Similar to mental filtering and disqualifying the positive, this cognitive distortion involves placing a stronger emphasis on negative events and downplaying the positive ones.

The customer service representative who only notices the complaints of customers and fails to no...

Similar to mental filtering, those who disqualify the positive tend to treat positive events like flukes, thereby clinging to a more negative worldview and set of low expectations for the future.

Have you ever tried to help a friend solve a problem, only to have every solu...

When you think about your life, it is quite possible that you mind is playing tricks on you that can distort your view. 

Cognitive distortions—where your mind puts a ‘spin’ on the events you see and attaches a not-so-objective interpretation to what you experience—happen all the tim...

This type of distortion is the culprit when people think in extremes, with no gray areas or middel ground.

All or nothing thinkers often use words like "always" and "never" when describing things. “I always get stuck in traffic!” “My bosses never listen to me!” This type o...

Those prone to overgeneratlization tend to take isolated events and assume that all future events will be the same.

For example, an overgeneralizer who faces a rude sales clerk may start believing that all sales clerks are rude and that shopping will always be a stressful ...

Those who rely on ‘should statements’ tend to have rigid rules, set by themselves or others, that always need to be followed — at least in their minds.

They don’t see flexibility in different circumstances, and they put themselves under considerable stress trying to live u...

Those who personalize their stressors tend to blame themselves or others for things over which they have no control, creating stress where it needs not be.

Those prone to personalization tend to blame themselves for the actions of others or blame others for their own feelings.

Those who tend towards mental filtering may gloss over positive events and hold a magnifying glass to the negative.

Ten things can go right, but a person operating under the influence of a mental filter may only notice the one thing that goes wrong. 

Add a li...

This one is a close relative to jumping to conclusions in that it involves ignoring certain facts when drawing conclusions. 

Emotional reasoners will consider their emotions about a situation as evidence rather than objectively looking at the facts.

“I’m feeling ...