3.5 Cognitive Distortions and Automatic Thoughts

Cognitive coping includes our perceptions, interpretations, self-talk, and all other responses to a stressor that happen within our minds. In some cases, a person’s thinking styles can exacerbate stress that would otherwise be minor or less severe. Automatic thoughts known as cognitive distortions are biased and inaccurate ways of thinking about the world or ourselves. We are prone to misinterpret situations. Our beliefs and assumptions mix with the perceived stimuli to form cognitive distortions, which are inaccurate, exaggerated, or otherwise dysfunctional.

Categories of Cognitive Distortions

Cognitive distortions are categorized based on the thinking patterns exhibited (Pretzer & Walsh, 2001):

• Overgeneralization: A person might apply the characteristics of one event to all events in general. For example, after receiving a short response from a friend via text, one assumes the friend is angry or isn’t a good friend after all.
• Selective Abstraction: A person focuses on the negative and filters out the positive. One example of this is getting a graded paper back from an instructor and seeing only the negative comments or criticism while ignoring the positive feedback or compliments also noted and factored into the grade.
• Disqualifying the Positive: The individual might hear positive feedback or experience a positive event, but quickly dismisses it by thinking it can’t be accurate or must be a mistake. Using the same example as the previous category, an individual might read over the more positive feedback on a paper and think, “The instructor doesn’t really mean that” or “They’re just saying that to be nice because my paper is terrible.”
• Mind Reading: A person assumes to know what someone else is thinking. For instance, after an interview, a person might think, “I just know they were trying to get through that as fast as possible to get rid of me” or “They definitely think I’m unqualified.”
• Fortune Telling: An individual reacts based on expectations of future events as if the outcome is already known. One example would be leaving a classroom after taking an exam thinking, “I need to find out if this class is offered next semester because I just failed that test.”
• Emotional Reasoning: The individual interprets their emotional response as truth. Instead of just feeling nervous before a speaking event, the person thinks, “I’m nervous. If I was prepared, I wouldn’t be nervous. I must not have adequately prepared!”
• Comparison with Others: Comparing one’s self and feeling inferior to others. For example, an individual feels their peers are much more qualified than they are and puts off getting started on grad school applications. Another example might be saying to one’s self, “Why should I keep studying for physics? My roommate always gets A’s and studies half as much as I do.”
• Control Fallacy: The belief that we either a) have no control over our lives, or b) we are in complete control of ourselves and our surroundings. Both can be unhelpful and equally inaccurate. No one is in complete control of what happens to them; at the same time, everyone has at least some control over their situations. Those who feel out of control may have a hard time initiating tasks or taking on large or high-stakes projects and those who feel they have complete control may get frustrated when unexpected barriers arise.
• Catastrophizing: Viewing negative events as catastrophes instead of putting them in perspective. For example, “I just did terribly on that exam. That’s the end of my career in engineering.”
• Should Statements: Feeling pressured that we should behave in a certain way or do certain things regardless of current abilities or how realistic the should actually is. Should statements may also be based on inauthentic motivation or may not be fully thought through yet, which can lead individuals to put off actually acting on them. For example, “I shouldn’t be frustrated with my professor. They’re the expert and we have to listen to them.”
• Dichotomous Thinking: Making a quick judgement about whether something fits in one category or another, usually positive or negative. Experiences are mutually exclusive good or bad with no shades of gray between. For example, “I have to fully complete this task and execute it perfectly or it isn’t worth my time. Anything less than perfect performance is obviously a failure.”
• Maximizing or Minimizing: When some aspects of a situation are made trivial and others are made to be very important, regardless of the actual significance. For example, “Sure, I was offered a position for after graduation, but who cares, I’m still alone on Valentine’s Day.”
• Labeling: A label is assigned to oneself due to an unfortunate or negative event. For example, “I am unlikeable” or “I’m inept at biochem” when project groups were formed in class and an individual didn’t immediately find one with an opening.
• Personalization: Believing the cause of an event was due to one’s own actions when it was likely caused by other factors. For example, a person might think, “He didn’t answer my call today. I bet he’s screening my calls and is mad at me.” without considering the many other reasons people miss calls.

As you can see, sometimes our thoughts make a potentially positive situation—or even a neutral situation—seem not-so-great, leading to excessive stress. Cognitive distortions can also distort our view of others. By labeling someone as lazy, jumping to conclusions about whether someone is doing something right or wrong, or applying our own shoulds to someone else, we are making reflexive judgements based on limited information. Recognizing cognitive distortions and identifying the category in which they fit can help highlight the importance of making sure we have enough evidence before the automatic thoughts become conclusions.

Even if you weren’t previously familiar with cognitive distortions, you may be familiar with the more common generators of these maladaptive automatic thoughts: personality factors, perfectionism, worry, shame, guilt, pessimism, and anger. Can you also imagine how being in a bad mood might further lead to cognitive distortions?

Learning Activity: Cognitive Distortion Categories and Examples

Practice matching statements to their corresponding cognitive distortion categories in this interactive learning activity.