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=                         Explanatory style                          =
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                            Introduction
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Explanatory style is a psychological attribute that indicates how
people explain to themselves why they experience a particular event,
either positive or negative.


Personal
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This aspect covers the degree to which a person attributes an event to
internal or external causes. An optimist might attribute a bad
experience to luck whereas a pessimist might consider it their fault.
Another person might also attribute an event to external forces in an
unhealthy way (e.g. "I had no choice but to get violent.")


Permanent
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This aspect covers characteristics considered stable versus unstable
(across time). An optimist would tend to define his or her failures as
unstable (I just didn't study enough for this particular test)
whereas a pessimist might think, for example, "I'm never good at
tests".


Pervasive
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This distinction covers global versus local and/or specific and the
extent of the effect. A pessimist might, for example, think that
"Everywhere there is misery" and an optimist think that, "I have had
dealings mostly with honest people".


                            Personality
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People who generally tend to blame themselves for negative events,
believe that such events will continue indefinitely, and let such
events affect many aspects of their lives display what is called a
'pessimistic explanatory style'. Conversely, people who generally tend
to blame outside forces for negative events, believe that such events
will end soon, and do not let such events affect too many aspects of
their lives display what is called an 'optimistic explanatory style'.

Some research has suggested a pessimistic explanatory style may be
correlated with depression and physical illness. The concept of
explanatory style encompasses a wide range of possible responses to
both positive and negative occurrences, rather than a black-white
difference between optimism and pessimism. Also, an individual does
not necessarily show a uniform explanatory style in all aspects of
life, but may exhibit varying responses to different types of events.


                 Literature on attributional style
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Attributional style emerged from research on depression, with
Abramson, Seligman and Teasdale (1978) arguing that a characteristic
way of attributing negative outcomesto internal, stable and global
causeswould be associated with depression in response to negative
events happened to them. As a diathesis-stress model of depression,
the model does not predict associations of  attributional style with
depression in the absence of objective negative events (stressors). A
meta-analysis of 104 empirical studies of the theory indicates that
the predictions are supported. Data have, however, been ambiguous, and
some researchers believe that the theory is well-supported, some
believe that it has not had impressive empirical support and some
believe that, at least in the early days of the theory, the theory was
never adequately tested. One factor accounting for ambiguity in
research into the model is whether researchers have assessed
attributions for hypothetical events or for real events. Those studies
that have looked at attributions for hypothetical events have been
more supportive of the model, possibly because these studies are more
likely to have controlled for event severity.

The "learned helplessness" model formed the theoretical basis of the
original Abramson, Seligman, and Teasdale statement on attributional
style. More recently, Abramson, Metalsky and Alloy proposed a modified
"hopelessness theory". This distinguished hopeless depression and more
circumscribed pessimism. It emphasizes the dimensions of stability and
globality rather than internality, and suggests that stable and global
attributions (rather than internal cause attributions) are associated
with hopelessness depression. Hopelessness theory also highlights
perceived importance and consequences of a negative outcome in
addition to causal attributions as factors in clinical depression.

Developmentally, it has been suggested that attributional style
originates in experiences of trust or lack of trust in events  Along
with evidence from twin studies for some heredity basis to
attributional style., Eisner argues that repeated exposure to
controllable events may foster an optimistic explanatory style,
whereas repeated exposure to uncontrollable events may foster a
negative attributional style. Trust in interpersonal relationships is
argued to build an optimistic explanatory style.


Measurement
=============
Attributional style is typically assessed using questionnaires such as
the Attributional Style Questionnaire or ASQ, which assesses
attributions for six negative and six positive hypothetical events,
the  Expanded Attributional Style Questionnaire or EASQ, which
assesses attributions for eighteen hypothetical negative events, and
various scales that assess attributions for real events, such as the
Real Events Attributional Style Questionnaire or the Attributions
Questionnaire. Although these scales provide empirical methodology for
study of attributional style, and considerable empirical data support
the Abramson-Seligman-Teasdale model of depression, there has been
dispute about whether this concept really exists. Cutrona, Russell and
Jones, for example, found evidence for considerable cross-situational
variation and temporal change of attributional style in women
suffering from post-partum depression. Xenikou notes, however, that
Cutrona, Russell and Jones found more evidence for the
cross-situational consistency of stability and globalism than of
internalization. More data in support of long-term stability of
attributional style has come from a diary study by Burns and Seligman.
Using a technique called Content Analysis of Verbatim Explanation
(CAVE), these authors found stable patterns of attributional style
over a long time period.

Attributional style may be domain-specific. Using the Attributional
Style Assessment Test, Anderson and colleagues found some evidence for
domain-specificity  of style, for instance work-related attributions
vs interpersonal attributions.

Modelling of the items of the ASQ suggests that the positive and
negative event information (e.g. getting a promotion, losing a job)
and the causal nature of attributions - whether events are seen as
global or local in scope, or as temporally stable or unstable, for
instance - assess distinct factors. A global focus tends to emerge,
for instance, independent of the valence of an event. Such effects are
found more broadly in cognition, where they are referred to as Global
versus local precedence. Optimistic and Pessimistic attributions
emerged as independent of each other, supporting models in which these
styles have distinct genetic and environmental origins.


Relationship to other constructs
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Attributional style is, at least superficially, similar to locus of
control. However, the locus of control is concerned with expectancies
about the future while attribution style is concerned with
attributions for the past. Whereas locus of control cuts across both
positive and negative outcomes, authors in the attributional style
field have distinguished between a Pessimistic Explanatory Style, in
which failures are attributed to internal, stable, and global factors
and successes to external, unstable, and specific causes, and an
Optimistic Explanatory Style, in which successes are attributed to
internal, stable, and global factors and failures to external,
unstable, and specific causes.


                           External links
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*[http://kovamag.com/explanatory-style Examples of explanatory style]
*[http://www.inspiration-oasis.com/learned-optimism.html Learned
optimism with videos demonstrating the 3 types of explanatory styles]
*[http://www.psych.nyu.edu/oettingen/OETTINGEN1995EXPLANATORY.PDF
Discussion of explanatory style in relationship to culture]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070315200330/http://www.d.umn.edu/cehsp/document
s/NewquistProp.doc
Note on explanatory style and its relationship to athletics]
*[http://www.macses.ucsf.edu/Research/Psychosocial/optimism.php#relationhealth
Discussion of explanatory style and physical health]


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