Skip to main content
Original Article

The Development and Initial Validation of the Irrational Performance Beliefs Inventory (iPBI)

Published Online:https://doi.org/10.1027/1015-5759/a000314

Abstract. The growing use of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) in performance contexts (e.g., business, sport) has highlighted the absence of a contextually valid and reliable measure of irrational beliefs. This paper reports the development and initial validation of the Irrational Performance Beliefs Inventory (iPBI). The iPBI was developed to provide a validated measure of the four core irrational beliefs of REBT theory. Item development was completed in three stages comprising two expert panels and one novice panel, reducing and refining 176 items to 133. Then, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were used to refine the measure and reduce the number of items. A total of 665 business professionals completed the 133-item scale, alongside an established measure of irrational beliefs and a measure of negative emotion. A 28-item measure was developed (the iPBI) that showed an acceptable fit to the four-factor REBT structure. The iPBI correlated well with the established irrational beliefs measure, and with anxiety, depression, and anger, demonstrating concurrent and predictive validity. Further validation efforts are required to assess the validity and reliability of the iPBI in alternative samples in other performance-related contexts.

References

  • American Educational Research Association, APA, National Council on Measurement in Education (1985). Standards for educational and psychological testing. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Bernard, M. E. (1998). Validation of the general attitude and belief scale. Journal of Rational-Emotive and Cognitive-Behavior Therapy, 16, 183–196. First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Breevaart, K., Bakker, A. B., Demerouti, E. & Hetland, J. (2012). The measurement of state work engagement: A multilevel factor analytic study. European Journal of Psychological Assessment, 28, 305–312. First citation in articleLinkGoogle Scholar

  • Browne, C. M., Dowd, E. T. & Freeman, A. (2010). Rational and irrational beliefs and psychopathology. In D. DavidS. J. LynnA. EllisEds., Rational and irrational beliefs in human functioning and disturbances: Implications for research, theory, and practice. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • DeVellis, R. F. (2012). Scale development: Theory and applications. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Dryden, W. (2012). The “ABCs” of REBT I: A preliminary study of errors and confusions in counselling and psychotherapy textbooks. Journal of Rational and Cognitive-Behavior Therapy, 30, 133–172. First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Dryden, W. (2014). Rational emotive behaviour therapy: Distinctive features. New York, NY: Routledge. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Ellis, A. (1957). Rational psychotherapy and individual psychology. Journal of Individual Psychology, 13, 38–44. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Ellis, A., Gordon, J., Neenan, M. & Palmer, S. (1997). Stress counselling: A rational emotive behavior approach. London, UK: Cassell. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Grant, J. S. & Davis, L. L. (1997). Selection and use of content experts for instrument development. Research in Nursing & Health, 20, 269–274. First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Hinkin, T. R. (1995). A review of scale development practices in the study of organizations. Journal of Management, 21, 967–988. First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Hinkin, T. R. & Schriesheim, C. A. (1989). Development and application of new scales to measure the French and Raven (1959) bases of power. Journal of Applied Psychology, 74, 561–567. First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Holmbeck, G. N. & Devine, K. A. (2009). An author’s checklist for measure development and validation manuscripts. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 34, 691–696. First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Hu, L. & Bentler, P. M. (1999). Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Structural Equation Modeling: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 6, 1–55. First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Hyland, P., Shevlin, M., Adamson, G. & Boduszek, D. (2014). Modeling the structure of the Attitudes and Belief Scale 2 using CFA and Bifactor approaches: Toward the development of an abbreviated version. Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, 43, 60–71. First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Jones, R. A. (1969). A factored measure of Ellis’ irrational belief system with personality and maladjustment correlates. Dissertation Abstracts International, 29, 4379–4380. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Lindner, H., Kirkby, R., Wertheim, E. & Birch, P. (1999). A brief assessment of irrational thinking: The shortened general attitude and belief scale. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 23, 651–663. First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Macavei, B. & McMahon, J. (2010). The assessment of rational and irrational beliefs. In D. DavidS. J. LynnA. EllisEds., Rational and irrational beliefs in human functioning and disturbances: Implications for research, theory, and practice. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • MacInnes, D. (2003). Evaluating an assessment scale of irrational beliefs for people with mental health problems. Nurse Researcher, 10, 53–67. First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Ndika, N. A., Olagbaiye, F. & Agiobu-Kemmer, I. (2012). Age differences in irrational beliefs, self-efficacy and self-confidence of adolescents in a Nigerian secondary school. Psychology and Education Journal, 46, 16. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Nunnally, J. C. & Bernstein, I. H. (1994). Psychometric Theory, (3rd ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Spielberger, C. D. (1979). Preliminary manual for the State-Trait Personality Inventory, Unpublished manual, University of South Florida, Tampa. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Szentagotai, A. & Jones, J. (2010). The behavioral consequences of irrational beliefs. In D. DavidS. J. LynnA. EllisEds., Rational and irrational beliefs in human functioning and disturbances. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Terjesen, M. D., Salhany, J. & Sciutto, M. J. (2009). A psychometric review of measures of irrational beliefs: Implications for psychotherapy. Journal of Rational-Emotive and Cognitive-Behavior Therapy, 27, 83–96. First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Turner, M. J. (2014). Smarter thinking in sport. The Psychologist, 27, 596–599. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Turner, M. J. & Barker, J. B. (2013). Using rational-emotive behavior therapy with athletes. The Sport Psychologist, 28, 75–90. First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Turner, M. J. & Barker, J. B. (2015). Examining the effects of rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT) on the irrational beliefs of blue-chip professionals. Journal of Rational-Emotive & Cognitive-Behavior Therapy, 33, 17–36. First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Walen, S. & Grieger, R. (Eds.) (1988). Cognitive-behavior therapy with women [Special issue]. Journal of Rational-Emotive and Cognitive-Behavior Therapy, 6, 1–2. First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Ziegler, M. & Horstmann, K. (2015). Discovering the second side of the coin integrating situational perception into psychological assessment. European Journal of Psychological Assessment, 31, 69–74. First citation in articleLinkGoogle Scholar