Indian Journal of Health and Wellbeing © 2016 Indian Association of Health,

2016, 7(7), 714-716 Research and Welfare

http://www.iahrw.com/index.php/home/journal_detail/19#list ISSN-p-2229-5356,e-2321-3698

Examining the relationship of irrational beliefs with

social-emotional skills
Nalini Malhotra and Ravneet Kaur
Department of Psychology, Punjabi University, Patiala

Irrational beliefs are attitudes and values which people hold without any objective evidence. Such thoughts
typically clutter the minds of people with feelings of resentment and distaste which creates a lot of problems in a
person's life. Irrational beliefs effect the functioning of an individual by lowering the skills of social and emotional
competence. Although the concept of irrational beliefs has received extensive attention, yet the concept needs to be
addressed covering varied aspects. The present research aimed to examine the relationship of irrational beliefs with
social emotional skills. For this purpose, Shortened General Attitude and Belief Scale (SGABS) by Lindner,
Kirkby, Wertheim, and Birch (1999) and Social Skills Inventory by Riggio and Carney (2003) were administered on
300 (150 females and 150 males) participants. The correlation coefficient was used to analyze the data. Findings of
the present study revealed significant negative correlation of irrational beliefs with social-emotional skills.
Implications of the findings have been discussed.

Keywords: irrational beliefs , social-emotional skills, males and females

Period of adolescence is very difficult and full of hardships which
involve the transition from childhood to puberty and they experience
many negative emotions like anxiety, depression, anger and shyness.
Irrational beliefs are any thought, emotion or behavior which leads to
self-defeating behavior and notably interferes with the survival and
happiness of the organism. Additionally, irrational beliefs generally
have several facets: (1) individuals who have an irrational beliefs
denigrate and refuse to accept themselves (2) irrational beliefs
impede with their ability to have healthy relationship with their
significant ones in social groups (3) it acutely hinder their ability to
attain the kind of interpersonal relationships that individuals would
like to achieve (4) it blocks their capability to work joyfully and (5) it
hampers to pursue their interests in other essential aspects.
Ellis (2003) has differentiated between rational beliefs and
irrational beliefs arguing that in rational-thinking, people tend to be
relative in their judgments and evaluations using mostly such words
as maybe, possible, probably, etc. Such way of perception and
visualization creates in them self-consistency and adaptability to
reality which will lead to feelings of consent, efficacy, comfort, and
stability. In irrational-thinking, people tend mostly to make absolute
and resolved judgments and most often use such words as must,
should be, ought to be, supposed to be, etc. Irrational judgments and
perceptions in most cases contradict with the self and life realities,
which add another form of emotional stress like anxiety, depression,
and sadness (Dryden, 1999).
Everyone face negative events in life but the consequences of
irrational beliefs regarding negative events will be painful which are
known as inadequate negative results, whereas the results of rational
and flexible convictions regarding negative events of life will not be
discomforting and are known as adequate negative results, which has
no pathological effect on individuals (Dryden & DiGiuseppe, 1990).
According to Davies (2006), irrational beliefs are those beliefs which
are illogical and rigid about events and they are inconsistent with
Correspondence should be sent to Dr. Nalini Malhotra
Department of Psychology, Punjabi University, Patiala
E-mail: drnalinimalhotra@gmail.com
reality. Such beliefs gradually lead to self destructive behaviors.
Such irrational beliefs are also closely associated with poor
functioning and adjustment problem of an individual. On the other
hand, rational beliefs are logical and flexible.
Social emotional skills are one of the most important factors of
social and psychological development of a child. Acquiring and
developing social-emotional skills are one of the important
characteristics from the period of the childhood. Social-emotional
skills are defined as the ability to establish healthy and effective
communication with others (Bacanli, 1991; Kabasakal & Celik,
2010; Segrin, 2001). Social-emotional skills includes a variety of
verbal and non-verbal behavior such as using body language in an
effective way, initiating, developing and continuing the
interpersonal relationships, assertiveness, expressing oneself,
interpersonal conflict resolving, controlling the ager, solving
problems, decision making, speaking and listening skills (Bacanli,
1999).
Social skills have a significant role in establishing good
relationship with other people obeying social rules, undertaking
responsibilities, helping others and enjoying one's rights. Primary
education enables the individuals to acquire basic competencies to
solve the problems, to encounter, to adapt to social values and to
apply social rules (Cubukcu & Gultekin, 2006). Since the
adolescents with high level of social skills solve daily interpersonal
problems easily, they are more successful in their social
relationships (Bacanli & Erdogan, 2003). The adolescents with
social skills find more pleasure in activities they participated and can
take their decisions on their own. However, the children who lack
the adequate social skills might be excluded by their friends (Celik,
2007). It is easier for individuals who have adequate social skills to
establish relationship in different aspects of their lives (Kabasakal &
Celik, 2010).
Cognitive processes affecting social emotional skills include
negative self-evaluations, excessive high performance standards,
unrealistic expectations, misperceptions and irrational beliefs
(Civitci & Civitci, 2009). Extensive work has been done on the
problems of adolescents but limited literature has seen the relationship
715 Indian Journal of Health and Wellbeing 2016, 7(7), 714-716

