The first of these is called Generalization in which we put information that is fairly similar into groups. Lets say you sat in a rocker that broke when you were younger and never proved this to be otherwize so in your mind you might feel that rockers are unstable and unsafe to sit in. Would this actually be accurate all the time though - probably not but in your mind you would generalize that rockers are unsafe and therefore you might not want anything to do with them. We could also carry this into another area like when we say blondes have more fun. Do all blondes have more fun? Do we need to be blonde to have fun? How about all blondes are dumb or something like that. In our mind we could actually generalize that this is true and when seeing a blonde we might assume that they are not quite up to speed. This could get us into a lot of trouble in the business world at times.

The next filter is distortion in which we see something but it does not fit with our other thoughts at the time so we distort it to be something else. Someone that has low self-esteem could do this very easily when out. Someone of the opposite sex starts to flirt with them from accross the room. They see the flirtation and immediately dismiss it for something else because in their mind that person could not be interrested in them so it is changed to be something else. In relationships this happens a lot when there is communication differences and our partner believes something strongly. You could actually say I love you or you are sexy and they would believe you are joking and not take it seriously. They would distort the meaning with no awareness at all.