The Biological Basis of Human Irrationality

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AUTHOR Ellis, Albert TITLE The Biological Basis of Human Irrationality. PUB DATE 31 Aug 75 NOTE 42p.; Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association (83rd, Chicago, Illinois, August 30-September 2, 1975) Reproduced from best copy available

EDRS PRICE MF-$0.83 HC-$2.06 Plus Postage DESCRIPTORS *Behavioral Science Research; *Behavior Patterns; *Biological Influences; Individual Psychology; *Psychological Patterns; *Psychological Studies; Psychotherapy; Speeches IDENTIFIERS *Irrationality

ABSTRACT If we define irrationality as thought, emotidn, or behavior that leads to self-defeating consequences or that significantly interferes with the survival and happiness of the organism, we find that literally hundreds of major irrationalities exist in all societies and in virtually all humans in those societies. These irrationalities persist despite people's conscious determination to change; many of them oppose almost all the teachings of the individuals who follow them; they persist among highly intelligent, educated, and relatively undisturbed individuals; when people give them up, they usually replace them with other, sometimes just as extreme, irrationalities; people who strongly oppose them in principle nonetheless perpetuate them in practice; sharp insight into them or their origin hardly removes them; many of them appear to stem from autistic invention; they often seem to flow from deepseated and almost ineradicable tendencies toward human fallibility, overgeneralization, wishful thinking, gullibility, prejudice, and short-range hedonism; and they appear at least in part tied up with physiological, hereditary, and constitutional processes. Although we can as yet make no certain or unqualified claim for the biological basis of human irrationality, such a claim now has enough evidence behind it to merit serious consideration. (Author)

*********************************************************************** Documents acquired by ERIC include many informal unpublished * materials not available from other sources. ERIC makes every effort *1 * to obtain the best copy available. Nevertheless, items of marginal * * reproducibility are often encountered and this affects the quality * * of the microfiche and hardcopy reproductions ERIC makes available * * via the ERIC Document Reproduction Service (EDRS). EDRS is not * responsible for the quality of the original document. Reproductions * * supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original. * *********************************************************************** The Biological Basis of Human Irrationality Albert Ellis

Ins titute for Advanced Study in RationalPsychotherapy, 45 East 65 Street, New York, N.Y. 10021

Invited address to the Division of General Psychology,

American Psychological Associating Meetings,Chicago,

August 31, 1975

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2 Bio gical Basis

Abstract If we define irrationality as thought, emotion, or behavior that leads to self-defeating consequences or that significantly interferes with the survival and happinesS of the organism, we find that literally hundreds of major irrationalities exist in all societies and in virtually all hu-xn.ans in those societies.These irrationalities persist despite people's conscious determination to change; many of them oppose almost all the teachings of the individuals who follow them; they persist among highly intelligent, educated, and relatively undisturbed individuals; whenpeople give them up, they usually replace themwith other, sometimes just as extreme irrationalities; people who strongly oppose them in principle nonetheless perpetuate them in practice; sharp insight into them ortheir origin hardly removes them; many of them appear to stemfrom autistic invention; they, often seem to flow from deepseated and almost ineradicabletendencies toward human fallibility, overgeneralization, wishful -thinking,gullibility, prejudice, and short-range hedonism; and they appear at least in parttied

up with physiological, hereditary,and constitutional processes. Although we can as yet make no certain or unqualified claim for the biological basis

. . of human irrationality, such a claim now has enoughevidence behind it to merit serious consideration. Biological Basis

The Biological Basis of Human Irrationality

BeforeLtState any hypothesis about the basis of human irrationality, let me do a rather unique thiv define what I mean by themain terms I shall emplorin this article, biological basis andirrationality. By, biological basis I mean that a characteristic or trait has distinctly innate (as well as distinctly acquired) origins--that it partly arises from theorganism's natural, easy predisposition to behave in certain stipulated ways. Ido not mean thttt this characteristic ortrait has, a purely instinctive basis, that it cannot undergo major change, nor that the organismwould perish, or at least live in-abject misery, without it.I simply mean that, because of its genetic and/or congenital nature; an individual easilydevelops this - trait and has a difficult time modifying or eliminatingit. By irrationality, I mean any thought, emotion, orbehavior that leads to self-defeating or self-destructive consequences--thatsignificantly interferes with the survival and happiness of the organism, Morespecifically, Biological Basis

4 irrational behavior usually has several aspects: (1)The individual believes, often devoutly, that it accords with the tenets ofreality although in some important respect it really does not. (2) People whoadhere to it significantly denigrate or refuse to accept themselves . (3) It interfereswith their getting along satisfactorily with members of their primarysocial groups.(4) It seriously blocks their achieving the kind of interpersonalrelations that they would like to achieve.(5) It hinders their working gainfully andjoyfully at some kind of productive labor.(6) It interferes with their own best interests in other important respects (Ellis, 1974,1975; Maultsby, 1975). After defining my main terms in this manner, I state mymajor hypothesis as follows: Humans ubiquitously and constantly actirrationally in many important respects. Just about all of themdo so during all their lives, though some considerably more thanothers. We therefore have some reason to believe that they do sonaturally and easily, often against the teachings of th.r4111611/1119%. families and their culture,frequently against their own conscious wish and determination.Although modifiable to a considerable extent, their'th.ational tendencies seemlargely ineradicable and intrinsically go with their biological (as well associological) nature. This hypothesis goes back to the statements of someof the earliest historians and philosophers and has receivedadequate documentation over. the IT years by ahost of authorities, including Frazer (1959), Lit-St-t-8. vs s 0170, 3 Hoffer (1951), Pitkin 4111111111i (19a), Rachleff(197A, and Tabori (1959; 1961). A few modern psychologists, such asEllis (1962) and Parker (1973), have Biological Basis

