Tracy passes by a popular donut store on her way to work every day and is gripped with a revulsion as she says, out loud, "Donuts are SO bad!" This kind of black-or-white thinking is a thought pattern at the level of the person that often occurs in those with eating disorders, and it is called ________.
A) selective abstraction
B) dichotomous thinking
C) catastrophizing
D) minimizing

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Dichotomous thinking is the thought pattern of seeing everything as either black or white, with no gray area in between. In this case, Tracy sees donuts as "SO bad" rather than acknowledging that they can be part of a balanced diet in moderation. This type of thinking is common in eating disorders, where individuals may see certain foods as either "good" or "bad," leading to restrictive or binge eating behaviors. Selective abstraction refers to focusing only on certain details while ignoring others, catastrophizing involves imagining the worst possible outcomes, and minimizing is the opposite of exaggeration, where a person downplays the significance of an event or problem.

Tracy Passes by a Popular Donut Store on Her Way