48 Cognitive Distortions – What They Are And How To Spot Them

According to Wikipedia, a cognitive distortion is an “exaggerated or irrational thought pattern involved in the onset and perpetuation of psychopathological states, especially those more influenced by psychosocial factors, such as depression and anxiety.

Cognitive distortions are thoughts that cause individuals to perceive reality inaccurately. According to the cognitive model of Beck, a negative outlook on reality, sometimes called negative schemas (or schemata), is a factor in symptoms of emotional dysfunction and poorer subjective well-being. Specifically, negative thinking patterns cause negative emotions. During difficult circumstances, these distorted thoughts can contribute to an overall negative outlook on the world and a depressive or anxious mental state.”

A more succinct definition might be “irrational, inflated beliefs or thoughts that distort your perception of reality, and, in most cases, in a negative way.”

The problems with cognitive distortions are that:

1. There are a lot of them.
2. They can be hard to detect (in both yourself and in others) if you’re not aware of what to look for.
3. They often happen automatically, without your knowledge.
4. They can lead to increased anxiety, depression, and stress.
5. They can cause you to make irrational decisions.

So, here are some of the most common cognitive distortions that you need to look out for.

Assumed Similarity

Humans often assume that other people think like they do, and hold the same opinions.

Since we often choose to surround ourselves with people who are like us, you can see where they may have come from, but when dealing with people we did not choose to be around (e.g. people in a business meeting), then it can be a dangerous assumption to make.

Assuming The Worst

This can take two forms – thinking you’re going to fail at something even before you try it, and not doing as well at something (e.g. failing a test) and assuming that your entire life is now ruined.

Needless to say, this catastrophizing can create feelings of guilt, low self-esteem, and even depression.

Being A Victim Of Outrageous Requests

Have you ever had somebody ask something completely outrageous of you, and when you refuse, they ask for something smaller – and you accept?

If so, this is the “face in the door” technique at work, and it takes advantage of one of the key ways that our brains work.

Being Delusional

A delusion is defined as a firm belief in something even though there is overwhelming evidence that your belief is incorrect.

It may go further than this, because delusional people often claim something is evidence when it’s nothing more than wishful thinking.

Biased Attention

This happens when you don’t take into account all of the clues that are available. For example, you might see somebody yawn when you’re talking to them and assume they are bored, when there are other clues (e.g. leaning forward, nodding their head occasionally) that suggest otherwise. They may have yawned for no other reason than the fact they didn’t get much sleep last night.

Biased Memories

Humans tend to remember two specific aspects of an experience:

1. How you felt at the moment of peak emotional intensity.
2. How you felt at the very end.

If you ignore all of the rest, you are liable to make decisions based on biased and/or incomplete information.

Binary Thinking

Sometimes called black and white thinking, you see this when people only see two sides to something, such as all or none, good or bad, right or wrong, moral or immoral.

Ignoring the many shades of grey between those two extremes can cause you to be unable to reach a reasonable compromise, and ignore possible solutions to a problem.

Blaming And Shaming

This is when you refuse to accept responsibility for what you do, preferring to blame other people instead.

Clairvoyance

This occurs when somebody thinks they know what is about to happen, when clearly they don’t. It usually applies to negative events (e.g. “I just know there won’t be any parking spaces.”)

Cognitive Conformity

This is almost like a subconscious version of peer pressure, and it happens when you change how you see the world around you based on how others see it.

It was first studied in the 1950s by psychologist Solomon Asch in what are now known as the Asch Conformity Experiments. If you’re not familiar with this research, I’m sure you’ll find it both fascinating and shocking.

Confusing Opinions With Facts

People with this distortion assume that their own opinions are actually facts, which means they often discount other people’s opinions, even when presented with evidence that is contrary to what they think. This can therefore making building a good relationship with another person extremely difficult.

Control Fallacy

This comes in two flavours – external and internal.

