Thinking Errors

Avoiding Responsibility
 THINKING ERRORS:
• Thinking errors are when you think and
believe things which have no basis in reality.

• In other words, your thinking is not accurate

about events, ourselves, or others.

• Everyone occasionally thinks, feels or acts in

distorted ways.
Different Terms for Thinking Errors
• Criminal Self-Talk

• Irrational Beliefs

• Cognitive Distortions

• Criminal Thinking Errors

Everyone Uses Thinking Errors at One Time
or Another
• Everyone Uses Thinking Errors at One Time or
another
• “I didn’t hit him…..I just tapped him”
Minimizing Thinking Error
“Everyone was speeding, officer.”
Over Generalization Thinking Error
 USES

• 1) Students use Thinking Errors to avoid

responsibility

• 2) Students use them to make hurtful actions

seem OK and right
 Why Teach Thinking Errors?
• 1) It helps students recognize and replace
inaccurate thoughts.
• 2) It promotes personal accountability.
• 3) It helps students develop healthy
relationships by helping them understand
others.
• 4) By recognizing and replacing thinking errors
slowly over time they will be replaced by more
rational thinking.
 How To Teach Thinking Errors
1) Practice

2) Identify

3) Stop and Replace

 BLAMING
• Finding someone or something else to be
responsible for an event. Blaming is an excuse
not to solve a problem, if we blame others we
are no longer responsible

• “ I didn’t mean to….he made me do it”

• “ I failed because my teacher hates male
students”
 MINIMIZING
• Making something seem smaller than it really
is. When we depreciate our actions, they
become unimportant.
• Key Words or Phrases: “Just”, “Only”, “Not that
bad” will help clue you in to the use of this
thinking error.
• “I only teased her a little bit”
 PITY POT
Getting others to feel sorry for you so
you are not accountable or
responsible.

“Why should I ask questions, my

questions are always stupid anyway”
 EXCUSE MAKING

Finding a reason or excuse for what

you have done. Sometimes called
Justifying
Whenever held accountable excuses
are often given
 UNIQUENESS
• When a person thinks that the rules do not
apply because they are so special

• This allows a person to believe that they are

one of a kind and unlike anyone else.
• Uniqueness allows a person to believe that if
they were caught, that the consequences
should be less for them.
 VAGUENESS
• When one tries to escape responsibility by not
being clear or specific.
• When a person is not precise and clear, their
actions can never be examined.
• Question: “Did you hit that student?”
• Answer: “I kind of did something like that”
 PUZZLEMENT
• When a person plays dumb or stupid about
their responsibilities

• When a person is using this thinking error,

they will avoid asking for clarification.
 HOP OVER
• When a person changes the subject or shifts
the focus of the conversation.

• It is used to bypass the topic and distract

others from the real issue.
 LYING

• 1) Stating an untruth to avoid responsibilities

or consequences.
• 2) Stating a partial truth
• 3) Action- behaving in a way that is not
accurate or suggests that something is not
true.
• Intentionally behaving in a way that can be
misinterpreted by others.
 KEEPING SCORE
• When one avoids looking at their own
behavior by keeping track of others mistakes
or wrong doings.

• When criticized or confronted a person may

respond by bringing up the mistakes of others
so the attention is off of them.
 SILENT POWER
• When a person is quiet or silent so others will
be upset. A person may do this to control or
intimidate others.
• When others focus on the silence, it shifts
away from the real issue at the moment.
 MY WAY
• When a person uses this thinking error, they
are trying to exert their power over others
through insisting that things be done their way
or not at all.
• “If I can’t play basketball, then I don’t want to
play anything at all”