by Murray Heintz, Registered Psychologist

Have you ever reached a conclusion about yourself, someone else, or some circumstance without all the relevant information? Most of us have.

This often happens when we base our conclusion on poor evidence.

A classic example is thinking that other people are thinking critically about us.

While it may be possible that they are, we do not know for certain. We are not mind readers.

Stick to what you know; if you do not know, see what you can find out.

Ask questions and self-reflect on your mood – are you feeling insecure, anxious, or irritated, and is this influencing how you interpret the situation or the person? Are there other plausible explanations? What do I know for certain without any added interpretation?

Critically analyzing what we are thinking and why can help reduce or eliminate our tendency to draw conclusions when we only have a limited amount of information to interpret.