Thinking errors, also known as cognitive distortions, are thought process mistakes that we all make from time to time. When we get good at spotting these mistakes we can start disputing or challenging them in our daily lives. The less of these thinking errors we make, the less likely we are to form irrational or self-defeating beliefs, and the less likely we are to engage in problematic behavior or experience distressing emotions.
Read through the thinking errors below and see if you can spot any that come up in your frequently in your thoughts. Then, see if you can spot why the provided examples are irrational or self-defeating. Also see the ABCDE model of REBT to see how these thinking errors are tied to problematic consequences in our lives (depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, relationship problems, anger, behavioral problems, etc.).
Catastrophizing — taking an insignificant or relatively minor event and blowing it up into a major catastrophe. Also, imagining only the worst possible outcomes. Example: Annie made a mistake at work that led to several of her coworkers getting upset with her. Annie now believes that no one at work likes her, that she is a screwup, and that she will never be good at anything.
Overgeneralization — taking a small amount of information and generalizing from that information to very broad conclusions. Example #1: After taking three cab rides with rude cab drivers, Jennifer believes that all cab drivers are rude. Example #2: Joe has been rejected four times when he has tried to arrange a date. Because of these rejections Joe believes he has no good qualities, and that he is unattractive. He feels like no one will ever be attracted to him or love him.
Jumping to conclusions — believing a certain conclusion is true without sufficient evidence. Example: Troy believes his car was scratched by his neighbor because his neighbor is upset with him. Example #2: Sarah has felt her heart beating harder and faster than usual for two days, because of this she is convinced that she has a life-threatening heart condition.
Personalization — believing another person’s or persons’ statements or behaviors are directed at oneself without sufficient evidence. Example #1: Jeff thinks his girlfriend was more brief with him than usual on the phone, and that she seemed upset. Jeff believes she acted in this way because she is mad at him.
Worrying about externals — “externals” are things we cannot control. We cannot control the weather or a lot of events in the world; although we can try to be a likeable person, we are ultimately not in control what other people think of us; we cannot control what we did in the past or other things that happened in the past; we cannot fully control what other people believe, do, or say. Worrying about these things takes away from our ability to focus on those things we can control, such as: our preparation; how we think / what we believe; what we do. Example: Sid is extremely sad because a girl he likes does not like him back.
Emotional thinking — when we think under the influence of powerful emotions we often jump to conclusions, and we often react automatically—that is, we act without thinking about things rationally. When we react automatically, we often act in problematic ways—that is, ways that run counter to our values, or in ways that are counter to our long-term goals. Example: Bill is in a monogamous relationship with Tracy. Bill saw Tracy hug another man in a restaurant parking lot. Bill flew into a rage and drove his car into the other man’s car.
Bandwagon fallacy — the bandwagon fallacy, in essence, is believing something just because a lot of other people do. The problem with this is that the majority is often wrong (the majority of people once thought that the Sun revolved around the Earth—we now know the Earth orbits the Sun). It is better to think critically about our beliefs, rather than follow others without thinking. Keeping this in mind, a general consensus of experts is much more trustworthy than a general consensus of lay people (non-experts). For example, an organization of cardiologists issuing a statement about heart health carries much more credence than the opinions of many non-experts. Example #1: Ted has heard dozens of people say that he is unintelligent. Because of this, Ted believes this to be true. Example #2: In Megan’s country most people think that women should not vote. Megan also believes this, but only because it’s what everyone she knows believes. (Also see groupthink.)
Groupthink — we often go along with what others in our group believe or do in order to fit in. In many cases people will do things they would never do on their own when they are under the influence of a group. Example #1: Al is generally a peaceful person but the gang he joined is pushing him to fight a rival gang member. To conform with what the group wants he fights the rival gang member. Example #2: Terrence does not know much about Sally, except that his group of friends hates her. To fit in Terrence starts to be mean to Sally and he tells everyone that he hates her. (Note: to understand this phenomena in greater depth explore the Asche conformity experiments.)
