The Psychology of Personal Growth and Better Relationships

3Cognitive Theory and Basic Mistakes

What Is Private Logic?

As we said in the Prologue, cognitive theory, the basic underpinning of Adlerian psychology, holds that people interpret events in their own subjective way. That is to say, people cannot view events objectively as they really are.

This subjective interpretation—the individual's unique viewpoint, way of thinking, and valuation of themselves and the world (both humanity as a whole and other individuals)—is called private logic in Adlerian psychology. Private logic is, so to speak, like a set of unique glasses that each person wears. Through these glasses, the wearer perceives things that are to a certain extent distorted from what others see. Others may see things more positively or negatively than we do. This private logic can create non‐constructive (and occasionally destructive) interpretations, making life more difficult and causing friction with our surroundings. These warped perceptions and self‐defeating thoughts are known as basic mistakes.

Basic Mistakes

The five quintessential basic mistakes are judging, exaggerating, overlooking, overgeneralizing, and denying one's worth. Everyone tends to make these mistakes in stressful situations.

Judging is when you come to a conclusion and label something with certainty ...