5. agreed with this documentation. The latter, forexample, has noted that "most people are self-destructive, theybehave in ways that are obviously against their best interest (Parker, 1973, p. 3).Nonetheless oiler whenever I address an audience of psychologists orpsychotherapists and point out this fairly obvious conclusion and state or implythat it arises out of the biological tendency of humans to behave irrationally, a great manydyed-in- the-wool environmentalists almost always rise withhorror, foam at the mouth, and call me a traitor to objective, scientificthinking. Hence this paper. I shall try tosummarize here, as briefly as I. can--for the amount of supporting evidence assumesoverwhelming proportions and would literally take many volumes to summarizeproperlysome of the main reasons behind the thesis thathuman irrationality roots itself in basic human nature. Someday I shall try to documentthis summary presentation with gory details, taken from physiological,genetic, experimental, his tor- ical, anecdotal, clinical, and other sources. Forthe nonce, I shall confine myself merely to outlining the multiplicityof major lemoseepeirrationalities 10 and giving some of the logical andpsychological reasons why it seems almost certain that they have biological origins. Let me first list some of the outstandingirrationalities among the thousands that I have collected over the years .The following manifesta- tions of human behavior certainly do not appearcompletely irrational- - for they also have (as what behavior has not?) somedistinct advantages.

Some people, such as those EricHoffer calls true believers, will even Biological Basis

6 hold that many of them bring about much moregood than harm. Almost any reasonably objective observer of human al affairs,however, will probably tend to agree that they include a large amountof foolishness, unreality, and danger to our survival or happiness. 1. Custom and Conformity Irrationalities a. Outdated and rigid customs . b. Ever-changing, expensive fashions. c. Fads and popular crazes. d. Customs involving WNW" royalty and nobility.

e. Customs involvingholidays and festivals.

f.Customary gifts and presentations . g. Customs in connectionwith social affairs and dating. h. Courtship, marriage, and wedding customs. i. Puberty rites, Bar Mitzpahs, etc. j. Academic rites and rituals . k. Hazings of schools, fraternal organizations, etc. 1. Religious rites and rituals. m. Customs and ritesregarding scientific papers. n; Circumcision conventionsand rituals. o. Rigid rules ofetiquette and manners. p. Blue laws. q. Strong disposition toobey authority) e---Vt..*4 1.0$0-01:1- rtzkts ol.414.4 14 e_irtzials Biological Basis

2. go-related Irrationalities a. Tendency to deifyoneself. b. Dire need to have superiority over others.

c .Tendency to give oneself a global, total,all-inclusive rating. d. Tendency to desperately seek for status. e. Tendency to prove oneselfrather than enjoy oneself .

f.Tendency to believe that one's value as a humandepends on one's competency at an important actperformance or group

of important performances. g. Tendency tovalue oneself or devalue oneself inregard to the performances of one's family. h. Tendency to value or devalue*oneself in regard to the performances or status of one's school, neighborhood group, community, staCe, or country. i. Tendency to denigrate or devil-ifyoneself.

3.Prejudice-related Irrationalities a. Strong prejudice .

b.Dogma. c. Racial prejudice. (3. Sex prejudice.

e .Political prejudice.

f.Social and class prejudice. g. Religiousprejudice. h. Appearance prejudice (tendency tostrongly favor or disfavor 8 people or their acts because of theirphysical attractiveness or unattractiveness). Biological Basis

4. Common= Kinds of illogical Thinking a. Overgeneralization. b. Magnification and exaggeration. c. Use of nonsequiturs. d. Strong belief in anti-empirical statements. e. Strong belief in absolutes.

f.Gullibility'andover-suggestibility. g. Strong belief in contradictory statements. h. Strong belief in utopianism. i. Strong adherence to unreality. j. Strong belief in unprovable statements. k. Shortsightedness. 1. Overcautiousness. m. Giving up one extreme statementand going to the other extreme. n. Strong belief in shoulds, oughts,and musts. o. The dire need for certainty. p. Wishful thinking. q. Lack of self-perspective. r. Difficulty of learning.

s .Difficulty of unlearning and relearning. t. Deep conviction that because one believessomething strongly it must have objectivreality and truth.

uConviction that because one had better respect the rights of others

to hold beliefs different from one's owntheir beliefs have truth. 9 Biological Basis

5. Experiential and Feeling Irrationalities a. Strong conviction that because one experiences something deeply objective . and "feels" its truth that it must have vii0.11111181111. reality and truth. b. Strong conviction that the more intensely one experiences something the more objective reality and truth- it has. c. Strong conviction that because one authentically and honestly feels something it must have objective truth and reality..

d. Strong conviction that all authentic and deeply ANN & experienced feelings represent legitimate and healthy feelings. e. Strong conviction that when a powerfulirrational thought or feeling exists (e.g., a mystical feeling that one understands everything in the universe) it constitutes a deeper, more important, and objectively truer idea or emotion than a rational thought or feeling. 6. Habit-making Irrationalities a. no The acquiring of nonproductive and self-defeatinghabits easily

and war unconsciously. b. The automatic retention and persistence of nonprodyctive and self-defeating habits in spite of one's conscious awareness of their irrationality.. c.Failure to follow up on conscious determination.214 and resoluliD0 to break a self-defeating habit. d.Inventing rationalizations and excuses for not giving up a self- defeating habit. 10 e.Backsliding into' self-defeating habits after one has temporarily overcome them. Biological Basis

7.1:1 Addictions to Self-defeating Behaviors a. Addiction to MI over-eating. b. Addiction to smoking. c. Addiction to alcohol.

d. Addiction to drugs. e.Addiction to tranquilizers and other medicines.

f.Addiction to work, at the expense of greater enjoyments. g. Addiction to approvaland love.

8.Neurotic and Psychotic Symptoms a. Overweening and disruptiveanxiety. b. Depression and despair. c. Hostility and rage. d. Extreme feelings of self-downing and hurt. e. Extreme feelings of self-pity. f. Childish grandiosity. g. Refusal to acceptreality. h. Pararo d thinking. i. Delusions. j. Hallucinations k. Psychopathy. 1. Mania. m. Extreme withdrawal orcatatonia. Biological Basis

9. Religious Irrationalities a. Devout faith unfounded infact.

b.Slavish adherence to religious dogma. c. Deep conviction that asupernatural force must exist. d. Deep conviction that a supernatural force or entity has special, personal interest in oneself.

e. Deep conviction in Heaven andHell. f. Religious bigotry. g. Persecution of otherreligious group's. h. Wars between religious groups. i.Scrupulous adherence to religious rules, rites, and *rimtaboos. j. Religious antisexuality and extreme puritanism. k. Religious conviction that all pleasure equates withsin.

