Have you noticed that you often fall into a pattern of all or nothing thinking? Do people sometimes tell you that you are too simplistic in your judgment of a situation or a person? Black and white thinking is one of the cognitive distortions that the human brain generates. 'Cognitive distortion' sounds like a bad thing, but it isn't necessarily bad. It's just a way that our brains have evolved over millennia to simplify things for us, so that in a complicated (and possibly dangerous) situation we can make a snap judgment and act quickly for our own safety. It works very well. Why we're hard wired to see the world in black and white Think how often, in the long course of human history, a human being walking along has spotted something long and thin and black on the path. Is it a stick? Is it a poisonous snake? What are the consequences of coming to the wrong conclusion? It makes sense for us, more often than not, to conclude that it's a snake, and leap out of the way quick smart. Even if it's only a stick, we haven't lost anything by our leap. Our brains 'know' this. So we're hard wired to look at the world in very clear cut terms of 'threat' or 'safety', because this is an essential survival tool. All or nothing thinking has serious limitations But you've probably heard that old line "When your only tool is a hammer, all problems look like nails." The threats we face in modern times are not usually dangerous animals. It's more likely to be a bullying boss. Or a cheating partner. Or financial worries. Black and white thinking is really no help in dealing with things like that, because the threats involved are not instant life or death choices. Not only is it no help, it can lead us into depression. And depressed people are even more likely to think in these extreme terms than those who are not depressed. So a vicious circle gets set up. When you're facing a complicated problem, like noticing that you're not getting promoted and wondering if it's because a work colleague has taken a dislike to you and has been turning your boss against you or because you're not doing the job very well, you need a different way to think about things. You need to be able to see many aspects of a situation, and weigh them all up, and come to a considered conclusion.