between irrational beliefs and social emotional skills. Examining the
relationship of irrational beliefs with social-emotional skills among
adolescents may shed light on the cognitive structures in them which
is an important element of social- emotional skills in this period. The
present research aimed to study the relationship between irrational
beliefs and social- emotional skills and it was hypothesized that
irrational beliefs would be negatively correlated with social-
emotional skills.
Method
Participants
300 adolescents (150 males & 150 females) were randomly selected
from different schools of Sangrur district. The age range of the
participants was from 15 to 18 years. The consent of the participants
was taken.
Instruments
Shortened General Attitude and Belief Scale by Lindner, Kirkby,
Wertheim, and Birch (1999) is a brief scale for assessment of
multidimensional aspects of irrationality (irrational thinking) with
26 items to be answered on a five-point scale from Strongly Disagree
(1), Disagree (2), Neutral (3), Agree (4) to Strongly agree (5). Higher
score indicated higher irrationality. The test-retest reliability of the
scale was .65 to .87.
Social Skills Inventory by Riggio & Carney (2003) was used to
assess social-emotional skills. The scale comprises of 90 items
grouped into six distinct sub-scales with 15 items. The scale has
shown acceptable test-retest reliability ranging from .81 to .96 and
Chronbach's alpha coefficients ranging from .65 to .88.
Procedure
To investigate the relationship between irrational beliefs and social-
emotional skills, the appropriate conditions were created, where
participants could fill the questionnaires without any distraction.
Rapport was built up with the participants and they were given
specified instructions. The statistical analysis was done using
correlation coefficient to find the correlation between variables
under study.
Results and discussion
The aim of the present study was to examine the relationship of
irrational beliefs with social emotional skills. For this purpose,
SGABS and SSI were administered on the participants. For the
irrational beliefs, the total irrationality score was taken, however for
the measure of social-emotional skills, the score for emotional skills,
social skills and total social-emotional skills were taken into
consideration separately for the present study.

Table I: Shows the correlation of irrational beliefs with social-emotional skills

Total_ir EE ES EC Total_ES SE SS SC Total_SS Total_ESS
Total_ir 1 -.174** -.063 -.246** -.213** -.224** -.205** -.144* -.255** -.262**
EE 1 .210** .287** .650** .245** .233** .173** .289** .510**
ES 1 .351** .770** .462** .490** .294** .551** .729**
EC 1 .741** .394** .329** .272** .444** .649**
Total_E 1 .518** .499** .346** .605** .880**
SE 1 .352** .527** .863** .783**
SS 1 .122* .626** .633**
SC 1 .746** .624**
Total_S 1 .910**
Total.ES 1
**p<0.01, *p< 0.05
Total irrationality= total ir, Emotional expressivity= ES, Emotional sensitivity, Emotional control=EC, Total of emotional skills= Total_ES,
Social expressivity= SE, Social sensitivity= SS, Social control= SC, Total of social skills= Totl_SS, Total emotional social skills= Total_ESS

The results of the present study (Table-1) revealed that there was
significant negative correlation between irrational beliefs and
emotional skills (r = -0.21, p<0.01). Research studies previously
conducted also showed that irrational beliefs lead to negative
behavioral responses including aggression, withdrawal, impulsivity
and lack of emotional and academic resilience (Bernard, 2006;
Vernon, 2007). Vernon (2011) has depicted that the emotional
problems are the results of a dysfunctional way of thinking i.e.,
irrational beliefs and the faulty style of thinking interferes with goal
setting and achievement, academic success and social interactions
with classmates and teachers. Bermejo-Toro and Prieto-Ursua
(2006) discovered the relationship between irrational beliefs and
level of distress and showed significant positive correlation between
irrational beliefs and level of distress.
Further, it was found that there was significant negative
correlation between irrational beliefs and social skills (r = -0.25,
p<0.01). Hamamci and Duy (2007) have also found significant
negative relationship of irrational beliefs and specifically beliefs
related to the demand for the comfort on social skills and it is
consistent with the literature which is indicating the effect of
cognitive structuring and social skill deficiency. It has seen that
irrational beliefs are the main source of unhealthy emotions which
have negative effect on social skills.
 MALHOTRA AND KAUR/ EXAMINING THE RELATIONSHIP OF IRRATIONAL
Findings of the present study reflected that there was significant
negative correlation between the scores of irrationality and social-
emotional skills (r = -0.26, p<0.01). It showed that increased level of
irrational beliefs would reveal the lower level of social-emotional
skills. Amutio and Smith (2007) have found that irrational beliefs
become reason for social and emotional problems, lack of self-
acceptance and dysfunctional behaviors. Actually, having irrational
beliefs has the negative consequence which causes problems in
different spheres of adolescents functioning. Irrational beliefs are
associated with psychological and physical malfunctioning.
Conclusion
In brief, irrational beliefs are unrealistic reasoning processes by
which external events are interpreted and through which emotional
distress is mediated. The effects of irrational beliefs are widespread,
i.e., it is not limited to academic environment but spreads to other
areas viz., social and personal. Social-emotional skills reflect the
capacity to recognize and control emotions, to solve problems
efficiently and to establish positive relationship with others. The
present research has future implications pertaining to the relationship
of irrational beliefs with social-emotional skills and rational emotive
education which is one of the cognitive behavior therapy and it
would help adolescents to deal with social-emotional skills. The
program for the rational emotive education (REE) would focus on
changing irrational thinking patterns, teaching mental health concepts,
helping adolescents to cope with socially anxious situations, working on
self-esteem and enhancing the social emotional skills of adolescents.
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