Handout: Cognitive Errors in Depression

Handout: Cognitive Errors in Depression

Using this sheet, write in examples of each cognitive error that you observe in your friends, roommates, acquaintances, or even yourself. Make sure you explain how the example reflects the cognitive error.

Cognitive Error                      Description                                         Example

Overgeneralization                 Drawing a global conclusion

on the basis of a single fact

 

 

Selective abstraction               Focusing on a single, insignificant

detail while ignoring

more important features

of a situation

 

Personalization                       Incorrectly taking responsibility

for negative events in the world

Magnification and

minimization                           Evaluating a situation by magnifying

small, negative events and minimizing

large, positive events

 

 

Arbitrary inference                 Drawing a conclusion

in the absence of sufficient evidence

 

 

Dichotomous thinking            Seeing things as reflecting one extreme

or another (that is, black versus white)