ASQ
James Corwin
After taking the asq in class and understanding the purpose of the exam it was kind of
funny and weird to me. It was a very interesting way to look at how differently people look and
preserve situations. The attributional style of decoding a scenario is interesting. First by
deciding if the situational decision is internal or external. Second if it is specific or global. Finally,
if it is unstable or stable. For me I feel as if in my life I try and not keep everything internal and I
like to take the external approach but after the asq I mostly answered internal approach. I felt
as if it was wrong but look at along of the things that go on in my life it did hit me that I base a
lot of my decisions off of internal. I never want to think of myself as a pessimistic person. I try
my best every day to be an optimistic person. I asked a few friends if they thought I was
optimistic or pessimistic. They all said I was pessimistic and that I had a good outlook on life. I
can say that I let past events in my life affect the future a lot. So, in this test that was no
surprise for me. The way I look at myself has changed just from one little test that took less
than 30 minutes of my time. The first 20 years and few months I thought I was optimistic and
now have to realize that I truly am a pessimist. I know if I work hard, I can improve it but the
pessimistic side that was hidden says I cannot improve my own self. It can be a very useful thing
to use the steps of attributional style. You can total pick apart scenarios or situations and try to
figure out what made you react that way, if it’ll always be present, and if it will affect any other
aspects of your life. You can see what positives come out of certain situations. Being positive
can help to be less pessimistic over time and using attributional helps to keep thoughts positive.
In life you can choose to blame yourself or the situation or the other person. In some situations,
you should never choose to blame yourself, but you do and this contributes to the kind of
attitude you have. The asq was very different from the MBTI in the way you have to answer
questions, the kinds of questions, and the length and time. But in both tests its hard for a
person to try and trick the test. I attempted to but I felt as if I lied it would be the wrong thing
to do. I feel as if it was testing my morals and values. The asq for me helped me understand