1.Complete conviction that some deity will heed one's prayers. or soul m. Absolute conviction that onehas a spirit entir ely divorced from one's material body.

NO Absolute conviction that one's soul will live forever. o. Absolute conviction that nokind of superhuman. force can possibly exist. W. Population Irrationalities a. Population explosion in many partsof the world, b. Lack of education in contraceptive methods. 12 c. Families having morechildren than they can afford to support.

d.Restrictions on birth control and abortion for those who want to usethem. e. Some nations deliberately fomenting a populationexplosion to create more cannon fodder. Biological Basis

It H ealth Irrationalities a ._Air pollution. b. Noise pollution. c. Drug advertisingand promotion. d. Poor health education. e. Harmful foodadditives. f. Uncontrolled medical costs and resultant poorhealth facilities.

g. Unnecessarysurgical procedures. h. Avoidance of physicians and dentistsby people requiring diag- nostic and medical procedures. i. Neglect of medical research. 12. Acceptance of Unreality a. Widespread acceptanceand following of silly omit myths. b. Widespread acceptance andfollowing of extreme romanticism. c. Widespread acceptanceand following of foolish, inhumane fairy tales. d. Widespread acceptance andfollowing of unrealistic movies. e. Widespread acceptanceandMINIfollowing Of unrealistic radio and TV dramas and serials . f. Widespread pollyanna ism .

g. Widespreadutopianism.

13, Biological Basis

13.Political Irrationalities a. Wars.

b.Undeclared wars and cold visseissoc Wars. c. Civil wars. d. Political corruption and graft.

e .Foolish election and voting procedures.

f.Political riots . g. Terrorism. h. Politica persecution and torture. i. Extreme patriotism. j. Etreme nationalism. k. Constant international bickering. 1. Sabotaging of attempts at world collaborationand cooperation. 14. Economic Irrationalities a. Ecological waste andpollution. b. Poor use and development of natural resources. c. Economic boycotts and wars. d. Needless employer-employee bickering and strikes . e. Extreme profiteering.

f.Business bribery, corruption, and theft. g. Extreme economicstatus-seeking. h. Union bribery, corruption, and graft.

1.Mi.; le acing andfalse advertising. j. Foolish restrictions on businessand labor. 14 'Biological Basis

X 130.. k. Inefficiency in business and industry. 1. Addiction to foolish economic customs.

m. 6111111PINK Inequitable andineffectual taxes.

n. Gambling abuses . o. Foolish consumerism (e.g.,expensive dog funerals, Amermak funerals, weddings, alcohol consumption, etc.) p. Production of shoddy materials.

r .Lack of intelligent consumerism information and control.

s .Inefficiently run welfare system. t. Inefficiently run government agencies .

15. Avoidance Irrationalities a. Procrastination. b. Complete avoidance of ailliewimportant things;inertia,

c .Refusal to face important realities. d. Oversleeping and avoidance of sufficient sleep. e. Refusal to get sufficientexercise,

f.Lack of thought and preparation for the future. g. Needless suicide. 16. Dependency Irrationalities a. Need for approval and love ofothers. b. Need for authority figures to run one's life.

c .Need. for superhuman gods or devils a. Need for _parents when one has maturedchronologically. e. Need for a helper, guru, ortherapist. f. Need for a hero. - 15 g. Need for magicalsolutions to problems. Biological Basis

17. Hostility Irrationalities a. Condemning people totallybecause some of their acts appear undesirable or unfair.

b.Demanding that people OA absolutely must dowhat-wwwwisse one would like' them to do and damning them when theydon't.

c .Setting up perfectionistic standards and insistingthat people have to follow them. d. Commanding that justice and fairness mustexist in the universe

and making oneself quite incensed when theydo not. e. Insisting that hasslesand difficulties must not exist and that life turns absolutely awful when theydo. f. Disliking unfortunate conditions and notmerely working to overcome or remove thembut over-rebelliously_ hating the entire system that produces them and thepeople involved in this system. g. Remembering pastinjustices and vindictively feuding against the perpetrators of these injustices forever. h. Remembering past injustices in gorydetail and obsessing irsew axle about them and their perpetrators forever.

18. Excitement-seeking Irrationalities a. Continuing to gamblecompulsively in spite of serious losses. b. Leading a carousing, playboy or playgirl typeof life at the expense of other more solidenjoyments. c. Engaging indangerous sports or pastimes, such as mountain cliMbing, hunting, or skiing under hazardous conditions. Deliberately having sex without takingcontraceptive vow or d 16 venereal disease precautions. Biological Basis

e. Engaging in college hazing or other pranks of a -1111111111111111111K hazardous nature. f. Turning in false fire alarms. g.Dangerous forms 'of dueling. h. Engaging in stealing or homicide for excitement - seeking. i.Engaging in serious forms of brawling, fighting, rioting, or warring for excitement seeking. Engaging in cruel sports, such as clubbing baby seals or cock-

fighting for mailliassolimmet excitement-seeking. 19. Magic-related Irrationalities. a. Devout belief in magic, sorcery, witchcraft, etc. b. Devout belief in as trolgy. c. Devout belief in phrenology. d.Devout belief in mediums and ghosts. e.Devout belief in talking horses and other talking animals.

f.Devout belief in411111111 extrasensory perception. g.Devout belief in demons and exorcism. h.Devout belief in the power of prayer. i.Devout belief in superhuman entities and gods . j.DevouTems belief in damnation and salvation. k.Devout belief that the universe really cares for humans:maw

1.Devout belief that some force in the universe spies on humans and regulates their lives on the principle of deservingness and

_ nondeservingness.

rn. in the unity and union of all things in the world. . Devout belief. n. Devout belief in immorality. Biological Basis

