I think those names should've been changed a long time ago. I don't think it means go defensive or attacking. Feels like more of a how much risk the players will take, and how much numbers they will commit to an attack.
For example, as Arsenal I'm playing in Attacking. That works well, but against teams like City, I get dominated, and it's when I change to very attacking that I regain control of the match, cause the team gets on the ball more. Against weaker opponents, I usually drop to positive.
What I usually do is change between "mentalities" until match higlights seem more in my favor, and match momentum graph is on my favor as well.
When I want to go defensive, I keep the "mentality" and drop the press and defensive line, and remove the counter press