KIN 231.3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Learned Helplessness, Executive Functions
Common Sense Applications KIN 231
FEB 6, 8/18
Attributions in Action
- Can be successful – how you explain that will affect your outcome
Dealing w/losing…
- Cannot distinguish losing performances
- What distinguishes the b’ of the ‘deterioraters’ from the ‘persisters’ are their explanations
about the loss
Deeck & Reppucci (1973)
Dweck wrote the book mindset – how kids explained how they won or lost
Results
- Those who attributed to more variable factors (i.e. lack of effort) showed enhanced
performance – these kids kept going
- Those who attributed losing to stable factors (i.e. ability) showed a great deterioration in
performance
Not good at this; to hard for me; kids who were giving up
1. Mastery-oriented – characterized by attributions that imply that their losses are reversible
2. Learned-helplessness – characterized by attributions that imply that losing is inevitable +
they could do nothing to succeed
I.e. I can’t do that; why bother; I’m not smart enough; what's the use; ill just fail
anyway; nothing works for me
- Learned helplessness Is a control NOT a competence problem
Study
- Dog in a box, in the middle is a hurdle. Left side is a shock pad, right side is safe
- 1st condition – dog gets shocked then jumps over to safe side
- 2nd condition – dogs are in a harness so they cant move when they get shocked. After a bit
the harness is removed and the dogs remain during the shock even though they can now
move, they know it will be over– learned helplessness
Frequency of Helpless B’
Results across many studies show that
- Mastery patterns – 40%
- Helpless patterns – 40%
- Neutral patterns – 10-15%
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Can be successful how you explain that will affect your outcome. What distinguishes the b" of the deterioraters" from the persisters" are their explanations about the loss. Dweck wrote the book mindset how kids explained how they won or lost. Those who attributed to more variable factors (i. e. lack of effort) showed enhanced performance these kids kept going. Those who attributed losing to stable factors (i. e. ability) showed a great deterioration in performance. I can"t do that; why bother; i"m not smart enough; what"s the use; ill just fail anyway; nothing works for me. Learned helplessness is a control not a competence problem. Dog in a box, in the middle is a hurdle. Left side is a shock pad, right side is safe. 1st condition dog gets shocked then jumps over to safe side. 2nd condition dogs are in a harness so they cant move when they get shocked.
