Generality of learned helplessness in man.

Abstract

Learned helplessness, the interference with instrumental responding following inescapable aversive events, has been found in animals and man. This study tested for the generality of the debilitation produced by uncontrollable events across tasks and motivational systems. Four experiments with college students were simultaneously conducted: (a) pretreatment with inescapable, escapable, or control aversive tone followed by shuttlebox escape testing; (b) pretreatment with insoluble, soluble, or control discrimination problems followed by anagram solution testing; (c) pretreatments with inescapable, escapable, or control aversive tone followed by anagram solution testing; (d) pretreatments with insoluble, soluble, or control discrimination problems followed by shuttlebox escape testing. Learned helplessness was found with all four experiments: Both insolubility and inescapability produced failure to escape and failure to solve anagrams. We suggest that inescapability and insolubility both engendered expectancies that responding is independent of reinforcement. The generality of this process suggests that learned helplessness may be an induced "trait."Inescapable aversive events presented to animals or to men result in profound interference with later instrumental learning (e.g.,

Studies of learned helplessness in honey bees (Apis mellifera ligustica).

“…Learned helplessness has been studied in cats (Seward & Humphrey, 1967), cockroaches (Brown, Busby, & Klopfenstein, (1992); Brown, Howe, & Jones (1990);Brown, Hughes, & Jones, 1988;Brown & Stroup, 1988;Brown, Anderson, & Scruggs, 1994), dogs (Overmier, 1968;Overmier & Seligman, 1967;Seligman & Groves, 1970;Seligman & Maier, 1967;Seligman, Maier, & Geer, 1968), gerbils (Brown & Dixon, 1983), goldfish (Nash, Martinez, Dudeck, & Davis, 1983;Padilla, Padilla, Ketterer, & Giacalone, 1970;Brown, Smith, & Peters, 1985), humans (Hiroto, 1974;Thornton & Jacobs, 1971;Hokanson, DeGood, Forrest, & Brittain, 1971;Fosco & Geer, 1971;Glass & Singer, 1972;Hiroto & Seligman, 1975;Klein, Fencil-Morse, & Seligman, 1976;4 Krantz, Glass, & Snyder, 1974;Roth, 1973;Roth & Bootzin, 1974;Roth & Kubal 1975;Thornton & Jacobs, 1971), mice (Braud, Wepman, & Russo, 1969), rats (Maier, Albin, & Testa, 1973;Seligman & Beagley, 1975;Seligman, Rosellini, & Kozak, 1975), and slugs (Brown, Davenport, & Howe, 1995;Brown, Davenport, & Howe, 1994). Even though learned helplessness is deep seated and ubiquitous behavior, interest in learned helplessness has been steadily decreasing since the 1980s.…”

Between Hope and Fear: The Psychology of Risk

“…When aversive events occur despite one's efforts to prevent them, motivation to control events is reduced both in animals (Maier & Seligman, 1966) and in humans (Hiroto, 1974;Hiroto & Seligman, 1975). When control is later made possible, the motivational deficit prevents learning from occurring.…”

Efeitos da exposição a estímulos aversivos e apetitivos incontroláveis sobre o comportamento verbal em contingências de reforço positivo

“…Dificuldades de fuga ou esquiva de estímulos aversivos em decorrên-cia de uma história de incontrolabilidade também aversiva é conhecida por desamparo aprendido (Maier & Seligman, 1976). Trata-se de um fenômeno já observado em várias espécies, entre as quais a de ratos (Maier, Albin & Testa, 1973;Seligman, Rosellini & Kozak, 1975), cães (Overmier & Seligman, 1967), baratas (Brown, Howe & Jones, 1990) e humanos (Hiroto & Seligman, 1975;Matute, 1994;Peterson, Maier & Seligman, 1993).…”