Is a cognitive bias the same thing as a cognitive distortion, or are there differences? Is there something that constitutes a cognitive distortion, but is not a cognitive bias, or vice versa?
I’m suspecting that they are the same thing, but the term cognitive bias is used in logic and rhetoric, and the term cognitive distortion is used in psychology.
My general impression is that while there’s a lot of overlap, cognitive bias tends to be more universalized and common to general human experience, while cognitive distortion tends to be more individualized and often more maladaptive. Most people have been “guilty” of confirmation bias or pareidolia, but the cognitive distortion of a sex offender that a prepubescent child was flirtatious towards him is personal and not widespread.
I would think of a bias as a one-sided view: seeing only part of what is there; while a distortion involves seeing what isn’t there. But I don’t know whether that’s how the terms are technically used (maybe someone who does know could confirm or deny).