Who is associated with the development of rational emotive therapy?

• A. Albert Ellis
• B. Carl Rogers
• C. Abraham Maslow
• D. Sigmund Freud

Answer: (A)

Rational Emotive Therapy rests on the idea that emotional distress comes from our irrational beliefs about events, not the events themselves. Albert Ellis developed this approach in the 1950s, later expanding it into Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy. A core framework is the ABC model: Activating event, Beliefs about the event, and Consequences in how we feel, with the emphasis on changing those Beliefs to alter the emotional response. Ellis taught techniques like disputing irrational beliefs, cognitive restructuring, and behavioral experiments to show that altering thoughts leads to different feelings and actions. Carl Rogers is known for client-centered therapy, focusing on unconditional positive regard and self-actualization; Abraham Maslow for humanistic psychology and the hierarchy of needs; Sigmund Freud for psychoanalysis. Therefore, Albert Ellis is the one associated with the development of rational emotive therapy.