PSYCH-230 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Psych, Learned Helplessness
Document Summary
Ones passivity and sense of being unable to act and control their own life is acquired through unpleasant experiences and traumas that the individual tried unsuccessfully to control. Initially formulated to explain the behaviour of dogs that received inescapable electric shocks. Lose the ability and motivation to learn to respond in an effective way. Similar to depressed people, animals appeared passive in the face of stress, failing to initiate actions that might allow them to cope. Had dif culty eating or retaining what they ate, and they lost weight. Similar studies conducted on humans indicated that helplessness sometimes led to improvement of performance. Depressive paradox: a cognitive tendency for depressed individuals to accept personal responsibility for negative outcomes despite feeling a lack of personal control. Attribution: explanation a person has for their behaviour. Formulation of attribution is based on 3 questions:
