Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 14, 2026

Experimental Research Examining How People Can Cope with Uncertainty Through Soft Haptic Sensations
Published on: September 16, 2015
Research on irrelevance, helplessness, and immunization against helplessness in Spain: past, present, and future
1Dept Psicologia Experimental, Fac Psicologia, Univ de Granada, Spain. anmaldo@ugr.es
Abstract:
The main contribution to helplessness research in Spain was on immunization against helplessness and how it was modulated by predictability in animals or attributions in humans. Recent research have focused on factors determining the perception of non-contingency during learned irrelevance and the illusion of control during an uncontrollable experience. Its subsequent effects on covariation learning and the detection of controllability showed the influence of prior beliefs and attentional factors on covariation learning an learned helplessness whose influence should be integrated into current new learning models.
Related Concept Videos
Vaccinations
Social Facilitation
Deindividuation
Avoidance Learning and Learned Helplessness
Avoidance learning occurs when an organism learns that a specific behavior can prevent an unpleasant outcome. For example, a student who receives a bad grade may start studying harder to avoid future poor grades. This behavior persists even when the negative outcome is no longer present. Avoidance learning is powerful because it maintains behavior in the absence of the...
Sources of Self-Esteem II: Performance Feedback
Self-Efficacy

