Irrational thinking

Irrational thinking occurs when an individuals patterns of thinking about himself or the world are not based on objective reality. Irrational thnkinking often involves cognitive biases, delusionary thinking and illogical thinking.

Types of irrational thinking

Cognitive biases caused irrational thinking

• All-or-nothing thinking. Failing to see pros/cons, nuances or valid alternative perspectives.

• Jumping to conclusions: Making decisions without all the necessary facts to make a sound decision.

• Overgeneralization: Applying the outcome of a single situation to each and every similar situations

• Magnification and minimization. Focusing solely on the negative aspects of a situation and ignoring any positive aspects

• Emotional reasoning. Allowing your emotions to dictate your thinking rather than better inform your reasoning.

• Personalization. Believing that others' actions or opinions are a direct reaction to you when they are not.

• Catastrophizing: Forecasting the worse possible outcomes. Jumping to the worse possible conclusions.

• Labeling: Giving yourself or other a negative label based on a specific situation or behavior rather than the totality of their behavior. Ignoring recent positive behavior.

Characteristics of delusionary thinking

See also: Delusion and Evidence-based thinking and Intellectual humility

• Unwavering belief that what they think is real despite all evidence to the contrary

• Persistence of holding the belief in spite of all evidence to the contrary

• Defensiveness when the delusionary belief is challenged

• Behaviorial changes that involved abnormal behavior

Illogical thinking

See also: Logic and Critical thinking and Evidence-based thinking

Illogical thinking is characterized by reasoning that:

1. Lacks coherence. Two of the definitions that the Merriam-Webster online dictionary gives for the word incoherent is "lacking orderly continuity, arrangement, or relevance" and "lacking normal clarity or intelligibility in speech or thought". The Collins English dictionary indicates concerning the word incoherent: "If someone is incoherent, they are talking in a confused and unclear way... If you say that something such as a policy is incoherent, you are criticizing it because the different parts of it do not fit together properly."

2. Jumps to premature conclusions without sufficient evidence

3. Relies on personal biases rather than facts/evidence and sound conclusions

4. Often includes distortions like overgeneralization, wishful thinking, magical thinking, or faulty cause-and-effect relationships

5. Frequently leading to conclusions that don't logically follow from the presented information. This often manifest itself via making assumptions based on limited data, ignoring relevant details, or interpreting situations in a highly subjective manner rather than an objective manner.