The Concept of Black & White Thinking

What is black-and-white thinking?
Black-and-white thinking is a pattern of thought characterized by thinking in the extremes. It is a polarized way of thinking. It's also known as all-or-nothing thinking. Thinking things in their absolutes, like everything is the worst day ever or the best day ever. There's no ground for grey. It is the tendency to judge people, events, interpersonal interactions, and experiences as either successful or unsuccessful without accepting the possibilities that lie between these two extremes. Psychologists call it "splitting."

According to psychologists, it is a cognitive distortion. The American Psychological Association calls it dichotomous or polarized thinking. It's quite normal to experience black-and-white thinking sometimes in life. But if it becomes persistent, it can become more serious.  It's common for people who have anxiety and depression to think in absolutes. It is often associated with many mental illnesses like narcissism, obsession-compulsive disorder (OCD), borderline personality disorder, etc.

Examples of black-and-white thinking:
Suppose Misaki is a high school student. If something doesn't go the way she wants, she thinks everything is worst. Nothing goes well in her life. Like, one day she was late for her school, she missed her school bus, didn't bring her homework, and got scolded by her teacher. which made her think that it was the worst day ever. She easily jumps to the conclusion that it's either the best or worst. Here, Misaki has a splitting mindset. which is why there's no middle ground between positive and negative in her thoughts or conversation. People with a splitting mindset tend to use general terms like always, never, everyone, everything, best, worst, etc. If these terms keep coming up in a person's thoughts and conversation, then it's a signal that their thoughts are becoming extreme.

The effect of black-and-white thinking:
Black-and-white thinking messes a person up. because it makes a person's emotions more extreme than they need to be. A person with a black-and-white mindset becomes hard on themselves. It affects many aspects of a person's life, including career, health, relationships, finances, etc. Professionally, it causes a lot of problems, like doubting the success of a project and abandoning it.  It can also become a roadblock in the relationship between coworkers. It can affect personal relationships. Different people have different points of view about politics, religion, and other matters. If others don't agree with them, then they might think they are not worth their time. That kind of thinking would sour one's relationships with family, friends, and coworkers. It can lessen a student's confidence in their learning ability. It can lead students to believe they are either good or bad, with no room for a middle ground. To put it simply, it interferes with our ability to have healthy emotions and relationships.