Rational Thinking as a Goal of Therapy

To provide a positive goal for cognitive therapies, we define a conception of rational thinking. We describe thinking as a search for possibilities, evidence, and goals, and a process of inference by which the possibilities are evaluated. The possibilities may be choice options, beliefs, or goals. Rational thinking is actively open minded. That is, search is sufficiently thorough, and inference is unbiased in bringing forward the possibility that is best in terms of all the thinker's goals. The most common departures from rational thinking are insufficient search and bias in favor of possibilities that are already strong. This perspective is applied to the analysis of coping. Cognitive therapies are discussed as training in rational thinking, including instruction in useful heuristics. Suggestions for research are made.