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With all the ways that our brains deceive us, it is amazing that the human race has survived at all! The human brain is selective in the information it takes in. It attends to things it perceives as relevant and ignores the rest. As a consequence, we can develop a biased view of the world. We can be so biased that we ignore facts and embrace what feels true. In essence, when the facts do not align with what we believe to be true, we tend to discount the facts rather than reassess our belief.
Our thoughts and distorted thinking can be directed outwardly toward social groups or toward our worldview. Distorted thinking can also be directed inwardly toward our view of ourselves.
When our current beliefs do not align with the facts, we distort the facts so that we can maintain our beliefs. For example, if we believe that people do not like us, we will look for evidence to support this belief and ignore any evidence that suggests that people do like us. Thereby, we are able to maintain the belief that people do not like us.
Our beliefs develop from past experiences, parent messages, and group attitudes. Sometimes, our beliefs are skewed far from reality and supporting facts. The more skewed the beliefs, the more distorted the thinking — even to the point of being delusional. Interestingly, we do not often recognize our own distorted thinking unless challenged to examine it.