Explanatory Style
Updated 2026-08-01
INTRODUCTION
English translation pending.
CORE DEFINITION
Explanatory style, developed by Martin Seligman within the learned helplessness research tradition, is the habitual way a person explains events along three dimensions: internal versus external, stable versus temporary, and global versus specific. A pessimistic style attributes failures to causes that are internal, stable, and global; an optimistic style attributes them to causes that are external, temporary, and specific. The key qualifier is that it describes habitual attribution, not the accuracy of any single explanation.
SCAFFOLDING EFFECT
Reduce cognitive load
- Attribution capture: Write down the automatic explanation you give for a setback before analyzing it. - Dimension scoring: Rate that explanation on the internal, stable, and global axes. - Reframing move: Rewrite the explanation as external, temporary, and specific, then test it against evidence.
Anchor fast decisions
Attributions determine what a setback implies for the future. If a failure is explained as internal, stable, and global, it predicts further failure everywhere and removes any reason to act, which produces passivity and confirms the belief. Explaining the same event as external, temporary, and specific confines it to one situation, so motivation and action survive, and renewed action usually changes the outcome.
MINIMUM ACTION
In progress 0/1Practice this model in one real situation:
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Source support: Explicit
- en.wikipedia.orghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Explanatory_styleverified
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