In ABC analysis used in Rational Emotive therapy as proposed by Alber…

The correct answer is Option (3) → antecedent - belief - consequence

Option (1) antecedent - behaviour - consequence — Incorrect. This is the ABC used in behaviour analysis: what happens before a behaviour (antecedent), the behaviour itself, and what follows it (consequence). It belongs to behaviour therapy, which studies observable behaviour; Ellis’s therapy puts a belief, not a behaviour, in the middle.

Option (2) antecedent - belief - counselling — Incorrect. The first two letters are right, but the C is the consequence of the belief, not counselling.

Option (3) antecedent - belief - consequence — Correct. The central thesis of Albert Ellis’s Rational Emotive Therapy (RET) is that irrational beliefs mediate between the antecedent events and their consequences. So the first step is the ABC analysis: the antecedent event that caused distress is noted, the irrational belief (with its ‘musts’ and ‘shoulds’) is found, and the distressing consequence is traced to that belief rather than to the event.

Option (4) antecedent - belief - cognitive — Incorrect. A belief is itself a cognition, and the third step is what the belief leads to, the consequence.

Note 1: The concept in Option (1), the ‘antecedent-behaviour-consequence’ analysis, is not in the pre-rationalised NCERT, which NTA followed in 2023, nor in the NCERT book (2025-26); it is explained here for the benefit of the students.

Note 2: A similar question was also asked in CUET (UG) 2026 on 15-05-2026 (Slot 1).