Our way of thinking, making predictions and drawing judgments and conclusions from events does not always follow logic and is based on the principle of reality. Often, these cognitive modes become automatic dysfunctional mechanisms involved in the genesis and maintenance of psychological problems and disorders. The rigid and massive use of these interpretive modalities leads to the appearance and consolidation of dysfunctional automatic thoughts, dysfunctional ways of interpreting experiences that cognitive psychology defines cognitive distortions. Dichotomous thinking is one of them, and we can easily recognize it when we adopt a way of thinking that follows a fairly common “oo” structure: “you either win or you lose.”
In this Psychology-Online article we are going to see, What is dichotomous thinking, some examples about it and how to try to overcome it.
What is dichotomous thinking
He dichotomous thinking (or polarized thinking) consists of elaborating reality in a binary way, without intermediate gradations and it is a cognitive distortion resulting from the need to simplify, pigeonhole reality.. For example:
- You either succeed or you fail
- Either gain weight or lose weight
- Either you do it or you don’t
Here you can see more information about the. Dichotomous thinking is a residue of childhood thinking, when the child is not yet able to grasp gradualness and nuances. It seems that in some way, or in some area, there is a fixation on that level of functioning, the consequence of which is a cognitive organization marked by dichotomies of the type: totally right or wrong, true or false, good or bad. The non-perfect choice is automatically labeled as a disastrous choice; there is no middle ground.
What is a dichotomous person? People with this tendency of thinking conceptualize aspects of reality at the extremes of what, instead, should be a continuum, missing the infinite nuances in between the two poles. In fact, dichotomous thinking, that is, of the type all or nothing, is at the basis of both extremist attitudes and ethical and aesthetic categories (right and bad, good and bad, beautiful and ugly). For this reason, dichotomous thinking is also called polarized thinking. What is polarization in psychology? Next, we explain what dichotomy is with practical examples.
Examples of dichotomous thinking
Dichotomous thinking is very reassuring, especially if the thinker automatically sides with reason, intelligence, justice, beauty and truth. Open the newspaper, look at a news site on the Internet, listen to a piece of news, and make a list of how many examples of dichotomous thinking you find, and how many black and white thinkers.
- A husband whose wife does not agree with the arrangement of objects in the closet he has just organized says, “She is not happy with me for what I do.”
- When we think that a change in our lives either it will ruin it forever, or it will bring us absolute happinessor even when we think that either a person will behave in a certain way, or it will be over with us forever.
- A young man meets, through social networks, a girl in whom he feels interest. After a few weeks he asks her out and is successful, but a problem immediately arises when he discovers that he will not have the car at her disposal: her parents need it, precisely on the night of the date! Worried about anxiety, he calls his best friend, but even he can’t please him. “If you loved me, you would do me this favor”.
- You go to a job interview and during the interview you are surprised by a question, you get tense and you don’t answer the way you want. If you look at this experience through the lens of thought “all or nothing”you will likely end up reducing your performance during the interview, thinking you’ve been a complete failure and convincing you that you will never be chosen for that job, causing feelings of disappointment and shame.
The exercise of dichotomous thinking means believing that things can only be either totally right or totally wrongthat people are or friends or enemiesthat the days are perfect or horrible, that everything that is not a success is a failure, and that everything that is not virtuous is vicious; that now or never further; that goes or breaks it. And also: that either you are handsome or you are ugly, that love or hatethat you are either completely right or completely wrong, and so on.
The problems of dichotomous thinking
Dichotomous thinking is a cognitive distortion, one of the cognitive biases that can cloud our ability to judge and make wise decisions, because they distort or erase all elements inconsistent with the “black and white” vision that, on the contrary, should be reasonably considered. The rigid and massive use of these interpretive modalities, in effect, leads to the emergence and consolidation of dysfunctional automatic thoughts. Grouping human needs, feelings, motivations and actions into categories is like reducing reality to an image composed of two colors, preventing its understanding. Dichotomous thinking has, in fact, some disadvantages:
- It considerably reduces the number of choices we can make. and limits the possibility of mediation; This tendency could lead us to often feel frustrated.
- Limits our ability to understand the worldwhich is not always alone or black or white.
- Considerably reduces our flexibility: if there are only two opposing categories, there is never a range of alternatives, the judgments are categorical and the correct path is one and one.
- Some studies show a relationship between dichotomous thinking and disorders such as depression, eating disorders and, in particular, obesity.
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How to overcome dichotomous thinking
In some cases, it may seem reassuring to have only two possibilities for action or outcome (go or no go). Seeing more nuances, different options, however, leads us to question and interrogate ourselves more (which is hard work) but leads us to have even more cards to play. In “black and white” labels, in effect, the sense of ourselves is lost, of what we have and have not done to achieve or not achieve the objective. Dichotomous thinking leads, in effect, to perceiving a situation that is not exactly perfect as a complete failure, that is, it does not allow us to grasp the path and what has been done, but only the non-achievement of the objective.
How to work on dichotomous thinking? We must make room for articulate reflections, less peremptory, perhaps beginning to consider that any judgment corresponds to an opposite one and that there may be a third that includes part of both. For every thesis, there is an antithesis, and a synthesis. To avoid dichotomous or polarized thinking, it is necessary to know that cognitive distortions exist with the function of simplifying the interpretation of reality, but that through reflection, we can observe a wide range of degrees, levels and options between both extremes.
This article is merely informative, at Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
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