Question

When Lara comes home from work, her children do not come running to the door to say hello to her. She immediately thinks to herself, "something must be wrong!" As it turns out, they were just very focused on a project that they were doing together and didn't hear her come in the door. Lara's interpretation of their inattentiveness demonstrates what Beak would call ________.

Answer 1

American psychiatrist Aaron T. Beck would refer to this phenomenon as arbitrary inference.

According to Beck, arbitrary inference happens when we make conclusions based on insufficient evidence (or no evidence at all). People suffering from depression are, Beck suggests, likely to make arbitrary inferences more often.

In this case, Lara immediately assumed that something is wrong with her children. The fear consumed her, and she could not think rationally.