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What are Coping Skills? Part Five: Understanding the Cognitive-Emotive Model

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Section 1: Definition Cognitions are the ideas and beliefs that we express through self-talking (the way we talk) and self-images (the way we think). Our cognitions guide our perception or interpretation of an event, which in turn influences the way we feel about the event (e.g. amazed, embarrassed, threatened, or angry). The way we feel about the event in turn influences the way we respond to the event. For example, if I perceive the event as hazardous to my health, I feel threatened and find ways to protect myself, but if the same event is challenging to me, I feel energized mentally and physically and behave accordingly. In other words, the way we feel and behave is a reaction to the way we perceive or interpret the event. Based on this basic premise, the cognitive-emotive approach, also known as rational-emotive thinking, states that we control our emotional destinies by the way we look at the events that take place in our lives, and by the actions we choose to deal with thes