PSY402 Theories of Learning Chapter 8 – Learned Helplessness

Learned Helplessness Theory Seligman – depression is learned. Depression occurs when people believe: Failures are due to uncontrollable events. Failure will continue as long as events are beyond their control. Depression arises from helplessness.

Animal Research Step 1 -- three groups of dogs: Inescapable shock – no control. Escapable shock -- terminated if the dog pressed a panel. No shock Step 2 – 10 trials of signaled avoidance training in shuttle box. 2/3 of inescapable shock dogs did not learn to jump during step 2.

Helplessness in Humans Hiroto – three groups of college students: Uncontrollable group – wrongly told that pushing button would end noise. Escapable group – pushing button ended noise. Control – no noise. Tested using finger shuttle box. Uncontrollable group did not escape

Characteristics of Helplessness Motivational impairment – unable to initiate voluntary behavior. Mice in water maze. Nonspecific – carries over to a variety tasks and test situations. Intellectual impairment – incapable of benefiting from future experience – even if they jump, don’t learn. Emotional trauma – neg. affect.

Studies of Depressives Show similar results to learned helplessness studies. Depressed individuals do not escape noise, responding like inescapable non-depressed individuals. Depressed individuals do not adjust likelihood of succeeding upward when they experience success. They credit chance not skill.

Criticisms of Seligman’s Theory There is more to depression than learned helplessness. Helplessness subjects described the task as a skill task, even though acting as if it were a chance task. Failure to replicate performance deficits in humans – facilitation of performance instead. May be due to attributions.

Attribution Theory Causal attributions of failure have three dimensions: Internal-external – internal traits or characteristics vs environmental forces Stable-unstable – past causes will persist vs new forces will determine future outcomes Global-specific – outcome relates only to one task vs outcome effects everything.

Two Kinds of Helplessness Personal helplessness – an individual’s inability causes failure. Universal helplessness – the environment is structured so that no one can control future events. Abramson -- both kinds lead to depression. Vary on external-internal dimension. Low self-esteem only with personal.

Severity of Depression Depression can be transient if attributed to global but changing conditions. Severe depression occurs when attributions are: Internal Global Stable Better if external, specific, unstable.

Hopelessness Depression Hopelessness – the expectation that desired outcomes will not occur. Learned helplessness -- no control over undesired outcomes. Accounts for anxiety without depression. Anxiety – possibility that a person may have no control over negative events. Depression occurs when certain.

Pessimism Pessimistic explanatory style – attributional style predicts susceptibility to depression. Langer – a perceived control is basic to human functioning. Optimists – feel they can control events, more successful. Pessimists – believe they have no control over events.

Cognitive View of Phobia Bandura – two kinds of expectancy maintain a phobia: Stimulus-outcome expectancy – about the nature of the stimulus. Response-outcome expectancy – about the likely result of behavior. Why does phobia produce behavior with negative outcomes? Efficacy expectancy – belief that one cannot execute a particular action.

Self-Efficacy Types of information used to establish self-efficacy: Personal accomplishments, success. Task difficulty, amount of effort. Observations of success/failure of others – vicarious modeling. Emotional arousal – we feel less able to cope when agitated or tense. Efficacy predicts approach behavior.

Criticisms of Efficacy View Efficacy expectations may be epiphenomenal – arise with anxiety but do not affect responding. Three types of anxiety: Cognitive – affects self-efficacy Physiological – affects physiology Behavioral – affects responding. Lang – contribution of each depends on prior experience and situation.

Contemporary Theories Shift from global theories to theories about specific aspects of learning. Global theories were about operant responding not classical conditioning. An animal’s biology influences whether, what, and how fast it can learn. Cognitive view requires emphasis on specific cognitive processes.

Stimulus-Substitution Theory What is the nature of the CR – is it just the UCR of is it different? Pavlov – stimulus-substititon theory: The CS stimulates the same areas of the brain as the UCS, producing the same response. Activation of CS with UCS establishes neural connection between brain areas.

Conditioned Opponent Response The CR and UCR are often different: CR of fear is different than UCR of pain. Siegel – best evidence of difference: Morphine (UCS) produced analgesia, reduced pain (UCR) Light or tone (CS) produced hyperalgesia, increased pain (CR). Rats remove paws from heat quickly with CS, slowly with UCS. Insulin (glycemia) works the same way

Conditioning and Drug Tolerance Elimination of a CS results in a stronger response to the UCS, drug. Extinction of responding to environ-mental cues strengthens drug response Changing the context in which a drug is administered increases response to the drug. Novel environment does not elicit an opponent CR.