Did NOT See That Coming
CHAPTER 10 Thinking Traps – Did NOT See That Coming
What are thinking traps? Simply put: thinking traps are the various unhelpful ways we can “twist up” our own thinking. In this section, we’ll explore a variety of irrational thought pattern - patterns you might not even be aware of...
I encourage you to regularly check in with yourself as you engage with this material. Which of the thinking traps resonate with you? It’s a good idea to have a journal nearby in case you’d like to jot anything down. Bringing your attention back to the concept of metacognition, this post gets to the heart of thinking about thinking. Let’s get started!
The first kind of thinking trap we’ll be looking at actually consists of a group of similar – and equally problematic - ways of thinking. Collectively, they’re called cognitive distortions.
Basically, cognitive distortions are inaccurate or biased thinking. Here’s just a small sample of kinds of inaccurate or biased thinking:
“Should” statements: These statements reflect a belief that things should/must be a particular way. For example: “I shouldn’t cry when I get upset.”
Magnifying/minimizing – This is overestimating or underestimating the importance of events. “Everyone will be angry at me if I cancel the plans tonight .” If you identify as a “worst case scenario” thinker, this would be a variation of magnifying/minimizing. It’s called “catastrophizing.”
Black-or-white thinking – (also known as all-or-nothing thinking) – Black-or-white thinking is taking a position of absolutes or extremes. “You just can’t trust anybody.”
I think you get the idea! As I mentioned above, there are many different kinds of cognitive distortions. Some others not mentioned here include: magical thinking; jumping to conclusions, disqualifying the positive, etc. Next up, we’'ll explore some other kinds of “thinking traps.”