Notes from a post by Sheril Mathews about common thinking errors and how to spot them. First, the ones I suspect I fall into the most:

• Mind reading — “knowing” what others think, or assuming they know what you think. In my case, both.
• Jumping to conclusions — x therefore y with little evidence. This seems especially hazardous in combination with the previous — x therefore y, with inadequate evidence provided by mind reading!
• Mental filtering — exclusive focus on negative (or positive), e.g. “that one thing I did wrong”. Also works in combination with the others. Focus on the one negative thing that I think I mind read from someone else, and then jump to conclusions about it.

Well, good to know oneself… Here are the others. Not saying I don’t fall into these traps too… just that the ones above seem like my biggest hazards.

• All or nothing thinking — perfect or total failure, always, never
• Fortune telling — usually negative, foregone conclusion, defeatism
• Overgeneralization — from one or two data points, e.g. Don Music “I’ll never get it, never!”
• Should statements — unrealistic expectations
• Disqualifying positive — success is a fluke/unreliable, e.g. “they were just being polite”
• Magnification/Minimization — exaggerating or downplaying importance of something
• Catastrophizing — assuming the worst, mountains out of molehills
• Emotional reasoning — mistaking feelings for facts
• Personalization/Self-blame — it’s my fault
• Labeling/Mislabeling — extreme overgeneralization
• Always/Never thinking — seems like overgeneralization + mind reading
• Entitlement — unrealistic expectations — see also Should
• Outsourcing happiness — I’ll be happy when…
• Control fallacy — I control nothing (or everything)
• Low frustration tolerance — what it says on the box
• Fairness fallacy — life should always be fair and just — resentment, frustration

Originally posted 23 August 2023 on Medium.