| Abstract: | 4 experiments, using a total of 159 male albino Sprague-Dawley rats, attempted to produce behavior in the rat parallel to the behavior characteristic of learned helplessness in the dog. When Ss received escapable, inescapable, or no shock and were later tested in jump-up escape, both inescapable and no-shock controls failed to escape. When barpressing, rather than jumping up, was used as the tested escape response, fixed ratio (FR) 3 was interfered with by inescapable shock, but not lesser ratios. With FR-3, the no-shock control escaped well. Interference with escape was a function of the inescapability of shock and not shock per se: Ss that were "put through" and learned a prior jump-up escape did not become passive, but their yoked, inescapable partners did. It is concluded that rats, as well as dogs, fail to escape shock as a function of prior inescapability, exhibiting learned helplessness. (24 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