Paranoid thinking and extreme mistrust — it is rational to question dominant narratives and what we are told by most people or even by authorities—especially when the authorities in question are not legitimate authorities (that is, they are not actual experts, or they are experts but they are speaking about matters outside of their expertise). However, sometimes people take this too far. It is logical to demand evidence and rational reasons for a belief, but we ought to also have good reasons for our disbelief (such as, a lack of evidence to support the belief). With regard to legitimate authorities, such as a consensus of actual experts speaking on matters that they have expertise in, an extraordinary amount of counter-evidence is required to warrant strong skepticism of their positions.
Fundamental attribution error — we often attribute problematic behavior in others to their personality, or who they are intrinsically; on the other hand, we often attribute our own problematic behavior to our circumstances or the situation we are in. In other words, sometimes we are harder on other people than we are on ourselves. Example: When Amy gets cut off in traffic by John, she believes it is because he is a rude, careless person, however, when she does the same thing a few days later she says it was only because she was in a hurry.
Non-acceptance — a general fact of life is that people are fallible. We make mistakes. When we make rigid demands about how others act or think, on some level we are refusing to accept that people are fallible, confused, hurt creatures that make mistakes. Similarly, if we are overly upset about our failures and our wrongdoings—after we have learned from them—it may be because we are refusing to accept that we are fallible, confused, and have been hurt in various ways. Another fact of life is that the world is a messy, complicated place, and bad things happen. When bad things happen to us — such as, if someone mistreats us or if there is a disaster or accident — it is distressing, however, if this distress lasts for a long time it may be partly due to the fact that we are refusing to accept that people are fallible and damaged, or that the world is a messy, complicated place where bad things can happen.
Rigid expectations — similar to non-acceptance, sometimes we are very rigid with our expectations or demands. We think things have to be a certain way. For example, we may have very rigid or unrealistic demands about how others should treat us, or about what they should believe. We may have very rigid expectations for our own behavior. If we are very rigid or unrealistic about how we think the world has to be we may have very low tolerance for frustration. Example: Craig thinks he must always be seen as nice and friendly. Because of this Craig is a people pleaser who gets pushed around at his job. Example #2: Jasmine thinks that anyone who has different political beliefs than her is stupid. Because of this Jasmine frequently and aggressively pushes her views on other people and tries to convince them they are wrong. This behavior damages her relationships.
Magical thinking — believing that there is a causal relationship (that is, a relationship of cause and effect) between two or more things when there is no solid evidence to support this belief. Example #1: Sarah’s favorite hockey team has lost both games she watched at Eric’s house. She now refuses to watch games at Eric’s house. Example #2: Derek thinks he can influence what happens to him by thinking in certain ways; because of this Derek starts to worry when he starts to have anxious thoughts about something bad happening. He thinks that his anxious thoughts will cause those bad things to happen to him.
Confirmation bias — we have a tendency to seek out information that confirms our beliefs, rather than information that challenges our beliefs; similarly, we are more likely to believe information that confirms our beliefs, rather than information that goes against our beliefs. There are many reasons for this, but some common reasons are because we often tie parts of our identity to our beliefs, or because we are emotionally invested in some beliefs—that is, we want these beliefs to be true.
Over-confidence in our perceptions / knowledge — sometimes we trust our perceptions and our knowledge claims too much. This can be a problem because our perceptions are not always reliable (optical illusions demonstrate this), and because sometimes we are wrong about the things we think we know. To counter this thinking error, we should seek to 1) confirm or reality test our perceptions (e.g., Do others report having the same perceptions? Do instruments confirm our perceptions? Do our perceptions seem logical, rational, and believable?) and 2) practice epistemic humility (epistemic = related to epistemology—that is, the philosophical study of how we can know things). Exercising epistemic humility, in part, means that we should not claim certainty on matters which we cannot be certain about, and that we should understand that our beliefs or claims to knowledge must be supported by evidence—and that extraordinary beliefs must be supported by an extraordinary amount of evidence.
