What is Your Explanatory Style?

"Some people think, If I got humiliated in front of billions, I'd want to stick my head in an oven. I felt, This is great - I can just be who I am. I don't have to pretend anymore."  Bill Clinton, in an interview with Oprah

For most of us, if public humiliation happened in front of billions (or perhaps even just a few), we would feel mortified and want to put our heads in the sand, if not the oven. But Bill Clinton chose a different way to explain this to himself - a different way to create the meaning of this event in his life. He chose a more optimistic explanatory style and created a meaning that served him, rather than thwarted and undermined his own dignity and self-respect. 

We may or may not agree with his interpretation of what happened, but there is something admirable in how he chose to gain freedom from a humiliating situation, rather than live imprisoned in shame.

I was thinking more about this idea after reading an article by Martha Beck this month on the topic of explanatory style - that is, how we construct explanations for what happens to us, good or bad. She noted that the explanatory style we have leads of to a more optimistic or pessimistic outlook on an event, depending upon how we construct the meaning of what happened. Our overall outlook on life - be it optimistic or pessimistic - likewise influences our explanatory style in any given situation.  

She describes three variables that are generally embedded in one's story about what has happened - the factors of personal, permanent, and pervasive.

Let's take public speaking and performing as an example. Let's say you experienced what you perceived to be a negative event with speaking or performing. A more pessimistic explanatory style would interpret the event as personal (e.g., "I hate feeling this way. Other people seem to be so at ease and my anxiety always gets the best of me."), permanent, (e.g., "I'll never get past this problem. I am going to have to keep looking for ways to avoid these situations in the future."), and pervasive, (e.g., "I'm never going to be able to feel really confident and good about myself when I have this problem that holds me back in life.")

A more optimistic explanatory style might interpret the very same negative event as not personal (e.g., "I know this was a difficult situation but I did the best that I could. I realize that life goes on and it is not a huge deal in the scheme of things."), not permanent (e.g., "I am not really happy with how that went, but I will learn from this experience and I can try to make it better next time."), and not pervasive (e.g., "I know this has been a challenge for me, but there are many things that come easier for me. Everyone has areas of challenge and vulnerability, not just me.")

On the flip side, when it comes to a positive speaking or performing event, those with a more pessimistic explanatory style will interpret this as not personal (e.g., "That was just a fluke. I lucked out this time, but the shoe may drop the next time around."), not permanent (e.g., "That was just an isolated incident and I can't count on a success like this happening again."), not pervasive (e.g., "I can't really trust myself or feel more confident when I know I still have this problem.") 

Someone who has a more optimistic explanatory style would have a much different interpretation of this same event and see it as personal (e.g., "I feel good to see that my efforts to work on this issue are beginning to show some good results, even if I have a ways to go."), permanent (e.g., "If my experience with this went better this time, I know I can build upon this and it will get even better over time."), and pervasive (e.g., "I feel confident I can better handle any speaking or performing situation I face now that I am changing my attitude and approach to all of this.")

Consider how you explain a positive or negative speaking or performing event to yourself and the meaning you give to it. You may not consciously put words to it like the examples I gave, but get a feel for your overall perspective in the story you tell yourself when things don't go so well, as well as when they go pretty well. The meaning you give for how you feel you have done in each event sets the stage for how you view yourself as a speaker or performer going forward.

Also take a look at your overall explanatory style about other aspects of your life experience and see where you may fall on the continuum of a more optimistic style vs. a more pessimistic style. Explanatory style can have a very powerful effect on your beliefs and self-perception (and likewise, your beliefs and self-perception affect your explanatory style) and it can position you for a more positive approach to life, or a more negative approach, depending on how you interpret what is happening to you and around you.   

It certainly makes sense to cultivate your ability to see "the glass half full" rather than "the glass half empty" when it comes to explanatory styles with speaking and performing, as with life in general. Not only will you feel better in the short-run, but you will be building a pathway to more positive feelings about yourself and your life over the long run as well.