EXPLANATORY STYLES

Explanatory styles range from pessimistic to optimistic.

OPTIMISTIC EXPLANATORY STYLE: - People with an optimistic explanatory style

attribute the negative outcomes because of

a) Unstable causes- this means optimists believe that his or her failures as unstable (I just
didn't study enough for this particular test)
b) Specific causes – Optimists believe that bad situations are because of specific causes.
E.g. an optimist would be someone who views one’s poor performance as being a sign of
a bad day or lack of sleep—something more local and less global—will have an easier
time shaking off one failure.
c) External causes – An optimist often attributes a bad experience to luck and other
external factors. E.g. when you are facing conflict with others, seeing the problem as
being rooted in something that is "their problem" rather than "your fault" can help you to
take things less personally and feel less hurt.
An optimistic explanatory style is associated with higher levels of motivation,
achievement, and physical well-being and lower levels of depressive symptoms
(Buchanan & Seligman, 1995).

PESSIMISTIC EXPLANATORY STYLE: -   People with an optimistic explanatory style

attribute the negative outcomes because of

a) Stable causes- Pessimists believe that his or her failures as stable and they can’t do much
about it.( "I'm never good at tests".)
b) Global causes – Pessimists believe that bad situations are because of global causes. E.g.
if you attribute a poor performance at work as being due to something global like a
perceived inability to do the job well, i.e. ‘I simply don’t have the ability to work’, one
failure may seem like a sign of more failures to come.
c) Internal causes – Pessimists often attributes a bad experience to internal factors. They
think failures are their fault. E.g.  If you are having a difficult day and you see it as being
"your fault, “you are using the pessimistic explanatory style.
 A person is deemed vulnerable if they interpret the cause of negative events as something
that cannot be changed (stable attribution), their fault (internal factors) and affecting their
whole life (global attribution). A person with these traits could be described as having a
specific type of depression, called hopelessness depression (Schneider et al., 2012).

ME/WE BALANCE:-

It is a positive Psychology approach that equates the ‘me’ with the ‘we’.

Somewhere between a completely “me”-centered individualistic approach and a strict

collectivistic approach (which crushes all the benefits of individual initiative), there is a “sweet
spot”: a middle ground: a culture that celebrates individual achievement and the pleasures of
doing our bit for the team/group.

Individuals crave a place in the collective; they long to belong with others. Likewise, the
collective requires healthy individuals for the overall well-being of the collective.

As a result, these two hang in delicate balance with one another. Between them exist a palpable
tension, and should we choose to embrace that tension, we can actually find balance between the
two, allowing not only for the health of the collective, but also for all individuals to be seen,
heard, and valued within the collective purpose.

“The Social Conquest of Earth” by naturalist Edward O. Wilson. He argues that humans evolved
as we did precisely because we have strains of both individualism and collectivism. Wilson, who
has spent years, studying ant colonies, updates the idea that the fittest individuals survive, at the
same time leading to the betterment of the entire group. In fact, groups in which individuals
sacrifice for the good of the collective have, over millions of years, won out.