumptions.

A few examples of thinking errors include:

Jumping to conclusions: assuming you know something with little or no evidence

Catastrophizing: assuming the worst-case scenario has happened or will happen

Emotional reasoning: assuming your feelings are a valid indicator of present circumstances (or predict future circumstances)

Mental filter or tunnel vision: paying selective attention to certain information while dismissing other relevant information

Overgeneralization: making broad assumptions about all situations based on one or two cases

For example, Jackie feels the need to perfect everything she does so as to prevent her “inadequacy” from being discovered, and will consequently have automatic thoughts related to these assumptions.

Specifically, when she got an email from her supervisor at work asking her to stop by his office, she had automatic thoughts of: “Oh no, she found a lot of errors in my report,” and “What if she is calling me in to fire me?” The specific cognitive distortions in this case are jumping to conclusions and catastrophizing.

Now that is a lot of information to digest in one sitting! Let’s do a brief overview of what we just went over.

In the situation with Jackie that we have been discussing in this post:

Situation: Supervisor emails Jackie and asks her to come by her office.

Automatic thought: Jackie’s automatic thought is, “I did something wrong and am going to get fired.” (Note the cognitive distortion present in this thought—catastrophizing or assuming the worst-case scenario.)

Underlying assumption: Jackie’s underlying assumption is, “They’ve discovered that my work doesn’t match that of my colleagues and that I don’t belong here.”

Core belief: Jackie’s core belief that is influencing all of this is, “I am inadequate.”

Try to apply this to your own life. Think of any recurring automatic thoughts you have had that have been troublesome. Do these problematic thoughts potentially reflect cognitive distortions or thinking errors? Search for any themes in these recurring, problematic thoughts. Do you often find yourself doubting whether you are good enough? Or do you often question others’ motives and trustworthiness? If so, what potential core beliefs might be driving these recurring thoughts?

Uncovering all of this can be a complicated process. In cognitive therapy, a great deal of work is put into identifying and modifying problematic beliefs, assumptions, and coping strategies to help them achieve the interpersonal change they are seeking (i.e., relief from anxiety). Awareness and identification are the first steps. And then doing the work of challenging these beliefs and assumptions comes next through a variety of activities. Through this process, one can successfully change the way they view themselves, others, and the world!

© Psychology Today