Survey – Testing Your Beliefs

A key component of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), behavioral experiments are regarded as one of the most effective methods for bringing about cognitive change (Bennett-Levy et al., 2004). According to cognitive theories (e.g., Teasdale & Barnard, 1993), interventions that incorporate experiential learning are particularly effective at bringing about both head-level (intellectual) and heart-level (emotional) belief change, as well as creating new schematic models (Bennett-Levy et al., 2004). Some research supports these claims, indicating that behavioral experiments are more efficacious than some cognitive interventions (Bennett-Levy, 2003; McManus et al., 2011) and exposure (McMillan & Lee, 2010). However, studies directly exploring the effectiveness of behavioral experiments remain limited.

Behavioral experiments are experiential activities that aim to generate new data. Depending on one’s goal, new data might be sought to test the validity of the client’s existing beliefs, develop or test more adaptive beliefs, or to inform a formulation or case conceptualization (Bennett-Levy et

"Behavioral experiments help you discover whether your beliefs are accurate. One type of experiment you can do is a survey. Surveys involve asking people questions about their thoughts, opinions, or behaviors so you can find out whether their answers fit with your expectations. Can we use this exercise to develop a survey to explore your belief?"

Step 1: Identify the client’s belief

Help the client specify a belief, assumption, or thought that they want to test. You could ask: 

"Let’s start by writing down the belief you want to test. How would you put in your own words?”

Step 2: Rate the strength of the client’s belief

Ask the client to rate how much they believe their thought, assumption, or belief on a 0 – 100% scale. For example:

"On a scale of 0 – 100%, how much do you believe this? 100% would mean you’re certain it’s true."

Step 3: Design the survey

Help the client plan

Bennett-Levy, J. (2003). Mechanisms of change in cognitive therapy: The case of automatic thought records and behavioural experiments. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, 31, 261-277. DOI: 10.1017/S1352465803003035.

Bennett-Levy, J., Westbrook, D., Fennell, M., Cooper, M., Rouf, K., & Hackmann, A. (2004). Behavioural experiments: Historical and conceptual underpinnings. In J. Bennett-Levy, G. Butler, M. Fennell, A. Hackman, M. Mueller & D. Westbrook (Eds.), Oxford Guide to Behavioural Experiments in Cognitive Therapy (pp. 1–20). Oxford University Press.

Craske, M. G., Kircanski, K., Zelikowsky, M., Mystkowski, J., Chowdhury, N., & Baker, A. (2008). Optimizing inhibitory learning during exposure therapy. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 46, 5-27. DOI: 10.1016/j.brat.2007.10.003.

Egan, S. J., Wade, T. D., Shafran, R., & Antony, M. M. (2014). Cognitive-behavioral treatment of perfectionism. Guilford Press.

French, P. (2009). Cognitive-behavioural therapy. In P. Barker (Ed.), Psychiatric and mental health nursing: The craft of caring (pp.370-376). Hodder Arnold.

McManus, F., Van Doorn, K., & Yiend, J. (2012). Examining the effects