Sometimes the thoughts that come to mind seem to work more against us than in our favor. The problem is more how we should form our ideas, not so much their content or reference. There are many cognitive errors and dysfunctional patterns that take root in our psyche and hinder our daily lives. The math teacher’s metaphor is an example.
One of those dysfunctional cognitive patterns that many of us have is that of arbitrary inference, we are talking about the process of reaching a conclusion without evidence of support, or even with evidence contrary to the conclusion.
- Arbitrary inference.
- Even if it is a useful and experience-based strategy.
- Can lead to false conclusions.
- We will delve into the topic below.
It is true that pulling conclusions from a specific feature or fact can help us save time and effort.
If Alessandra found out that Guilherme was in charge of household chores, she would think he likes to cook and might even ask her to cook for her at some point; However, Guilherme may not know how to turn on the stove.
While this error may be considered logical, the problem behind the situation is that what seems normal and the experience we think we have in different scenarios can make us think in a way that is not necessarily the most appropriate.
MBCT is presented as an integration between two therapeutic models: cognitive therapy and the Kabatz-Zinn MBSR stress management program.
The initial goal of this chain fusion was to prevent multiple relapses that occur after the end of therapy to treat depression. In fact, many studies have studied the residual symptoms and relapses of patients with depression after the end of a treatment period.
The numbers seem alarming: about 70% of people experience symptoms of cognitive depression after treatment; in addition, 75% of those who responded positively to treatment had at least five residual symptoms.
These residual symptoms were mainly problems of concentration, ina lack of attention, difficulty finding words, mental slowness and difficulties in the decision-making process.
Therefore, the MBCT, developed by Segal, Williams and Teasdale in 2002, is presented as extremely necessary for the current clinic. This program is designed for group sessions, during which meditation, feelings and emotions are worked to avoid a relapse.
MBCT leads to the reorientation of attention towards forms of thought and cognitive processes that break the depressive cobweb, thus it can facilitate the appearance of a new depressive episode.
In MBCT, it is common to use metaphors to achieve cognitive change and, above all, to teach people to identify an irrational way of thinking and acting accordingly.
One of the exercises taught by MBCT is related to the metaphor of the math teacher, in this document the person is invited to close his eyes to begin to become aware of the different thoughts, sensations and emotions produced by history.
These are the only instructions given before you tell the story itself.
The story told is as follows
“Clara goes to school.
She’s worried about math classes.
She’s not sure she can control sixth grade again
Why isn’t this, after all, one of a janitor’s duties?
After telling the story and pausing the person for reflection, it’s helpful to tell what happened during the exercise, most commonly the person talks about their mistakes when trying to draw conclusions.
It is likely that at first the person will think that Clara, the protagonist of the story, is a student, then a teacher, only to discover that she was a nanny.
This exercise illustrates that we generally draw conclusions and review them as we obtain information. In the case of the report, this conclusion is contradicted by more data, but that is not what happens all the time.
No one, neither the person nor the reality, has an obligation to correct or draw attention to the false conclusions we have reached, so it is our responsibility to correct our thinking rather than waiting for something or someone outside to correct us.
Although the idea of thinking that Clara is a teacher rather than a nanny is neither serious nor harmful, this story can be repeated in many situations throughout our lives.
For example, if Clara, in fact, has long been our best friend, which we see walking from a distance, but does not greet us, we can draw many different conclusions.
They can be: Clara is very rude; Clara is very distracted; Clara is angry; Clara no longer loves me, these deductions can even have an impact on our mood, because Clara no longer behaves in a manner commensurate with everything we thought of her until then.
Turns out Clara’s short-sighted and may not have put on the contact lenses today.
In another hypothetical situation, Beatriz warns on the day of delivery that she will not be able to participate in the purchase of Claudia’s gift, even though she has already committed and the gift has already been purchased.
The rest of the group of friends may think that Beatrice has no respect for anyone, that she is selfish and thinks only of herself, and that she should not be part of the group of friends.
However, if these were the conclusions reached by Beatrice’s friends without further information about the situation, they were wrong.
Beatriz may have financial problems, she may have discussed money with her mother, be angry and impulsive, or discover something about Claudia that nobody else knows.
This way of thinking is not only dangerous, it can also seriously affect our mood. Because our thoughts often shape our behavior, the inferences we make can also lead us to behave in a certain way.
If a behavior is motivated by a conclusion, and if that conclusion may be incorrect, what happens is inappropriate behavior.
If one person stops talking to the other because they think they have been ignored, or if a group of friends argues and stops talking to one of them because they think it is selfish, but none of this corresponds to reality, we will do something reality that we do not want to do, based on reasons that cannot be sustained outside of the complicated network that has been woven into our minds.
Therefore, internalizing the metaphor of the math teacher and remembering it every time we come to a conclusion can be of great help, this will not only improve the logic of our rational thinking, but also make us adopt less erroneous postures.