Mind reading — this thinking error is like jumping to conclusions, but specifically about jumping to conclusions with regard to what (we believe) others are thinking. Sometimes we assume that we know what someone is thinking because of some clues in their speech and actions, or because they are acting in ways that other people have acted toward us in the past. Perhaps we can accurately infer what people are thinking based on these things in some cases, but we will often be wrong. We must be careful about drawing such conclusions because doing so can cause problems in our relationships. Example: Elise has known Valerie for over a year, and she considers her a good friend. Elise finds out that Valerie is having a party, but she has not been invited. Elise thinks that Valerie hates her because she did not invite her to her party.
Dualistic or black and white thinking — a person who thinks in a dualistic or black and white way sees things as either totally true or totally false / totally good or totally bad. They do not see shades of grey or nuance (for example, being able to accept that there is some truth or good in a different point of view). Example #1: Larry believes that his philosophical views are 100% true and that everyone else is completely wrong. Example #2: Carrie thinks that her ethical position on a complex matter is the only morally correct position, and that everyone who believes differently is evil.
Negativity bias — we often over-emphasize negative things about ourselves, our lives, and the world in general, and fail to see the positive things. Example #1: Eric thinks he is a horrible person. He thinks of all the things he has done wrong in his life, and in his mind he labels himself in all kinds of negative ways. We might challenge this bias by engaging in gratitude exercises or journaling about progress (and reminding ourselves that progress is seldom linear, but rather, full of ups and downs). Example #2: Joe only pays attention to bad things that happen in the news. He believes that the world outside his home is a very scary place — so scary that he must avoid it all costs. Because of this Joe does not do all the things that he wants to do in his life.
Positivity bias — sometimes we unconsciously ignore bad things and only focus on the good. In some ways this can be adaptive (helpful / healthy), but it can also cause us to ignore important warning signs, or to be naïve. In general, if we have an inaccurate view of the world, we can act in ways that may dangerous or otherwise counter to our best interests. Example #1: Sherry doesn’t like to pay attention to bad news, so she is unaware that there have been many burglaries in her neighborhood. Sherry leaves her doors unlocked at night and her valuables are stolen. Example #2: Pollyanna chooses to only pay attention to good things in life. She gives everyone she meets the benefit of the doubt, and she believes everyone will be nice if you treat them nice. Because Pollyanna is so trusting she gives her credit card info to a con artist who charges thousands of dollars to the card.
Just world hypothesis — some individuals hold the belief that the world is just (fair), and that people that are “good” have only or mostly good things happen to them, and bad people have only or mostly “bad” things happen to them. Although this belief is somewhat common, there is plenty of evidence to the contrary. The problem with believing the world is just is that we may blame ourselves when bad things happen to us; we may also blame others for the bad things that happen to them.
Global labeling — we often label ourselves or others in a global way—that is, in a way that supposedly defines our essence. We may think of ourselves as being all good or all bad. When we engage in negative global labelling, we often condemn ourselves or others with disparaging or insulting labels. The problem with this is that people are very complicated, and life is very complicated. People have both good and bad traits, and they do both good things and bad things. Also, people do not have an unchanging essence, rather, they are always changing. Think about how different you are today than you were 5 or 10 years ago. Further, everyone is born in different circumstances with different predispositions, desires, challenges, traits, etc. When we global label ourselves we get stuck in feelings of depression, shame, or anxiety, and this prevents us from being motivated to make positive changes. It is healthier and more conducive to positive change to evaluate our individual actions, but to refrain from globally labelling or evaluating ourselves as a person. Example: Tim has done some things in the past that he regrets. Tim has done a lot of good things too, but he does not think about these things very much. He thinks about the bad things all the time and he labels himself as a bad person because of what he has done. Because Tim thinks he is a bad person, he gives up on trying to become better. He drinks unhealthy amounts of alcohol because he does not care about himself, and because it is the only way he knows to numb his pain.
