This bias is best described as what occurs when you see yourself as the exception to the rule. It is largely due to seeing yourself as more self-aware or better able to make sound judgments than other people. This bias is about being unable to get past your personal filter to see yourself as part of the whole rather than the someone outside of it.
Today’s distortion highlights all those times when your mind faces a difficulty and then goes from zero to “it’s the end of the world as we know it.” Catastrophizing makes mountains out of molehills. It takes the smallest things and blows them way out of proportion. Every little thing becomes a sign that your deepest fears will surely manifest.
Blaming, as a distortion in thinking, shifts responsibility in ways that are simply not helpful to resolving the situation at hand. Blaming makes one person wrong and someone else right. It often creates a false victim and a false villain when the responsibility for the negative situation is something that should be shared. And, in the moments when there truly is a victim and a perpetrator, it often places fault with the victim as opposed to the person actually causing harm to the other person.
"There are two types of people in this world..."
The tendency to divide things into two opposite camps is what we call binary, black and white, or, sometimes, all-or-nothing thinking. The world, though, is much more nuanced than everything being so easily divided down a center line.
Today’s flaw in thinking is the bias blind spot. If you have a bias blind spot, you are more able to see other people’s biases than your own and you may think of biases as something other people have -- not you. Or, if you do admit to having an unconscious partiality, the blind spot means you are highly likely to see yourself as far less affected by it than other people.
Today's cognitive distortion is a hotly debated one when I cover it during class. When students are asked if they believe the world is fair, they consistently respond, "Well, of course it isn't. We know that!" But when I drill into the beliefs of what that actually means, I start to see some resistance. When I ask, "Is hard work always rewarded?" people will say yes or that it is rewarded most of the time. But is it?
Often times, this is when the older people in class will speak up and share their personal stories about how they first learned that statement wasn't true. People really don't like to hear this one. It speaks to a lot of people's current struggle. This is why the Just-World Hypothesis is so hard to shake in people.
The Barnum (or Forer) Effect is most associated with horoscopes and "cold readings." It occurs when people rate personal assessments about their character or life as highly accurate even when those assessments are so general or vague that they could apply or be true for almost anybody. There is also a sense that people will believe some things to be true simply because they really want those things to be true. When people are told exactly what they want to hear, they don't often ask for or need proof to believe what they are told.
This week's look at flaws in thinking is about the Bandwagon Effect. This is a form of group-think where we do or believe things simply because the majority of people around us do or believe those things. There is no critical thinking or assessment involved and when asked, "Why do you believe that? Why do you do that?" there isn't really a response to be given.
Backfire Effect (n.) - In our current culture, you may have many moments where someone presents you with facts, figures, and research evidence to show you that a deeply held personal belief or opinion doesn't match up with the facts When you look at this new information and are not only not swayed to change your mind but, rather, you dig your heels in even more to maintain your belief, you are exhibiting the Backfire Effect.
You have a natural tendency to focus more on certain aspects of your environment than others. This narrowed focus is often based on your current internal state which is made up of a combination of your recurrent thoughts and overall mood. Items that naturally set off a higher level of emotional or physical response within you can also contribute to an attentional bias.
My Writing and Other Resources for Students
A growing collection of writing and other resources for students to use to continue their growth.