Effects of Irrationality on a Trail Making Performance Task

Abstract

45 rational and 45 irrational thinkers as defined by Ellis's (1962) theory and assessed by their scores on the Irrational Belief Test were compared on a series of Trail Making tasks. Both groups were assigned to one of three conditions which involved presentation of irrational, neutral, and rational self-referent statements. Superior performance displayed by the rational group provided support for the rational-emotive theory position that irrational beliefs (ideas) generalize their adverse effect to actual performance situations. Except for the first trial the data did not support the expectation that types of self-statements differentially influence efficiency of performance.