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15 Common Thinking Traps

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  1. All-or-Nothing Thinking
    You view situations and people in absolute, black-and-white categories, instead of along a continuum. You alternate between thinking “I am a hero” and “I am a zero.”

  2. Over-Generalization
    You make the sweeping conclusion that a particular negative (or positive) event is pervasive or permanent. “He is always late.” “She never listens.”

  3. Mind Reading
    You believe you know what others are thinking and feeling, failing to consider other reasonable possibilities. “I haven’t heard from him for so long. He must be angry with me.”

  4. Fortune-Telling
    You predict the future in an extreme manner without taking all available evidence into account. “Tomorrow’s meeting will be a disaster; I just know it.”

  5. Magnification/Minimization
    In evaluating yourself, others or situations, you unreasonably magnify or minimize the negative (or positive). “John won us our first big account. He is a superstar.”

  6. Mental Filtering
    You focus exclusively on the negative (or positive) aspects of a person or situation. “She is always arguing with me.”

  7. Should-ing
    You expect perfections from yourself, other people, and situations, and get upset when these expectations are not met. “My computer should never crash.” “People should never speak rudely.”

  8. Blaming
    You assign blame to yourself (or to others) rather than pinpointing the true cause of a problem. “We didn’t have a good meeting because he was always interrupting.”

  9. Emotional Reasoning
    You believe something is true because that is how you feel, ignoring or discounting evidence to the contrary. “I’m upset with her. She must be doing something totally wrong here.”

  10. Labeling
    You assign a fixed, global identity to yourself or others, without carefully thinking about whether that sweeping identity is wholly applicable. “I’m an idiot!” “She is a genius!”

  11. Catastrophizing
    Overestimating the consequences of something negative happening. You imagine that if you are late turning in your project, you will be fired.

  12. "It’s not fair."
    Over-focusing on whether things are just, fair, or right. “It’s not fair that other people have money to buy a new car.” “It’s not right that someone else got the promotion I wanted.”

  13. "If only..."
    Over-focusing on an imagined outcome as the solution to all your problems. Getting a new job, becoming a parent.

  14. Personalization
    Overestimating your influence on negative events; taking things personally. When your boss is unhappy, you feel like it is all your fault.

  15. Thoughts are what they say they are.
    Treating thoughts like facts. You think your manager is unhappy with you and therefore assume it is true.