Electroconvulsive shock and learned helplessness in rats

Three experiments evaluated the effects of a single electroconvulsive shock in alleviating the learned helplessness effect in rats. The experiments differed primarily in terms of the location of the ECS treatment in the experimental sequence of events. In Experiment 1, ECS was given following helplessness training and testing and was evaluated during a retesting phase; in Experiment 2, ECS was given either immediately after helplessness training or immediately before helplessness testing; and, in Experiment 3, ECS was given prior to helplessness training. In all three experiments, significant helplessness effects occurred for subjects not receiving ECS but were absent in subjects receiving ECS. The data were compared with expectations arising from both amnesia-inducing and biochemical-change interpretations of the effects of ECS.     

Role of shock intensity in the learned helplessness paradigm

Although there have been many studies of the interference effect produced by exposure to inescapable shock, little is known about the role of shock intensity. This experiment factorially manipulated four levels of shock intensity during exposure to inescapable shock and three levels of intensity during the test for interference. Interference occurred at each training shock intensity when training and test shocks were similar. Interference was not obtained when training intensity was high but testing intensity low or medium or when training intensity was low or medium and test intensity was high. These findings pose problems for learned helplessness, learned inactivity, competing motor response, and catecholamine depletion hypotheses of the interference effect in the rat.     

Stimulus control of immunization against chronic learned helplessness

Two experiments investigated the effectiveness of multiple (five) sessions of signaled eseapable-shock pretraining in preventing (immunizing against) the shack-escape impairment produced by an equal number of sessions of signaled inescapable shock. In Experiment 1, rats were exposed to 50 pairings per session of a white-noise stimulus with escapable shock during the immunization phase. Subsequently, they were exposed to 50 pairings per session of a different (houselight) stimulus with inescapable shock. Shock-escape performance in a shuttlebox test with constant illumination revealed no evidence of immunization relative to the performance of rats given five prior sessions of light-signaled inescapable shock only. Experiment 2 was identical in all respects to Experiment 1, except that both the escapable- and the inescapable-shock phases for animals in the immunization treatment group involved the same stimulus (houseüght) as a shock signal. Under these circumstances, the prior escapable-shock training significantly reduced the shuttle-box escape deficit engendered by chronic exposure to signaled inescapable shock; performance in the shuttle-box was not reliably different from that of rats exposed to signaled escapable shock alone. These findings suggest that, under chronic conditions, the development of stimulus control using Pavlovian conditioning procedures may serve to modulate the normally prophylactic influence on later shock-escape acquisition of serial exposure to escapable and inescapable shocks.     

The nature of the initial coping response and the learned helplessness effect

The availability of an effective coping response has been shown to attenuate the deleterious behavioral and physiological consequences of inescapable electric shock. In the current study, two groups of rats could escape tailshock by turning a wheel. When short-latency responses that appeared to be elicited by shock onset were permitted to terminate shock, rats subsequently failed to learn to escape in a shuttlebox and did not differ from rats which received an equivalent amount of inescapable shock. However, when a relatively long-latency response was required and short-latency responses were not allowed to affect shock, rats subsequently readily learned to escape in the shuttlebox. The implications of these results for explanations of the manner in which prior exposure to shock influences subsequent escape learning were discussed.     

The influence of coping strategies on the manifestation of learned helplessness

Thirty learning-disabled and 30 normally achieving fourth-grade boys experienced failure on a problem-solving task, following which they received either tutor-assistance or self-instructional training to induce success in coping with failure, or a no-training condition. Training effects were assessed on a subsequent problem-solving task and a measure of continuing motivation. Tutor-assistance training was more effective than self-instructional training for decreasing the number of problems on which learning-disabled boys gave up prior to solution. Compared with their untrained controls, learning-disabled boys with tutor-assistance training gave up less often and solved more problems. Continuing motivation increased with learning-disabled boys who received tutor-assistance training and normally achieving boys without training. Untrained normal achievers attributed failure to adoption of specific task strategies, while untrained learning-disabled boys attributed failure to task difficulty. It was suggested that characteristics of learned helplessness were apparent in the impaired performance of the learning-disabled boys. Normal achievers appeared to have developed active and independent strategies for coping with failure.     

