11/03/2021 15 Common Cognitive Distortions

15 Common Cognitive Distortions

Medically reviewed by Scientific Advisory Board — Written by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on
May 17, 2016

What’s a cognitive distortion and why do so many people have them?

Cognitive distortions are simply ways that our mind convinces us of
something that isn’t really true. These inaccurate thoughts are usually
used to reinforce negative thinking or emotions — telling ourselves things
that sound rational and accurate, but really only serve to keep us feeling
bad about ourselves.

For instance, a person might tell themselves, “I always fail when I try to do
something new; I therefore fail at everything I try.” This is an example of
“black or white” (or polarized) thinking. The person is only seeing things in
absolutes — that if they fail at one thing, they must fail at all things. If they
added, “I must be a complete loser and failure” to their thinking, that
would also be an example of overgeneralization — taking a failure at one
specific task and generalizing it their very self and identity.

Cognitive distortions are at the core of what many cognitive-behavioral

and other kinds of therapists try and help a person learn to change in
psychotherapy. By learning to correctly identify this kind of “stinkin’
thinkin’,” a person can then answer the negative thinking back, and refute
it. By refuting the negative thinking over and over again, it will slowly
diminish overtime and be automatically replaced by more rational,
balanced thinking.
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The Most Common Cognitive Distortions

In 1976, psychologist Aaron Beck first proposed the theory behind
cognitive distortions and in the 1980s, David Burns was responsible for
popularizing it with common names and examples for the distortions.

1. Filtering
A person engaging in filter (or “mental filtering) takes the negative
details and magnifies those details while filtering out all positive aspects
of a situation. For instance, a person may pick out a single, unpleasant
detail and dwell on it exclusively so that their vision of reality becomes
darkened or distorted. When a cognitive filter is applied, the person sees
only the negative and ignores anything positive.

2. Polarized Thinking (or “Black and White” Thinking)

In polarized thinking, things are either “black-or-white” — all or nothing.
We have to be perfect or we’re a complete and abject failure — there is
no middle ground. A person with polarized thinking places people or
situations in “either/or” categories, with no shades of gray or allowing for
the complexity of most people and most situations. A person with black-
and-white thinking sees things only in extremes.

3. Overgeneralization
In this cognitive distortion, a person comes to a general conclusion
based on a single incident or a single piece of evidence. If something bad
happens just once, they expect it to happen over and over again. A
person may see a single, unpleasant event as part of a never-ending
pattern of defeat.

For instance, if a student gets a poor grade on one paper in one

semester, they conclude they are a horrible student and should quit
school.

4. Jumping to Conclusions
Without individuals saying so, a person who jumps to conclusions
knows what another person is feeling and thinking — and exactly why
they act the way they do. In particular, a person is able to determine how
others are feeling toward the person, as though they could read their
mind. Jumping to conclusions can also manifest itself as fortune-telling,
where a person Abelieves their entire future is pre-ordained (whether it be
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in school, work, or romantic relationships).

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For example, a person may conclude that someone is holding a grudge

against them, but doesn’t actually bother to find out if they are correct.
Another example involving fortune-telling is when a person may
anticipate that things will turn out badly in their next relationship, and will
feel convinced that their prediction is already an established fact, so why
bother dating.

5. Catastrophizing
When a person engages in catastrophizing, they expect disaster to
strike, no matter what. This is also referred to as magnifying, and can also
come out in its opposite behavior, minimizing. In this distortion, a person
hears about a problem and uses what if questions (e.g., “What if tragedy
strikes?” “What if it happens to me?”) to imagine the absolute worst
occurring.

For example, a person might exaggerate the importance of insignificant

events (such as their mistake, or someone else’s achievement). Or they
may inappropriately shrink the magnitude of significant events until they
appear tiny (for example, a person’s own desirable qualities or someone
else’s imperfections).

With practice, you can learn to answer each of these cognitive distortions.

6. Personalization
Personalization is a distortion where a person believes that everything
others do or say is some kind of direct, personal reaction to them. They
literally take virtually everything personally, even when something is not
meant in that way. A person who experiences this kind of thinking will
also compare themselves to others, trying to determine who is smarter,
better looking, etc.

A person engaging in personalization may also see themselves as the

cause of some unhealthy external event that they were not responsible
for. For example, “We were late to the dinner party and caused everyone
to have a terrible time. If I had only pushed my husband to leave on time,
this wouldn’t have happened.”

7. Control Fallacies
This distortion involves two different but related beliefs about being in
complete control of every situation in a person’s life. In the first, if we feel
externally controlled, we see ourselves as helpless a victim of fate. For
example, “I can’t help it if the quality of the work is poor, my boss
demanded I work overtime on it.”

The fallacy of internal control has us assuming responsibility for the pain
and happiness of everyone around us. For example, “Why aren’t you 
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happy? Is it because of something I did?”

