Experimenting with
Biased Expectations
Psychotherapy
Research
Training
C
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entre for
linical
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Step 1: Identify My Biased Expectations
Step 2: Identify My Unhelpful Behaviours
Step 3: Remember My Realistic Expectations from Thought Diary
Step 4: Identify My Helpful Behaviours & Set Up Your Experiment
Step 5: Carry Out the Experiment (from Step 4)
Step 6: Evaluate the Results
What actually happened?
How much did my biased expectations come true (0-100%)?
Which expectations were supported by the experiment? Biased or realistic?
What was it like to behave differently?
What did I learn from this experiment?
The Situation:
My Biased Expectations:
How much do I believe it will happen (0-100%)?
How will I know it has happened?
What unhelpful behaviours would I normally engage in to cope (e.g., avoidance, escape, safety behaviours).
Remind myself of the new perspective that I have developed from my Thought Diary.
What will I do differently to test out my old biased and new realistic \expectations, to see which is more accurate - it will
generally involve confronting rather than avoiding the situation, staying rather than escaping, dropping safety behaviours, etc.
If the results of your experiment do not support your biased expectations, which is often the case, that is great! If your biased
expectations were supported, which may happen at times, ask yourself: Were there are any other reasons for the result, aside from who
I am as a person? What else was happening at that time? Are there other ways of viewing what happened? What could I learn to improve
or change things for next time? Can I learn to cope if my biased expectations sometimes come true? How?
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