The DOI matches its Crossref record; 3 of the 3 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Generality of learned helplessness in man.
Abstract
Learned helplessness, the interference with instrumental responding following inescapable aversive events, has been found in animals and man. This study tested for the generality of the debilitation produced by uncontrollabl e events across tasks and motivational systems. Four experiments with college students were simultaneously conducted: (a) pretreatment with inescapable, escapable, or control aversive tone followed by shuttlebox escape testing; (b) pretreatment with insoluble, soluble, or control discrimination problems followed by anagram solution testing; (c) pretreatments with inescapable, escapable, or control aversive tone followed by anagram solution testing; (d) pretreatments with insoluble, soluble, or control discrimination problems followed by shuttlebox escape testing. Learned helplessness was found with all four experiments: Both insolubility and inescapability produced failure to escape and failure to solve anagrams. We suggest that inescapability and insolubility both engendered expectancies that responding is independent of reinforcement. The generality of this process suggests that learned helplessness may be an induced trait. Inescapable aversive events presented to animals or to men result in profound interference with later instrumental learning (e.g., Hiroto, 1974; Overmier & Seligman, 1967; Seligman & Maier, 1967; Thornton & Jacobs, 1971). If a subject can escape the aversive event, later instrumental behavior remains normal. This phenomenon has been…
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“most of the people from the yoked group failed to escape in the shuttlebox, whereas people from the escapable group and the zero group escaped well in the shuttlebox. Importantly the same pattern in the shuttlebox emerged when preceded by solvable and unsolvable anagrams”
From Learned helplessness at fifty: Insights from neuroscience. (2016) · cites this paper as Hiroto & Seligman, 1975
Citations
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Seligman, M. E., & Maier, S. F. (1967) · Journal of Experimental Psychology · doi:10.1037/h0024514 · Cited by 1,981
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“E ssa hipótese também não se aplica aos estudos de desamparo aprendido com humanos nos quais as respostas analisadas geralmente envolvem baixa atividade motora, tais como solucionar anagramas (Hiroto & Seligman, 1975) ou clicar na tela de um computador (Samelo, 2008).”
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“Therefore, noise is easily perceived as an insolvable problem and can lead to learned helplessness (Cohen et al., 1980; Hiroto, 1974; Hiroto & Seligman, 1975).”
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“…1979); interpersonal acceptance-rejection theory, which explains the destructive nature of psycho-social rejection (Rohner & Rohner, 1980); and learned helplessness, in which esteem and agency are corrupted (Seligman, 1972); Cole & Coyne, 1977; Hiroto & Seligman, 1975; Peterson & Park, 1998).”
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Metadata
- Authors
- Hiroto, D. S., & Seligman, M. E.
- Affiliations
- University of California, San Francisco (US)
- ORCID
- Seligman, Martin E.
- Venue
- Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
- Published
- 1975-02
- Volume
- 31
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 311-327
- ISSN
- 0022-3514 (ISSN-L)
- 1939-1315
- OpenAlex
- W2018937716
- Cited by
- 896
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 21 · 2025: 20 · 2024: 18 · 2023: 22 · 2022: 23 · 2021: 23 · 2020: 12 · 2019: 13 · 2018: 22 · 2017: 18 · 2016: 15 · 2015: 20 · 2014: 20 · 2013: 17 · 2012: 19
- FWCI
- 53.40
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior
- Keywords
- learned helplessness, uncontrollability, operant conditioning, escape behavior, motivation system
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