20, Immorality Irrationalities Engaging in immoral and criminal acts opposed to one's own

strong moral code. b. Engaging in immoral or criminal acts for which onehas a good

chance of getting apprehended and severelypenalized. c.Engaging in immoral and criminal acts when one wouldhave a good chance of gaining morewith less effort at noncriminal pursuits, d.Firmly believing that virtually no chance exists of one'sgetting caught at immoral and criminal acts when a goodchance actually exists e.Strong belief that because a good chance existsthat one can get away with a single criminal act a good chance alsoexists that one can get away with repeated acts ofthat nature. f.Stubborri refusal to amend one's immoral ways eventhough one suffers severe penalties for engaging in them.

g.Engaging in criminal, assaultive, or homicidal actswithout any real sense of behaving irresponsibly orimmorally. 21. Irrationalities Related to Low FrustrationTolerance oAShort-range Hedonism. a. Strong insistence ongoingiowallim mainly or only for the pleasures of the moment instead of for those of the presentand future. b. Obsession with immediate gratifications,whatever the cost.

C.VOISMIng$ Whining and strongly pityingoneself when one finds it necessary to surrendershort-range pleasures for other gains

it.Ignoring the dangers inherent in going forimmediate pleasures. e. Striving for ease andcomfort rather than.for greater satisfactions that require some temporary discomfort. 18 Biological Basis

f. Refusing to work against aharmful addiction because of the immediate discomfort of giving it up. Ref-using to continue with a beneficial or satisfying program of activity because one views its onerous aspects as too hard and devoutly believes that they should not exist. h. Champing at the bit impatiently when one has to wait for or

work for a satisfying condition to occur. i.Procrastinating about doing activities that one knows would turn out beneficially and that one has promised oneself todo. a Significantly contributing to the consumption of4scarce corn - modify, that one knows one will very much want in the future,

22. Defensive Irrationalities a. Rationalizing about one's poorbehavior instead of trying to honestly admit it and correct it. b.Denying that one has behaved poorly or stupidly when one clearly has. c.Avoiding facing some of one's serious problems and sweeping them under the rug. d.Unconsciously repressing some of one's "shameful" acts because one will savagely condemn oneselfif one consciously admits them. e. Projectingone's poor behavior onto others and contending that they did it, in order to deny responsibility for it. f.Using the sour grapes mechanism, and claiming that you really do not want something you do want, rtatakigst when yat find it too difficulto.:i-o face your not getting it.

g Identifying with outstanding individuals and believing that you Biological basis

have the same kinds of abilities or talents that they have. h. Resorting to transference: confusing people who 011580inleopossc affected you seriously in your past life with those whom you have interests in today and assuming that the present individuals will act pretty much the same way as the past ones did. i.Resorting to a reaction formation: expressing reverse feelings (such as love) for someone for whom you really have the opposite feeling (such as hate). 23. Attribution Irrationalities a. Attributing to people feelings for youthat they really do not

have. b.Attributing certain motives for people's behavior when they do not e.ctually have those motives . c.Attributing to people a special interest in you when they have no such interest. d.Attributing certain characteristics or ideas to people because they have membership in a group whose constituents frequently have such characteristics or ideas. 24. Memory-related Irrationalities a. Forgetting painful experiences soon afterthey end, and not using them to avoid future pain.

b. Embellishing the facts about people's behavior and inventing 20 exaggerations and rumors about them.

c. Focusing mainly or only or), theimmediate advantages, or disadvantages of things and shortsightedly ignoring what will probably happen in connection with them in the future. Biological Basis

d. Repressing one's memory of important events, air so as not to feel responsibility or shame about their occurring. e. Remembering some things too well and thereby interfering with effective thought and behavior in other respects. 25. Demandingness-related Irrationalities a. Demanding that one must do well at certain goals in order to accept oneself as a human.

b. Demanding that one must win the approval or love of significant others. c.Demanding that one must do perfectly well at practically everything and/or win the perfect approval of practically

everyone.

d..Demanding that others must treat one fairly, justly, considerately, and lovingly. e.Demanding that everyone must treat one perfectly fairly,. 'justly, considerately, and lovingly. f.Demanding that the conditions of life must remain easy and that one must get practically everything one wants quickly, without any undue effort. g.Demanding that one must have almost perfect enjoyment or ecstasy at all times.

26. Sex-related Irrationalities . a.The belief that sex acts have intrinsic 4411iiimaydirtiness, bad- ness, or wickedness. 21 M3SoVir42-11 b.The belief that sex acts prove bad or immoral unless they Biological Basis

go with love, marriage, or othernonsexual relationships. c. The belief that orgasm has a sacredquality and that sex without" it has no real joy or legitimacy. d. The belief that intercourse has a sacred quality and that orgasm

must come about during penile - vaginal intromission. e.The belief that one must have sex competence and that one's worth as a person doesn't exist without it. f. The belief that good sex must include simultaneous orgasm.

g.The belief that masturbation and petting to orgasm have a c shameful quality, not thelegitimacy of intercourse. h.The belief that men can legitimately and morally have more

sex or less restricted sex than cari mamaworsen.

. The belief that sex competence should occur spontaneously and easily, without any particular kind of knowledge or practice. The belief that women have little natural interest in sex, remain naturally passive, and have inferior sexual Amok abilities and capacities. C24 k.The belief that two people who love each other have little or no sexual interest in other individuals .

271.1 Science-related Irrationalities a. The belief that sci _tnce provides a panaceafor the solution of

all human problems. b.The belief that the scientific method constitutes the only method

of advancing human knowledge.

