Aaron Temkin Beck (1921–2021) was an American psychiatrist who founded cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), one of the most widely practiced and empirically validated forms of psychotherapy. His work on cognitive distortions — systematic errors in thinking that reinforce negative beliefs — has influenced fields well beyond clinical psychology, including political psychology and the study of [[Disinformation]]. Beck's framework for understanding how distorted thinking patterns shape perception and behavior connects to broader work on [[Propaganda]] and [[Disinformation]].