Following an incentive (low, high) manipulation, college students received response-outcome contingency training. All students then observed a lecture. Postlecture results indicated that the high- compared to the low-expressive lecturer increased achievement and internal locus in contingent but not noncontingent students for low-incentive…

The view that humans fail to solve certain types of problems because they are helpless and passive originated from a series of studies with animals; subsequent research attempted to replicate the findings of the learned helplessness behavior with humans. In an attempt to replicate and extend the Hiroto and Seligman (1975) study of humans exposed…

Two experiments investigated the relationship between the magnitude of motivation for control over the environment and tendency to derogate victims. Manipulated situational controllability and uncontrollability within a learned helplessness procedure and assessed derogation of a victimized stranger. Results indicated that motivation and need for…

The effects of contingency training, instructor expressiveness, and student incentives on student achievement and attributions were investigated in a simulated college classroom. The following conditions were involved: a contingency manipulation resembling an aptitude test; an instructor lecture; two levels of student incentive; and an achievement…

This paper reviews the development of attribution theory as it relates to sport from Fritz Heider's original model of attribution theory in 1958 to the present. The original model explains that individuals use four attribution factors to interpret and predict the outcome of an event--ability, effort, task difficulty, and luck. Bernard Weiner built…

Both external locus of control (i.e., a generalized expectancy that reinforcement is controlled by luck or fate instead of oneself) and internal locus of attribution (i.e., beliefs that success or failure result from an individual's actions rather than external causes) have been related to depression. To examine the relationship of attributions…

This study investigated the reformulated theory of learned helplessness, centering around attributional style in the cause of cognitive and emotional deficits. Subjects (N=58) were undergraduate and graduate psychology students at the University of Alabama at Huntsville. Subjects were divided into an experimental group (N=30) who received…

Investigated sex differences on the Adult Nowicki-Strickland Internal-External Control Scale using factor analysis of student scores (N=194). Three factors emerged for females and five for males. Comparison with other studies shows item consistency on the first two factors which were the same for both sexes. (Author/JAC)

This experiment investigated: (1) relationships among locus of control, attributional style, and depression; (2) if a depressogenic attributional style could be empirically isolated; and (3) if reliable relationships existed between attribution and depression when depression was operationalized using different instruments. Subjects completed the…

The concept of an individual's perception of control was applied to the classroom performance of university students. The initial approach was to use a laboratory simulation of a university classroom to explore the following: (1) whether it is possible to induce feelings of helplessness in a university classroom; (2) effects that feelings of…

In addition to academic pressures shared with American students, students from other countries studying in the United States have the stress of living in an unfamiliar culture. Common symptoms of culture shock (irritability, loneliness, depression, rigidity) have been identified. Parallel symptoms have been described in the learned helplessness…

Following a traditional learned helplessness paradigm, subjects initially tried to terminate random bursts of noise using a button-pressing manipulandum and next tried to solve 20 serially-presented anagrams. The noise was broadcast at either a loud or soft intensity, and the subject's button-pressing was either successful (Escape condition) or…

Examined the help-seeking behaviors of college students needing assistance with personal problems. Using attribution theory and the learned helplessness paradigm, found that race and sex differences but not causal attribution (seeing problems as caused by internal or external factors) were related to seeking out assistance. Discusses the recurrent…

An attributional model that conceptualizes the pressures that reduce professors' personal and career vitality is presented. The model is based primarily on the locus of control literature and especially the reformulated model of learned helplessness by Lynn Abramson, Martin Seligman, and John Teasdale. The analysis deals only with the cognitive…

Bernard Weiner and other motivation researchers have explored what happens to students when they try to explain why they succeed or fail. Causal attributions directly affect motivation and make the difference between helpless and mastery-oriented students. Suggestions are offered to educators to help change the attributions of helpless students…