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The role of expectations and attributions in the alleviation of learned helplessness.

Dweck, Carol S.·1975·Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
DOI 10.1037/h0077149
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Abstract

The purpose of the investigation was to determine whether altering attributions for failure would enable learned helpless children to deal more effectively with failure in an experimental problem-solving situation. Twelve children with extreme reactions to failure were identified and were given intensive, relatively long-term experience with one of two training procedures. It was hypothesized that a procedure which taught the helpless children to take responsibility for failure and to attribute it to lack of effort would result in unimpaired performance following failure in the criterion situation, but that a procedure which provided success experiences only (as in many programmed learning and behavior modification programs) would lead to changes of a lesser magnitude. The results revealed that following training, the subjects in the Success Only Treatment continued to evidence a severe deterioration in performance after failure, while subjects in the Attribution Retraining Treatment maintained or improved their performance. In addition, the subjects in the latter condition showed an increase in the degree to which they emphasized insufficient motivation versus ability as a determinant of failure. The present study of the alleviation of learned helplessness in children has grown out of several relatively independent lines of investigation: contingency learning in experimental animal psychology, attribution theory in personality-s ocial psychology, and cognitive therapy in clinical psychology. The phenomenon of learned helplessness, conceptually related to the earlier notion of

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  • Attributions that emphasize effort have been correlated with achievement motivation and positive postfailure striving.

    “Attributions that emphasize effort have been correlated with achievement motivation (Powers, Douglas, Cool, & Gose, 1985) and positive postfailure striving (Diener & Dweck, 1980; Dweck, 1975; Nicholls, 1976).”

    From Praise for intelligence can undermine children's motivation and performance. (1998) · cites this paper as Dweck, 1975

  • Negative motivational consequences of attributions that ascribe failures to ability have been well documented.

    “On the contrary, the negative motivational consequences of attributions that ascribe failures to ability have been well documented by researchers interested in achievement (Bell, McCallum, Bryles, & Driesler, 1994; Covington & Omelich, 1984; Dweck, 1975; Jagacinski & Nicholls, 1984; Weiner, Russell, & Lerman, 1979).”

    From Praise for intelligence can undermine children's motivation and performance. (1998) · cites this paper as Dweck, 1975

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Authors
Dweck, C. S.
Affiliations
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (US)
Corresponding author
Dweck, Carol S.
ORCID
Dweck, Carol S.
Venue
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
Publisher
American Psychological Association (APA)
Published
1975-04
Volume
31
Issue
4
Pages
674-685
ISSN
  • 0022-3514 (ISSN-L)
  • 1939-1315
DOI
10.1037/h0077149
OpenAlex
W2139986071
Cited by
1,315
References
2
Citations by year
2026: 10 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 23 · 2023: 18 · 2022: 23 · 2021: 25 · 2020: 27 · 2019: 30 · 2018: 25 · 2017: 36 · 2016: 33 · 2015: 29 · 2014: 33 · 2013: 32 · 2012: 36
FWCI
36.91
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Education, Achievement, and Giftedness
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Optimism, Hope, and Well-being
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
Keywords
learned helplessness, attribution theory, attribution retraining, failure, children, success experience, problem solving, motivation, cognitive therapy, contingency learning

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