LEARNED HELPLESSNESS/ ATTRIBUTION THEORY

By: Shelby Mauchline

MARTIN SELIGMAN

• An American psychologist, educator, and author of self-help books.
• Know for his theory of learned helplessness.
• Specialized in positive psychology: the study of happiness and strengths.
• He did his work at the University of Pennsylvania.

LEARNED HELPLESSNESS

• The condition of a human or animal that has learned to behave helplessly,
• failing to respond even though there are opportunities for it to help itself.
• Learned Helplessness Theory: clinical depression and related mental illnesses
• may result from a perceived absence of control over a situation.

SELIGMAN AND mAIER DOG EXPERIMENT

• Method:
• Dogs put into one of three groups and harness was put on.
• Group 1: kept in harness for some time and then let loose
• Group 2: administered shock that could be stopped by pressing a lever
• Group 3: administered a shock that lasted a duration of time (no lever)

DOG EXPERIMENT CONTINUED

• Next, all three groups were put in a box and received shock.
• To escape the shock, they had to jump over a small barrier.
• Results: Group 1 and 2 quickly jumped over the hurdle to escape.
• Group 3 laid down and whined as they received the shock.
• These dogs felt they were powerless to change their circumstances.

BERNARD WEINER

• A social psychologist known for his attribution theory.
• He specialized in social psychology.
• He did his work at the University of California in Los Angeles.

ATTRIBUTION THEORY

• How do we attach meaning to behaviors?
• Explains how...
• the social perceiver uses information to arrive at explanations for events.

THREE DIMENSIONS

• Locus of control: internal v. external; mood v. teacher bias
• Stability: unstable v. stable; good student v. easy test
• Controllability: controllable v. uncontrollable; skill v. luck
• (All factors for receiving an A on a test)

CONNECTION

• Where do helpless people place the blame?
• In a bad situation, internal, "it's my fault"
• and unstable, "it doesn't always happen"
• Depressed, global, "it's like this everywhere"
• and stable, "everything is the same, I always feel like this"