22 Biological Basis

21 c. The belief that alltechnological inventions and advances prove

good for ormier humans. d. The belief that because the lOgico-empiricalmethod of science does not give perfect solutions to all problems and has its limitations that it has little or no usefulness. e. The belief that becauseindeterminacy exists inscientific observation, the logico-empirical method lias no validity. f.The belief that because science has found evidenceand explana- m-Vtuall lions for hypotheses thae-bnly existed in the humanimagination umb.boVrcXtY 44;11 (e.g., the theory of relativity), it has toAfindevidence and explanations for other imagined hypotheses (such asthe

existence of a soul or of God). g-The belief that because a scientist getsrecognized as an authority in one area (e.g., Einstein as a physicist), he orshe must have authoritative views in other areas (e.g.,politics). h.The strong tendency of highly competent,exceptionally well- trained scientists to act in a highly prejudiced,foolish manner in some important aspects of their scientificendeavors, and to behave even more foolishly in theirpersonal lives . i.The strong tendency of applied social scientists--such as

clinical psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers,. coun- a u usc..144.3i4je..-ai 1, selors, and clergymen--to behave self-defeatirtgly in thei7: personal and professional. lives.

23 Biological Basis

The foregoing list of humanirrationalities, which in no waypretends to ac exhaustthe field, includes 259 majorhappiness-sabotaging tendencies . Some of these, admittedly,overlap; so that the list includesrepetitions. At the same time, it consistsof only a bare outline; and undereach of its headings we can easily subsume alarge number of other irrationalities.Under hea le, for example, irrationalitiesrelated to courtship, marriage,and wedding customs, we could easilyinclude hundreds of idiocies, manyof them historical. but many still extant. My own field, that ofpsychotherapy, represents one ofthe most tragic examples in this respect. Ihave mentioned it briefly,under heading 27ief science-related irrationalities,and have listed tithe strongtendency of applied social scientists--such asclinical psychologists,psychiatrists, social workers, counselors, and clergymen --to behave self-defeatinglyin their personal and professional lives''This hardly tells the tale! Forpsychotherapy supposedly consists of a field ofscientific inquiry and applicationwhose prac- titioners remain stronglydevoted to helping their clientseliminate or minimize their irrational,self-destrUctive thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.Actually, the opposite largely appears tohold true. For most therapists seemto have almost innumerable irrationalideas and to engage in piaubiquitous anti-scientific activities that helptheir clients maintain or evenintensify

their unreasonableness . Let me, in thisconnection, briefly mention afew major irrationalities of psychotherapeutic"helpers":(1) Instead of taking acomprehensive, multimodal, cognitive-emotive-behavioralapproach to treatment, they fetish- 24 Biological. Basis

is tically and obsessively-compulsivelyoveremphasize some" monolithic approach, such as awareness, insight,emotional release, understanding of ( 1,3.-Lav 4.st IA" t), the past, experiencing, rationality, orphysical release(2) They have their own dire needs for theirclients' approval and frequently tie theseclients to

them in an extended dependencyrelationship. (3) They abjure scientific,empir- ically based analysis foF far-fetchedconjectures that they rarely relate to but-tieNtc10,4,1L4LX-t*, Ictit ). feel better rather than factual dataA(4) They tend to focus on helping clients get better by learningspecifically how they upset themselves andhow they can stop doing so in the future.(5) They dogmatically assume thattheir own system or technique of therapy ,and it alone, helps people and have aclosed mind to

other systems or techniques.(6)They promulgate therapeuticorthodoxies

1. and excoriate 01 and excommunicate apostatesof deviate from their dogmas. (7) They confuse correlation with causeand effect and assume that if an individual hates, say, his mother, andlater hates other women, his former feeling must have caused the latter feeling.(8) They mainly ignore the biological bases of human behavior and assumethat special situational reasons for all disturbances must exist--and, worseyet, that if one finds these special reasons the disturbances willalmost automatically disappear. gat (9) They tend to look for(and "find"!) unique, clever,. and "deep" explanations of * behaviorand ignore many obvious, "superficial," and truer explanations . qmpor(10) They either promulgate theneed, on the part of their clients, forinterminable therapy; or they promulgatethe myth that easy, quick,miracle- cures exist (LeShan, 1975).(11) They turn

2 5 Biological Basis

24 more and more to magic,faith healing, astrolog4, tarot cards, and other unscientific means. of "transpersonal" psychotherapy (Ellis,197.A 1975; Frank,

1975).(12) They strive for vaguely define, utopian goals thatmislead and harm clients (Watzlawick et al, 1974).(13) They make irrational,unscientific attacks on experimentally-inclined therapists (Hook,1975; S trupp, 1975a, 1975b). (14) They apotheosize emotion and invent false dichotomiesbetween reason

and emotion (Frankel, 1973; Shibles, 1974; Strupp, 1975b). Again, I don't intend aww this list as an exhaustive one;and

I could easily double or irsipowrctriple it. NIAlliligairlitrelliirt To repeat

my main point: virtuallyall the main headings and subheadings in the above list of major human irrationalities have a score or morefurther subdivisions; and for each subdivision a fairly massive amount ofobservtttional and experimental eviiimanat confirmatory evidence exists. Forexample, we

have a massive amount of observationalevidence that innumerable people overeat, procrastinate, thinkdogmatically, lose considerable amounts of money in foolish gambling,devoutly believe in astrology, and continually rationalize about their own inept behavior. And wehave considerable exper-

imental evidence that humans eel feel favorably biased in regard to those whom they consider attractive, that theybackslide after giving up a habit lice overeating, AciaBIN'that they go for speciousimmediate gratifications

instead of more et4fripaittkiar enjoyable longtermsatisfactions, that they repress memories of eventsthey consider shameful, -mei that they frequently attribute feelings to others that these others do not seemto have, and that they have an almost incredibledegree of suggestibility in regard to .

an opinion of *themajority of. their fellows or of a presumed authorityfigure. 26 Biological Basis

