“Let’s Stop and Think About It for a Minute!”

This time of year many of us are thinking about changes we want to make in our lives. As with any goal or desire for change, it is important to understand that the way that we think about a topic largely influences our approach to taking action. Before you begin thinking about your New Year’s Resolutions in earnest, let’s stop and think about it for a minute.

Whatever we call them – errors in reasoning, thinking fallacies, cognitive biases, smoke screens, , etc. – there are a number of thinking mistakes that serve as common traps for us when considering, planning, and deciding things in the course of our lives. A great resource to learn more about the most common thinking fallacies is Don Lindsay’s website: http://www.don-lindsay-archive.org/. Here are a few of the most interesting thinking errors that I observe when working with people who are trying to resolve an issue or make a change.

Anchoring Bias occurs when a person sets a standard, regardless of its reasonableness. Once they set that standard, they are anchored to it and are unable to move past the constraints it brings. For example, if a person declares that they “have to lose 50 pounds this year”; they may get stuck on that unrealistic number. Losing weight may be healthy for them, but the actual number of pounds they lose may be less of a priority.

A False Dilemma occurs when only two opposing choices are presented as an “either or” solution. Although there may be other choices, the false dilemma directs us to buy into only one of the opposing options while excluding a middle ground. Saying “I need to move up in this company, or move out” is an example of a false dilemma because it does not acknowledge the possibility of incremental or alternative outcomes.

A Double Bind occurs when a person holds two contradictory pieces of information. “Let’s plan more spontaneous get togethers” is an example of a double bind because it leaves the person in an impossible, contradictory situation. No matter how hard they might try, they can never plan spontaneity.

A False Cause Fallacy assumes that just because event B follows event A, event B was therefore caused by event A. For example, “Last year a colleague got his Master’s degree and then got promoted. This year I will earn my Master’s degree so that I too will get promoted”. This is a false cause fallacy because it does not consider the fact that the colleague may have performed better and/or done additional things (beyond getting a graduate degree) to earn the promotion.

Filtering or Confirmation Bias is where a person consciously or unconsciously overlooks or avoids information that contradicts what they already believe or confirms something that they want to believe. Filtering makes it hard for us to take in valuable feedback, which is often needed to adjust our approach to achieving goals.

The Overconfidence Effect occurs when a person over estimates their ability to achieve a given level of performance in an activity. Despite the perception that many people lack confidence, it is human nature to believe in one’s behavior and abilities beyond what is realistic. This can result in risk taking behaviors such as setting very high goals and persisting in a failing course of action where the expected outcome is poor.

These and other common thinking errors such as blaming, catastrophic thinking, justifying and assuming often occur so frequently that it can be difficult to detect them. If you notice that your own thought patterns are affected by one or more of the above errors, try to observe your own thinking process to more fully understand the way you arrive at your conclusions. This observation may help to expose patterns of thought that are no longer useful to you.

Imagine what’s possible when our thinking untangles complex situations and leads us to clearer decision making and attainable goals.