Live Your Life Be Free!

bear on ice
Originally uploaded by Marlis1.

Many of us crave thinking in black and white… but psychology offers little of this type of guidance, with its multiple theories and interpretations. One of the few black-and-white pieces of advice they offer (cognitive behavioral theory in particular) is to not engage in the 10 cognitive distortions. You can see a list here.

For example, statements like "never" or "always" are distortions. Someone could say "I will never get out of debt" – but of course, it is possible that they could. Even if they are not very good at saving money, they could somehow get a windfall in the form of a great job or an inheritance. They could also possibly find a bag of money on the street… or a myriad of other options. Who knows, but "never" is discounting many possibilities, so if someone is saying it, it means that their thinking is distorted.

Another example is when someone labels themselves as "stupid". Maybe that person has made some stupid decisions or is stupid in some or many areas, but they are not stupid in every single aspect of their life. Even if they are not genius in any way whatsoever, they are may at least be average in some areas.

At the heart of the distortions is illogical thinking – and this thinking occurs when we are under stress. So, anyone who values thinking rationally, will like the black-and-white rule of not indulging in the distortions… and will try to battle them whenever they come up for themselves and with others.

My friend and I have a little mnemonic device to remember the distortions (which will explain the polar bear ).

It is: Polar bears fly over the globe while pretending to mind control. The end.

Or: Polar (Polarized thinking) Bears (Blame of self) Fly (Filtering-mental) Over (Overgeneralization) the Globe (Global labeling) while Pretending (Personalization) to Mind (Mind Reading) Control (Control fallacy). The End (Emotional Reasoning).

Okay, maybe not exactly inspirational, but at least it helps us recognize the cognitive distortions (which is difficult under stress), realize that they aren’t real (the definition of a distortion) and most importantly, combat them with logical thinking.

So, it seems that the black-and-white advice offered by psychologists… is to always think in greys. Leave it up to them to be so cryptic!