Learned helplessness and learned effectiveness: Effects of explicit response cues on individuals differing in personal control expectancies

62 female undergraduates who scored as extreme internals or externals on the Mirels Personal Fate Control Scale participated in a partial replication of D. S. Hiroto's learned helplessness experiment. Lights were added to the treatment apparatus, which made explicit to Ss the contingency or non...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of personality and social psychology 1979-11, Vol.37 (11), p.1982-1992
Main Authors: Gregory, W. Larry, Chartier, George M, Wright, Mark H
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acoustic Stimulation
Aversive Stimulation
Avoidance Learning
Cues
Female
Human
Humans
Internal External Locus of Control
Internal-External Control
Learned Helplessness
Photic Stimulation
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Summary:62 female undergraduates who scored as extreme internals or externals on the Mirels Personal Fate Control Scale participated in a partial replication of D. S. Hiroto's learned helplessness experiment. Lights were added to the treatment apparatus, which made explicit to Ss the contingency or noncontingency between their responses and the termination of an aversive tone. As predicted, the performance of internals was significantly impaired by uncontrollability (learned helplessness), while that of externals was facilitated by controllability (learned effectiveness). Externals performed as well as internals in the "escapable" condition, but their performance was inferior to that of internals in the control condition. Following "inescapable" treatment, internals performed more poorly than externals. Results support H. M. Lefcourt's (1967) explication. (44 ref)
ISSN:0022-3514
1939-1315
DOI:10.1037/0022-3514.37.11.1982