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)     

Internal attributions and types of depression in college students: The learned helplessness model revisited.

Tested the relation between attributions and types of depression (with and without low self-esteem) postulated by reformulated learned helplessness theory vs. an alternative (R. Janoff-Bulman; see record 1981-01320-001). 334 Ss completed the Beck Depression Inventory, Attributional Style Questionnaire, and Janis-Field Feelings of Inadequacy Scale. Scores above 8 on the Beck were considered depressed. A median split on the Janis-Field scale divided Ss into those with and without low self-esteem. Clearest support was found for Janoff-Bulman's formulations. Depressed Ss with low self-esteem made more internal characterological attributions for bad events than the other groups. Nondepressed Ss made more internal behavioral attributions than depressed Ss. The implications for counseling and future research on depression and learned helplessness are noted. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Three tests of the learned helplessness model of depression.

Three studies, employing 132 undergraduates, tested predictions derived from M. E. Seligman's (1975) helplessness model of depression. The 1st attempted to replicate the finding that depressed individuals evidence a perception of noncontingency, manifest in a failure to adjust predictions of future success in a skill task on the basis of past success. The prediction was not supported: Depressed and nondepressed Ss did not differ on measures of perceived noncontingency. Exp II tested the prediction that Ss in whom helplessness had been induced would evidence a perception of noncontingency, measured as in Exp I; this prediction was not supported, though helplessness Ss did report greater depression than controls, as predicted by the model. Exp III successfully replicated the finding that in depressed individuals there is a diminution of learning and problem solving, as manifest in poorer ability to solve anagrams; however, this was not accompanied by differences in self-reported perceived noncontrol. The present studies cast doubt on the claim that the perception of noncontingency plays a role in depression. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attributional processes in the learned helplessness paradigm: Behavioral effects of global attributions.

Following the learned helplessness paradigm, I assessed in this study the effects of global and specific attributions for failure on the generalization of performance deficits in a dissimilar situation. Helplessness training consisted of experience with noncontingent failures on four cognitive discrimination problems attributed to either global or specific causes. Experiment 1 found that performance in a dissimilar situation was impaired following exposure to globally attributed failure. Experiment 2 examined the behavioral effects of the interaction between stable and global attributions of failure. Exposure to unsolvable problems resulted in reduced performance in a dissimilar situation only when failure was attributed to global and stable causes. Finally, Experiment 3 found that learned helplessness deficits were a product of the interaction of global and internal attribution. Performance deficits following unsolvable problems were recorded when failure was attributed to global and internal causes. Results were discussed in terms of the reformulated learned helplessness model. (24 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A critical evaluation of the learned helplessness model of depression.

The 1st section of this article deals with ambiguities and confusion in writings on learned helplessness. It is observed that one major source of confusion has been the use of the term to refer indiscriminately to observed interference with performance, to specific deficits presumed to be responsible for the interference, and to the postulated belief that outcomes are noncontingent on responses. The 2nd section critically examines published research. The major findings are the following: (a) Failure on one task leads to interference on a 2nd task; instructions that noise is inevitable do not. (b) Recent studies disconfirm earlier reports of small expectancy changes in depressed or "helpless" Ss. (c) There is little evidence that learned helplessness is related to depression. The 3rd section discusses problems in drawing conclusions from analog studies and mentions alternative strategies for research on depression. (62 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Learned helplessness and learned resourcefulness: Effects of noncontingent success and failure on individuals differing in self-control skills.

In Exp I, 72 undergraduates were assessed using the Self-Control Schedule and received noncontingent success-, failure-, or no-feedback on a task that ostensibly assessed therapeutic abilities. Ss were subsequently tested on insolvable puzzles. In Exp II, 72 undergraduates followed the same procedure as in Exp I but were subsequently tested on solvable anagrams. Results show that the performance of Ss with low resourcefulness (LR) in self-control skills on the insolvable puzzles was debilitated by the helplessness induction, while Ss with high resourcefulness (HR) and LR Ss showed equal helplessness-induced deficits on the anagrams. As predicted from the self-control model, HR Ss more frequently checked statements indicating positive self-evaluations and task-oriented thoughts and less frequently checked negative self-evaluations than did LR Ss during exposure to uncontrollability in both experiments. It is concluded that the self-control model best accounts for Ss' self-reactions during exposure to uncontrollability or failure, while the learned helplessness model accounts for the generalization of helplessness from uncontrollable situations to controllable ones. The list of self-referent statements used in the experiments is appended. (46 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)     

Reversal of performance deficits and perceptual deficits in learned helplessness and depression.

Tested therapeutic implications of the learned helplessness model of depression in 2 experiments with a total of 128 undergraduates. Depression was assessed with the Beck Depression Inventory. Nondepressed Ss receiving inescapable noise and depressed/no-noise Ss later showed noise escape deficits in a shuttlebox and perceptions of response-reinforcement independence when compared with nondepressed/no-noise Ss. Experience with solvable discrimination problems reversed the escape deficits and perceptions of response-reinforcement independence associated with both inescapability and depression. Results support the learned helplessness model of depression, which claims (a) that uncontrollable events induce distorted perceptions of response-reinforcement independence in nondepressed people which cause performance deficits parallel to those found in naturally occurring depression, and (b) that experience with controllable events reverses the perceptions of response-reinforcement independence and the performance deficits associated with both helplessness and depression. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A critical review of Seligman's laboratory experiments on learned helplessness and depression in humans.

