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Learned Helplessness

Learned Helplessness E. P. SELIGMAN, PH.D.1 Departments of Psychiatry and Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Experimental psychologists interested in learning have traditionally studied the behavior of animals and men faced with rewards and punish­ ments that the subject could control. So, in a typical instrumental learning experiment, the subject can either make some response or refrain from mak­ ing it and thereby influence the events around him. Nature, however, is not always so benign in its arrangement of the contingencies. Not only do we face events that we can control by our actions, but we also face many events about which we can do nothing at all. Such uncontrollable events can sig­ nificantly debilitate organisms: they produce passivity in the face of trauma, inability to learn that responding is effective, and emotional stress in ani­ mals, and possibly depression in man. This review is concerned with the behavioral and psychological impact of uncontrollable traumatic events. Behavioral mani estations. When an experimentally naive dog receives f escape-avoidance training in a shuttle box, the following behavior typically occurs: at the onset of the first painful electric shock, the dog runs frantically about, defecating, urinating, and howling, until it accidentally scrambles over http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Annual Review of Medicine Annual Reviews

Learned Helplessness

Seligman, M E P
Annual Review of Medicine , Volume 23 (1) – Feb 1, 1972
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Publisher
Annual Reviews
Copyright
Copyright 1972 Annual Reviews. All rights reserved
Subject
Review Articles
ISSN
0066-4219
eISSN
1545-326X
DOI
10.1146/annurev.me.23.020172.002203
pmid
4566487
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

E. P. SELIGMAN, PH.D.1 Departments of Psychiatry and Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Experimental psychologists interested in learning have traditionally studied the behavior of animals and men faced with rewards and punish­ ments that the subject could control. So, in a typical instrumental learning experiment, the subject can either make some response or refrain from mak­ ing it and thereby influence the events around him. Nature, however, is not always so benign in its arrangement of the contingencies. Not only do we face events that we can control by our actions, but we also face many events about which we can do nothing at all. Such uncontrollable events can sig­ nificantly debilitate organisms: they produce passivity in the face of trauma, inability to learn that responding is effective, and emotional stress in ani­ mals, and possibly depression in man. This review is concerned with the behavioral and psychological impact of uncontrollable traumatic events. Behavioral mani estations. When an experimentally naive dog receives f escape-avoidance training in a shuttle box, the following behavior typically occurs: at the onset of the first painful electric shock, the dog runs frantically about, defecating, urinating, and howling, until it accidentally scrambles over

Journal

Annual Review of Medicine – Annual Reviews

Published: Feb 1, 1972

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