Selective Abstraction is focusing on one event while excluding others. Arbitrary Inference is drawing a conclusion unwarranted by the facts in an ambiguous situation. Personalization , an event occurs that you conclude is directed to you personally. A patron in a busy restaurant feels the waiter is purposely not waiting on his or her table. Cynthia, a college student, feels that if she passes an examination she would be brilliant but if she fails she would be stupid.
Generalization is the tendency to see things in always or never categories.
A husband feels his wife will always be inconsiderate and never change. Demanding Expectations , the belief that there are laws or rules that must or have to be obeyed. God gave us free will, he asks us to obey his commandments. Like Christ, parents can prefer and constructively work toward obedience from their children. In the example above, the mother feels that it is terrible, the end of the world, that her son answered back.