Learned helplessness, depression, and the illusion of control

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Clinical Psychology
• Behavioral Science

Background:

• Learned helplessness theory suggests prior exposure to uncontrollable negative events impairs subsequent coping.
• Depression is often associated with a lack of perceived control and an inability to experience an illusion of control.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate whether individuals previously exposed to uncontrollable aversive events, similar to those with depression, fail to develop an illusion of control.
• To examine the influence of prior experience with controllable versus uncontrollable events on the illusion of control in depressed and nondepressed individuals.

Main Methods:

• College students were assigned to groups experiencing controllable noise, uncontrollable noise, or no noise pretreatment.
• Following pretreatment, participants judged their control over a noncontingency learning task with outcomes associated with either failure or success.

Main Results:

• Nondepressed students with prior uncontrollable noise exposure showed an illusion of control when outcomes were noncontingent and successful.
• Nondepressed students with prior controllable noise exposure accurately judged control.
• Depressed students, irrespective of pretreatment, accurately judged their level of control.

Conclusions:

• The findings contradict learned helplessness theory's predictions regarding the illusion of control in depression.
• Results align with the egotism hypothesis, suggesting self-enhancement biases may be preserved in depression.
• Prior uncontrollable experiences do not universally eliminate the illusion of control, particularly when outcomes are positive.