between what they believe to be true and how they behave. Cognitive-emotive interventions are
designed to help students see the link between what they think and how they feel. Children learn
that what they believe about themselves, others, and their environment directly influences their
behavior. Using rational-emotive techniques and interventions, troubled, angry, and acting-out
students learn that controlling their thoughts is the way to emotional and behavioral self-control.
RET helps students understand the difference between a preference or a desire (e.g., ―I would
like to have that video game,‖) and a demand (―I must have that video game‖). By turning their
preferences into demands, students fall prey of their own irrational thinking, which according to
the RET philosophy, is the source of all frustration, anger, and emotional disturbance. Ellis (in
Ellis and Grieger, 1977), identifies the four basic forms of an irrational belief:
Basic Form 1: The child thinks someone or something should or must be different from the way
Basic Form 2: The child finds it is awful, terrible, or horrible when it is this way.
Basic Form 3: The child thinks he cannot bear, stand, or tolerate the person or thing that should
not be this way.
Basic Form 4: The child thinks that himself, or the other person, have made or keep making
something terrible, and because of this (the child or the other person) deserves condemnation and
does not deserve anything good in life. Consequently, the child gives himself or the other person
a negative label like lousy, jerk, or rotten.
Ellis defines irrationality as any thought, emotion, or behavior that leads to self-defeating or self-
destructive consequences. Irrational thinking interferes with the ability to get along well with
others. According to RET, irrational thinking stems from:
-Demands like must and must not; should and should not. We make a demand when we believe
and consider an obligation that the world, other people, or both world and other people are
different. Examples would be,
---The world should be fair and just.
---Others should treat me the way I want.
