Learned Helplessness – Health and Sports Psychology Presentation

Seligman’s reformulated (1978 and later) model of learned helplessness

• The reformulated model states that the foundation of depression and helplessness deficits is a person causal contribution to their self for bad events.
• Reformulated model is crafted from attribution theory.
• Attribution theory generally deals with how individuals attribute causality of events.
• Depressed people tend to make more “stable” attributions and more global attributions.

The reformulated model states that the foundation of depression and helplessness deficits is a person causal contribution to their self for bad events (an internal attribution which goes with the phrase, “it is my fault.)Therefore, researchers of these model, Seligman and his colleagues, formulated the model from attribution theory. Attribution theory generally deals with how individuals attribute causality of events. For example, internal and external attribution where the person is responsible in the first case (internal) and not responsible in the second case (external).The model suggests that depressed people tend to make more “stable” attributions and also make global attributions as well (generalization of situations)

• Most animals when exposed to uncontrollable aversive experiences, have devastating effects on subsequent learning, emotion and motivation.
• Therapy for dogs in experiments required helping them before they could eventually help themselves.
• Depression depends on the attributions people make about causes of negative events.
• Learned helplessness is a state of cognitive exhaustion which arises after nonproductive problem solving.

According to Seligman’s studies, most animals while exposed to uncontrollable aversive experiences, have devastating effects on subsequent learning, emotion and motivation. Seligman reported that from his findings, therapy for dogs in his experiment who had learned helplessness required dragging them from the area of danger before they could respond on their own. According to reformulation of learned helplessness theory, it does not matter if the depression results from helplessness situations; the fact is it depends on the attributions people make about causes of negative events. The latest description of learned helplessness and which is pivoted on Seligman’s research, implies that it is a state  of cognitive exhaustion which arises after nonproductive problem solving.

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