7 Cognitive Distortions
7 Errors in Our thinking that lead to Faulty Assumptions.
7 types of cognitive distortions
Cognitive Distortions refer to our errors in thinking that
lead to faulty assumptions and misconceptions. Aaron T. Beck, founder of
cognitive therapy, believes that people with emotional difficulties tend to
commit characteristic ”logical errors” that distort objective reality. He came
up with 7 types of cognitive distortions. I will define and provide an example
for each.
1. Arbitrary
inferences refer to making conclusions without supporting and relevant
information. This includes “catastrophizing,” or thinking of the absolute worst
scenario and outcomes for most situations. For example, you believe that
someone doesn’t like you without actual information to support that belief.
2. Selective
Abstraction consists of forming conclusions based on an
isolated detail of an event. This includes ignoring the context or other
relevant details. For example, you fail a quiz and you think that this will
ruin your entire grade, when really the quiz was only worth 3% and you still
have an entire course to ace.
3. Overgeneralization is a
process of holding extreme beliefs on the basis of a single incident and
applying them inappropriately to dissimilar events of settings. This is sort of
like selective abstraction except you generalize the experience to other
events. For example, after you failed the quiz, you think that you will now
fail quizzes in all other classes. Another example is when you embarrassed
yourself in public speaking and you now think that you will always embarrass
yourself when speaking to anyone.
4. Magnification
and Minimization consist of perceiving a case or situation in a
greater or lesser light than it truly deserves. An example of magnification is
when you make a small mistake and you think that you’ve made a really big one.
An example of minimization is when you failed a test worth 25% and you think
that this will not impact your grade.
5. Personalization is a
tendency for individuals to relate external events to themselves, even when
there is no basis for making this connection. For example, this is like when
you blame yourself for something you didn’t do.
6. Labeling
and mislabeling involve portraying one’s identity on the basis
of imperfections and mistakes made in the past and allowing them to define
one’s true identity. For example, you screwed up in the past, and now you think
you are an evil person.
7. Dichotomous
thinking involves categorizing experiences in either-or extremes. It’s a type
of polarized thinking where events are labeled as either black or white. For
example, you think that people are either good or bad.
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