A potential shock-reducing contingency in the backshock technique: Implications for learned helplessness

Electric shocks were delivered to rats through a subcutaneously implanted back electrode. Experiment 1 evaluated the relationship between number of paws grounded and total power dissipated in the rat. In Experiment 2, the threshold of shock-induced vocalization, a putative index of aversiveness, was found to be positively correlated with the number of paws grounded. These findings suggest that when the backshock technique is used, the aversiveness of shock potentially can be modified by the posture adopted by the experimental animal. Caution should be exercised, therefore, in attributing deficits in escape behavior following inescapable shock administered with back electrodes to learned helplessness.     

Discriminative vs motivational interpretations of avoidance extinction: Extensions to learned helplessness

Resistance to extinction of discriminated barpress avoidance in rats was assessed through the use of three procedures, each of which served to break the response-reinforcement contingency, classical extinction (CE), operant extinction (OE), and a variable-ratio shock schedule (VR). Greatest resistance to extinction was found for the VR group, followed by OE and then by CE Ss. thus supporting a discriminative rather than a motivational analysis. Reacquisition rates following extinction suggested evidence of “learned helplessness” in some Ss exposed to noncontingent CS-US presentations.     

Teaching style and academic achievement: The mediating role of learned helplessness and mastery orientation

Although several studies have investigated the roles of teaching practices during the learning process on students, the role of school learned helplessness (LH) and mastery orientation (MO) has not been deeply examined. The present study aimed to verify the dynamics between academic achievement and the perception of the students of their teacher's psychological control and autonomy support by examining the mediating role of school LH and MO. Results confirmed that perceived teacher psychological control can predict school LH, whereas perceived teacher autonomy support can predict school MO. Additionally, academic achievement was positively predicted by school MO, whereas it was negatively predicted by school LH. Finally, analyses have shown that school LH and MO play a mediating role in the relationship between academic achievement and the perceived teacher autonomy support and psychological control. Limitations and implications are discussed.     

To succeed or not to succeed: A critical review of issues in learned helplessness

A critical analysis of theoretical and methodological issues in learned helplessness is presented. Researchers have tended to focus upon learned helplessness as a behavioral trait independent of contextual conditions. Learned helplessness has been studied exclusively in achievement settings using achievement tasks, perceived as maladaptive behavior requiring some intervention strategy or retraining program. It has not been studied as an adaptive response to situational demands. It is the purpose of this paper to analyze the theoretical backgrounds and methodological limitations of much of the research in learned helplessness and to suggest new directions and implications for education.     

Test anxiety and learned helplessness is moderated by student perceptions of teacher motivational support

The aim of the present study was to examine the interplay between test anxiety (i.e. worry and emotionality) and learned helplessness in a sample of adolescents (N = 845, aged 13–17 years) in secondary schools in Germany. In accordance with the buffering hypothesis, it was hypothesised that the detrimental association between both components of text anxiety and helplessness in school would be buffered by students’ perception of their teachers as positive motivators (TPM). TPM refers to student motivation within the academic context, which results from their perception of teacher support. Interesting differences between the two components of test anxiety were identified: emotionality was positively associated with helplessness in school, whereas worry was negatively associated. Using latent moderated structural equations (LMS), the findings revealed that TPM functions as a moderator in the interplay between emotionality and learned helplessness. Despite these results, TPM did not operate as a buffer between emotionality and learned helplessness since helplessness in school was the highest when students perceived some degree of TPM. These findings make a case for implementing specific psychological interventions within the school context in order to prevent helplessness in school.     

中小学学生习得性无助的形成、表现及其治疗

学生的学业不良、社交困难，一直是教育界和心理界关注的热点，而习得性无助正是这类学生的一种普遍倾向。探讨习得性无助的形成、表现及其治疗，有利于教师理解习得性无助学生，从而帮助其克服这种障碍。     

Partial control and learned helplessness in rats: Control over shock intensity prevents interference with subsequent escape

The effect upon subsequent escape acquisition of control over shock intensity in the absence of control over other shock characteristics was examined. Pretreatment involved random shocks of 1.6 and .75 mA at a density of about 10/min. The experimental group could avoid the higher shock intensity if they leverpressed at least once every 15 sec. Yoked and no-shock rats completed the triadic design. Experimental and yoked animals received all scheduled shocks. Triads were later tested for FR 2 shuttlebox escape at either the .75 mA (low) or 1.6 mA (high) intensity. During testing, avoidance rats performed as well as no-shock rats at the low intensity and escaped even more rapidly at the high intensity. Yoked rats showed interference at both intensities, with interference very marked, including many failures to escape, at the low intensity. These findings indicate that control over shock intensity, by itself, is sufficient to prevent learned helplessness and suggest that control over any salient characteristic of shock may be sufficient for immunization.     

