Jumping To Conclusions

Jumping to conclusions is an irrational way of thinking which is characterized by believing that something will happen just basing on a gut feeling. Individuals with this unrealistic thought pattern also strongly believe that certain people will behave in a certain way as if they can read minds or predict the future. For example, a person with a very negative self-concept predicts that he will not have friends in a new school even if classes did not start yet; thus, he plans to skip his classes and simply drop out of school. Jumping to conclusions is one of the most common types of cognitive distortions based on Aaron Beck’s cognitive theory. These different types were developed by David Burns, a student of Beck.