The Illogical Mind could be a way of describing thinking that reaches conclusions that may not follow reliably from the available evidence or reasoning. It may not mean a person is unintelligent. Some may think illogically under stress, fear, strong emotion, social pressure, or uncertainty.
Common forms of illogical thinking
| Pattern | What happens | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Emotional reasoning | Feelings are treated as facts | “I feel unsafe, therefore I am unsafe.” |
| Confirmation bias | Evidence supporting a belief is noticed more than contradictory evidence | “I knew this would happen; look at this one example.” |
| Black and white thinking | Complex situations become two extremes | “Either I’m successful or I’m a failure.” |
| Catastrophizing | A possible negative outcome becomes an assumed disaster | “If I make this mistake, everything will be ruined.” |
| Overgeneralization | One event becomes a broad rule | “They rejected me, so nobody likes me.” |
| Mind reading | Another person’s thoughts are assumed without evidence | “She didn’t say hello because she dislikes me.” |
| Post hoc reasoning | Sequence is mistaken for causation | “I thought about the storm, and then it happened, so my thought caused it.” |
| Magical thinking | Thoughts, rituals, or symbols are treated as directly influencing external events without adequate evidence | “If I don’t perform this ritual, something bad will happen.” |
| Appeal to authority | A claim is accepted primarily because an authority says it | “It must be true because an expert said it.” |
| Self-deception | Information threatening one’s preferred belief is avoided or distorted | “I don’t have a problem; everyone else is overreacting.” |
Illogical may not necessarily mean irrational
There could be an important distinction:
Illogical thinking: the reasoning contains a flaw.
Irrational thinking: the belief or behavior is poorly supported by evidence, disproportionately driven by emotion, or inconsistent with the person’s goals.
A person may have an understandable reason for an irrational conclusion. For example:
“I’ve been betrayed several times, so I assume everyone will eventually betray me.”
The conclusion may be understandable given the person’s history, but the evidence doesn’t necessarily justify applying it to everyone.
The logical mind vs. the illogical mind
A useful conceptual distinction is:
Logical mind:
“What evidence supports this? What evidence contradicts it? Are there alternative explanations?”
Illogical mind:
“It feels true, therefore it must be true.”
The goal may not be to eliminate emotion. A psychologically healthy person may use emotion as information while using reason and evidence to evaluate what the emotion means.
A powerful question
When you notice an intense belief, ask:
“What do I know, what do I believe, what do I feel, and what am I assuming?”
That separates reality, interpretation, emotion, and inference, one of the foundations of good critical thinking.
Shervan K Shahhian
