Symposium "Cognitive orientation: A theory of understanding, predicting and changing behavior"

Convenor: Shulamith Kreitler, Department of Psychology, Tel-Aviv University, Israel.

The participants:

Shulamith Kreitler [professor of psychology, Tel-Aviv University]

Title of presentation: Cognitive orientation: the theory, the methodology, and applications in psychooncology.

Kineret Weissler [doctoral student at department of psychology Tel-Aviv University and Weitzman Institute of Research]

Title of presentation: Cognitive orientation in the domain of psychopathology.

Adva Margaliot [Ph.D., lecturer in education at the academic college Achva, Israel]

Title of presentation: Cognitive orientation in the domain of cognition and learning.

Hany Burstein Erez [Ph.D., psychologist, Beer Yaakov Mental Health Center, Israel]

Title of presentation: Cognitive orientation and osteoporosis in women.

Abstract of lecture by Kreitler: 
The lecture will provide a general introduction to the cognitive orientation theory, its goals and methodology of research. The major tenets of the theory are that cognitive contents and processes, characterized in terms of specific formal and contents features, contribute to the formation of motivational dispositions orienting toward particular behaviors and other outputs, including overt behaviors, emotions, physiological states of health or disease, and cognitive acts. Each kind of output is assumed to be a function of a motivational disposition and performance plan. The theoretical tenets common to the models relevant for different kinds of outputs are presented. The methodology of identifying the cognitive contents relevant for a specific output will be described. Applications of the cognitive orientation theory in the domain of psychooncology will include studies of breast cancer and colorectal cancer.

Abstract of lecture by Weissler:

The talk will focus on describing the treatment of two symptomatic behaviors characteristic of schizophrenia in the framework of the cognitive orientation theory. The method consisted in constructing  special cognitive orientation questionnaires for each of the symptoms under study: non-compliance with the medical treatment and neglect of personal cleanliness. Two groups of schizophrenics staying in a Halfway House filled the questionnaires once before and once after participating for 6 months in a workshop in which they were exposed to a cognitive orientation intervention designed to increase motivation for compliance or for personal cleanliness, respectively. Neither the questionnaires nor the intervention referred directly to the targeted behaviors but only to underlying meanings of these behaviors. The outcomes were assessed by objective guides who  knew the patients but not about the study. The results showed significant improvements in the target behaviors when accompanied by the predicted changes in the cognitive orientation of the patients.

Abstract of lecture by Margaliot:

The lecture focuses on motivation for cognitive activities in general and for learning in particular. After exploring the existing approaches to motivation for cognitive acts, the more encompassing approach of the cognitive orientation is presented and exemplified in by studies designed to define the contents and structure of motivation for cognitive acts. The results are shown in terms of a model based on structural equation modeling. The interrelations of this structure with other constructs of motivation for cognition, mainly need for cognition and tolerance of ambiguity are explored. The cognitive motivation questionnaire based on cognitive orientation is applied successfully or predicting different kinds of learning in students of a teachers’ college.

Abstract of lecture by Burstein Erez:

The lecture focuses on the application of the cognitive orientation theory to the symptom of osteoporosis in women. Several studies were conducted in order to identify the relevant underlying motivational themes orienting toward osteoporosis and validating them. Thematic factors which were found to be related to bone mineral density (BMD) decrease, included task-orientation ambivalence, autonomy, introversion, internal vs. external orientation, interpersonal relationships. There were significant correlations between the cognitive orientation variables and BMD decrease. The cognitive orientation variables increased the overall explained BMD variance, beyond that of background factors. These findings suggest that the cognitive orientation variables form stable correlates, performing primary basic functions, and forming a motivational bias oriented towards the disease. Furthermore, we found differences between the three BMD measurement loci, whereby the highest correlations were those between cognitive orientation variables and BMD variables assessed at the spinal level. The beliefs with the highest contribution were general beliefs and beliefs about goals, while the themes with a unique contribution to BMD variance were related to task-orientation ambivalence, conflicts between internal and external orientation, and a complex perception of interpersonal relationships.