Final answer:
Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) aims to change negative thought patterns and behaviors. It is structured, goal-oriented, and focuses on present thoughts and feelings to achieve behavioral changes. The correct answer to the question is option 1.
Step-by-step explanation:
The goal of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is best described as changing negative thought patterns and behaviors. CBT is a type of psychotherapeutic treatment that helps patients understand the thoughts and feelings that influence behaviors. The therapy is highly structured, goal-oriented, and focuses on the present. Cognitive-behavioral therapists believe that dysfunctional thinking leads to dysfunctional emotions or behaviors. By changing these negative patterns of thought, CBT seeks to change the way a person feels and behaves.
It is not primarily concerned with exploring childhood experiences and unconscious desires, which is more the focus of psychodynamic therapies. CBT also promotes self-acceptance and mindfulness to some extent, but these are not its core goals. They are more central to therapies like Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) or mindfulness-based therapies. While CBT can improve interpersonal relationships and communication skills as a byproduct of treatment, this is not its main goal either; those outcomes are more directly addressed in interpersonal therapy.
Therefore, the correct answer to the question is option 1) Changing negative thought patterns and behaviors. This aligns with the definition of cognitive psychology, which is the study of cognitions, or thoughts, and their relationship to experiences and actions. Cognitive psychologists seek to understand such processes in order to apply findings in a clinical setting, such as through CBT.