10 Cognitive Thinking Errors

Based on the work of Aaron Beck and others, in Feeling Good: The New Mood
Therapy, David Burns outlines 10 common mistakes in thinking, which he calls
cognitive distortions.

1. ALL-OR-NOTHING THINKING – Also called Black and White Thinking

– Thinking of things in absolute terms, like “always”, “every” or “never”. For
example, if your performance falls short of perfect, you see yourself as a total
failure. Few aspects of human behavior are so absolute. Nothing is 100%. No
one is all bad, or all good, we all have grades. To beat this cognitive distortion:
o Ask yourself, “Has there ever been a time when it was NOT that way?”
(all or nothing thinking does not allow exceptions so if even one
exception can be found, it’s no longer “all” or “nothing”)
o Ask yourself, “Never?” or “Always?” (depending upon what you are
thinking)
2. OVERGENERALIZATION – Taking isolated cases and using them to make
wide generalizations. For example, you see a single negative event as a never-
ending pattern of defeat: “She yelled at me. She’s always yelling at me. She
must not like me.”
To beat this cognitive distortion:
o Catch yourself overgeneralizing
o Say to yourself, “Just because one event happened, does not
necessarily
o Investigate the Big Chunk vs. Little Chunk NLP Meta program
3. MENTAL FILTER – Focusing exclusively on certain, usually negative or
upsetting, aspects of something while ignoring the rest. For example, you
selectively hear the one tiny negative thing surrounded by all the HUGE
POSITIVE STUFF. Often this includes being associated in negative (“I am so
stupid!”), and dissociated in positive (“You have to be pretty smart to do my
job”). To beat this cognitive distortion:
o Learn to look for the silver lining in every cloud
 o Count up your negatives vs your positives – for every negative event,
stack up a positive against it. Make a list of both negative and positive
character attributes and behaviors.
4. DISQUALIFYING THE POSITIVE – Continually “shooting down”
positive experiences for arbitrary, ad hoc reasons. In this way you can
maintain a negative belief that is contradicted by your everyday experiences.
The good stuff doesn’t count because the rest of your life is a miserable pile of
doo-doo. “That doesn’t count because my life sucks!” To beat this cognitive
distortion:
o Ask yourself, “So what does count then?” “In what way?”
o Accept compliments with a simple, “Thank you.”
o Make lists of personal strengths and accomplishments
5. JUMPING TO CONCLUSIONS – Assuming something negative where
there is actually no evidence to support it. Two specific subtypes are also
identified:
o Mind reading – assuming the intentions of others. You arbitrarily
conclude that someone is reacting negatively to you, and you don’t
bother to check it out. To beat this one, you need to let go of your need
for approval – you can’t please everyone all the time. Ask yourself,
“How do you know that…?” Check out “supporting” facts with an
open mind.
o Fortune telling – anticipating that things will turn out badly, you feel
convinced that your prediction is an already established fact. To beat
this, ask, “How do you know it will turn out in that way?” Again,
check out the facts.
o To beat this cognitive distortion:
 When the conclusion is based on a prior cause (for example, the
last time your spouse behaved in this manner s/he said it was
because s/he felt angry so s/he must be angry this time, too),
ask yourself, “What evidence do you have to support your
notion that s/he feels…” “How did you arrive at that
understanding” “What other conclusion might this evidence
support?”
  When the conclusion is based on a future consequence (“I’ll die
for sure if she keeps harping on this…”) Ask yourself, “How
does this conclusion serve you?” and “If you continue to think
that way… [what will happen to you]?” and “Imagine 5 years
from now…” (Future Pace)
6. MAGNIFICATION & MINIMIZATION – Exaggerating negatives and
understating positives. Often the positive characteristics of other people are
exaggerated and negatives understated. There is one subtype of
magnification/catastrophizing – focusing on the worst possible outcome,
however unlikely, or thinking that a situation is unbearable or impossible
when it is really just uncomfortable: “I can’t stand this.” To beat this cognitive
distortion:
o Ask yourself, “What would happen if you did [stand this]?”
o Ask yourself, “How specifically is [this/that/he/she] so good/too
much/too many/etc. or so bad/not good enough/too little/etc.?”
o After asking question b., ask yourself, “Compared to what/whom?”
7. EMOTIONAL REASONING – Making decisions and arguments based on
how you feel rather than objective reality. People who allow themselves to get
caught up in emotional reasoning can become completely blinded to the
difference between feelings and facts. To beat this cognitive distortion:
o Interrupt anything negative: “X makes me mad” “How does what I do
cause you to choose to feel mad?” Interrupt: “How could you believe
that?”
8. SHOULDING – (Necessity) Must, Can’t thinking. Shoulding is focusing on
what
you can’t control. For example, you try to enlighten another’s unconscious –
they should get it. Concentrating on what you think “should” or ought to be
rather than the actual situation you are faced with will simply stress you out.
What you choose to do, and then do, will (to some degree, at least) change the
world. What you “should” do will just make you miserable.
To beat this cognitive distortion
o Ask, “What would it feel like, look like, sound like if you could/did or
could not/did not?” or, “What would happen if you did/didn’t?” or,
 “What prevents you from just doing it then?” or, “What rule or law
says you/I SHOULD?” or, “Why should I?” or, “Could you just prefer
instead?” or, “Why SHOULD I/YOU?”
9. LABELLING and MISLABELING – Related to overgeneralization,
explaining by naming. Rather than describing the specific behavior, you assign
a label to someone or yourself that puts them in absolute and unalterable
negative terms. This is a logic level error in that we make a logic leap from
behavior/action (“he called me a name…”) to identity (“therefore, he’s a
jerk”). To beat this cognitive distortion:
o Ask yourself, “What could be a better way of looking at this that would
truly empower you/me?” or, “Is there another possible more positive
meaning for this?”
o When you recognize you are labeling or are being labeled, ask, “How
specifically?” Example: “How specifically am I a jerk?” – which will
evoke behaviors rather than identity.
o Remember who you/others are in spite of behaviors: “Even though I
failed the test, I’m still a worthy person.”
10. PERSONALIZATION & BLAME – Burns calls this distortion “the mother
of guilt.” Personalization occurs when you hold yourself personally
responsible for an event that isn’t entirely under your control. For example,
“My son is doing poorly in school. I must be a bad mother…” and “What’s
that say about you as a person?” – instead of trying to pinpoint the cause of the
problem so that she could be helpful to her child. When another woman’s
husband beat her, she told herself, “lf only I were better in bed, he wouldn’t
beat me.” Personalization leads to guilt, shame, and feelings of inadequacy.
On the flip side of personalization is blame. Some people blame other people
or their circumstances for their problems, and they overlook ways that they
might be contributing to the problem: “The reason my marriage is so lousy is
because my spouse is totally unreasonable.” – instead of investigating their
own behavior and beliefs that can be changed. To beat this cognitive
distortion:
o Ask, “How do you know [I am to blame]?” “SAYS WHO?”
o Ask, “Who/what else is involved in this problem?”
 o Ask yourself, “Realistically, how much of this problem is actually my
responsibility?”
o Ask, “If there was no blame involved here, what would be left for
me/us
to look at?”

