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Are you taking in information through a distorted lens?
Are you taking in information through a distorted lens?
It takes two people to teach information: the teacher and the student. (I use teacher in a very general sense, meaning anyone disseminating information in any format). The teacher must be clear in their devliery of the information -- but, equally, the student (broadly, a member of whatever audience) must be clear in their reception of the information. It is in that latter component of communication that much mislearning occurs. Indeed, many unscrupulous professional communicators exploit problems in interpretation of information to deceive and manipulate.
In particular, Dr. David Burns identifies a series of cognitive biases that interfere with sound logical reasoning. He provides the cognitive biases in the context of helping to identify errors in cognition as a component of his model of psychotherapy known as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). Beware of these biases which lead to misinterpretation of information you may encounter in life, social media, politics, the news, or education.
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All-or-Nothing Thinking - Viewing situations in absolute, black-and-white categories with no middle ground.
"If I'm not perfect at this presentation, I'm a complete failure."
Blaming - Holding others responsible for your pain or holding yourself responsible for others' problems.
"It's all your fault that I'm unhappy in this relationship."
Catastrophizing - Exaggerating the importance of problems and shortcomings.
"If I make a mistake in this meeting, my career will be completely ruined forever."
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Disqualifying the Positive - Rejecting positive experiences by insisting they "don't count."
"Sure, I got the promotion, but anyone could have done it."
Emotional Reasoning - Assuming that negative emotions reflect the way things really are.
"I feel like a failure, so I must be a failure."
Fortune Telling - Making negative predictions about the future without substantive evidence.
"I know I'll never be able to get that job."
Labeling - Attaching a negative label to yourself or others instead of describing specific behaviors.
"I'm such a loser" (rather than "I made a mistake").
Magnification/Minimization - Exaggerating the importance of negative events while downplaying positive ones.
"My mistake in the meeting overshadows all the good work I've done this year."
Mental Filter - Focusing exclusively on negative elements while filtering out all positive aspects.
"Even though I got five compliments today, all I can think about is that one criticism."
Mind Reading - Assuming you know what others are thinking without evidence.
"I know they all think I'm incompetent."
"The party wasn't fun because I'm so boring."
Overgeneralization - Drawing sweeping conclusions from a single event.
"I failed one test, so I'll never succeed in school."
Personalization - Believing others are behaving negatively because of you or comparing yourself to others.
"The party wasn't fun because I'm so boring."
Should Statements - Having rigid rules about how you and others "should" behave.
"I should always be able to give perfect presentations without feeling nervous."
David Burns' cognitive biases address errors in interpreting information. For errors in disseminating information, see this related link:
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