Learned helplessness and learned effectiveness: Effects of explicit response cues on individuals differing in personal control expectancies.

62 female undergraduates who scored as extreme internals or externals on the Mirels Personal Fate Control Scale participated in a partial replication of D. S. Hiroto's (see record 1974-24488-001) learned helplessness experiment. Lights were added to the treatment apparatus, which made explicit to Ss the contingency or noncontingency between their responses and the termination of an aversive tone. As predicted, the performance of internals was significantly impaired by uncontrollability (learned helplessness), while that of externals was facilitated by controllability (learned effectiveness). Externals performed as well as internals in the "escapable" condition, but their performance was inferior to that of internals in the control condition. Following "inescapable" treatment, internals performed more poorly than externals. Results support H. M. Lefcourt's (1967) explication. (44 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of real and recalled success on learned helplessness and depression.

The effects of recalling past successes on the deficits in learned helplessness and depression were examined and, for learned helplessness, compared with those of real success. Ss were 84 female, English university students who had been rated on the Beck Depression Inventory. Depressed Ss and nondepressed Ss receiving unsolvable problems showed deficits in anagram performance and some evidence of lowered mood compared with nondepressed Ss receiving no unsolvable problems. Experience with solvable letter substitution problems reversed anagram deficits and low mood associated with learned helplessness, replicating previous findings. Recalling successes on letter substitution problems had no effect on the anagram deficits in learned helplessness and depression and had an effect in improving mood only in learned helplessness. Real and recalled success both significantly modified attributions for failure in the learned helplessness condition. Results suggest real success does not have its therapeutic effects by modifying attributions for failure toward external factors. Some evidence of a facilitatory effect of depression on initial anagram performance was obtained. It is concluded that recall of past successes, while easier to arrange than real success experiences, may not be a powerful clinical procedure. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of attributions for success on the alleviation of learned helplessness and depression.

Investigated the effects of attributions for success on the alleviation of mood and performance deficits of 104 19–60 yr old clinically depressed inpatients. Ss were assigned to either an acutely depressed group or an improved depressed group that was exposed to a learned helplessness induction procedure. Ss received 80% positive feedback on a task allegedly measuring social intelligence. Concurrently, Ss were exposed to experimental manipulations designed to induce attributions of this experience to 1 of 4 types of causes (internal–general, internal–specific, external–general, external–specific). Following this task, Ss' mood, expectancies, and anagram performance were assessed. Results indicate that helpless and depressed Ss who received the internal attribution manipulations reported less depressed mood than Ss in the external attribution conditions. Similarly, Ss in the general attribution conditions performed better and reported higher expectancies for success on the anagrams than Ss in the specific attribution conditions. Results are supportive of an attribution theory model of learned helplessness and depression. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An analysis of learned helplessness: II. The processing of success.

Continues the authors' (see record 1979-13073-001) study of learned helplessness. Previous findings indicate that helpless children attributed their failure to lack of ability and viewed them as insurmountable. Mastery-oriented children, in contrast, tended to emphasize motivational factors and to view failure as surmountable. Although the performance of the 2 groups was usually identical during success or prior to failure, research suggested that these groups may well differ in the degree to which they perceived that their successes are replicable and their failures are avoidable. In the present study, 56 male and 56 female 4th–6th graders performed a task on which they encountered success and then failure. 56 Ss were asked a series of questions about their performance after success and 56 after failure. Compared to mastery-oriented Ss, helpless Ss underestimated the number of successes (and overestimated the number of failures), did not view successes as indicative of ability, and did not expect the successes to continue. Subsequent failure led them to devalue their performance but left the mastery-oriented Ss undaunted. Thus, for helpless children, successes are less salient, less predictive, and less enduring—less successful. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Learned helplessness in humans: Critique and reformulation.

