The 12 Cognitive Distortions That Affect Your Reality
Do you know that we all use distorted thoughts? Why do cognitive distortions affect us so much? Discover the different types of cognitive distortions that exist.
Most people experience cognitive distortions from time to time, but when these are used very recurrently they can promote states of anxiety and depression, among other complications. Within psychology, cognitive distortions are thoughts that affect the way we see ourselves, others, and the world in general. It is a filter that we pass on to everything around us and that generates distorted thoughts that can cause certain problems.
This happens because when we think we follow certain reasoning that leads us to conclusions. Our knowledge of the world, our emotions, intuition, our desires and hopes, our intellectual capacity and other factors influence the reasoning process. Sometimes, in this process, we introduce certain “shortcuts” that somehow introduce errors into this reasoning and lead us to irrational conclusions. These irrational ideas are known as cognitive distortions
When in psychology we talk about a cognitive distortion We are referring to an exaggerated pattern of thinking that is not based on concrete facts. In this way, these distorted thoughts end up making people see things in a more negative way than they really are. In other words, cognitive distortions are ideas that come from your mind that convince you to believe these negative aspects of the world and yourself.
The cognitive distortions, which we sometimes maintain dogmatically, can produce emotional disturbances and affect our behavior. Sometimes the cause of a psychological problem is in the way we interpret the reality around us and ourselves. Our beliefs and thinking habits influence this perception of the world. A dysfunctional, false, or automatic assumption, belief, or habit of thinking can distort our way of seeing the world. The way we perceive the world determines the way we behave.
Cognitive distortions, or irrational beliefs, are defined as dogmatic, absolute, expressed in terms of obligation, presented to us automatically and are normally followed by negative emotions and generate alterations in behavior (phobias, depression, self-esteem problems, etc.).
The psychologist Albert Ellis was the first to describe irrational ideas, later Aaron T. Beck made great contributions to understanding cognitive distortions
Why does a cognitive distortion arise?
The people who develop these distorted thoughts They usually do it as a method to deal with adverse events that occur on a daily basis. The longer and more severe these events are, the more likely an individual will have a cognitive distortion to form.
According to various studies, it is suggested that cognitive distortions They could have been developed as an evolutionary method for survival. That is, when we suffer from stress (since we are facing a theoretical imminent danger), people can end up adapting their way of thinking to ensure their ‘survival’. But, the different types of cognitive distortions are not thoughts that are rational or healthy in the long term.
There are several types of cognitive distortions that humans can use to confront certain difficult situations or ideas. Among the most relevant, psychologists highlight the following.
Polarized thinking: It is thinking about “all or nothing“. Divide reality in two and in absolute terms without seeing the middle points. “Always” either “never“, “Well” either “bad“, “all” either “nobody“. In this way, people who use the polarized or dichotomous thinking They build their reality based on two categories. Therefore, either something is bad or good, in these cognitive errors there are no gray shades. The tendency to make such extreme evaluations creates a very authoritarian behavior that is very difficult to live with.
Overgeneralization: From isolated cases, generalize and draw a conclusion that applies to everything. Through the overgeneralization People try to get an idea from an event that has only happened once. That is, there is a tendency to generalize through a single action that does not have to define our personality.
Arbitrary inference: Reaching a conclusion without starting from anything, without evidence. When a person has a tendency to use this cognitive distortion They end up understanding reality based on beliefs that have been extracted from certain experiences or distorted thought patterns. Typically, people learn these cognitive errors through bad behaviors learned throughout life.
Selective abstraction or mental filter: Focusing only on the negative aspects of a situation, ignoring and excluding the rest of the positive aspects. In selective abstraction, people end up giving much more weight to the negative aspects than to the good that can happen in an event or experience. Therefore, the bad is emphasized and these are also magnified. distortions or errors in thinking
Magnification and minimization: Exaggerate the magnitude of negative events and minimize the magnitude of positive ones. Therefore, people with this reality distortion They end up reducing or increasing things and ideas in a very disproportionate way. In the case of minimization, cognitive distortion consists of downplaying the importance of some events or experiences that may be positive for the person. On the other hand, magnification consists of exaggerating the negative aspects of an experience, event or person.
Personalization: Attributing the causes of what happens around you and thinking that everything is related to you. These cognitive errors They arise from a person’s habit of constantly relating those events that happen in the environment with oneself, normally focusing on the most negative aspects.
Projection: Project your thoughts and emotions onto another person. Projection is one of the cognitive distortions that people use most to try to ‘defend’ ourselves from the threats that we believe exist outside. So much so that these distorted thoughts end up blaming and granting responsibility for our actions, feelings and behaviors to another person.
