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.