pessimistic explanatory style

(noun)

A worldview in which people generally blame themselves for negative events, believe that such events will continue indefinitely, and let such events affect many aspects of their lives.

Related Terms

  • external locus of control
  • optimism
  • quality of life
  • learned helplessness

Examples of pessimistic explanatory style in the following topics:

  • Attitude and Health

    • Related to this, research has shown that people with a pessimistic explanatory style are more likely to suffer from depression and stress, have weakened immune systems, be more vulnerable to minor ailments (like a cold or fever) and major illnesses (such as heart attacks or cancer), and have a less effective recovery from health problems.
    • Examine the impacts of different attitudes and explanatory styles on health
  • Attribution

    • To do this, we make either explanatory or interpersonal attributions.
    • An explanatory attribution is an attempt to understand the world and seek reasons for a particular event.
    • People with an optimistic explanatory style attribute positive events to global, stable, internal causes and negative events to specific, unstable, external causes.
    • The inverse is true for those with a pessimistic explanatory style: they attribute negative events to global, stable, internal causes and positive events to specific, unstable, external causes.
  • Mexican Muralism

    • Rivera’s works were utopian and idealist, Orozco’s were critical and pessimistic and the most radical were those of Siqueiros, heavily focused on a scientific future.  
    • Of the three artists, Rivera was the most traditional in terms of painting styles, drawing heavily from European modernism.
    • He originally painted this in bright colors in the European style, but modified it to more earthy tones to imitate indigenous murals.
    • Orozco also began with a European style of expression.
    • Orozco, one of the three great muralists of the 20th century, painted murals that were more critical and pessimistic that his peers.
  • Personality Characteristics Beneficial to Change

    • Researchers and scientists agree that optimism is highly correlated with psychological well-being, successful coping styles, and constructive problem-solving skills.
    • A classic optimist paradigm states that an optimist will view a glass of water to be half full while a pessimist will view the same glass to be half empty.
  • Writing in Different Academic Disciplines

    • Each genre has its own specific requirements in terms of style, content, and format.
    • Depending on the assignment, you might also write an analytical, explanatory, or persuasive paper in any of these fields for a popular or professional audience.
  • Classical Greek Theater

    • Compared to the works of Aeschylus, choruses in Sophocles’ plays did less explanatory work, shifting the focus to deeper character development and staged conflict.
    • In-depth assessment and critique of the styling of Middle Comedy is difficult, given the lack of complete bodies of work.
    • However, given the revival of this style in Sicily and Magna Graecia, it appears that the works of this period did have considerable widespread literary and social impact.
    • The style of New Comedy is comparable to what is contemporarily referred to as situation comedy or comedy of manners.
  • Introducing and Formatting Quotations

    • This graffiti-style quotation cites its source text and page number.
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