Arbitrary inference: characteristics of this cognitive bias

This cognitive bias is common, but no less harmful when it comes to interpreting things.

Each of us has our own way of seeing the world, of explaining ourselves and the reality around us. We observe and receive data from the environment through our senses, then give them meaning, interpret them and react to them.

But a large number of mental processes come into play in interpretation: we use our mental schemas, our beliefs, our knowledge and previous experiences to give them meaning. And sometimes our interpretation is biased and distorted for some reason. One of the biases we tend to apply in our day-to-day lives is arbitrary inference..

Cognitive biases

Arbitrary inference is one of the different cognitive biases or distortions, which are understood as that type of error in which the subject interprets reality in a wrong way as a product of beliefs derived from experiences or processing patterns learned throughout life..

For example, cognitive distortions are those that cause prejudices and stereotypes to exist, or the intentions of others towards us to be misinterpreted, or that only one or two possible solutions to the same problem are contemplated instead of thinking of intermediate or different solutions.

The individual generates an explanation of the world or of him/herself based on false premises.This can cause him to make several interpretative errors that can have consequences in the way he acts. Among these biases we can find selective abstraction, dichotomous thinking, personalization, overgeneralization, minimization or maximization or arbitrary inference.

Arbitrary inference

When we talk about arbitrary inference we are talking about the type of cognitive distortion in which the subject reaches a certain conclusion about a fact without the existence of data to support such a conclusion or even in the presence of information contrary to it.

The person in question does not make use of the available evidence, but jumps quickly to interpret the situation in a certain way, often due to in a certain way, often due to his or her own expectations, beliefs or previous experiences.

For example, we think that someone wants to harm and discredit us because they have disagreed with our opinion, that we will fail an exam regardless of what we study, that a person wants to sleep with us because they have smiled at us, or that a particular number is more or less likely to win the lottery than another because that number coincides with the day of a birthday or anniversary.

Arbitrary inference is a very common mistake in most people, and serves as a cognitive shortcut that allows us to save the energy and time of processing information in a more detailed way. Sometimes it is even possible that we reach a correct conclusion, but it would not have been drawn from the available information.

Influence on mental disorders

Arbitrary inference is a type of cognitive distortion that all of us can and do commit from time to time. However, their habitual occurrence can bias our behavior and our way of interpreting reality. our way of interpreting reality.

Along with the rest of cognitive distortions, arbitrary inference appears as a distortion that participates in generating and maintaining maladaptive thought patterns in multiple mental disorders.

1. Depression

From the cognitive-behavioral perspective, specifically from Beck's cognitive theory, it is considered that the cognitive alterations of depressive patients are generated by the activation of negative and dysfunctional thought patterns, these thoughts being due to cognitive distortions such as arbitrary inference.

These distortions in turn cause the problem to persist because they make alternative interpretations difficult. because they make alternative interpretations difficult. For example, a patient may think that he or she is useless and will never amount to anything even though there is information to the contrary.

2. Psychotic disorders

One of the best known symptoms of psychotic disorders is the existence of hallucinations and delusions. the existence of hallucinations and delusions.. Although the latter may be more or less systematized, the fact is that different aspects that could contradict the subject's belief are not taken into account and it is frequent that an intention or fact is arbitrarily inferred from another that does not have to have any link. For example, the idea that we are being chased may be based on the observation of a subject who is nervous in the street.

3. Anxiety-related disorders and phobias

Anxiety is another problem that is linked to cognitive distortions such as arbitrary inference. In anxiety panic arises from the anticipation of a possible harm, injury or situation that may or may not occur.or situation that may or may not occur in the future.

As it happens with anxiety, in phobias there is a stimulus, group of stimuli or situations that provoke panic. This panic can come from the belief that if we approach this stimulus we will suffer harm. For example, inferring arbitrarily that if a dog approaches me it will bite me.

4. Personality disorders

Personality is the relatively stable and consistent pattern of ways of thinking, interpreting and acting towards ourselves and the world. In many personality disorders, such as paranoid, there are biased interpretations of reality which may be due to processes such as arbitrary inference.

Solution through therapies?

Although arbitrary inference is not a disorder, in cases in which it appears in a context of psychopathology in which it creates or maintains the problem, it is necessary to reduce or eliminate the bias that this cognitive distortion causes.

Cognitive restructuring is often used for this purpose as a method by which the patient combats thoughts derived from arbitrary inference and other distortions and learns not to make such distortions. as a method by which the patient combats thoughts derived from arbitrary inference and other distortions and learns not to make such distortions. It involves helping to look for equally valid alternatives to one's own, discussing what provokes such thoughts or what they are based on, searching for and contrasting available information.

Bibliographical references:

• Beck, A. (1976). Cognitive Therapy and the emotional disorders. International University Press. New York.

• Santos, J.L. ; García, L.I. ; Calderón, M.A. ; Sanz, L.J. ; de los Ríos, P. ; Izquierdo, S. ; Román, P. ; Hernangómez, L. ; Navas, E. ; Ladrón, A and Álvarez-Cienfuegos, L. (2012). Psicología Clínica. Manual CEDE de Preparación PIR, 02. CEDE. Madrid.

• Yurita,C.L. and DiTomasso, R.A. (2004). Cognitive Distortions. In A. Freeman, S.H. Felgoise, A.M. Nezu, C.M. Nezu, M.A. Reinecke (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Cognitive Behavior Therapy. 117-121. Springer