The External Control Fallacy is when people assume that they have no control over their own life.

The Internal Control Fallacy is when people assume that they are responsible for everything, even when it is not within their control.

Delayed Rewards

You see this when people make sacrifices now with the expectation of reward later, that reward often being Heaven (or their religion’s version of it).

And if that reward never manifests, they can become angry and bitter about it.

Demanding Change

Sometimes called the Fallacy Of Change, it selfishly assumes that your happiness is dependent on other people making changes to their behaviour and life.

Discounting Opportunity Costs

Opportunity costs are relevant when choosing between two or more options.

In simple terms, when evaluating the cost of Option A, you need to take into account the cost of not doing Option B.

Downplaying

This is when a person underestimates their ability do or cope with something.

Entitlement

This belief happens when somebody feels like the usual rules for that situation do not apply to them, even though they do apply to everybody else. In other words, they expect and demand preferential treatment, for no good objective reason.

Equal Measures Of Fairness

The fallacy of fairness works on the basis that if somebody else did something bad (or that you disagree with), that gives you the right to do it as well.

Even A Bargain Costs Money

There is no point feeling pleased about how much you’ve saved if you would have found the sale price too high in the absence of the non-sale, regular price.

And if it’s not something you would have bought otherwise, you’ve not saved anything at all – you’ve bought something you didn’t need or want.

Expecting More

This can happen when:

• You receive a less enthusiastic response than you expected, even though that response was positive, leading you to think you didn’t do a good job at all
• Somebody omits an emoji in their text message or email, making you think they are unhappy or angry with you – all based on the fact they chose not to include a smiley face, for example.

Fallacy Of Deserving

You see this a lot these days – people assuming that poor people deserve to be poor, or unhealthy people deserve to be unhealthy.

Falling For Consistency

It is human nature to try to be consistent with our behaviours, which is why sales people use the “foot in the door” technique. By getting you to say “Yes” to something small or trivial, it increases the likelihood of your saying “Yes” to something larger later on.

This one is hard to avoid – until you know what you’re looking for.

Focusing On The Negative

Many things happen in our lives that are a combination of positive and negative, or good news and bad news, but filtering out the positive and dwelling only on the negative will give you a distorted view of reality.

Halo Effect

This happens when you attribute other qualities to somebody (or something) based on just one positive characteristic. For example, assuming that somebody who is good-looking must also be smart, or making assumptions about somebody’s personality based on a physical attribute such as their weight.

Ignoring The Positive

The classic example of this is somebody who will not, or can not, accept compliments or positive feedback. Instead, they will often belittle their accomplishments.

Immutable Emotions

This is when you assume that because you feel a certain way today, you’ll feel the same way tomorrow.

Justified Inconsistency

You’ll see this when somebody has made progress toward achieving something, and then feels justified in behaving in a way that is inconsistent with that goal.

Making A Molehill Out Of A Mountain

This is the well-known expression turned around, and it happens when something good happens and you try to belittle it.

Making A Mountain Out Of A Molehill

This is the perfect summarization of what is known as magnifying, where you exaggerate the impact of something, blowing it up out of all proportion.

Motivation Through Self-Criticism

If you think that you can motivate yourself to do better by criticizing yourself, then please stop – it doesn’t work (in most cases).

Not Asking For External Feedback

People often assume they know more about a subject than they actually do, and they completely ignore the fact that there is a lot of information they don’t even know they don’t know.

That’s why it’s important to get feedback from other people, who may know some of that information you didn’t even realize was relevant.

Overgeneralizing

Trying to draw conclusions based on too little information is just another way to say “making assumptions” – you cannot accurately establish patterns from one or two instances.

Pigeonholing

A more severe form of overgeneralizing is when you apply a label to somebody (including yourself) based on a single experience.

For example, one mistake does not mean you are a failure – it means you made one mistake (which is something you can and should learn from).

Poor Time-Estimation

Many people are notoriously bad at estimating how long a given task or project will take.