Reasoning emotional: Create arguments based on how you feel and not reality. Believing that if you feel a way, reality adjusts to that feeling. When a person uses emotional reasoning, they end up shaping a belief or thought based on how we feel at a moment or in a specific situation. In fact, it is a cognitive distortion in which people sabotage themselves more often.
You should: Focus on what one, or others, should do or should be. Have rigid and demanding rules of how things should be. Statements like ‘should’ are beliefs we have about how we should act, think or be towards others and ourselves. When a person usually uses these types of distorted thoughts He ends up engaging in excessive self-criticism.
Vision catastrophic: Imagine the worst possible consequences. Among the possible options, think that the worst will happen. People who usually use this cognitive distortion They tend to anticipate events but always from a very catastrophic vision. So much so that on some occasions these cognitive distortions can end up causing the person not to perform said action due to unfounded fear.
Culpability: There are two variants, blaming others for your own problems, or blaming yourself for the problems of others. There is too much a posteriori assessment of what should have been done. Therefore, this cognitive distortion It involves attributing responsibility and guilt for an act both to ourselves and to another person, without taking into account what really caused it.
Fallacies: There are some fallacies, the control fallacy (thinking that one has excessive responsibility for what happens), justice fallacy (assessing as unfair everything that does not coincide with your wishes), change fallacy (thinking that change has to occur due to external factors, of other people) or fallacy of reason (assuming that one is right and dismissing the opinions of others).
These are some of the main and best known cognitive distortions Our beliefs, assumptions about reality, and habits of thought influence the way we understand the world, make decisions, behave, and feel. It is important to review and be aware of this, as it is something we can change.
Examples of cognitive distortions
In order to better understand each of the types of cognitive distortions examples can be a good way to identify these distorted thoughts.
Dichotomous or polarized thinking: You get a 7 on a test and you think you are not a good student (nor will you be) for not getting a better grade.
Overgeneralization: You arrive late for work and on the way you run into a red light. Then you think that everything will go wrong for you because of it.
Arbitrary inference: Concluding that your first day at work will go badly or guessing what your partner thinks and concluding that he or she doesn’t want to be with you anymore.
Selective abstraction or mental filter: In a work meeting, you present your results and even though your boss has congratulated you for it, when you receive criticism or a suggestion for improvement you think that you are not good enough at your tasks.
Magnification and minimization: You think that a person is rude because he has not greeted you, even though he knows you.
Personalization: Your son has an accident and you blame yourself for allowing him to go to that party.
Projection: “I’m sure this conversation has made you as uncomfortable as it made me.”
Emotional reasoning: “I’m jealous, that’s because you give me reasons to be suspicious.”
You should: “I should be more bold when it comes to talking, that’s why other people don’t like me.”
Catastrophic vision: “My son is coming home late, he must have had an accident.”
Culpability: “I was late for work because of the car in front of me, which was going very slowly.”
Fallacies: For example, you couldn’t complete a task at work. You immediately think, “Of course I couldn’t complete it! My boss is giving me too much work and everyone has been making a lot of noise in the office today. Who could get it under these conditions? “
In most cases, these distorted thoughts They can be changed in the same way that happens with our negative internal dialogue. When a person has a tendency to use a lot of cognitive distortions in their reasoning, this may be a sign that there is a mental health problem. Thus, if you think you resort to these cognitive errors too much, you may require the help of a mental health professional. Additionally, you can also use these tips to reduce its usage.
Reflect on your thoughts: If something is bothering you or you have a negative idea that is not helping you, it may be a good idea to try to distance yourself from it and try to focus on the here and now.
Replace your absolute beliefs: When we think about ourselves or reality we normally resort to absolute beliefs that create a reality distortion Therefore, it can be a small advance to try not to use words like ‘always’, ‘nothing’, ‘sometimes’, among others.
Define with tags: Labels often generate the belief or cognitive distortion that things can’t change. In these cases, it is important to try to put aside these prejudices, since we are constantly changing day after day.
Look for the positive: Instead of seeing problems, think of these events as tests or challenges. Changing the way we see this will make you have a more positive attitude towards events and leave behind the distortions
Is there evidence?: If you think you are facing a cognitive distortion a good step will be to try to question whether there really is evidence to believe in it.
Sometimes a problem that has no solution from one way of perceiving it, has several solutions from another perspective. By creating a reality distortion in which we lock ourselves in and limit ourselves, feeling without the ability to act. But changing these thinking habits based on cognitive distortions We can find a way to release our capabilities.
