The Cognitive Triangle can be a useful tool to illustrate how a negative response to a difficult situation can easily spiral into a negative feedback loop. The Cognitive Triangle depicted below shows us how a situation leads us to think, feel, and behave in certain ways that are all interrelated. Importantly, it is not the situation itself that makes us feel and act in a certain way, but it is our perception of the situation that affects our emotions and behaviors. For example, consider an athlete who gets taken out of the game by her coach. She may have some unhelpful and inaccurate thoughts in that moment like “I must be playing horrible,” “I suck,” or “my coach hates me,” when in reality the coach may just be taking her out to give another player a chance who doesn’t typically get much playing time. When the athlete has those thoughts about herself, others, or the situation, it can lead her to experience negative emotions like anger, sadness, or anxiety, which can then cause her to engage in negative actions on the field like bad body language or yelling. This can then spiral into a negative feedback loop because the bad body language and yelling can fuel more unhelpful thoughts about herself which can then exacerbate the angry and sad emotions.