Criticizes and reformulates the learned helplessness hypothesis. It is considered that the old hypothesis, when applied to learned helplessness in humans, has 2 major problems: (a) It does not distinguish between cases in which outcomes are uncontrollable for all people and cases in which they are uncontrollable only for some people (universal vs personal helplessness), and (b) it does not explain when helplessness is general and when specific, or when chronic and when acute. A reformulation based on a revision of attribution theory is proposed to resolve these inadequacies. According to the reformulation, once people perceive noncontingency, they attribute their helplessness to a cause. This cause can be stable or unstable, global or specific, and internal or external. The attribution chosen influences whether expectation of future helplessness will be chronic or acute, broad or narrow, and whether helplessness will lower self-esteem or not. The implications of this reformulation of human helplessness for the learned helplessness model of depression are outlined. (92 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Learned helplessness as experimenter-induced failure and its alleviation with attentional redeployment.

When it is recognized that laboratory studies of learned helplessness with human Ss are basically studies of experimenter-induced failure, the relevance of numerous studies of failure induction and of the theoretical models that generated them becomes apparent. The present study with 108 undergraduates adopted the assumption that cognitive interference associated with anxiety is the source of the performance decrements observed in helplessness studies. For susceptible Ss, failure experiences elicit a task-irrelevant, negative focus on self. As predicted from such a model, attentional redeployment in the form of an imagination exercise eliminated the impairment of performance that typically follows a helplessness induction. However, it was found that the effectiveness of the exercise depended on provision of a rationale to Ss. As predicted, it was found that Ss who received the exercise and rationale in the absence of a failure induction became debilitated, although this effect was only marginally significant. Results are discussed in terms of a cognitive-attentional interpretation of learned helplessness studies, and the likely role of demand characteristics is noted. (35 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Learned helplessness and judgments of control.

A central hypothesis of learned helplessness theory is that exposure to noncontingency produces a reduced ability to perceive response–outcome relations (the postulated "cognitive deficit"). To test this hypothesis, 30 undergraduates were exposed to a typical helplessness induction task and then asked to make judgments of the amount of control their responses exerted over a designated outcome (the onset of a light). An additional 30 undergraduates served as a no-treatment control group. Support for the postulated cognitive deficit would be found if Ss who experienced the induction underestimated the relation between their responses and outcomes. Results, however, demonstrate that induction Ss made higher and more accurate judgments of control than Ss in the control group. This finding clearly fails to support the postulated cognitive deficit and highlights the need for other direct tests of the basic hypotheses of helplessness theory. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Learned helplessness in the rat: Retention and immunization.

Conducted 3 experiments with 128 male albino Sprague-Dawley and Holtzman rats to determine (a) whether experience with uncontrollable trauma shortly after weaning interfered with an adaptive responding as an adult and (b) if early experience with controllable trauma protected adults against the helplessness-inducing effects of uncontrollable trauma received as an adult. Inescapable shock given to weanling rats produced large deficits in adult escape behavior. Therefore, helplessness learned as a weanling was retained in later life and interfered with adaptive instrumental responding. Experience with escapable shock while a weanling immunized the animal against the deficits produced by inescapable shock received as an adult. The implications of these findings for animal models of human depression are discussed. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Depression and learned helplessness in man.

Demonstrated similarity of impairment in naturally occurring depression and laboratory-induced learned helplessness in 48 undergraduates. 3 groups each of depressed and nondepressed Ss were exposed to escapable, inescapable, or no noise. Then they were tested on a series of 20 patterned anagrams. Depressed-no-noise Ss were much poorer at solving individual anagrams and seeing the pattern than nondepressed-no-noise Ss. Inescapable noise produced parallel deficits in nondepressed Ss relative to escapable or no noise, but inescapable noise did not increase impairment in depressed Ss. Findings support the learned helplessness model of depression, which claims that a belief in independence between responding and reinforcement is central to the etiology, symptoms, and cure of reactive depression. (24 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Prevention of learned helplessness in humans.

Prevention of learned helplessness (LH) through the use of thermal biofeedback training and varied explanations of performance was explored. One group of Ss received biofeedback training directly prior to exposure to an experimentally produced LH situation. A 2nd group also received biofeedback training but were given false/negative feedback about their performance. A 3rd group received only the LH procedure, and a 4th group served as a no-treatment control. Only in the biofeedback group receiving accurate feedback was there any prevention of the subsequent development of LH behavior. (8 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Learned helplessness in humans: A frustration-produced response pattern.

