Learned helplessness in humans

Author(s)

Mariana Januario Samelo

• Document type: Master's Dissertation
• Press: São Paulo.
• Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Instituto de Psicologia (IP/SBD)
• Defense date: 2008-07-22

Examining board members

Maria Helena Leite Hunziker; Roberto Alves Banaco; Maria Cristina Zago Castelli

• Advisor: Maria Helena Leite Hunziker

Abstract

The literature on learned helplessness in human has been fraught with methodological difficulties. The present research has the general objective of establishing a procedure that permits sufficient experimental control to verify the effect of a history of uncontrollability with or without feedback of failure on learning a new operant response by humans. College students were divided into four groups (n=10), deemed Non-treated (N), Controllable (C), Uncontrollable (I) and Uncontrollable with feedback (If). In the first phase (treatment), except for Group N, the participants were exposed to an aversive stimulus (tones) that could be controllable (i.e., turned off contingent upon making variable sequences using the keyboard) or independent of behavior (Groups I and If). At the end of the session, participants were asked to what they attributed the end of the tones: the correspondence between their answers and the situation to which they were exposed was 100% for Group C, 70% for Group If and 60% for Group I. In the second phase (test), all participants were asked to solve some anagrams. Groups C and N showed lower latencies and a greater number of correct responses. Latencies and rate of failure were higher in Group If; Group I presented intermediate results. These results were in agreement with the learned helplessness effect, suggesting that the procedure is adequate for its study. The possible accidental contingences established in Group I, the function of the feedback of failure in these accidental contingencies, the role of instructions and some methodological implications are discussed. (AU)