Question

Coming back to his apartment building one evening, Pete saw that firefighters were rushing in to put out a fire. Even though there were seventy-four other apartments in the building, he immediately assumed that the fire must have started in his apartment through his negligence. Pete's thinking is characterized by which cognitive distortion?

Answer 1

Answer: Personalization

Explanation: This is a cognitive distortion where one sees him/herself as the cause of some negative external event which in fact he/she was not primarily responsible for.

Answer 2

Personalization cognitive distortion.

Explanation:Personalization is a cognitive distortion where we deem it fit to constantly and consistently assume blame for every misfortune with our life. Whenever things do not work out as planned, we are quick to take the blame for this misfortune not minding that we may not be responsible for the outcome.

Also a person with this disorder believes that everything others people do or say is directly refered to them. They tend to take everything personally, even when something is not directed towards them or mearnt in a way they think.

In this case Pete seeing firefighters in his apartment has already assumed that the fire was from his own room show a typical example of Personality distortion.