How to Be Less Emotionally Reactive - Black and White Thinking

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Jan 19, 2023

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INSIGHT

Explosive Impact of Black and White Thinking

Black and white thinking exaggerates situations, making emotions more intense and increasing depression and anxiety.
This thinking style distorts reality by ignoring nuance and exaggerating negatives, creating helplessness.

ANECDOTE

Dishes Example of Extreme Thinking

A husband says to his wife, "You never do the dishes," illustrating black and white thinking.
This example shows how extreme words like "never" overlook real nuance in relationships.

INSIGHT

Why We Use Black and White Thinking

Black and white thinking serves to justify ourselves and excuse action by making situations seem worse.
It protects us from painful emotions like uncertainty or disappointment but causes long-term suffering.

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Black and White thinking is when you take a situation and think about it in an extreme way, you push out all the nuance and turn it into something as intense as possible. You can usually recognize it when you use words like “Always, Never, Perfect, Terrible, Everything, Everyone, Nothing, Nobody, Worst, or Best. The Arbinger Institute calls these “Horribilizations” You take something and horriblize it.

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