Martin Seligman's Explanatory Styles - What are they and how can I use them
“How we explain the world around us to ourselves impacts how we see the world. Becoming aware of these explanations helps us take control of how we feel about ourselves, our lives and what happens to us.” - Natalie Blank
Dr Martin Seligman, the doyen of positive psychology, has written many books about his findings about the human mind and how it works. In this post I will be looking at one aspect of his work, explanatory styles. These are first explained in his book, Learned Helplessness.
When I first came across Dr. Seligman's work over 10 years ago I took the optimism test that is part of the book. The scores land on a scale between optimism and pessimism. My score was very loaded on the pessimistic side of the scale. My explanatory style was very loaded towards pessimism. This, as he explained, meant that I was highly likely to face issues with depression and feelings of hopelessness. Unsurprisingly, I did face both of these issues.
I took his advice in the last section of the book and became aware of my explanatory style. I started to think about how I think and became aware of what my thoughts were telling me. I have since re-read the book several times, each time taking the test and finding my score moving evermore towards the optimism side of the scale. This is mirrored in my life by becoming less and less depressed and overwhelmed by life.
Explanatory styles have become part of a tool I now use to help myself and others to create change in their thoughts and therefore their lives.
What are the explanatory styles?
Personalisation
This explanatory style is where our brain makes the situation all about us. We are the cause of the situation. We are alone in the situation. This explanatory style is all about isolating ourselves. It's where we tell ourselves that we are the only one with the situation, people will judge us if they know we have the situation, we judge ourselves for it as well.
This explanatory style does not serve us. It keeps us isolates as we can't ask for help and we can't give credit where it is due.
Permanence
Permanence is when we think that the situation will last forever and there is nothing we can do to change it. Our past and future are impacted by the situation. When we use these types of thoughts we tend to feel there is nothing we can do to change our situation.
Pervasiveness
Have you ever had the thought that because something negative happened, therefore your whole life was ruined? That is pervasiveness in action. Your parents wouldn't let you do something and therefore everyone would think you were a loser and your life would literally end and you might as well die right NOW!
Pervasiveness takes away your power to look at the small part most things actually play in our lives. Very few things can happen that will actually completely impact everything in our lives. And for those things that do, it isn't always all bad. Even things that most people could objectively look at and say are negative and life impacting can have positive impacts as well. While there are some situations where the thought is close to true, we often mistakenly give minor inconveniences or disappointments the power, within our minds, to impact everything.
How can knowing of explanatory styles help me?
Our thoughts impact our feelings and our actions. When we have a thought that impacts our feelings and actions in negative ways it can be helpful to start to interrogate our thoughts to figure out if they are true or helpful in getting us to our goals. If you have a sudden change in emotion - especially if it is a turn for the worse - stop and become aware of what the thought was before your emotion change. Once you have a handle on this, and you know what the thought was, ask yourself what the thought is telling you.
Is it telling you that you are alone in the situation you are in? That people will judge you for the situation? Then this is personalisation... take a moment to realise that no matter how messed up your situation is, you are not alone - someone else has experienced your situation.
Is your thought telling you that this situation will never change? You will be stuck with this forever? Nothing you do can change it? If this is the case you are stuck in permanence. Try to think of or find an example of others who have changed their situation, either one that is similar to yours, or even find a situation that might be even more challenging and they got out.
Maybe your thought is telling you that every part of your life will be in ruins because of what has happened. Every part of your life will be impacted by this one thing. If so, this is pervasiveness thinking attacking you. One way to help you overcome this is to start by finding one part of your life that isn't impacted and expand from there. When we allow ourselves to think in terms of pervasiveness we become helpless and this is not helpful for getting us into a better state.
You may find that there are more than one impacting your thoughts. You may be really lucky like I was and find that your thoughts cover all three and drag you into a pit of despair very quickly as you feel isolated, helpless and unable to move into the future with any hope.
Which ever ones you find, please try to find more positive ways to think forward.
If you need help with this process, please use the calendar below to book a free introductory session and allow me to help you find a better way forward using tools that will really make a difference.
