The idea that anxiety disorders arise from self-defeating beliefs and a negative explanatory style is associated with which perspective?

• A. Socio-Cognitive Perspective on Disorders
• B. Biopsychosocial Model
• C. Psychoanalytic Theory
• D. Humanistic Perspective

Answer: (A)

Thought patterns and how we explain events shape how anxiety shows up. The socio-cognitive perspective on disorders focuses on how beliefs about ourselves and explanations for what happens influence emotions and behavior. When someone holds self-defeating beliefs like “I can’t handle this” or “I always fail,” and uses a negative explanatory style that attributes outcomes to internal, stable, and global causes, threats feel personal and ongoing. That combination makes worry and anxiety more likely to persist because the world seems both threatening and as something under the person’s control to a dysfunctional, pessimistic degree. The perspective also highlights how learning from social contexts—observing others’ anxious responses and the reinforcement they receive—shapes and sustains these patterns, which is why cognitive and behavioral interventions target these thought processes.

By contrast, the biopsychosocial model looks at how biological, psychological, and social factors interact in a broader sense, without zeroing in on attribution styles. Psychoanalytic theory centers on unconscious conflicts and defenses, and the humanistic perspective emphasizes growth and self-concept, not the specific cognitive patterns that underlie anxiety.