Preference For Familiarity

We typically prefer things that we are familiar with (e.g. the brand we’ve always used), which can lead to unconscious bias and poor decisions.

Reasoning Emotionally

Assuming that reality matches how you feel can lead to disorders such as OCD.

I knew a boy who washed his hands compulsively (like at every opportunity he had throughout his school day), and it turns out it was because, as a young boy, he’d picked up a wild mushroom, and been told that they were often poisonous. It appears his fear made him see everything as potentially toxic, hence the constant hand-washing.

Repetition Of Failure

Doing the same thing over and over and expecting the situation to change is, to paraphrase a quote attributed to Einstein, insanity.

If something didn’t work the last few dozen times you tried it, there is a good chance it won’t work the next time either.

Self-Serving Bias

This happens when somebody attributes everything positive that occurs to them, and everything negative to things outside their control.

Shoulda Oughta

There are two aspects to this one – when it’s aimed at yourself, and when it’s aimed at others.

When you say things like “I should have done…” or “I ought to do…” or “I must do…”, it can create feelings of guilt and shame.

When applied to others, you’re creating expectations of people over whom you have no control, leading to frustration and anger.

Single Perspective

People who only see things from their own point of view, and are unable or unwilling to see other people’s viewpoints, are guilty of this distortion.

Taking Things Personally

Personalization is when somebody feels guilty or takes the blame for things that are actually out of their control.

Telepathy

This occurs when somebody claims to know what another person is thinking, and it’s one of my all-time bugbears.

My first-wife interrupted me frequently, but not once, in over 20 years, did she ever accurately predict what I was in the process of saying.

In many cases, what’s really happening is projection, because no matter how well you know somebody else, claiming to know what they’re thinking and are about to say is nothing more than an assumption, or an educated guess.

Thinking You’re A Good Multitasker

The truth is, humans are very bad as multitasking. The brain is not able to focus on two things at once, so when you think you’re multitasking, you’re actually rapidly switching between two (or more) activities, and that comes with a cost.

Throwing Good Money After Bad

When you’ve put a lot of time and money into a project that is struggling, there is a temptation to continue with it on the basis that you don’t want to waste all of the resources you’ve already spent.

But this rarely pays dividends – you need to be able to recognize when to call it a day and move on to something else that has a better chance of success.

Uni-Directional Thinking

It is now known that our thoughts can affect our behaviour, and vice versa – in fact, this lies at the heart of cognitive behavioural therapy.

But some people only accept this in one direction. For example, they may say that they’ll go on a diet when they feel better, but ignore the fact that eating better will make it easier for them to lose weight anyway.

Unrealistic Standards

This is setting yourself impossibly high standards because you believe your colleagues or friends or family will think you’re a failure if you don’t achieve perfection.

Writing Off Rest As A Waste Of Time

Nobody can keep going 24 x 7, not if we want to remain productive, at least.

However, some people see apparently inactive time between periods of work as being wasteful, when in fact they are ignoring the need to recuperate and re-charge.

And Lastly – Assuming You Can’t Change

As Henry Ford is quoted as saying, “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t – you’re right.”

If you think you are incapable of changing how you think -then you probably are.

But if you think you can change how you think – then you probably can.

Conclusion

I would be surprised if many people do not commit at least one of these cognitive distortions several times a day, but we are, after all, human, and therefore prone to making mistakes.

However, it is possible to change these thought patterns – even those that are almost automatic – and the key is to use cognitive restructuring and cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT).

But the first step is to be aware of them. Only then can you either stop yourself from making them, or spot when others are guilty of them.

Once you know what you’re looking for, you can start the process of eliminating these cognitive distortions from your thinking patterns.

Additional Resources

These are suggestions for those who wish to delve deeper into any of the above:

1. Cognitive Restructuring Therapy
2. Find A CBT Therapist (US Only)
3. Influence
4. The Tangled Mind