Granted that all the foregoing major humanirrationalities--and many more like them! -- exist. Onwhat grounds do I maintain the thesis that, in all probability, they have biological roots and stemfrom the fundamental nature of humans? On several importantgrounds which I consider quite con- vincing (though not completely validating, beyond anyshadow of doubt). Let me list them: 1. All the major human irrationalities that Ilist under the twenty-

seven headings above seem toexist, in one form or another, invirtually all humans. Not equally, of course! Some of us, onthe whole, behave much less irrationally than others. But go find any--y es, I mean any--individuals who do not fairly frequently in their livessubscribe to all--yes, I mean all -- of these major irrationalities. For example,using only 4ilk the firs t ten that apply to personal self-sabotaging, main headings in my listAdo any of you knowof a single man or woman who has not often slavishly conformed to someasinine social custom, not given himself or herself global, total ratings, notheld strong prejudices, not resorted to several kinds of illogicalthinking, not fooled himself or herself into believing that his or her strong feelingsrepresented something about objective reality, not acquired and persisted inself-defeating habits, not had any pernicious addictions, remained perfectly freeof all .fir neurotic symptoms,

never subscribed toreligious dogmas, and never surrendered to anyfoolish health habits?I practically defy you to come upwith a single case! 2. Just about all the major irrationalitiesthat now exist haveve held rampant sway in virtually all socialand cultural groups that we have investigated historically and anthropologically. Although rules, laws,

27 Biological. Basis

26 mores, and standards vary widelyfrom group--to-group-i-apiikek gullibility, absolutism, dogmas, religiosity, and demandingness about thesestandards remains surprisingly similar. Thus, your parentsand your culture advise or educate you, in the Western civilized world, to wear orekind of clothes and, in the South Sea Islands, to wear another kind. But wherethey tend to inform you, "You had better dress in the right or proper way, sothat people will accept your behavior and act advantageously toward you," youirrationally escalate this "proper" (and not too irrational) standardinto, "I must dress properly, because I absolutely need other people'sapproval. I can't stand - their disapproval and the disadvantages that maythereby accrue to me; and if they do not like my behavior that means they do notlike me and that I rate as a completely rotten person!"Although your parents and your teachers may encourage you to think in thisabsolutistic, self-downing manner, yoil seem to have the innate humanpropensity (a) to gullibly take them seriously; (b) to carry on their nonsense for the restof your life; and (c) to invent it yourself if theyhappen to provide you with relatively little absolutism. 3. Many of the irrationalities thatpeopleiriat profoundly follow go counter to almostall the teachings of their parents, peers, and mass media. Yet they refuse to give them -up!Few parents encourage- you to overgeneralize, make anti-empirical statements, oruphold contradictory propositions; yet you tend to do this kind of thingcontinually.Your educational system strongly encourages you to learn,unlearn, and relearn;

yet you have great difficulty doing sotsin many important respects.

28 Biological Basis

You encounter strong persuasiveefforts others to get you to forego nonproductive and self-defeating habits, likeovereating and smoking. But you largely tend to resist this constantteaching. You may literally go, at your own choosing, for yearsof psychotherapy to overcome youranxiety or tendencies toward depression. But look at the relativelylittle progress you often make!

4IG You may have parents who raise youwith extreme scepticism or anti-religious tendencies. Yet, you easily canadopt some extreme religious orthodoxy in your adult years. You learnabout the advisability of regularly visiting your-anise physician and yourdentist from grade school onward.

But does this teaching make you go?Does widespread reading about thefacts of life quiet yourePillli pollyannaism orutopianism--or rid you of undue pessemism? have clearly exposed the inequities Thousands of well-documented booksand fil tA of wars, riots, terrorism, and extremenationalism. Have they really induced you--and your fellowmen and fellowwomen!--toinalterably oppose these forms of political irrationality? Virtually no one encourages you toprocrastinate and to avoid facing life's realities. Well...? Dangerousexcitement-seeking rarely gets you the approval of others. Does that stop youfrom indulging in it? The vast majority of scientists oppose magical,unverifiable, absolutistic, devout thinking. Do

you always heed them?You usually know perfectly wellwhat moral * and ethical rules you subscribe to; andalmost everyone you know encourages you to subscribe to them. Do you?Low frustration toleranceand shortrange hedonism rarely prove acceptable to yourerlers, your teachers, your clergy- . men, and yourfavorite w-riters.Does their disapproval stop youfrom 29 frequently giving in to immediategratification at the expense of futuregains? Biological Basis

Who teaches you to rationalize and reinforces youwhen you do so.? What therapist, friend, or parent goes along with your otherkinds of defensiveness? Btit does their alsocuMmealmost universal opposition stop you? Dosignificant others in your life reward you4sK for demanding perfectionof yourself or of them? For whining and wailing that conditions must transpire the way you imam* want them to turn out? Certainly, a good many of your main irrationalities have an important cultural component--or at least get significantly encouragedand exacerbated by the social group with which you reside. But agood many

seem minimally taught; and manyothers get severely discouraged. They still ubiquitously flourish! 4. As briefly mentioned before, practically all theirrationalities listed in this article hold true not only for ignorant,stupid, and severely disturbed individuals but alsc, for highly intelligent,educated, and relatively little disturbed persons .Ph.D.'s in physics and psychology, for example, have strong racial and other yrejudices, indulge in enormousamounts of wishful thinking, believe that if someone believes somethingstrongly or intensely experiences it, it must have objective ft reality and truth,fall prey to all kinds of pernicious habits (including addictions likealcoholism), foolishly get themselves into debt, devoutly thinkthat they must have others' approval, believe in the power of prayer, and invent rumorsabout others which they then strongly believe.Unusually bright and well-educated people probably hold fewer or less rigid irrationalities than averagemembe;sag the populace; but they hardly have a monopoly on rationalbehavior!

30 Biological Basis

5.So many humans hold highly irrational beliefsand participate in exceptionally self-defeating behaviors so oftenthat we can only with . great difficulty uphold the hypothesis thatthey entirely learn these ways of reacting.Even if we hypothesize that they largely ormainly learn how to behave so badly, the obvious questionarises; Why do they allow themselves to get taken in so badly by theteachings of their culture, and if they do imbibe these, during their callow youths,why don't they teach themselves how to give up these inanitieslater? Almost all of us learn many significant political, social, and religiousvalues from our parents and.our institu tionsitismat during our childhood, but weoften give them. up later, after we go to college, read somehard-headed books, or befriend people who subscribe to quite different values . Whydon't we do this about many of our most idioticand impractical views, which clearly do notaccord with reality and which obviously do us considerableharm? Take, for instance,. the following ideas, whichjust a little re -.

