COACHING YOUR CLIENTS’ COGNITIVE FALLACIES

The cognitive fallacies differ from the cognitive distortions and the cognitive biases. At their core, they are simply wrong through and through. They are errors pure and simple. As humans, we are fallible beings—we are “liable to error,” and these fallacies really highlight just how we can get things wrong. This is true for every aspect of our experiencing and functioning. We are fallible and liable to error mentally, emotionally, verbally, behaviorally, relationally, and, in fact, in every area of life. It comes with being human. It is our glory because we are free and can learn, and yet it can become our downfall if we are not vigilant.

These fallacies primarily deal with how we reason, how we argue for a position, and how we try to validate and/or establish credibility for a belief. Because of that, they are all aspects of the Confirmation Bias. Whenever you start with an idea that you already believe and then you want to convince yourself or others of its correctness or rightness, these fallacious ways of thinking then arise.