Common Thinking Errors

All or none thinking, or black and white thinking.

 People who use all or none thinking see things as being only one extreme or another – black or white – no shades of grey. For example, "I used to be so confident, but now I am hopeless at everything”.

 Overgeneralization

People who use overgeneralization draw conclusions on the basis of one or more isolated facts then apply this to other areas of their life. For example, if someone fails a test, they might think “I am hopeless at everything I do”.

Selective abstraction, or filtering.

This happens when a person focuses on a specific detail of an event and takes it out of context. The person will tend to ignore other important features of the situation and make unwarranted conclusions. For example, when the person is talking to someone they might notice them glance away momentarily and conclude “They think I’m boring”.

Discounting or disqualifying the positive.

 Some people tend to reject successful experiences or positive events by imagining a reason why it does not count. For example, if someone receives a high mark on a test, they might think “It just a mid-term, so it doesn’t count”.

Jumping to conclusions.

 Sometimes people tend to draw a conclusion even when there are no facts to support it. For example, when people try to “mind read” or think they know what another person is thinking. They might think “ my friend thinks I’m not worth bothering with” even though the friend has not said this.

Magnification or minimization.

This happens when people assign too much or too little importance to an event. For example, a person who makes one mistake in a test might think, “this is a total disaster, I’m going to fail my course and get kicked out of the university”.

 Personalization

This occurs when a person blames things on themselves when there is no reason for taking part or all of the blame. For example, “I always bring bad luck”.