Election will show have little sense and whichwill almost always lead to bad results;(1) "If my sister did me in as a child, all women appeardangerous and I'd better not relate to them intimately."(2)"If I lack competency in an important area, such as academicperformance, I rate as a totally worthless individual and deserve no happiness."(3) "Because you have treated me unfairly, as you absolutely must not, youhave to change your ways and treat mebetter in the .11(4) "Since I enjoy smoking very much, I can't give it up; and although othersacquire serious disadvantages from continuing it, I can most probably get awaywith smoking without harming myself."(5) "Because blacks get arrested andconvicted for more Biological Basis

=1.2a... crimes than whites, they all rate as animmoral race and .I'd better have nothing to do with them."(6)"If biological and hereditary factorsplay an important part in emotional disturbance,.urailiiiporwe can do nothing to help-disturbed people and their plight remains hopeless." All these irrational statements, andhundreds of similar ones, clearly make little or no sense and wreak immensesocial and individual harm, Yet we devoutly believe them in millions of cases;and even if we can show that these beliefs some significant partof itichristeliei stems from social learning(as-apiropeelsei's* eS isistaibwiimoly probably do), why do we sostrongly imbibe and so persistently- hang on to themClearly, it seems to me, because we have a_u i powerful biological predisposition to do so. 6. When bright and generally competentpeople give up many of their irrationalities, they frequentlyteal to adopt other inanities or to

go to oppositeirrational extremes.Devout religionists often turninto devout atheists. Political right -wing extremistswind up as left-wing extremists. Individuals who procrastinate mightily maylater emerge as compulsive workers. People who surrender one irrationalphobia frequently turn up with another equally irrational but quite differentphobia.Extremism tends to remain as a naturalhuman trait that takes one foolishform or another. 7. Humans who seem leastafflicted by irrational thoughts and behaviors still revert to them,andsometimes seriously so, at certain times. A man who rarely gets angryat others or has temper tantrums may onoccasion incense himself so thoroughlythat he almost or liohimairp actuallymurders someone. Awoman who fearlessly studies difficult subjectsand takes . complicated examinations mayfeel that she can't bear rejectionby a job interviewer and may fail tolook for a suitable position. Atherapist who Biological Basis

30 objectively and dispassionately teacheshis or her clients how to behave more rationally may, if one of themstubbornly resists, act quite irrationally and agitatedly dismiss that personfrom therapy.In cases like these,unusual environmental conditions often bring outsilly behavior by normally sane individuals. But these individualsobviously react to these conditionsbecause they have some basic disposition to goout of their headsunder unusual kinds of stress--and that basicdisposition probably has innateelements. 8. People highly opposed tovarious kinds of irrationalities often fall prey to them. Agnosticsgive in to devout, absolutisticthoughts and

feelings .Highly religious individuals actquite immorally .Psychologists who believe that guilt orself-downing has no legitimacy make.themselves guilty and self-downing. 9. Knowledge or insightinto one's irrational behavioronly partially, if at all, helps one change it.499101You may know full wellab6ut the harmfulness of smoking--and smoke morethan ever! You may realize that youhate sex because your parentspuritancially taught you to do so; but you maynonetheless keep hating it. You mayhave clearcut "intellectual"insight into your overweening egotism but have little"emotional" insight into how tochange it. This largely arises fromthe basic human tendency to havetwo contradictory beliefs at the same time--an"intellectual" one which you lightlyand occasionally

hold and an "emotional" onawhich you vigorously andconsistently hold, and which you therefore usuallytend to act upon .This tigenfillkendency to human condition. have sitr..-(1taneotis contradictorybeliefs again seems part of the 10. As Freud (1964) and otherpsychoanalytic writers have pointed 33 Biological Basis

way andunconsciously think, out, people canconsciously think and feel one consciously resolve to stop over- feel, and act another way.Thus, you can , , -1-1,0s:1119.141_esia, to protect yourselffrom eating but unconsciouslycontinue yourself down if youfail with them. dating members of theother sex and putting certain automaticand unconscious Unconscious thoughtsand feelings, including denying, projecting,etc.) resorting to defensemechanisms (rationalizing,

seem rootedin biologically basedhuman tendencies . their II. No matter howhard and how longpeople work to overcome usually find itexceptionally difficult irrational thoughtsand behaviors, they degree they alwaysremain ex- to overcome oreradicate them; and to some and Harper, 1975;Hauck, ceptionally falliblein this respect(Ellis, 1962; Ellis hypothesize that becausethey overlearn 1973; Maultsby,1975). We could they thereforefind it most their self-defeatingbehaviors at an early age, simpler and morelog- difficult to reconditionthemselves. But it seems source--and that their ical to concludethat their fallibilityhas an inherent accepting trainingin dysfunctional early conditionabilityand proneness to innate fallibility! behavior itself representsa signif:icantpart of their through having some- Certainly, theyhardly acquiredconditionability solely

onecondition them! ideas 12. It appearsreasonably clear thatcertain irrational experiences; that stem frompersonal, nonlearned(or even anti-learned) in a highly ay creativemanner. weinventively, thoughcrazily, invent them and you. intensely Suppose, forinstance, you fallin love with someone "I know I'll loe youforever!" feel, "know, "and state, 34 Biological Basis

aboir You certainly didn'tlearn thatknowledge--since you not. only read Romeo and Julie-t-, (a fictional pair, of course) but alsoread lots of othe4information, such as divorce statistics,which show that people rarely romanticallyadore each other forever. You consequently pairewrchose your"knowledge" out of several other bits of data you could have chosen to"know." And you most probably did so because romanticlove among humans frequently carrieswith it the intrinsic illusion that "Because my feeling for youhas such authenticity and intensity, I know it will last forever." You, atleast for the most part, autistically create the false and irrational"knowledge" that goes with your genuineatinlist,, (and most probably temporary!) feelings . Again, you may get reared as Jew or aMoslem and may convert yourself to Christianity and conclude, "I feelJesus as my Savior; and I feel certain that /11111111111.11K He exists as the Sonof God." Did your experience or your. .environmentalupbringing lead to this feeling and belief? Ordid you,, for various reasons,invent it?The natural tendency of humans seems ' to consist of frequentdogmatic beliefs that their prOfoundfeelings prove 4impb something objectively exists inthe universe; and this largely appears an innately based processof illusion.

