Why do we have thinking traps?

Sometimes our brain needs to think fast and make quick judgements about a situation so we can act with speed and potentially save our life and others’ lives. In the field of cognitive psychology, these are called heuristics. Heuristics are mental shortcuts in our thinking process, that often happen automatically, and sometimes outside of our awareness. They can help us to quickly step on the car brakes if the brake lights on the car ahead of us light up without slowing down to consider Hmm... I wonder why they put their brake lights on? Perhaps they saw their favorite coffeeshop or wanted to get more space between them and the car ahead of them?

Sometimes these mental shortcuts are accurate and serve us well. For example, thinking brake lights are dangerous and consequently quickly slamming on the brakes could prevent an accident. However, they can have important drawbacks. In a similar example, the same thought might facilitate slamming on the brakes ,causing you to spill coffee all over your clothes and car when someone lightly taps on their brakes. In addition to potentially being inaccurate, these mental shortcuts can also contribute to bias.  

Common heuristics and biases:

Here are three of the common heuristics and biases research has uncovered.

Availability Heuristic:

The availability heuristic occurs when we overestimate the likelihood of an event happening due to our ability to recall it in memory. For example, this often happens when we recently see a plane crash on the news and overestimate the—actually very low—probability of our flight ending in a crash. Additionally, media coverage of shark attacks might also contribute to an overestimation of the likelihood of a shark bite.  

Sunk Cost Fallacy:

In behavioral economics, the sunk cost fallacy occurs when we’ve invested resources (e.g. money, time) into a pursuit, incur an irrevocable loss, but continue to invest in that pursuit because we’ve already invested in it despite clarity that it is a poor investment of our resources. Financially, this might occur if someone continues to hold onto and invest in a poor performing stock.  

Confirmation Bias:

The confirmation bias occurs when we attend to data that confirms beliefs we already hold and neglect contradictory information. For example, “a cat person” might focus on all the benefits of having a cat rather than a dog and ignore the pros of having a dog, thereby strengthening their view that cats are better than dogs.

What are thinking traps?

Mental shortcuts can also impact our mental health. When this occurs, we like to call them thinking traps (sometimes referred to as cognitive distortions). Thinking traps are cognitive biases. Sometimes they are true, sometimes they are untrue. However, they are often unrealistic and/or unhelpful. We might be more prone to fall into thinking traps when experiencing intense emotions, such as fear or anxiety, or when experiencing depression. These thinking traps can also contribute to unpleasant emotions, such as anxiety, frustration, and sadness. They are also very common.

Here are three of the thinking traps we commonly see: 

Catastrophizing:

When we overestimate how disastrous or unbearable what has happened, is happening, or has happened will be for us, we’re falling into catastrophic thinking. For example: If I make a mistake in this pitch, then we won’t win the project, I’ll get fired, I’ll never find another job, and I’ll end up homeless for the rest of my life. While making a mistake can be unpleasant and have consequences, this thinking trap can turn the situation into a catastrophe in our minds, thereby contributing to more anxiety or even a sense of doom.

Mind reading:

Mind reading occurs when we assume we know what other people are thinking (often about us) despite not having adequate evidence for our assumption. These assumptions often have a negative bias to them as well. Some common mind reading examples are:

☼ They think I’m weird

☼ She doesn’t like me

☼ He thinks I’m a failure

What if?

We call these the “What ifs?” This thinking trap occurs when we ask a chain of questions about “What if” various situations occur and are not satisfied with any answers. Like mind reading, these often have a negative bias to them. They tend to be very common in worry loops. Some examples of the “What ifs?” are:

☼ What if I get a panic attack?

☼ But what if it doesn’t work?

☼ What if I get rejected?

Navigating thinking traps

If you can relate to any of these thinking traps at times, then some of the ideas that your mind is telling you might not be very realistic or helpful. Reflecting on patterns in your thoughts and recognizing thinking traps might help to quell some anxiety or feelings of depression. Engaging in cognitive behavioral therapy with a trained therapist can help you in making important changes in how you view your thoughts. Your therapist can also teach you about more common thinking traps and ways to better navigate them.

To reach out to a psychologist in Southlake, Texas today, please visit our contact page and fill out our therapy interest form.

References: 

Beck, J. S. (2020). Cognitive Therapy Basics and Beyond (3rd ed). Guilford Press.

Leahy, R. L. (1996). Cognitive therapy: Basic principles and application. Northvale, NS Aronson.

Ronayne, D., Sgroi, D., & Tuckwell, A. (2021). Evaluating the sunk cost effect. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 186, 318-327.

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