Some of the others are:

11. Hindsight Thinking

In hindsight thinking we look back at decisions we made in the past and make
judgements about the decision we made. We often think we should have
handled things better, but hindsight thinking is always 20/20. Looking back
with the benefit of hindsight we may now make a different decision with our
current knowledge, however we made the decision at that time with the
evidence, knowledge and experience we had at that time. For example, "When
I left University I should have gone for a different type of job, all the work
problems I've got now I wouldn't have if I had taken that job."

12. What ifs

In what if thinking, we keep asking what if something happens, and we are not
satisfied by any of the answers we get. ". . .but what if I don't do the three point
turn properly?" or "what if I mess up the emergency stop?", "what if the
examiner is a tyrant?", "what if . . .

13. Egocentric Thinking

In egocentric thinking we think that it is important that we persuade others to think

the same way we do. (This is about other peoples thinking) For example, "I must
persuade him to want to vote the same as me if he is going to be my friend." Or
"People must think the way I do."

14. Being Right

 In being right error we think we are correct in our thinking, we discount other
evidence and the ideas of others. (This is about our thinking). For example, "I
know I am right, so I won't read the leaflet about the other political party."

15. Control Error

In control errors there could be two distortions:

a. We see ourselves as helpless and externally controlled, we remain

stuck, unable to affect our own life, or anything else in the world. We
see evidence of human helplessness all around us. Something else is
responsible for our pain, loss or failure. We find it difficult to find or
work on solutions. For example, "I won't get financial stability or have
a nice house until I find a rich man to marry."

b. We feel the opposite of the above, we feel responsible for everything,

carrying the world on our shoulders, we are totally responsible for ours
and others happiness. For example, "It's my fault that she hates her
job, I'm not a very good boss."

16. Change Error

In change error we strive to change the views of others; we blame, demand,

withhold and trade to achieve the change in others we require. Usually the other
person feels attacked and pushed around and probably does not change at all.
We think we have to change others to achieve our happiness. For example, "You
must get better results in your exams than I did when I was at school; I'll buy you
a car if you do."

17. Fairness Error

In fairness error we tend to judge peoples actions by what we think is fair or not
fair. We feel resentful when someone does not act towards us in a way that we
think is fair. Their version of what is fair is probably different from our version
of what is fair. For example, "If my husband really cared about how I felt, he
would take on more responsibility for the house and the children."
18. Heaven's Reward Thinking

In heaven's reward thinking we do the right thing to gain our reward, we sacrifice and
slave imagining that we are collecting brownie points that we can cash in some day,
making our decisions and actions around what others need, often ignoring our own
needs. For example, "If I look after my own needs I am being selfish."

19. Unrealistic Comparisons

In unfair comparisons we compare ourselves to other people, work colleagues etc, and
view them as being more successful, better at coping than we are, are happier than we
are, and better at handling life than we are.