[Generalization of motivational and functional helplessness]

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Cognitive Science

Background:

• Learned helplessness theory posits that repeated failure leads to an expectation of uncontrollability, causing performance deficits.
• Kuhl's alternative theory proposes that failure also induces state orientation, a functional deficit that generalizes to new tasks.

Purpose of the Study:

• To test opposing assumptions regarding the generalization of uncontrollability expectations and state orientation in learned helplessness.
• To determine which factor, uncontrollability expectation or state orientation, mediates performance deficits in subsequent tasks.

Main Methods:

• A helplessness experiment involving 45 college students exposed to success, failure, or multiple failures in discrimination problems.
• Assessment of uncontrollability expectations and state orientation after training (t1) and during a subsequent anagram task (t2).

Main Results:

• State orientation generalized from the training phase to the test phase (t1 to t2).
• Expectation of uncontrollability did not generalize between the training and test phases.
• Only state orientation predicted performance deficits in the anagram task.

Conclusions:

• The findings support Kuhl's conception of functional helplessness over Seligman's original learned helplessness theory.
• State orientation, rather than the expectation of uncontrollability, appears to be the key mediator of performance deficits in learned helplessness.