can someone explain me black and white thinking?

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Black and white thinkers scare me because if I make a mistake, I am a "bad" person and I avoid those people who easily judge others or a fault they have or flaw or mistakes they make and oh no you better not have a bad day and better not have anxiety or you're "bad. You also better not be stressed out and overwhelmed.

it basically means the person is thinking about the very best result or the very worst result of a situation,

common in Aspegers but also present in other conditions such as BorderLine Personality Disorder.

I am not that judgmental, basically what I consider character flaw is sexism, racism, homophobia, injustice, trying to impose view on others. It is not any mistake. Not even a mistake but a continuous prejudiced attitude.
it actually scares me too when people have rigid opinions. Damn scary. They are so certain or so defensive of something they don't even consider anything else. I can't understand that and this is scary. My aspie best friend is like that sometimes and she can drive anyone insane.


what if I almost always think the worst result of a situation?
but by your definition (the only one) I think I would be considered black and white thinker I am either very excited about something or very anxious/upset. My feelings and expectations are extremes, always intense.,

Last edited by linatet on 02 May 2014, 3:10 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Plenty of NTs demonstrate black and white thinking. It seems to be part of the human condition. ASD people may do it more often, though they sure don't have the corner on it!

if you only think the worst of a situation than your a Debbie Downer

It's not who's doing it, but if oneself is doing and how it is affecting oneself and the world.

Helps me to put these things in the wider perspective though.

I did research on that because I didn't know who she was. And then I don't get it, was the comparison a joke?
but anyway I am not like her. and I didn't say I only think of the worst situation.
I think my previous comment just means I am an anxious person.

I get what you're saying, and I make these kind of comments, too---quite a lot on here, actually--but in the spirit of enquiry, is the perspective really wider in this instance? What could be some hidden implications of writing what you wrote?

I'm not convinced that 'black and white' thinking is linked with intelligent thought. linatet had commented on whether making 10 categories instead of thinking in polar opposites could still be considered 'black/white' thinking, and I think she was on to something. The 'black/white' metaphor is supposed to cleanly sum up the idea of rigid thought processes, but I think it's a bad metaphor because it implies bipolar thinking (not referencing our other non-NT friends, but thinking in polar extremes). Rigid thought processes might mean that someone can't intuitively accept that it's not a 'fat or skinny' world. We have to intentionally create more categories to account for those in between. Most NTs I know don't seem to have to do this. They can accept that there's more to how one looks weight-wise than being fat/skinny, but they don't need to break it up into discreet categories and subcategories in order to allow for that grey area.

Though rigid thinking gets me in trouble a lot in social situations, I find that it is helpful when it comes to learning new things, because I have a hard things taking things for granted without a thorough explanation.

My "black and white" thinking basically surrounds things that are generally considered immoral. Such as lying. Lying is supposed to be always very bad and very wrong, so don't do it. But then I hear that it's okay to tell a "white lie", such as "This is a great Christmas present you gave me" when you actually really hate it but don't want to hurt the gift giver's feelings. But I could never pretend I liked something that was truly awful because it would "leak out" in my voice and body language anyway. Stealing is also very wrong, but I also heard how how some people are forced to steal things like food because they're homeless or starving. But most people steal because they want to sell the items to support some drug addiction, or because they get a thrill out of doing it, or they just don't care that it hurts people. Killing another person is supposed to be the most evil thing you can possibly do, and yet there are people who supposedly had to kill in self-defense and only as a last resort, and of course there are all the soldiers who kill and get killed in war. But I think killing anyone else is wrong no matter what and that's sad because I have a cousin that I was close friends with in the military and I don't even want to know anything about it.

I hear black-and-white thinking is wrong, it's the reason the world is such a mess, because everyone is like "you're not with us, you're against us", and therefore you should not be allowed to exist. But as Calvin (From Calvin and Hobbes) once once told his dad, "sometimes that's how things are!"

I get really REALLY angry at woman who are in a relationship but dont shrug off other men who constantly try to make a move on her by giving vague hints. This costed me a few friendships... Wanting to see if you are still in the market <-> cheating. It is the same to me!

Now THAT is black & white, there is no grey area!

I explain it as a spectrum from white to black: shades of gray. My daughter tends to be very happy or very mad/sad. It is the worst day of her life often. I explain the middle road of gray. It was not a great day, some bad things happend, some ok things happend. Light gray, medium gray or dark gray but not white or black.

I always drive on my side of the road and never cross the center line. It drives me crazy when my husband drives in the middle of road on some dark back road. His thinking is no one is around and it make sense to drive in the middle, ignoring the line. I can't think like that (my black and white thinking).