Believing or identifying with our automatic thoughts — we do not exercise full control over what we think. Sometimes thoughts pop into our minds that are unwanted or distressing. Sometimes these thoughts are self-condemning or condemning of others. They may be about harming ourselves or others. We do not have to engage with or identify with these unhelpful thoughts (mindfulness therapies can help us learn to stop doing this). If these thoughts keep coming up in our minds, they might be supported by our conscious or unconscious beliefs, and it would benefit us to rationally examine and challenge these beliefs. A common adage used in psychology and counseling is “Do not believe everything you think” — remembering this can help you to learn to not accept these automatic thoughts. Example #1: Hillary keeps having thoughts that something horrible is going to happen to her. She believes that something awful is going to happen because she keeps having these thoughts. Example #2: Shawn keeps having thoughts that go against his values. Shawn thinks he is a monster for having these thoughts.
Absolutistic thinking — also known as all-or-nothing thinking. Someone who engages in absolutistic thinking uses frequently uses terms like always, never, every, all, etc. Example #1: “Everyone who uses illegal drugs is irresponsible and cannot be trusted.” Example #2: “I never do anything right.” Example #3: “It is never acceptable to break the law.”
Nirvana fallacy — the Nirvana fallacy is a form of all-or-nothing thinking that often manifests in the belief that if we cannot do something perfectly, then we should not do it at all; it might also manifest as the belief that only perfect solutions are worth considering. This type of thinking error often results in perfectionism. Perfectionism paralyzes us with inaction or procrastination, since we feel like there is no point in trying if we cannot achieve perfection in our work. A person operating under this thinking error may be resistant to making small or incremental changes in their life. This is because they believe that there is no point of making small changes if they will not result in major or perfect results. This type of thinking is often described as “letting the perfect be the enemy of the good.”
Should statements — we often tell ourselves I should (or must or ought) do ____ or we tell others that they should do ____. When we use should statements, it’s helpful to ask ourselves, “According to whom?” Are these truly our beliefs, values or desires, or are they the beliefs, values or desires of others? While there are many things that nearly everyone agrees upon, there is plenty of disagreement. If we want to have a contented life it benefits us to consider whether we are really living life according to our own beliefs, values, or desires. If, after consideration, we determine that we want to act in a certain way, it is more helpful to say things like, “I want to do ____ to the best of my ability,” or, “I think it would be helpful for you to do ____ in this situation.” Framing things in this way makes the statement non-absolutistic, and it allows us to be more forgiving of our mistakes (since we will all fail to live up to our values at some point in life).
Over-valuing folk wisdom — folk wisdom is often expressed in pithy statements that people can relate to. Some common examples: “Good things come to those who wait.” “He who hesitates loses.” “Nice guys finish last.” Sometimes folk wisdom comes in the form of an aphorism or a short quote from a writer, philosopher, or historical figure. There is truth in these statements, in certain situations, but not in every situation. Life is extremely complicated and folk wisdom is not going to be helpful in every situation. A statement that is helpful in one situation could be counterproductive or harmful in another. When people over-value folk wisdom and apply it to every situation in their life they may run into trouble. Example: Gary lives by the idea that “Nice guys finish last.” He is extremely competitive and does not care much about what happens to other people or if their feelings get hurt. Because of this very few people want to be friends with Gary, and he has a hard time finding a long-lasting romantic partnership.
Fortune telling — sometimes we trick ourselves into thinking we can predict how things are going to go in the future. We may think we have enough life experience to know how certain things usually turn out for us. And while it may be the case that our predictions are right most of the time, they are not going to be right all the time. When it comes to predictions about our lives there are too many variables to be able to predict most things with 100% accuracy. The main problem with fortune telling, especially if it is overly pessimistic, is that we may stop trying to reach our goals or do the things we want to do. When this happens our fortune telling becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy—that is, our pessimistic fortune telling is accurate, but only because we stop trying or stop trying to make our lives better. Example: Sasha frequently gets turned down when she shows romantic interest in someone. She believes no one will ever like her because she has been turned down so many times. Because of this Sasha stops trying to attract a romantic partner and she doesn’t approach anyone.
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