Abstract

Both dichotomous thinking and other types of cognitive distortions have been found to be associated with various mental disorders and suicidality. There has been no known study that examines the relationship between dichotomous thinking and other cognitive distortions, nor known measure of cognitive distortions that integrates dichotomous thinking. Objective. This study aims to examine the relationships between dichotomous thinking and seven other cognitive distortions, namely jumping to conclusion, belief inflexibility, external attribution bias, overgeneralization, selective abstraction, catastrophizing, and personalization. Method. A survey was distributed online, integrating measures for dichotomous thinking from the Dichotomous Thinking Inventory (Oshio, 2009), jumping to conclusion, belief inflexibility, and external attribution bias from the Davos Assessment of Cognitive Biases Scale (van der Gaag et al., 2012), , overgeneralization, selective abstraction, catastrophizing, and personalization from the Cognitive Errors Questionnaire (Moss-Morris & Petrie, 1997). Results. Dichotomous thinking had significant positive correlations with jumping to conclusion, belief inflexibility, and external attribution. Age had a negative correlation with dichotomous thinking and belief inflexibility. Men and women did not differ significantly on cognitive distortions. Among demographic variables, age best predicted the degree of dichotomous thinking. Conclusions. Dichotomous thinking seemed to have co-occurred or co-developed with jumping to conclusion, belief inflexibility, and external attribution. Further investigations can focus on potential causal, mediating, or moderating relationships among these four constructs.

Recommended Citation

Nguyen, Nam (2020) "Relationships between Dichotomous Thinking and Other Cognitive Distortions," Undergraduate Psychology Research Methods Journal: Vol. 1: Iss. 22, Article 5.
Available at: https://digitalcommons.lindenwood.edu/psych_journals/vol1/iss22/5