Year: 1984
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Research has demonstrated that exposure to uncontrollable events results in learned helplessness.i.e.. a decrease in voluntary responding, interference in learning adaptive behaviors, and affective depression.Atthough uncontrollability has been considered both necessary and sufficient to produce helplessness, research suggests that predictability in an uncontrollable situation may be sufficient to prevent helplessness.The present study examined the effects of the presence or absence of perceived control and predictabilíty of a loud noise with a 2 x 2 independent-groups design.Two control groupsr comprised of noise-exposure and no-noise subjects were added to the design.subjects who received either uncontrollable or unpredictable noise, or simple noise exposure, showed performance decrements relative to a no-noise group, whereas subjects r¡ho were able to control or predict the noise did not.Uncontrollability was found to be a more powerful determinant of helplessness than \.¡as unpredictability.Thus, either the perception of control or predictability of the aversive event was suffÍcient to prevent hel-plessness, white simple exposure to the noise produced deficits in performance.There were no differences among the groups in attríbutional sty1e.These results suggest the need for further modifications to the theory of 1earned helplessness.The authors hypothesized that people who are predisposed to make global and internal attributions about the causes of negative outcomes are also prone to becone depressed.The reformulated model was lateï extended by selig,man.Abramson, Semmel and von Baeyer (1979), who argued that a predisposition to make unstablef specific and external attributions about the causes of positive outcomes may also cause depression, Some evidence to support these models of depression can be found in a recent study by Seligman et a1 (1979) .College students compl-eted the Beck Depression Inventory (BDIi Beck, 1967) and an Attributional-Style Scale which assessed their attributions about the causes for various positive and negative events.Scores on the BDI were found to be positiveLy correlated with the subjects' stable, globat and internal attributions for negative outcomes, and negatively correlated with their stable and internal, but not global attributions for positive outcomes.Three experimental studies have comþared causal attributions of depressed and non-depressed college students after induced success and failure experiences (K1ein, Fencil-Morse, and Seligman, 1976, Kuiper, 1978; Rizleyi 1978) .None of these studies assessed the global-specific dimension, and none found significant differences on the stable-unstable dimension.All studies found that depressed students, relative to non-depressed students, rated internal factors as more important causes of failurer and onfy one study (Rizley, 1978) found that depressed students, relative to non-depressed students, rated external factors as more important causes of success.Harvey (1981) criticized previous research on the basis of artificial and structured measures, such as the Attributional Style Scale.He advocated the use of personally important events in the assessment of attributional style.He surveyed 91 depressed and non-depressed female college students for descriptions of imporÈant negative and positive pexsonal events¿ explanations of their causes¿ and ratings of the importance of the causes.Three blind judgesindependently coded the causes as internal or external, recurrent How unpleasant was the noise? .L2345 Ho\4r much control did you fêel you had over the occurrence of the noise?Ho\,¡ well could you predict when the noise was about to come on?12345 lf you could pxedict the noiser how?.12345
Source: Mspace (University of Manitoba)
Author: Koffman, Sharron E.
Language: English
Subfield: Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7000212102