🔥 How Cognitive Distortions Are Fueling Political Polarization
New research shows that distorted and over-simplified thinking is rising in political discourse
The language of political debate is beginning to blur with the language of emotional distress, and new research suggests this may be more than just a metaphor.
In online political discourse, opinions are getting louder, accusations more extreme, and middle ground harder to find. We may even be starting to see the language of cognitive distortions in political conversations.
Cognitive distortions are rigid and oversimplified thinking patterns that create challenges for emotional health, and therapists will often work with patients to identify and remedy them. Distortions include over-generalizing, catastrophizing, and jumping to conclusions.
What if our political polarization is being shaped by these same distorted thought patterns? That’s the claim of a new study that analyzed how people talk about politics online. If political language is increasingly resembling the language of people with poor mental health, the consequences of growing ideological polarization may be extending beyond the social and political domains into the more personal psychological domain.
⨸ A psychological lens on political division
In a 2025 study published in Communications Psychology, researchers analyzed over 85 million tweets from several million users who posted about the 2016 and 2020 U.S. presidential elections. They focused on a lexicon of 241 short word patterns (known as n-grams) previously validated as indicators of cognitive distortions in written text.
Cognitive distortions are recognizable patterns of thought that oversimplify reality in rigid, emotionally charged ways. For example:
Catastrophizing (e.g. “This election will destroy the country”)
Mindreading (e.g. “They’re doing this because they’re hateful”)
Labeling (e.g. “They’re traitors”)
Overgeneralizing (e.g. “They always lie”)
To measure distortion use, the researchers calculated how often a user’s tweets contained one or more of these cognitive distortion n-grams.
Here’s what they found:
Distorted language is increasing fast. From 2016 to 2020, average distortion-related language at the population level increased by over 43%. At the level of individual users, the jump was even larger—the average user tweeted 76% more distortion-related language by 2020 compared to 2016.
All types of distortions grew, but the strongest increases in prevalence applied to emotional reasoning, catastrophizing, overgeneralizing, and mindreading.
These kinds of trends were seen across the political spectrum, but there were some interesting differences between people with varying ideologies. Overall, growing ideological polarization between 2016 and 2020 was linked to a significant rise in cognitive distortion language, with some subtle distinctions for left vs right-leaning users:
Right-leaning users had a higher baseline level of distorted language (including in 2016).
Left-leaning users showed a stronger link between ideological extremity and distortion use. In other words, the more politically extreme a left-leaning user became, the more distorted their language tended to be.
Interestingly, while growing cognitive distortions tended to predict growing polarization in the future, the reverse effect was less true. Distortion use in 2016 was a better predictor of future polarization in 2020 than the other way around, suggesting that distorted thinking might be helping to drive polarization over time.
The results shine a light on how mental habits such as all-or-nothing thinking and emotional reasoning affect societal, not just personal dynamics. Cognitive distortions are bleeding into our collective discourse, particularly in political contexts, and they may be contributing to social divisions.
⭐️ Takeaway tips
#1. Watch for distortions in political language
Phrases like “they’re all corrupt” or “this country is doomed” may feel as though they resonate well with your perception of truth, but they could also be views that are highly distorted by the heat of the moment. Recognizing these patterns in your own thoughts can help reduce reactive thinking and promote more nuanced and more accurate perspectives. Try to weigh up when the evidence truly supports a dramatic conclusion vs when your cognitive processes may be getting away from reality.
#2. Stop scrolling when emotions spike
Political content that triggers strong emotional reactions is more likely to contain distorted language. Before reacting or sharing, take a moment to check whether the message relies on all-or-nothing thinking, exaggeration, or mindreading. If so, reconsider whether it could be a clickbait manipulation tactic rather than an accurate representation of what’s happening in the world. Similarly, when the news feels like it’s interfering too much with your emotional health, try avoiding it for a few days to see whether it helps you to recalibrate your thinking.
#3. Shift from judgment to curiosity
When confronted with an opposing view that seems controversial, try to learn what actually lies behind the person’s belief before jumping to assumptions and conclusions. It’s common for our assumptions to be wildly misrepresentative of other people’s actual beliefs in heated political contexts. Replacing rigid labels with curiosity can help to prevent spirals of polarization.
“Hate seeks out only unreal faults, while understanding seeks out only real faults.”
~ Buddhaghosa