Investigated with 120 undergraduates in 2 experiments the utility of the learned helplessness model vs A. Amsel's (1971, 1972) behavioral persistence model in explaining response deficits following uncontrollable loud noise exposures. Ss exposed to uncontrollable loud noise showed performance deficits relative to controllable and no-preexposure groups. ANOVAs indicated that the performance deficits were directly related to response–outcome relations learned during uncontrollable preexposure. This finding is in agreement with Amsel's behavioral persistence model and is in contradiction to the learned helplessness model. (39 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Learned helplessness in humans: A review and attribution-theory model.

M. E. Seligman's (1973, 1974, 1975) theory of learned helplessness (LH) and the current status of the research literature are reviewed, with a focus on 5 issues of the LH phenomenon: nature, etiology, generalization, individual differences, and alleviation. Seligman's theory is seen as inadequate to account for present data in several areas, notably etiology and generalization. A revised model of LH in humans is presented that suggests that the individual's attributions of noncontingent failure experiences predict the degree and parameters of LH. (85 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Physiological correlates of learned helplessness in man.

Assessed physiological correlates (heart rate, skin resistance, and GSR) of learned helplessness in 48 undergraduates. One group of Ss was pretreated with a series of inescapable aversive tones, and the degree of impairment was measured on a subsequent solvable anagram solution task. These Ss were compared with a group pretreated with escapable aversive tones and a control group which passively listened to the tones without attempting to escape them. Results replicate the learned helplessness effect: The group pretreated with inescapable tones demonstrated greatly impaired performance at solving anagrams relative to the other groups. Moreover, the learned-helplessness group demonstrated lower tonic skin conductance levels, smaller phasic skin conductance responses, and more spontaneous electrodermal activity relative to the group pretreated with escapable tones. These are symptoms which some researchers have claimed to be associated with clinical depression. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive influences on the development of learned helplessness.

120 college students participated in an experiment concerning the influence of self-statements following failure on subsequent symptoms of learned helplessness (LH). 40 Ss were given solvable concept-formation problems (nonhelpless condition), and 80 Ss were given unsolvable problems (helpless condition). MANOVA revealed a significant difference between helpless and nonhelpless Ss on cognitive/motivational and affective measures of LH and on self-statements regarding performance. However, when multiple regression and correlational analyses were performed within the group of Ss who failed the problems, no stable relationship was found between self-statements (cognitions) about concept-formation performance and the LH measures. Implications for A. T. Beck's (1967) cognitive model of depression and the reformulated LH model of depression (L. Y. Abramson et al, 1978) are discussed. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex differences in learned helplessness: IV. An experimental and naturalistic study of failure generalization and its mediators.

Tested the hypothesis that attributions for failure can mediate the generalization of failure effects across situations: When perceived causal factors remain present in otherwise novel situations, failure effects should transfer; when perceived causal factors are removed, failure effects should be attenuated. Specifically, it was predicted that sex differences in attributions would result in differential transfer to novel situations, with boys showing greater recovery of success expectancies when the evaluator changes, but girls showing greater recovery of success when the ability areas change. Two studies are reported: one a field study (40 female and 40 male 5th graders) examining changes in expectancy of academic success over the school year, and the other a laboratory analog (171 female and 143 male 4th–6th graders) examining directly the effects of evaluator and task change. Results provide strong support for the hypothesis and suggest an explanation for sex differences in long-term academic achievement. (14 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An analysis of learned helplessness: Continuous changes in performance, strategy, and achievement cognitions following failure.

Helpless children show marked performance decrements under failure, whereas mastery-oriented children often show enhanced performance. Current theories emphasize differences in the nature of the attributions following failure as determinants of response to failure. Two studies with 130 5th-grade children explored helpless vs mastery-oriented differences in the nature, timing, and relative frequency of a variety of achievement-related cognitions by continuously monitoring verbalizations following failure. Results reveal that helpless children made the expected attributions for failure to lack of ability; mastery-oriented children made surprisingly few attributions but instead engaged in self-monitoring and self-instructions. That is, helpless children focused on the cause of failure, whereas the mastery-oriented children focused on remedies for failure. These differences were accompanied by striking differences in strategy change under failure. The results suggest that in addition to the nature of the attribution one makes, the timing or even occurrence of attributions may be a critical individual difference. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attributional style and the generality of learned helplessness.

