Abstract

The study evaluated the ABC Model of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy Theory, which asserts that emotional consequences (C) are not directly caused by adversities (A) but rather are mediated by an individual’s beliefs regarding those adversities (B) (Ellis 1991) and its association to the unhealthy negative emotion of guilt. One hundred ninety-five Villanova University students (68 male, 127 female, M age = 19.48 years, SD = 2.08 years) volunteered to participate in this study. Participants were asked to complete two questionnaires, the Survey of Personal Beliefs (SPB) (Demaria, Kassinove, & Dill, 1989), with scales measuring Overall Irrational Ideation, Self-Directed Shoulds, Other-Directed Shoulds, Awfulizing, Low-Frustration Tolerance, and Self-Worth Judgments; and the Guilt Inventory (GI) (Kugler & Jones, 1992), measuring the guilt experienced by the individual. It was predicted that significant associations would be found between, Overall Irrational Ideation, Self-Directed Shoulds, Awfulizing, and Self-Worth Judgments and Guilt scores while no significant association would be found between Other-Directed Shoulds and Low-Frustration Tolerance and Guilt scores. These predictions received mixed support. Significant associations were found between Guilt scores and Overall Irrational Ideation (r = -.27), Self-Directed Shoulds (r = -.21), Self-Worth Judgments (r = -.21), and Low-Frustration Tolerance (r = -.40). No significant association was found between Guilt Scores and Other-Directed Shoulds (r = .02) and Awfulizing (r = -.12). These data suggest that Overall Irrational Thinking, Self-Directed Shoulds, Low-Frustration Tolerance and Self-Worth Judgments are associated with guilt reactions and that a tendency towards Other-Directed Shoulds, and Awfulizing are not associated with guilt reactions.