| Type of cognitive distortions |
Example |
Comment |
Appropriate techniques of cognitive therapy |
| Personalisation |
In the interview to the RIA published on March, 14 Russian Ambassador in Belarus and Special Deputy of the President of Russia Mikhail Babich hit heavily some nationalistic and economic myths that Belarusian authorities are propagating publicly so he caused quite tense feedback from the government of the post-Soviet republic. (In Russ.)(Belarusian TV: Belarusian lands were grabbed by the Russian Empire // Regnum. 12.03.2019. URL: https://regnum.ru/news/polit/2592575.html) |
While describing a communicative situation, the author states his own point of view using expressive means instead of neutral ones: ‘hit’ («прошелся по»), ‘propogate’ («насаждать»), ‘tense feedback’ («нервная реакция»). In the whole text and particularly in this fragment the journalist considers the issue subjectively. |
Distancing and decentering:– What prejudiced expressions does the text contain?– What neutral expressions they could be replaced by?– How could this situation be regarded from some other viewpoints? |
| Dichotomous thinking |
No one expresses the joy of giving like Donald Trump. Well, maybe “joy” isn’t the word. <…>Trump’s charitable activities have come under fire to the point that the Trump Foundation was forced to shut down in December, so it’s no surprise that many Twitter users were skeptical of his motives. Very skeptical.(Twitter Users Drag Trump After He Posts Donation Check To Homeland Security // HuffPost. 18.03.2019. URL: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/donald-trump-donate-homeland-security_n_5c9024dee4b0d50544fee504) |
In this news about the charitable activity that Donald Trump has provided the journalist is initially looking for signs of the US President’s insincerity. At the same time, the author uses some prejudiced expressions (‘no surprise’) and overgeneralization (‘no one expresses the joy’). In the context of the HuffPost agenda Trump is tendentiously considered in the negative way while the opposite left-liberal wing of the American political discourse is primarily supported. |
Recognizing maladaptive ideation: – Who are ‘positive’ and ‘negative’ characters of the given narrative?– Could their behavior be more complicated combining positive, negative and neutral actions? |
| Selective abstraction |
The rating of Pyotr Poroshenko is that he will hardly pass to the second round. Consequently, the staff of the Head of the State seeks to eliminate all barriers on the way to fabrications of the election’s results. Marie Yovanovitch was appointed to the office in summer 2016 when the Democrats Barack Obama and John Kerry were in power so now she is evidently not for the Republican President Donald Trump. Probably, the authorities in Kiev has decided to gamble these contradictions in Washington and sicken the diplomat’s position. (In Russ.)(Not this way: why did Kiev attack American diplomat? // Izvestia. 23.03.2019. URL: https://iz.ru/859613/igor-karmazin/ne-tuda-posol-pochemu-kiev-atakoval-amerikanskogo-diplomata) |
Having no direct evidences the author points out future fabrications by Pyotr Poroshenko’s election staff and current conflict with Marie Yovanovitch, US Ambassador in Ukraine. In this fragment and further in the text the journalist voluntary combines different facts for his own version and makes the conclusion that is appropriate to this viewpoint but not supported by real cause-effect connections. |
Authenticating conclusions:– Could this conclusion be approved or disapproved?– Could alternative versions be elaborated? |
| Arbitrary inferences |
Fully one in four Europeans said they were “somewhat or totally in favor of letting an artificial intelligence make important decisions about the running of their country,” … The figures remained constant across education levels, gender, and political affiliation, indicating either Europeans are abnormally welcoming of their new robot overlords – or they’re sick of their human ones.Spoiler alert: it’s likely the latter.(Sick of human politicians? 25% of Europeans would prefer AI government // RT. 20.03.2019. URL: https://www.rt.com/news/454259-europeans-embrace-ai-government-survey/) |
On the foundations of just a single survey the author builds up the message that is close to a sensation (“25% of Europeans would prefer AI government”). After that he voluntary proposes only two possible motifs that Europeans are allegedly guided by and then puts an accent only on one motif: increasing nonconfidence to the governments. In this big and quite complicated problem the journalist relies on insufficient data and his own speculations. |
Filling in the blank:– Are the given evidences sufficient?– How and where might additional data be collected to make up objective conclusions? |
| Overgeneralisation |
Social media users mocked this expression. Some of them pointed out that after the aggressive insults towards Russia the enemies of our country deserve no so much polytes. (In Russ.) (“By a cudgel and no polytes”: The Web saw add-ons to the Putin’s questions about Kiev’s madness // Tsargrad TV. 19.03.2019. URL: https://tsargrad.tv/news/dubinoj-i-bez-politesa-v-seti-dopolnili-vopros-putina-o-sumasshestvii-kieva_189739) |
The extremely wide audience defined as ‘social media users’ is said to give definite emotional feedback to a definite communicative event that is the quote of the President of Russia. Then the comments of voluntary selected users are presented. In this case the using of expressive words («позабавило») as well as incorrect punctuation in indirect quoting blurs the boundaries between the editorial’s position and that the users stood by even more. |
Changing the rules:– What do the selected comments actually lead to?– By what language means might the object of the message be limited? |
| Catastrophizing |
A Tory MP used House of Commons notepaper and taxpayer funded pre-paid envelopes to send out invitations to his birthday party.(Tory MP used taxpayer-funded stationery to invite people to his birthday party // Daily Mirror. 22.03.2019 URL: https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/tory-mp-used-taxpayer-funded-14173798) |
News is completely devoted to a small odd case. Why such a trivial infringement turns to the real media story could be reasoned by the political context. The discussion on Brexit got the critical point while the occasional newsmaker appeared to be the Tory MP. The focus on the extremely hot political agenda is strengthened by an insignificant but potentially irritating case. |
Distancing and decentering :– What if the event has no such significant consequences that the author stated? |
