Cognitive Distortions

Question 1

polarized thinking

Answer 1

“all-or-nothing” or “black and white” thinking pattern. desire to be perfect or your are a complete failure

Question 2

mental filtering

Answer 2

1. negative mental filtering: focuses on negatives and filters out positives. negative details magnified.
2. disqualifying positive - acknwoledges positives but refuses to accept it. finds excuses to turn it into a negative one

Question 3

overgeneralization

Answer 3

focuses on a single event, makes conclusion based on single piece of negative evidence. incorrectly conlude all similar events going forward will result in same negative experience

Question 4

jumping to conclusions

Answer 4

1. mind reading: know what others are thinking. assumptions of their intentiosn occur with no evidence
2. fortune telling: make conclusions and predictions w/ no evidence and can have negative outcomes

Question 5

catastrophizing

Answer 5

1. magnification: over-exaggeration, which leads to worries escalating to the worst-case scenario
2. minimization: minimizing positive experiences. importance of positive qualities is diminished.

Question 6

personalization

Answer 6

take things personally, which causes a direct and personal reaction to what others do or say, even if it is unrelated. assuming you have been intentionally excluded or targeted

Question 7

blaming

Answer 7

blaming others, playing victim role, holding others responsible for pain. blame is exernal rathern than on self. takes no responsibility

Question 8

labeling

Answer 8

assignt judtment to self or others based on one negative incident instead of recognizing your or others made a mistake, you attach a label that is exaggerated and solely based on the single incident

Question 9

always being right

Answer 9

need to be right. internalize opinoins as facts and go to great lengths to prove

Question 10

should statements

Answer 10

“should” do, “must” do, “shouldn’t” do statements enforced on self or others. create pressure, imposing a set of expectations likely not to be met

Question 11

emotional reasoning

Answer 11

any feeling must be true. emotion accepted as fact. lgical reasoning blocked out

Question 12

control fallacies

Answer 12

1. external contrl: life completely controlled by external factores; creates a feeling of no control in situation
2. internal control: has control of self and surroundings. responsible for pain and happiness of others

Question 13

fallacy of change

Answer 13

others should change to suit your interest. pressure others to change bc you feel it’ll make you happy. your happiness dependeont on others changing

Question 14

fallacy of fairness

Answer 14

all things in life should be based on fairness. leads to anger and resentment

Question 15

heaven’s reward fallacy

Answer 15

rewarded based on how hard you work. will be disappointed bc most things in reality are not fair. this leads to feelings of frustration, anger, resentment