ELI5: black and white thinking
// explanation
What is black and white thinking?
Black and white thinking is when your brain sees things as either all good or all bad, with nothing in between [1][2]. It's like thinking a day is either perfect or completely ruined—there's no okay or pretty good [2].
Why does it happen?
Our brains sometimes try to make decisions quickly by putting things into simple categories [5]. This can happen more when people feel stressed, sad, or worried [4].
What does it feel like?
When you think this way, you might feel like you're always right or always wrong, or that people are either your best friends or your enemies [1]. One small mistake can feel like you've failed at everything [2].
How do you fix it?
You can practice noticing when you're thinking in extremes and remind yourself that most things are somewhere in the middle [2]. For example, if you make a mistake, you could say "I did one thing wrong, but I got lots of things right today" [1].
// sources
Black and white thinking is a thought pattern that makes people think in absolutes. For instance, you may think you are either always right or the world's ...
Black and white thinking is the tendency to see things in extremes. Things are either all bad or all good. This type of thinking can affect your ...
Splitting, also called binary thinking, dichotomous thinking, black-and-white thinking, all-or-nothing thinking, or thinking in extremes, is the failure in ...
Black and white thinking, a cognitive distortion is often come across in persons with depression. The individuals tend to think dichotomously.
A groundbreaking and timely book about how evolutionary biology can explain our black-and-white brains, and a lesson in how we can escape the pitfalls of ...
Video by Therapy in a Nutshell
Video by Dr. Christopher Cortman, Licensed Psychologist
Video by Therapy in a Nutshell
