ALL-OR-NOTHING THINKING: You see things in black-and-white categories. If your performance falls short of perfect, you see yourself as a total failure.

David D. Burns, Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy

“All I do is mess up.”

“Nobody has any respect these days.”

“All politicians are corrupt.”

These are samples of all-or-nothing thinking that I have heard expressed.

The “hasty generalization” fallacy is unethical, creates strong, sour, unpleasant emotions but does not help any matter get better. It is rampant in American thinking. In extremes, the fallacy leads to hatred of self and others, and even to violence.

A remedy is Both-And Thinking. That means including some of each side in your approach. For instance:

“SOMETIMES I mess up—but not all the time!”

“MANY people have respect, despite a FEW outliers.”

“SOME politicians are altruistic and desire the best for their constituents.”

Think sensibly. Yes, there are wholesome extremes in thinking, such as:

“God is good.”

However, check your thinking the next time you feel a powerful negative emotion, because you may be using the despair-creating all-or-nothing fallacy.