The Most Common Cognitive Distortions
In 1976, psychologist Aaron Beck first proposed the theory behind cognitive distortions, and in
the 1980s, David Burns was responsible for popularizing it with common names and examples
for the distortions.
1. Negative Filtering
A person engaging in the filter (or “mental filtering) takes the negative details and magnifies
those details while filtering out all positive aspects of a situation. For instance, a person may
pick out a single, unpleasant detail and dwell on it exclusively so that their vision of reality
becomes darkened or distorted. When a cognitive filter is applied, the person sees only the
negative and ignores anything positive.
2. Dichotomous Thinking
In polarized thinking, things are either “black-or-white” — all or nothing. We have to be
perfect or we’re a complete and abject failure — there is no middle ground. A person with
polarized thinking places people or situations in “either/or” categories, with no shades of
Gray or allowing for the complexity of most people and most situations. A person with black-
and-white thinking sees things only in extremes.
3. Overgeneralization
In this cognitive distortion, a person comes to a general conclusion based on a single incident
or a single piece of evidence. If something bad happens just once, they expect it to happen
over and over again. A person may see a single, unpleasant event as part of a never-ending
the pattern of defeat.
For instance, if a student gets a poor grade on one paper in one semester, they conclude they
are horrible students and should quit school.
4.Fortune-Telling:
We may engage in " Fortune-Telling" when we predict that things will turn out badly. We
imagine that something bad is about to happen, and we take this prediction as a fact even
though it's unrealistic.
 An example of fortune-telling is saying to ourselves “I just know I’m going to have a bad
journey.
5. Catastrophizing
When a person engages in catastrophizing, they expect disaster to strike, no matter what. This
is also referred to as magnifying, and can also come out in its opposite behavior, minimizing.
In this distortion, a person hears about a problem and uses what-if questions (e.g., “What if
tragedy strikes?” “What if it happens to me?”) to imagine the absolute worst occurring.
For example, a person might exaggerate the importance of insignificant events (such as their
mistake, or someone else’s achievement). Or they may inappropriately shrink the magnitude

of significant events until they appear tiny (for example, a person’s own desirable qualities or
someone else’s imperfections).
6. Personalization:
Personalization is a distortion where a person believes that everything others do or say is
some kind of direct, personal reaction to them. They literally take virtually everything
personally, even when something is not meant in that way. A person who experiences this
kind of thinking will also compare themselves to others, trying to determine who is smarter,
better looking, etc
A person engaging in personalization may also see themselves as the cause of some
unhealthy external event that they were not responsible for. For example, “We were late to
the dinner party and caused everyone to have a terrible time. If I had only pushed my husband
to leave on time, this wouldn’t have happened.”
7.Mind reading:
Without individuals saying so, a person who jumps to conclusions knows what another
person is feeling and thinking — and exactly why they act the way they do. In particular, a
person is able to determine how others are feeling toward the person, as though they could
read their mind. Jumping to conclusions can also manifest itself as fortune-telling, where a
person believes their entire future is pre-ordained (whether it be in school, work, or romantic
relationships).
For example, a person may conclude that someone is holding a grudge against them, but
doesn’t actually bother to find out if they are correct. Another example involving fortune-
telling us when a person may anticipate that things will turn out badly in their next
relationship, and will feel convinced that their prediction is already an established fact, so
why bother dating.
8. Labelling:
Labeling is a cognitive distortion in which we generalize by taking one characteristic of
a person and applying it to the whole person. Because I failed a test, I am a failure.
Because she is frequently late to work, she is irresponsible. If someone responded in a
brusque way, he is a jerk. Rather than more objectively thinking about the behavior,
when we engage in labeling, we globally describe the whole person. As a result, we
view the entire person through the label, such as jerk, and filter out any information that
doesn’t fit under the umbrella of the label. This results in the label feeling more apt as a
descriptor of the person, and we believe it more.
9. Blaming:
When a person engages in blaming, they hold other people responsible for their emotional
pain. They may also take the opposite track and instead blame themselves for every problem
— even those clearly outside their own control.
For example, “Stop making me feel bad about myself!” Nobody can “make” us feel any
particular way — only we have control over our own emotions and emotional reactions.

10. Shoulds:
Should statements (“I should pick up after myself more…”) appear as a list of ironclad rules
about how every person should behave? People who break the rules make a person following
these should statements angry. They also feel guilty when they violate their own rules. A
person may often believe they are trying to motivate themselves with shoulds and shouldn’t,
as if they have to be punished before they can do anything.
For example, “I really should exercise. I shouldn’t be so lazy.” Musts and oughts to be also
offenders. The emotional consequence is guilt. When a person directs should
statement toward others, they often feel anger, frustration, and resentment.
11. Emotional Reasoning
The distortion of emotional reasoning can be summed up by the statement, “If I feel that way,
it must be true.” Whatever a person is feeling is believed to be true automatically and
unconditionally. If a person feels stupid and boring, then they must be stupid and boring.
Emotions are extremely strong in people and can overrule our rational thoughts and
reasoning. Emotional reasoning is when a person’s emotions take over our thinking entirely,
blotting out all rationality and logic. The person who engages in emotional reasoning assumes
that their unhealthy emotions reflect the way things really are — “I feel it, therefore it must
be true.”
12.Discounting the positive
Discounting the positive is a faulty thinking pattern that can contribute to a person’s
negativity. Known as cognitive distortions, negative thinking patterns like this one can
contribute to depression and anxiety-related conditions, such as social anxiety disorder and
panic disorder.
When a person falls into the cognitive distortion of discounting the positive, they overlook
their personal achievements and disregard their positive attributes. They may deny their
success, believing that it was just luck or chance. People who discount the positive rarely feel
a healthy sense of pride or satisfaction.
For example, one may say, “I just got lucky that my proposal was accepted” or “I got
promoted at work, only because no one else wanted it”.  Concentrating on the negative and
minimizing the positives will nearly always be disappointing and prevent you from enjoying
your accomplishments and achievements
13.Regret orientation:
Focusing on the idea that you could have done better in the past, rather than on what you can
do better now. “I shouldn’t have said that.”
14.Inability to disconfirm:
Rejecting any evidence or arguments that might contradict your negative thoughts. When
having the thought “I am unlovable,” you reject as irrelevant any evidence that people like

you. Then, your thought cannot be refuted. “That is not the real issue. There are deeper
problems. There are other factors.”
15.Judgment Focus:
You view yourself, others, and events in terms of evaluations as good-bad or superior-
inferior, rather than simply describing, accepting, or understanding. You are continually
measuring yourself and others according to arbitrary standards, and finding that you and
others fall short. You are focused on the judgments of others as well as your own judgments
of yourself. “I didn’t perform well in college,” or “If take up tennis, I won’t do well,” or
“Look how successful she is. I am not successful.”
16.What if?
Continuously asking a series of questions about “what if” something happens, and you fail to
be satisfied with any of the answers. “Yeah, but what if I get anxious?” “what if nobody can
help me?”
17.Unfair comparisons:
Interpreting events in terms of standards that are unrealistic –focusing primarily on others
who do better than you and find yourself inferior in the comparison. “She has done much
better than I have.”