
Thinking errors are patterns of unhealthy thinking that lead to distress. Thinking errors are a fundamental part of one of the most famous and utilized theories of healing within psychology, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). Here's a list of them:
All or nothing thinking: Only thinking about things in extremes. Wrong or right, bad or good, black or white. Life is often shades of gray.
Example: Stealing is wrong. That is a black or white statement. What if a person hasn’t eaten for 10 days and doesn’t have money to pay for food and no one will give them any? Is it still wrong then? What about if it’s you? What if it was your loved one?
Unfair Comparisons: Making unfair comparisons between yourself and other individuals who have an advantage in the area in which you are making a comparison. This can include comparing yourself to others in just about anything.
Example: “The world record for running a mile is around 4 minutes and I can’t even run it in six! I suck at running.”
Filtering: Honing in on the negative and ignoring the positive. Filtering can also be more akin to selective attention in which you filter out what you don’t want to pay attention to and only focus on what confirms your belief.
Example: “I missed three questions on the test, I’m so stupid!” (despite getting a 97%)
Personalizing: Taking responsibility when something goes wrong even if it’s not your fault. Personalization requires thinking that the world revolves around you to a certain extent.
Example: Feeling responsible for a parents divorce, a friend’s suicide, etc.
Example: “Angela looks mad, she must be mad at me leaving my coffee cup in the break room.”
Mind-Reading: Assuming you know what others are thinking/ the motives for their actions or that others know what you are thinking or feeling.
Example: “They should’ve known I was upset because of their comment.”
Example: “I’m so boring that I’m putting the audience to sleep.”
Catastrophizing: Exaggerating the consequences when things go wrong or imagining it going wrong and acting according to the imagined scenario.
Example: “If we are even five minutes late to the work party my boss will be so mad that she will fire me!”
Overgeneralizing: When you overgeneralize you exaggerate the frequency of negative things in your life, like mistakes, disapproval and failures. Overgeneralizing can lead to negative self-perceptions such as thinking that because you “always fail” you are a failure or worthless.
Example: “I always screw things up.”
Fact vs. Thinking/ Feeling: Sometimes you might confuse your thoughts or feelings with reality. You might assume, “If I think or feel this way then my thoughts/feelings must be correct.” This is most common with negative emotions (I feel worthless, therefore I am) but can also occur with positive emotions (I feel good about this so this must be the best thing for me).
Example: “My gut says the earth is flat so it must be!”
Labeling: Making negative generalizations about your own or another person’s character instead of being specific. This labels a person a certain way and denies them the opportunity for their actions to be circumstantial and doesn’t allow them to change.
Example: “That was a dumb thing to say.” vs. “You’re so stupid.”
Minimization: Downplaying the importance of what happened or its meaning to yourself or someone else.
Example: “It’s merely a flesh wound.” – Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Example: “It’s not a big deal because it shouldn’t bother me.”
Magnification: Taking a situation’s meaning and blowing it out of proportion.
Example: “Because this person lied to me about their favorite food, I can never trust them ever again.”
Shoulds: Any statement where should, ought, or must is used. These words are a clear indicator of a person’s worldview and their expectations of what should be. While having expectations isn’t bad, having too many or unrealistic expectations can lead to feelings of guilt if directed towards yourself or feelings of anger, frustration and resentment if directed towards others.
Example: “I shouldn’t be so lazy.”
Example: “He should’ve greeted me first.”
Fallacy of Fairness: Believing that life needs to be fair and that you know what is fair and what isn’t. Unfortunately, what is fair depends on your worldview and fairness is, therefore, subjective. Needing fairness will often result in disappointment and frustration.
Example: “That’s just not fair! I mowed the lawn so you should take out the trash and do the dishes.”
Fortune Telling: Predicting the future. First, no one can know the future with surety and second, predicting the future can be a self-fulfilling prophecy where your negative expectations impact the outcome negatively.
Example: “I always fail so I’m sure I’ll fail at this too.”
Control Fallacies: A person that believes they either have zero control over anything in life and their fate or a person that believes they have control over everything around them, including others.
Example: A person who claims that nothing ever goes right for them or that God hates them when their engine breaks down despite never having gotten an oil change.
Fallacy of Change: Believing that others will change if you pressure them, encourage them, or love them enough. This is problematic as you can never force anyone else to change and it puts the responsibility for your own happiness on the actions of another person.
Example: “If I am mean enough to my husband when he plays video games, he will stop.”
Always Being Right: Needing to be right no matter what and not shifting opinions based on contrary evidence.
Heaven’s Reward Fallacy: The belief that you will be rewarded for your good deeds or compensated for your struggles.
Example: “If I do five good deeds a week, I’ll get a promotion at my job.”
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