The use of expectancy theory and the theory of learned helplessness in building upon strengths of ethnic minorities: The black experience in the United States

Members of ethnic minority groups experience uncontrollability more than do members of the majority culture. Therefore, they exhibit the deficits associated with learned helplessness which include inhibition of behavioral responses, cognitive deficits (negative expectancies), lowered self-esteem and depressed mood. From the literature of the culture of Black Americans emanates the image of the dream and the interactional style which engenders positive expectancies, reversing apathy and learned helplessness. Building upon the strengths of an ethnic minority by using their indigenous literature to reduce the motivational and cognitive deficits associated with learned helplessness, can make a difference.     

The effects of order of shock durations on helplessness in rats

Whereas rats exposed to a series of progressively decreasing shock durations show deficits in shuttle-escape performance 24 h later, the same number and intensity of shocks in the reverse (increasing) order of durations does not produce the “learned helplessness” effect (Balleine & Job, 1991). We conducted two experiments to establish the generality of this shock-duration order effect on other measures of distress and helplessness in rats. In Experiment 1, rats exposed to decreasing durations of inescapable shock showed reduced consumption of quinine-adulterated water (finickiness), whereas increasing durations produced no finickiness. By contrast, increasing shock durations produced greater conditioned fear to the shock context than did decreasing shock durations in Experiment 2. The differential effects of shock-duration order on finickiness and fear are explicated in terms of the specificity of fear conditioning during exposure to increasing versus decreasing series of shock duration orders.     

Getting off on the wrong foot: Longitudinal effects of Hispanic students' stability attributions following poor initial test performance

Though studies have established that following poor performance, attributions to stable causes affect the performance of minority students, few studies have explored the impact of stability attributions over time. This study explored attributions following initial failure among a predominantly Hispanic student population. We measured students' collectivism, stability attributions and grades at three points during the semester. Attributions to stable causes were associated with worse initial grades and lesser gains in academic performance over time. Further, collectivism was associated with greater initial attribution to stable causes but less increase in attributions to stable causes over time.     

Differential effects of norm-referenced and self-referenced feedback on performance expectancies,attributions, and motivation

When feedback is provided to students in a norm-referenced manner that compares the individual's performance to that of others, people who perform poorly tend to attribute their failures to lack of ability, expect to perform poorly in the future, and demonstrate decreased motivation on subsequent tasks. The present study examined the hypothesis that the deleterious effects of failure might be attenuated when failure is expressed in self-referenced terms—relative to the individual's known level of ability as assessed by other measures. In this study, subjects received feedback indicating that they did well or poorly on an anagram test, and this feedback was described as either norm-referenced (comparing the individual's performance to that of others) or as self-referenced (comparing performance to other measures of the individual's ability). As predicted, compared to norm-referenced failure, self referenced feedback resulted in higher expectancies regarding future performance and increased attributions to effort. Contrary to expectations, attributions to ability were not affected. The implications of the results for the structure of academic feedback are discussed.     

Gender effects in self-management training: Individual versus cooperative interventions

This study examined gender differences in individual and cooperative (small-group) self-management training programs targeting mathematics performance. It was hypothesized that gender would interact with type of self-management training, such that girls in the individual training condition and boys in the cooperative training condition would improve less than girls in the cooperative training condition or boys in the individual training condition. As expected, girls in the individual training con- dition improved significantly less than both girls in the cooperative condition and boys in the individual condition. In contrast, boys in the cooperative training condi- tion did not differ significantly from either boys in the individual training condition or girls in the cooperative training condition. These results suggest the benefit of more cooperative self-management training interventions for classroom-wide interventions that include both boys and girls. Limitations of the study and suggestions for future research are discussed.