Using faulty assumptions is not the only way to produce a distorted perception when you are evaluating a situation in your life. It is possible to begin with accurate assumptions and still reach incorrect conclusions if your thinking is biased in some way. There are many different biases and they all work in distinct ways. Read each description and consider which biases you use the most often.
All or Nothing Thinking
With all or nothing thinking you see things as being either black or white, never as shades of grey. You are fat or thin, smart or stupid, depressed or happy, competent or incompetent, etc. The same can apply to others. A relationship can be either perfect or horrible, and someone can be considerate or completely self centered. All or nothing thinking relates to perfectionism, because the "good"category is usually defined absolutely. You have to conform exactly to your expectation of what you are accomplishing, and if you make a little mistake, you may as well abandon the whole effort. A partner must always be perfect, or else they are a horrible person.
Challenge: What are the shades of grey in this situation?
Overgeneralization
You see a single negative event as a never ending pattern. Like most people you look for patterns in events, but your patterns tend to be negative and you think you them before you really have enough evidence. One rainy day means you won't see the sun for the rest of the vacation. One criticism from your partner and it is the start of a series. One fall and you will never learn to ride a horse. One missed question and you are bound to fail the course.
Challenge: There are no absolutes.
Filtering
Every moment of every day you are screening out most of the sights and sounds around you. You have to do this because there is too much information at any one time to understand all at once. The problem comes when you screen out all of the positive and neutral information and only pay attention to the negative things in your life. As a result, your life seems unrelentingly bleak and depressing. It can be tempting to wait until the problems in your life are solved, assuming that you will then feel better. But everyone's life has negative aspects, so you will always be able to fin and pay attention to the negative.
Challenge: I need to find and pay attention to the whole picture.
Disqualifying the Positive
You reject all of the positives in your life by insisting that they "don't count" for some reason or other. In this way you can maintain a negative belief about things that is contradicted by your every day experiences. The supportive friend that you have doesn't count because they are the only one. The accomplishments you've made don't count because "anyone can do that".
Challenge: Positives count - No excuses.
Mind Reading
You don't have to ask what someone else is feeling or thinking, or why they did something. You know by mind reading. "He's just in it for the money." "She just said that because she feels sorry for me." "He's a bigot; I can tell by the way he looked at me." Mind reading tends to focus on negative possibilities. While the interpretations you make are usually possible, often there are other possibilities that are missed. Maybe he's in that business because he enjoys it. Maybe she said that because she respects you. Maybe he looked at you that way because you took his parking space. Mind reading leads to an inflated sense of certainty.
Challenge: Stay in your own head.
The Fortune Teller Error
In addition to mind reading, you can also tell the future, and the future looks bad. You anticipate that things will turn out badly and you feel convinced that your prediction is an established fact. You've signed up for a course, but you are sure to fail it. You have met someone new, but they will move on soon. One of the problems with fortune telling is that you can make the future that you predicted come true by believing it. If you are going to fail, why put in the effort. If new people will leave you, why continue to pursue them.
Challenge: No one is sure of the future.
Magnification and Minimization
You exaggerate your own mistakes and other peoples' achievements (She has her degree, and I'm so incompetent I can't catch my bus on time). At the same time, you minimize your own achievements and others' mistakes (I got good grades, but it's an easy subject for me; She only failed because the professor doesn't like her).
Challenge: Use the same scale for everyone, including yourself.
Catastrophizing
You attribute extreme and horrible consequences to the outcomes of events. Being rejected for a date means you will spend your entire life alone. Making a mistake at work means being fired for incompetence and never getting another job. Having a brief dip in your mood means you are in for a depressive episode.
Challenge: Deal with the event, not what you think it symbolizes.
Emotional Reasoning
You assume that your negative emotions necessarily reflect things the way they really are. "I feel it so it must be true". "I am afraid of getting more depressed so I must be on the way to depression". I feel hopeless so there must be no hope". Oddly enough, people who do this never seem to give as much weight to their positive emotions. Your emotions come from your thoughts, not from the way a situation actually is.
Challenge: Don't believe everything you feel.\
Labeling
This is an extreme form of overgeneralization. When you make an error you do not focus on the error or how to correct it next time. Instead you quickly attach a negative label to yourself; "I'm a loser". Because you have decided that your error was the result of a personality characteristic you have, there is nothing you can do about it and you feel helpless. Oddly, you rarely label when you do something positive; "I'm a winner". You might use the same labeling strategy with others. When someone's behavior rubs you the wrong way, you attach a negative label to them; "They're a louse".