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11/03/2021 15 Common Cognitive Distortions

8. Fallacy of Fairness
In the fallacy of fairness, a person feels resentful because they think
that they know what is fair, but other people won’t agree with them. As
our parents tell us when we’re growing up and something doesn’t go our
way, “Life isn’t always fair.” People who go through life applying a
measuring ruler against every situation judging its “fairness” will often feel
resentful, angry, and even hopelessness because of it. Because life isn’t
fair — things will not always work out in a person’s favor, even when they
should.

9. Blaming
When a person engages in blaming, they hold other people responsible
for their emotional pain. They may also take the opposite track and
instead blame themselves for every problem — even those clearly outside
their own control.

For example, “Stop making me feel bad about myself!” Nobody can
“make” us feel any particular way — only we have control over our own
emotions and emotional reactions.

10. Shoulds
Should statements (“I should pick up after myself more…”) appear as a
list of ironclad rules about how every person should behave. People who
break the rules make a person following these should statements angry.
They also feel guilty when they violate their own rules. A person may
often believe they are trying to motivate themselves with shoulds and
shouldn’ts, as if they have to be punished before they can do anything.

For example, “I really should exercise. I shouldn’t be so lazy.” Musts and

oughts are also offenders. The emotional consequence is guilt. When a
person directs should statements toward others, they often feel anger,
frustration and resentment.

11. Emotional Reasoning

The distortion of emotional reasoning can be summed up by the
statement, “If I feel that way, it must be true.” Whatever a person is feeling
is believed to be true automatically and unconditionally. If a person feels
stupid and boring, then they must be stupid and boring.

Emotions are extremely strong in people, and can overrule our rational
thoughts and reasoning. Emotional reasoning is when a person’s
emotions takes over our thinking entirely, blotting out all rationality and
logic. The person who engages in emotional reasoning assumes that their
unhealthy emotions reflect the way things really are — “I feel it, therefore
it must be true.” 
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12. Fallacy of Change

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In the fallacy of change, a person expects that other people will change
to suit them if they just pressure or cajole them enough. A person needs
to change people because their hopes for success and happiness seem
to depend entirely on them.

This distortion is often found in thinking around relationships. For

example, a girlfriend who tries to get her boyfriend to improve his
appearance and manners, in the belief that this boyfriend is perfect in
every other way and will make them happy if they only changed these
few minor things.

13. Global Labeling

In global labeling (also referred to as mislabeling), a person generalizes
one or two qualities into a negative global judgment about themselves or
another person. This is an extreme form of overgeneralizing. Instead of
describing an error in context of a specific situation, a person will attach
an unhealthy universal label to themselves or others.

For example, they may say, “I’m a loser” in a situation where they failed at
a specific task. When someone else’s behavior rubs a person the wrong
way — without bothering to understand any context around why — they
may attach an unhealthy label to him, such as “He’s a real jerk.”

Mislabeling involves describing an event with language that is highly

colored and emotionally loaded. For example, instead of saying someone
drops her children off at daycare every day, a person who is mislabeling
might say that “She abandons her children to strangers.”

14. Always Being Right

When a person engages in this distortion, they are continually putting
other people on trial to prove that their own opinions and actions are the
absolute correct ones. To a person engaging in “always being right,”
being wrong is unthinkable — they will go to any length to demonstrate
their rightness.

For example, “I don’t care how badly arguing with me makes you feel, I’m
going to win this argument no matter what because I’m right.” Being right
often is more important than the feelings of others around a person who
engages in this cognitive distortion, even loved ones.

15. Heaven’s Reward Fallacy

The final cognitive distortion is the false belief that a person’s sacrifice
and self-denial will eventually pay off, as if some global force is keeping
score. This is a riff on the fallacy of fairness, because in a fair world, the
people who work the hardest will get the largest reward. A person who
sacrifices and works hard but doesn’t experience the expected pay off 
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will usually feel bitter when the reward doesn’t come.

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11/03/2021 15 Common Cognitive Distortions

How Do You Fix Cognitive Distortions?

So now that you know what cognitive distortions are, how do you
go about undoing them? The good news is that you can correct your
irrational thinking, and we can help you do that with our next article
(which includes worksheets you can print out to help you).

Read how in 10 Methods for Fixing Cognitive Distortions.

Infographic: Download the Infographic version (PDF) of this article.

References:

Beck, A. T. (1976). Cognitive therapies and emotional disorders. New York:

New American Library.

Burns, D. D. (2012). Feeling good: The new mood therapy. New York: New
American Library.
SUBSCRIBE
Leahy, R.L. (2017). Cognitive Therapy Techniques, Second Edition: A
Practitioner’s Guide. New York: Guilford Press.

McKay, M. & Fanning, P. (2016). Self-Esteem: A Proven Program of

Cognitive Techniques for Assessing, Improving, and Maintaining Your
Self-Esteem. New York: New Harbinger Publications.

Learn More About:

The cognitive symptoms of depression

Strategies for improving the cognitive symptoms of depression

Depression treatment

Take a depression quiz

Illustrations by Sarah Grohol Illustration + Design

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