Cognitive Biases, Cognitive Distortions, and the First 3 Examples

Generally, we call them “cognitive biases,” which can be defined as “thinking, perceiving, or behaving, outside rationality.” In other words, we turn away from objective data and see everything through the lens of our “subjective reality.” Needless to say, cognitive biases lead to misinterpretations, misjudgments, distortions, or, in sum, irrationality.

As bad as this may sound, we all use them, whether we realize it or not. Some of us are more aware of it than others, but we all navigate the world through our cognitive biases. We have elaborated on cognitive biases in some of the modules that are part of our Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP) Certificate Course and you can refer to the self-study for that.

If you are bold enough, you can take the Harvard Implicit Test, which is one of the three major tests available for anyone willing to test their own cognitive biases as they relate to a variety of topics and issues.

Now, cognitive biases operate both at a conscious and unconscious level. Cognitive biases may sometimes lead to impairment of functioning or tumultuous relationships with ourselves or others, or they may lead to a great deal of suffering as we navigate the world. The group of cognitive biases that belong to this category are specifically known as cognitive distortions.

Cognitive distortions are “exaggerated” or “problematic,” forms of cognitive biases. They arise from and are contained in our automatic or default thinking, and often determine our feelings and behaviors. Depending on where we look, the number of cognitive distortions, which at SWEET we call “cognitive errors,” range from a dozen to two dozen. We are going to dedicate a series to fully address almost all of them, starting with this article.

Below are some of the most common, and perhaps problematic ones:

Jumping to conclusions: In Jumping to Conclusions, something happens, something takes place, I hear something, see something, or even think something, and I draw a conclusion directly from it, right away. This also happens when I fail to hear something, or when I fail to see something, or even when I fail to think something. In other words, when we observe something, without thinking it through, without experimenting, without examining it, and we just go straight to conclusions, we are making the cognitive error known as Jumping to Conclusions. It is as if someone is a suspect in a crime, and instead of looking for evidence, examining it, going to trial, listening to the opposing arguments, having a jury present, and having a judge deliberate, we take it upon ourselves to render the person guilty and sentence him or her to life without parole

Does this sound extreme? If so, you now fully understand what we do each time we jump to conclusions. While the consequences may not be as harsh as sentencing someone to life in prison, they may be rather significant when it comes to how much suffering ensues, how much dysfunction takes place in relationships, and how much we attack ourselves, leading to further cognitive errors or distortions.

Jumping to Conclusions is often present in two forms:

1. Mind Reading, which may be subtle, and can still be rather problematic and even pathological. The best way to explain mind reading is through the use of the word, “assuming.” We do not know. We “assume.” We assume based on our past experiences. We assume based on what that person did before, said before, or thought before. We assume based on how we think or feel about ourselves, at that moment, and we assume, based on our fears, sense of insecurity, and our sense of self. Mind Reading can result in significant suffering and must also be given up. Of course, we have to give it up. If we do not, it will be harder for us to start to understand that the way we perceive, (as we are seeing in our Psychotherapy Certificate Course), whether with or without cognitive distortions or biases, is illusion-based, because it is all based on our normal or ordinary blueprint, which is all past based. In other words, as long as we are stuck in our psychology, we are using an illusion-based system. Nonetheless, moving away from illusion-based thinking to a Reality-based thinking requires integration, and the process of integration requires cognitive restructuring, which will help us correct our cognitive distortions, and eventually commit them less and less.

2. Fortune Telling is another form of Jumping to Conclusions. The difference between it and Mind Reading is that Fortune Telling has more to do with the future – a future, which never comes, as explained by Einstein, but a concept we use, nonetheless. As its name implies, Fortune Telling is when we are making the cognitive error of, “predicting the future,” or “assuming” we know what’s going to happen in the future, and then taking action accordingly. Of course, we are not trying to predict the future using analytics, or models. Rather, we are relying on our illusory-based thinking, using a subjective and biased past, to then predict the future. The thinking system upon which this mental process exists helps clearly demonstrate why it is faulty, to start with.

Of course, Fortune Telling makes us suffer significantly. We make the prediction of getting fired, we focus on it, we have associated thoughts and feelings about it, and then we focus on it even more.  As a result,  we cannot sleep, we cannot focus at work, our work performance diminishes, we make more predictions, we get more uncomfortable, and the cycle continues until we get fired. Of course, we did not get fired because we accurately predicted that we were going to get fired. Rather, we got fired because as we thought we were going to get fired, these faulty thoughts led to the changes in our feelings and behaviors that affected our level of performance, and that did in fact lead to us getting fired.

 There is no rationality or reasoning here. It’s all illusion-based, and it is reinforced through our use of the cognitive error, Fortune Telling. In fact, the next time we predict that we are going to get fired, we may even start to look for a job right away and then leave our current job instead of waiting to get fired. All under the power of Fortune Telling-a cognitive error that leads to much suffering.

Henry David Thoreau said, “Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves.” Fortune Telling may be one of the most misleading cognitive distortions we may be making use of. Yet, the more lost we are, the more it makes us believe that we are going in the right direction, which means, the prospect of understanding ourselves, as Thoreau is suggesting, may not hold much hope for us as long as this cognitive distortion remains our predominant way of operating in the world. This, in part, helps explain why anxiety can be so pervasive, so persistent, and so hard to manage at times.

Fortunately, there is another way. All of this is psychology, which means, effect. And the best way to really manage it is by going beyond our psychology, through the process of integration. We also mentioned that this process of integration contains three steps and six subsets, one of which is Cognitive Restructuring, which is what we are going to be talking about next week.

Next week, Wednesday, October 21, 7-9pm EDT, is a very significant step in our CBT Certificate Course. While we have talked much about Cognitive Restructuring, we are going to elevate the skills so everyone, regardless of where they are, can walk away with concrete tools to help them cease suffering. This is what has drawn us to this noble field. This is what drives us, and this is what we can and will do together.

We look forward to seeing you, then.

As ever,
Karen and Mardoche