13 If we look closely at some of the mostpopular irrational forms of thinking, it appears clear thathumans figure them out. They start with a sensible or realisticobservation, and they end up with a nonsequitur type of conclusion. Thus, you start with, "Itwould feel enjoyable and I would have advantages if. Jane loved me" You then falsely conclude,"Therefore she has to love me, and Ifind it awful if she doesn't. "If you begin with an even strongerobserv" ation,"I would find it exceptionallyand uniquely. Biological Basis

33 enjoyable if Jane loved me," you have even moreof a tendency to conclude, "There- fore she must!" But no matter how truethe first part of your proposition ',Coves, the second part remains a nonsequitur, making no sense whatever. Similarly, you tend to irrationally conclude,"Because I find order desirable, I need certainty." "Because I findfailure most undesirable, (I) I must not fail; (2) I did not causemyselfto fail - -he made me do it;and (3) Maybe I didn't really fail at all.""Because it would prove very hardfor me to give up smoking, Ifind it too hard; and I can't do it."All these non sequiturs stem from autistic, grandiosethinkingyou simply command that what you desire mustexist and what you find ire obnoxious mustnot. This kind of autistic thinking largely appears innate. 14. Many types of irrational thinkinglargely consist of aitseamwg arrant overgeneralizations; and as Korzybski (1933)and his followers have shown, overgeneralizations seems a normal (thoughfoolish) part of the human condition. Thus, you easily start with asensible observation, again, "I failed at that test; " and then you overgeneralize to, "Iwill always fail; I have no ability to succeed at it."Or you start with, "They sometimes treat meunjustly," and you overgeneralize to, "they always treat meunjustly, and I can't stand their continual unfair treatment!"Again: this seems the way that normal (711.1*,:k- tql1-) humans naturally think. Children, asPiaget -476)Rand his assotiatehave

shown, lack good judgment untilthe age of seven or eight. Adults frequently lack it forever! Biological Basis

15. Human thinking not only significantlyvaries in relation to people's intelligence levels but some forms ofthinking stem largely from left brain or rigisidensiroupewicampiropperight-brain functioning. Both intelligence ing and left-brain and right-brain functiotxhave asignificant hereditary element and do not arise merely out of learnedexperiences 411111 (Austin, 1975;

Sperry, 1975). 16. Some forms of heacimirrationality,such as low frustration tolerance or the seeking of the speciousrewards of immediate rather than long-term gratification, exist in many loweranimals as well as in humans Ainslie (1975) reviews the literature onspecious reward and shows how a decline in the effectiveness of rewards occurin both animals and humans as therewards get delayed from the maintime of choice. Again, .a fairly clearcutphysiol- ogical and hereditary element seemsobvious here.

17.Although significantly different irrationalitiesexist in different cultures, all cultures appear tohave significant irrationalities, and many of them probably died out becauseof these behaviors.People willtmelselelefr tend to invent and pick up self-defeatingideas everywhere they live, in spite of the wide diversity of theirenvironments. 18. Although enlightened educationnormally tends to reduce human irrationality, it by no means entirely overcomeshuman gullibility.As Bok (1975),

Jerome (1975), and MEE Kurtz(1974) indicate, although no scientific data exists favoring astrology and muchinformation shows it to con.ist of magic and nonsense, the belief of collegestudents in astrology has risen enormously in the last decade 37 Biological Basis

19. Some evidence exists that people often find it much easier to learn self-defeating than non-defeating behavior.Thus, they very easily overeatlaili but have great trouble sticking to a sensible diet. They can learn, usually from their foolish peers, to smoke cigarettes; but if other peers or elders try to teach them to give up smoking ig or to act more self -disciplirbedlyp in other ways, they resist this teaching to a faretheewell! They fairly easily pick up prejudices against Blacks, Jews, Catholics, and Orientals; but they rarely heed the teachings of thoroughly tolerant leaders.They quickly condition themselves to feel anxious, depressed, hating, and self-downing; but they take an enormous amount of time and effort getting rid of these disturbed feelings . They don't seem exactly doomed to a life time of stupid, foolish, =NM asinine behavior. But pretty

nearly!

Conclusion If we define irrationality as thought, emotion, or behavior that leads to self-defeating or self-destructive consequences or that significantly interferes with the survival and happiness of the organism, we find that literally hundreds of major irrationalities exist in all societies and in virtually all humans in those societies.These irrationalities persist despite people& conscious determination to change; many of them oppose almost all the teachings of the individuals who follow them; they persist among highly intelligent, educated, and relatively little disturbedindividuals;

38 Biological. Basis

36 when people give them up, they usually replace them with other,sometimes just as extreme though opposite, irrationalities; people who strongly oppose them in principlemataisisat nonetheless perpetuate them in practice;sharp insight into them or their origins hardly removes them; many of them appear to stem from autistic invention; they often seem toflow from deepseated and almost ineradicable human tendencies toward fallibility, overgeneralization, wishful thinking, gullibility, prejudice, and short-range hedonism; and they appear at least in part tied up withphysiological, hereditary, and constitutional processes. Although we can as yet make no certain or unqualified claim for the biological basis of human irrationality, such aclaim now has enough evidence behind it to merit serious consideration.People naturally and easily act rationally and self- fulfillingly - -as Friedman(1975), Maslow

(1973), Rogers (1973) and many other humanisticpsychologists have pointed out. Else they probably would not survive .But they also naturally and easily awiritosimirissee act against their own best interests. To somedegree,

their early and later environments encourage them tolearn self-destructive behaviors.But how can we not conclude that they havepowerful innate tendencies to listen to and agree with anti-human andinhumane teachings

and--more importantly - -to continue410111111111111Medevoutly to believe in and to idiotically carry on many of theseobviously foolish, scientifically

untenablteachings?

39 Biological Basis

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40 Biological Basis

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