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Related Experiment Videos

Predicting helplessness in human subjects

J W Thornton

    The Journal of Psychology
    |November 1, 1982
    PubMed
    Summary
    This summary is machine-generated.

    This study investigated how learned helplessness affects task performance. Results show that personality type and experimental conditions significantly impacted maze learning, suggesting a link between helplessness and cognitive task engagement.

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    Area of Science:

    • Psychology
    • Cognitive Science
    • Behavioral Science

    Background:

    • Learned helplessness is a psychological state where individuals feel powerless to influence outcomes.
    • Previous research suggests helplessness can impair cognitive function and motivation.
    • Understanding the impact of helplessness on learning is crucial for educational and therapeutic interventions.

    Purpose of the Study:

    • To examine the influence of experimentally induced helplessness on subsequent learning performance.
    • To investigate the interaction between pre-existing helplessness levels (high, low, mean scores) and experimental conditions.
    • To determine if personality type, experimental treatment, and learning blocks affect performance on a complex cognitive task.

    Main Methods:

    • A 140-item helplessness inventory was administered to 340 college students.

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  • Ninety students were selected based on inventory scores (30 high, 30 low, 30 mean).
  • Subjects underwent one of three conditions: solvable tasks, unsolvable tasks, or reading an unrelated article, followed by a stylus maze learning task.

    • Main Results:

    • Statistical significance was found for personality type, indicating individual differences in response to the experimental manipulation.
    • Experimental treatment significantly affected performance, with unsolvable tasks likely inducing greater helplessness.
    • Performance on the stylus maze learning task improved over blocks of trials, but this improvement was moderated by personality and treatment.

    Conclusions:

    • Learned helplessness, induced by unsolvable tasks, can negatively impact subsequent learning.
    • Individual differences in personality moderate the effects of helplessness on cognitive performance.
    • The findings have implications for understanding how perceived control influences learning and motivation in educational settings.