6. MAGNIFICATION (CATASTROPHIZING) OR MINIMIZATION: You exaggerate the importance of things (such as your goof-up or someone else’s achievement), or you inappropriately shrink things until they appear tiny (your own desirable qualities) or the other fellow’s imperfections. This is also called the “binocular trick.”
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Source – one out of ten Cognitive Distortions from David D. Burns, MD, Feeling Good, Feeling Good Handbook.
See also http://feelinggood.com/