Reframing and Wisdom within Proverbs

Abstract

Many proverbs seem to convey wisdom because they help people to reframe life's predicaments. Positive reframes, such as Every cloud has a silver lining, often draw positive implications from adverse circumstances (cf. "positive reappraisals," "gain frames"). In contrast, negative reframes, such as All that glitters is not gold, provide helpful warnings about difficult situations, and therefore encourage proactive coping (cf. "problem-focused coping"). This study examined the validity of the distinction between positive and negative reframes and whether the distinction applies to proverbs. Six judges categorized 199 proverbs as positive or negative reframes. Results showed that the positive reframes were rated by college students as more pleasant, conceptually simpler, and more familiar than the negative reframes. Further, proverbs that were composed by students were of higher quality when they *Robert J. Tracy became interested in proverbs and reframing because of parents who used proverbs but operated from different frames of reference. Retrospectively, it seems that father might have done more negative reframing and mother more positive reframing. Different portions of this study were presented earlier at various conventions [1-3]. 117Ó 2003, Baywood Publishing Co., Inc.were positive rather than negative reframes. On the other hand, positive and negative reframes occurred similarly often among the 199 proverbs, and did not differ consistently in rated truth, rated imagery arousal, or reading grade level. We concluded that many proverbs can be regarded as positive or negative reframes, which constitute basic thinking strategies that help people cope with life's challenges.Proverbs, such as Every cloud has a silver lining, are brief pithy sayings in frequent and widespread use that express a basic truth or practical precept [4; cf. 5, p. 134]. Proverbs typically use easily understood concepts, perhaps evoking imagery, to engender abstract meanings that are applicable to many situations [6, p. 130]. They are pervasive in everyday communication and in the media, and pertain to such varied topics as love, friendship, work, death, and wise conduct [5, p. 135]. Thousands of proverbs have been identified in American speech [7] and print [8]. There are also similar kinds of proverbs in different languages [5]. Proverbs are often used as informal summaries of notable events or to justify a decision. A stock market commentator might use Every cloud has a silver lining or All that glitters is not gold to metaphorically summarize a surprising change in a stock's value. Proverbs are also used with the intent of transforming someone by suggesting an improved way of thinking or behaving [6]. We suggest that many proverbs are popular because they help people to reframe and adjust to difficult situations and then elegantly express those reframes to others. Proverbs are thus "dressed-up' reframes that apply to situations that can be reframed positively in terms of benefits (gains) or negatively in terms of costs (losses). Positiv...

Can professionals “keep the tiller straight” in organizations? Resistance to reframing and decoy alternatives in workplace decision-making

“…The strategy of reframing, in the therapeutic context, refers to a type of interpretation that provides a new meaning or frame of reference to perspectives in a constructive direction (i.e., positive reframing) (Guterman, 1992;Bateson, 1995), by often drawing positive implications from adverse circumstances. On the contrary, negative reframing provides helpful warnings about difficult situations (Tracy et al, 2002). This concept has been exploited in communication and political studies (Catellani and Bertolotti, 2017;Voelkel et al, 2023), reaching up to be used in the organizational field for enabling professionals to see organizational issues through different lenses (Winter et al, 1997;Bolman and Deal, 2017;Yilmaz et al, 2021).…”