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Types of Bad Thinking Habits

Learn to avoid unwanted thinking habits.

Jerry Silfwer
by Jerry Silfwer

Cover photo: @jerrysilfwer

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We are all vic­tims of bad think­ing habits.

But by know­ing (and under­stand­ing) where we often make think­ing mis­takes, we increase our chances of detect­ing mis­takes before mak­ing poor decisions.

I’ve lis­ted sev­er­al of these think­ing habits so that we all can be more mind­ful and hope­fully become bet­ter thinkers.

Here we go:

Types of Bad Thinking Habits

Underpinning most of our think­ing mis­takes, some psy­cho­lo­gic­ally induced think­ing habits seem to affect our abil­ity to think clearly. Understanding (and avoid­ing) these beha­vi­our­al pat­terns should allow for clear thinking.

  • Biased think­ing involves pro­cessing inform­a­tion that aligns with pre­con­ceived notions or pref­er­ences, often dis­reg­ard­ing con­tra­dict­ory evid­ence. It can mani­fest as con­firm­a­tion bias, favour­ing inform­a­tion that con­firms exist­ing beliefs.
  • Fallacious think­ing encom­passes logic­ally flawed reas­on­ing. Fallacies are com­mon errors in reas­on­ing that under­mine the logic of an argument.
  • Unfocused think­ing refers to a lack of con­cen­tra­tion or dir­ec­tion in thought pro­cesses. It can lead to dif­fi­culties in prob­lem-solv­ing and decision-mak­ing, as thoughts may wander without reach­ing a con­clu­sion or logic­al endpoint.
  • Catastrophic think­ing is a cog­nit­ive dis­tor­tion in which one assumes the worst will hap­pen. It often involves mag­ni­fy­ing the poten­tial con­sequences of an event, lead­ing to excess­ive worry or anxiety.
  • Wishful think­ing involves mak­ing decisions or form­ing beliefs based on what is pleas­ing to ima­gine rather than on evid­ence, ration­al­ity, or real­ity. It often involves an optim­ism bias, where one over­es­tim­ates favour­able outcomes.
  • Unsubstantiated think­ing involves form­ing opin­ions or beliefs without sup­port­ing evid­ence or rationale. It can res­ult from a lack of crit­ic­al think­ing, where asser­tions are accep­ted without ques­tion­ing the valid­ity of the evidence.
  • Unfinalised think­ing isn’t widely recog­nized in cog­nit­ive psy­cho­logy, but it can be inter­preted as think­ing pro­cesses that are not fully developed. It might involve jump­ing to con­clu­sions without con­sid­er­ing all aspects or per­spect­ives of an issue.
  • Heuristic think­ing uses men­tal short­cuts or rules of thumb to make quick, effi­cient judg­ments. While often use­ful, these short­cuts can lead to biases and errors in judg­ment. (Examples: overgen­er­al­iz­a­tion, over­sim­pli­fic­a­tion, over-ste­reo­typ­ing, over-polar­isa­tion, etc.)
  • Groupthink occurs when a group’s desire for har­mony or con­form­ity res­ults in irra­tion­al or dys­func­tion­al decision-mak­ing. Individual group mem­bers sup­press dis­sent­ing opin­ions, decreas­ing crit­ic­al eval­u­ation of alternatives.

Understanding these dif­fer­ent types of think­ing can help identi­fy and address cog­nit­ive fal­la­cies and biases in decision-mak­ing and prob­lem-solv­ing processes.

Learn more: Types of Bad Thinking Habits
Learn more: Logical Fallacies and Cognitive Biases

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Jerry Silfwer
Jerry Silfwerhttps://doctorspin.net/
Jerry Silfwer, alias Doctor Spin, is an awarded senior adviser specialising in public relations and digital strategy. Currently CEO at Spin Factory and KIX Communication Index. Before that, he worked at Whispr Group NYC, Springtime PR, and Spotlight PR. Based in Stockholm, Sweden.

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The cover photo has

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