Challenge: Focus on the event, not on the person.
All or Nothing Thinking
With all or nothing thinking you see things as being either black or white, never as shades of grey. You are fat or thin, smart or stupid, depressed or happy, competent or incompetent, etc. The same can apply to others. A relationship can be either perfect or horrible, and someone can be considerate or completely self centered. All or nothing thinking relates to perfectionism, because the "good"category is usually defined absolutely. You have to conform exactly to your expectation of what you are accomplishing, and if you make a little mistake, you may as well abandon the whole effort. A partner must always be perfect, or else they are a horrible person.
Challenge: What are the shades of grey in this situation?
Overgeneralization
You see a single negative event as a never ending pattern. Like most people you look for patterns in events, but your patterns tend to be negative and you think you them before you really have enough evidence. One rainy day means you won't see the sun for the rest of the vacation. One criticism from your partner and it is the start of a series. One fall and you will never learn to ride a horse. One missed question and you are bound to fail the course.
Challenge: There are no absolutes.
Filtering
Every moment of every day you are screening out most of the sights and sounds around you. You have to do this because there is too much information at any one time to understand all at once. The problem comes when you screen out all of the positive and neutral information and only pay attention to the negative things in your life. As a result, your life seems unrelentingly bleak and depressing. It can be tempting to wait until the problems in your life are solved, assuming that you will then feel better. But everyone's life has negative aspects, so you will always be able to fin and pay attention to the negative.
Challenge: I need to find and pay attention to the whole picture.
Disqualifying the Positive
You reject all of the positives in your life by insisting that they "don't count" for some reason or other. In this way you can maintain a negative belief about things that is contradicted by your every day experiences. The supportive friend that you have doesn't count because they are the only one. The accomplishments you've made don't count because "anyone can do that".
Challenge: Positives count - No excuses.
Mind Reading
You don't have to ask what someone else is feeling or thinking, or why they did something. You know by mind reading. "He's just in it for the money." "She just said that because she feels sorry for me." "He's a bigot; I can tell by the way he looked at me." Mind reading tends to focus on negative possibilities. While the interpretations you make are usually possible, often there are other possibilities that are missed. Maybe he's in that business because he enjoys it. Maybe she said that because she respects you. Maybe he looked at you that way because you took his parking space. Mind reading leads to an inflated sense of certainty.
Challenge: Stay in your own head.
The Fortune Teller Error
In addition to mind reading, you can also tell the future, and the future looks bad. You anticipate that things will turn out badly and you feel convinced that your prediction is an established fact. You've signed up for a course, but you are sure to fail it. You have met someone new, but they will move on soon. One of the problems with fortune telling is that you can make the future that you predicted come true by believing it. If you are going to fail, why put in the effort. If new people will leave you, why continue to pursue them.
Challenge: No one is sure of the future.
Magnification and Minimization
You exaggerate your own mistakes and other peoples' achievements (She has her degree, and I'm so incompetent I can't catch my bus on time). At the same time, you minimize your own achievements and others' mistakes (I got good grades, but it's an easy subject for me; She only failed because the professor doesn't like her).
Challenge: Use the same scale for everyone, including yourself.
Catastrophizing
You attribute extreme and horrible consequences to the outcomes of events. Being rejected for a date means you will spend your entire life alone. Making a mistake at work means being fired for incompetence and never getting another job. Having a brief dip in your mood means you are in for a depressive episode.
Challenge: Deal with the event, not what you think it symbolizes.
Emotional Reasoning
You assume that your negative emotions necessarily reflect things the way they really are. "I feel it so it must be true". "I am afraid of getting more depressed so I must be on the way to depression". I feel hopeless so there must be no hope". Oddly enough, people who do this never seem to give as much weight to their positive emotions. Your emotions come from your thoughts, not from the way a situation actually is.
Challenge: Don't believe everything you feel.\
Labeling
This is an extreme form of overgeneralization. When you make an error you do not focus on the error or how to correct it next time. Instead you quickly attach a negative label to yourself; "I'm a loser". Because you have decided that your error was the result of a personality characteristic you have, there is nothing you can do about it and you feel helpless. Oddly, you rarely label when you do something positive; "I'm a winner". You might use the same labeling strategy with others. When someone's behavior rubs you the wrong way, you attach a negative label to them; "They're a louse".
Challenge: Focus on the event, not on the person.
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