According to the logic of the attribution reformulation of learned helplessness, the interaction of 2 factors influences whether helplessness experienced in one situation will transfer to a new situation. The model predicts that people who exhibit a style of attributing negative outcomes to global factors will show helplessness deficits in new situations that are either similar or dissimilar to the original situation in which they were helpless. In contrast, people who exhibit a style of attributing negative outcomes to only specific factors will show helplessness deficits in situations that are similar, but not dissimilar, to the original situation in which they were helpless. To test these predictions, 2 studies were conducted in which undergraduates with either a global or specific attributional style for negative outcomes (as measured by the Attributional Style Questionnaire) were given 1 of 3 pretreatments in the typical helplessness triadic design: controllable bursts of noise, uncontrollable bursts of noise, or no noise. Ss were also administered the Beck Depression Inventory. In Exp I, 108 Ss were tested for helplessness deficits in a test situation similar to the pretreatment setting, whereas in Exp II, 60 Ss were tested in a test situation dissimilar to the pretreatment setting. Findings are consistent with predictions of the reformulated helplessness theory. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Expectation of success following noncontingent punishment in introverts and extraverts.

Recent findings indicate that extraverts are more likely than introverts to continue responding in the face of punishment and frustrating nonreward. To test whether extraverts' expectations for success are similarly resistant to interruption and alteration, 50 introverted and 50 extraverted male undergraduates (as assessed on the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire) were exposed to pretreatment with either a 50% level of noncontingent reward or a 50% level of noncontingent punishment. As predicted, there were significant group by pretreatment interactions on all dependent measures. In comparison to introverts who received the punishment pretreatment, extraverts exposed to the same pretreatment placed larger wagers on their ability to succeed, and reported higher levels of perceived control. In addition, relative to their estimates for the pretreatment task, extraverts exposed to noncontingent punishment increased their expectation for success, whereas introverts exposed to noncontingent punishment decreased their performance expectations. No differences were observed between the 2 groups following pretreatment with noncontingent reward. Results suggest that extraverts are characterized by a distinctive reaction to punishment involving response facilitation. (24 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of success and failure on cheating behavior.

Studied the relationship between cheating and previous success-failure experiences in 32 college students. Ss were informed that if they performed above average on a free-recall task they would receive bonus credit. Half of them were told their performance on a 1st test was poor and half were told that their initial performance was good. During a subsequent test, half of the words were left "carelessly" exposed so that Ss could copy them if they wished. Significant cheating occurred in the success but not in the failure condition, suggesting that failure following initial success may be more repugnant than failure following initial failure. Cheating elevated the number of recorded exposed words, while attention factors and/or arousal reduced recall of stored unexposed words. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Learned helplessness through modeling: The role of perceived similarity in competence.

Tested the hypothesis that learned helplessness can be induced through modeling and that the effects are mediated by perceived similarity in competence. 40 male college students observed a model fail at anagram tasks under variations in perceived similarity. Ss who perceived the unsuccessful model to be of comparable ability and those given no competence feedback persisted less throughout the tasks than Ss who perceived the model as less competent than themselves and control Ss who did not observe a model. The latter 2 groups did not differ in their initial level of persistence, but their performances diverged on succeeding trials, with Ss who perceived themselves as more competent than the model showing higher persistence. A similar pattern of results was obtained for the effects of perceived similarity on Ss' expectations of self-efficacy. A microanalysis revealed that regardless of treatment condition, the higher the Ss' expected efficacy, the longer they persisted. The strength of this relationship increased over trials, suggesting that Ss came to rely more heavily on their judgments of self-efficacy in regulating their expenditure of effort as the experiment progressed. (9 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)