Reviews 6 laboratory experiments reported by M. E. Seligman and his colleagues (W. R. Miller and Seligman, 1973; Miller and Seligman, 1975; Miller et al, 1975; Miller and Seligman, 1976; D. C. Klein and Seligman, 1976; Klein et al, 1976). The experiments are found to provide little or no support for the learned helplessness theory of depression. A number of methodological and conceptual problems are discussed. It is suggested that heuristic theories such as Seligman's should be closely examined before psychologists embark on an extensive series of experimental tests. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Vicarious acquisition of learned helplessness.

In a study with 75 female undergraduates, the performance of Ss following either direct or vicarious experience with a noncontingent training task was compared with the performance of Ss who experienced contingent outcomes on the same task. Ss given no experience with the training task served as an additional control group. Relative to Ss experiencing either no prior training or contingent training, Ss exposed to noncontingency manifested performance deficits on a subsequent test task. Moreover, the magnitude of these deficits was comparable for Ss who had directly experienced noncontingency and those who had merely observed someone else experience noncontingency. These findings suggest that perceiving a low degree of contingency in a given situation may be a result of either direct or vicarious exposure to noncontingency. Thus, learned helplessness effects may be induced by a modeling procedure. (15 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)     

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)     

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)     

Naturally acquired learned helplessness: The relationship of school failure to achievement behavior, attributions, and self-concept.

Monitored personality and behavioral consequences of learned helplessness in children who had experienced extensive failure in school. Controlling for sex, race, age, and IQ, 3 groups of 20 9–12 yr old males (failing, average, and remedial) performed an experimental task and responded to questionnaires on self-concept and attributions for success and failure. To compare the predictive quality of learned helplessness theory with that of value expectancy theories, Ss were assigned to 1 of 2 reinforcement conditions (prediction of academic success and this prediction plus monetary reward) on a maze task. As predicted by value expectancy theories, failing Ss were significantly more persistent in the monetary reward condition than in the prediction of academic success condition. In agreement with learned helplessness theory, low self-concept was predicted independently and significantly by school failure, internal attributions for failure, and external attributions for success. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Situational specificity of laboratory-induced learned helplessness.

Investigated the effects of exposure to escapable or inescapable noise in either the original pretreatment setting or in a dissimilar experimental setting with 80 undergraduates. In the same setting, Ss receiving inescapable noise displayed more anagram debilitation than did Ss receiving escapable noise. However, when inescapable Ss were removed from the original noise-exposure setting under the guise of participating in a different experiment, equivalent anagram performance impairments were not found. In addition, there were no differences between the escapable and inescapable groups in pre- and postnoise change in depression, hostility, or anxiety as measured by the Multiple Affect Adjective Check List. Results do not support the learned helplessness theory, which suggests that exposure to an uncontrollable event is psychologically debilitating across diverse situations. (24 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A developmental study of learned helplessness.

Examined susceptibility to learned helplessness among 20 children from each of kindergarten, Grade 1, Grade 3, and Grade 5 classes by exposing groups of Ss to either repeated failure or repeated success on hidden figures problems. Helplessness was measured by Ss' persistence in looking for hidden figures and their capacity to find them following repeated success or failure. It was hypothesized that younger Ss would be less susceptible to helplessness than older ones, due to age-related differences in causal attributions for success and failure. Results confirm the hypothesis in that failure, relative to success, had significantly less influence on the level of helplessness in younger Ss' behavior. It is suggested that the development of attributional capabilities during the preschool and early elementary school years has important ramifications for cognitive theories of motivation. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dysrhythmia, dysphoria, and depression: The interaction of learned helplessness and circadian dysrhythmia in the pathogenesis of depression.

Increasing evidence suggests that endogenomorphic depressions involve a disruption of circadian rhythms. We review this evidence in relation to comparable findings in animal helplessness studies. We examine the neurophysiological, neuropsychological, and nosological implications of such findings for both helplessness and depression. A disruption of circadian rhythms provides a framework, which suggests three sets of possible interactions between psychology and biology in the pathogenesis of helplessness and endogenomorphic depressions. First, it offers a mechanism to account for the role of life events in the precipitation of such depressions. Second, it provides a potent stimulus to the generation of the misattributions typical of depression and helplessness. Third, it provides a stress to which certain personalities may be particularly vulnerable. We discuss the theoretical, research, and remedial implications of these interactions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A two-process theory of learned helplessness.

160 college students solved button-pushing problems under feedback conditions designed to differ systematically in the amount of information they conveyed and the amount of motivation they produced. During a pretest series of trials, 1 group received response-contingent feedback designed to enhance both information and motivation. A 2nd group was yoked to the contingent group and thus received low information and low motivation. A 3rd group experienced noncontingent success (low information, high motivation), and a 4th group received noncontingent failure feedback (low information, low motivation). A 2-process model that gives equal weight to information and motivational cues correctly predicted that the performance of the noncontingent success group on a transfer task would fall in between that of the contingent group and the failure/yoked groups. As a more stringent test of the model, 4 interventions were factorially combined with the pretreatments. The intervention treatments involved giving either no information, information about the contingencies, praise, or derogation. As predicted by the model, simply giving Ss information about the contingencies removed the debilitating effects of learned helplessness. (10 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)     

Prediction, control, and learned helplessness.

Examined the independent effects of perceived control over and perceived predictability of an aversive event on 100 undergraduates' performance on a memory task and depressive affect. All Ss completed the Multiple Affect Adjective Check List and the Desirability of Control Scale. Ss who received noise blasts that were both uncontrollable and unpredictable displayed performance decrements and depressive affect relative to a no-noise group, whereas Ss who were able either to control or to predict the aversive event did not. The perception of control or predictability concerning the aversive event was thus sufficient to mitigate learned helplessness, suggesting the functional equivalence of perceived control and predictability. Finally, results reveal that Ss high in the "desire for control over events" reacted to the aversive noise more than did Ss low in the desire for control. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)