ENCODINGS – OR HOW WE PERCEIVE EVENTS
A lecturer ending a class 20 minutes early may delight those who are bored and want to go to the coffee shop but equally irritate those who want to make further progress on the topic being discussed. Processes such as selective attention, interpretation and categorization cause us to perceive the same events and behaviours in different ways (Argyle & Little, 1972) – a phenomenon that most likely remains stable throughout our lives (Peterson, Seligman & Vaillant, 1988).
Attributional style
Examples of a social–cognitive approach that examines encoding are the reformulated model of helplessness and depression (Abramson, Seligman & Teasdale, 1978) and hopelessness theory (Abramson, Metalsky & Alloy, 1989). A key variable here is attributional style, or stable individual differences in the way people explain events in their lives. Differences in attributional style lead us to explain events in a characteristic way. Distinctions are made between particular dimensions of attribution:
internal–external – the extent to which events are seen as caused by the self, rather than factors external to the self;
stable–unstable – the extent to which causes are seen to persist across time; and global–specific – the extent to which the cause is something that affects many things in our life, rather than just specific situations.
Research based on this theoretical framework shows that people who tend to make stable and global explanations for negative events (relating to unchangeable factors that can affect many things in their lives) will be more likely to become depressed when unpleasant things happen to them. The hopelessness model of depression describes how a negative life event can precipitate depression in people who have depressogenic inferential styles. Metalsky, Halberstadt and Abramson (1987) found that students who failed an exam and had a stable, global attributional style were more likely to suffer from persistent depressed mood than those who had the opposite style. Attributional style is associated with a variety of behavioural outcomes, ranging from performance (e.g. in sports, insurance sales, academic tasks) to physical health (Buchanan & Seligman, 1995).
[Martin Seligman (1942– ) is Professor of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. Seligman has written numerous books and journal articles on motivation and personality. He is a world authority on learned helplessness, depression and optimism. In recent years, Seligman has taken a leading position in promoting ‘positive psychology’. In 1998 he served as President of the American Psychological Association.]
A lecturer ending a class 20 minutes early may delight those who are bored and want to go to the coffee shop but equally irritate those who want to make further progress on the topic being discussed. Processes such as selective attention, interpretation and categorization cause us to perceive the same events and behaviours in different ways (Argyle & Little, 1972) – a phenomenon that most likely remains stable throughout our lives (Peterson, Seligman & Vaillant, 1988).
Attributional style
Examples of a social–cognitive approach that examines encoding are the reformulated model of helplessness and depression (Abramson, Seligman & Teasdale, 1978) and hopelessness theory (Abramson, Metalsky & Alloy, 1989). A key variable here is attributional style, or stable individual differences in the way people explain events in their lives. Differences in attributional style lead us to explain events in a characteristic way. Distinctions are made between particular dimensions of attribution:
internal–external – the extent to which events are seen as caused by the self, rather than factors external to the self;
stable–unstable – the extent to which causes are seen to persist across time; and global–specific – the extent to which the cause is something that affects many things in our life, rather than just specific situations.
Research based on this theoretical framework shows that people who tend to make stable and global explanations for negative events (relating to unchangeable factors that can affect many things in their lives) will be more likely to become depressed when unpleasant things happen to them. The hopelessness model of depression describes how a negative life event can precipitate depression in people who have depressogenic inferential styles. Metalsky, Halberstadt and Abramson (1987) found that students who failed an exam and had a stable, global attributional style were more likely to suffer from persistent depressed mood than those who had the opposite style. Attributional style is associated with a variety of behavioural outcomes, ranging from performance (e.g. in sports, insurance sales, academic tasks) to physical health (Buchanan & Seligman, 1995).
[Martin Seligman (1942– ) is Professor of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. Seligman has written numerous books and journal articles on motivation and personality. He is a world authority on learned helplessness, depression and optimism. In recent years, Seligman has taken a leading position in promoting ‘positive psychology’. In 1998 he served as President of the American Psychological Association.]
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