Cognitive Distortions refer to our errors in thinking that lead to faulty assumptions and misconceptions. Aaron T. Beck, founder of cognitive therapy, believes that people with emotional difficulties tend to commit characteristic ”logical errors” that distort objective reality. He came up with 7 types of cognitive distortions. I will define and provide an example for each. 

Arbitrary inferences refer to making conclusions without supporting and relevant information. This includes “catastrophizing,” or thinking of the absolute worst scenario and outcomes for most situations. For example, you believe that someone doesn’t like you without actual information to support that belief. 

Selective Abstraction consists of forming conclusions based on an isolated detail of an event. This includes ignoring the context or other relevant details. For example, you fail a quiz and you think that this will ruin your entire grade, when really the quiz was only worth 3% and you still have an entire course to ace.  

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