MAPPING COGNITIVE STRUCTURES AND PROCESSES THROUGH VERBAL CONTENT - THE THOUGHT-LISTING TECHNIQUE

Open-ended cognitive assessment techniques have helped illuminate the cognitive structures and processes underlying various clinical problem s. The authors review a specific open-ended protocol analysis for asse ssing cognitive structures and processes-the thought-listing technique . They begin with a brief description of this technique and its validi ty, limitations, and potential clinical use. They then review represen tative research using the thought-listing technique in studies of psyc hopathology and psychotherapy. They conclude with a discussion of new and potentially useful methods (e.g., adjusted ratio of clustering sco res, multidimensional scaling, implicit memory measures) for mapping c ognitive representations and coping processes on the basis of data fro m thought listings in clinical and counseling psychology.