Learned Helplessness: Anagram and Frustrations - Essay Example

Learned helplessness: Anagram and Frustrations al Affiliation) “Learned helplessness” concept is popular presently in various circles, both experimental and clinical. The concept got originally developed on the laboratory experiment basis with infrahuman species. It was after Seligman (1975) proposed that learned helplessness is an appropriate frustration of depression model and along with other researchers, they extended the investigation with human subjects. In the experimental approach, the concept was first used in describing some of the laboratory animal failure to avoid or escape shock when given the opportunity, after prior exposure to inescapable shock. The term has since been used to the human beings failure to utilize, seek or learn adaptive instrumental responses as it is experienced by various people who are frustrated and seem to give up. In this review, the paper will seek assess the learned helplessness with anagrams.it will explain how some group may find it difficult to complete an anagram and some individual become frustrated due to the outcome. The typical learned helplessness laboratory demonstration has utilized an experimental design that two to three groups of animals get exposed to the shock series while confined in a hammock or harness. Hiroto and Seligman (1975) added that Subjects in one of the groups get permitted to an instrumental escape response and those in second, yoked group have no alternative to overcome the shock. The naïve subjects in the third group experience no shock at this stage. When every animal gets the opportunity to learn the usual avoid/escape response in the shuttle box, those in escape-conditioned and naïve groups readily learn how to avoid the barrier to safety. On the other hand, those from the prior yoked condition tend to fail learning the response. The latter, learned helplessness animals cease to run about in new situations quickly and simply lie passively as they receive continued shocks. Driessen and Hollon (2010) explains that this effect is universal in every variations or subject of procedure, but it has some generality degrees across situations and species. With human subjects, the exposure uncontrollable and aversive noise has subsequently interfered the anagram solving as they experience insoluble discrimination issues such as anagram. Leichsenring and Leibing (2003) states that some of the naturally occurring learned helplessness forms in human beings could be more direct clinical interest. Reactive frustration, in particular, has presently been reinterpreted as an outcome of belief or perception that is significant in life events, both gratifying and aversive, are beyond person’s control. Hence, familiar frustration responding pattern of giving up even if there is an adaptive response would seem to be available. Of course, the giving up reactions is not as generalized or global as in frustration or depression. For instance, children who react when they fail in rearranging an anagram or an achievement context through giving up further effort. Hence, feeding a vicious under-achievement circles if not the broader frustration pattern. It is certainly that every client in experimental therapy presents a learned helplessness pattern (Wortman & Brehm, 1975). Most of them are actively casting about for appropriate coping responses in dealing with external and internal events. Indeed, some human beings seem to exhibit not a giving up syndrome though a trying-too-hard syndrome, often as they try to avoid or escape undesired reactions like frustrations. There are various common clinical objectively maladaptive and unnecessary avoidance behavior patterns. The classical phobias also follow this pattern; so do some social withdrawal problems and drug dependence (Bennett & Elliott, 2005). For instance, when a male person avoids urinating in public restrooms with the fear of being seen when he fails to perform. In this case, as with most phobias, the individual avoidance behavior can be successful in reducing frustration, anxiety or embarrassment. There is disagreement between failure and non-contingency concept but is clear that learned helplessness induction with the human subjects is as a result of experimenter-induced failure. The subjects either fail to solve issues they have been advised to believe they are solvable or fail to escape the aversive stimulation they have been directed to believe inescapable. Numerous theoretical models explain the learned theoretical helplessness theory in trying to explain the impaired performance following the experimenter-induced performance along with the methodology ambiguity. The present study gives a test of whether contingencies acknowledgment would eliminate the helplessness induction interference with subsequent anagram performance. Additionally, the unselected subject usage obscures a significant interaction between controllability and text anxiety (Slavich, Thornton, Torres, Monroe & Gotlib 2009; Chang & Sanna, 2007). The test anxiety theory predicts that some subjects are particularly prone to get involved with the frustration of failure in the laboratory helplessness induction. According to Henry (2005) the high test anxious human beings are subjected to blame themselves for their poor performance. The deficit underlying the impaired performance under stress gets postulated to be attention in nature. Researchers believe that after laboratory helplessness induction stress, the high-anxious person tend to engage in attentionally demanding of self-preoccupation. On the other hand, the low-test-anxious-person is not predicted to show their such interference in their subsequent task. The individual gets instated to orient cognition and behavior towards the specific task needs while excluding the extraneous ideation, even when they are frustrated. The test anxiety theory examination as an alternative learned helplessness theory tends to get warranted for various reasons (Henry, 2005). First, both theories had tests in experimental situations and their similarities have been obscured by terminology difference and the author’s failure to make an appropriate reference to prior studies. Secondly, there have been doubts as to whether the subjects readily employ the non-contingency concept that is critical to the learned helplessness theory. It is critical as it is not determine if people make attributions predicting through theory or systematically to the behavior. Thirdly, the text anxiety theory predicts person’s differences the learned helplessness difference as they respond to inductions unconsidered in learned helplessness studies. Finally, most successful interventions with text-anxious individuals focus on anxious reactions towards the examination situation. The instrumental ineffective persistence coping behavior constitutes an experimental learned helplessness converse and may get termed as “learned helplessness” (Higgins M & Hacker, 2008). In this case, the learned restless person is one who persists in futile attempts to escape the frustrating event. Emotional arousal in anxiety form and frustration is naturally prominent to the learned restlessness, just as low as depression and arousal get emotionally learned helplessness concomitants. The learned restlessness connotations also fit many of the clients’ clinical picture who in various ways tend to try hard in escaping or avoiding some aversive condition through instrumental, voluntary behavior. In such cases, some learned helplessness degree might prove to be more adaptive in the long run. Theoretically, the depression or frustration experience may become the stimulus for either restless or helpless reactions (Carlson, 2010). If the otherwise individual is greatly afraid or ashamed of his depression frustrated and helpless, they may cast about anxiously relief from the situation. It is consistent with the observation that anxiety and depression get often entangled with diverse degrees. Secondary reaction to the reaction help to explain why various frustrating and anxious states seem so loosely linked to the controlling or precipitating environmental events. Furthermore, the secondary reaction nature may dictate the direction and point of maximum therapeutic leverage. Therefore, sound treatment decisions need careful clinical discrimination between restlessness and helplessness (Chang & Sanna, 2007). The greatest learned helplessness value model is its conceptual mapping of on area that gives a figure that illuminates the ground of other problem areas (Carlson, 2010). The concept should in turn assist in setting boundaries to prevent the overextension of the prior model. The present discussion probably raises unanswered questions on how therapeutic efforts can get guided in the learned restlessness case. Following the prior findings that learned helplessness may be as a result of an individual failure to utilize, seek or learn adaptive instrumental responses as frustrated people experience it. Therefore, this study relies on various predictions that rely on the learned helplessness concept. Firstly, the high-test-anxious subjects may perform poorly on the anagram task compared to the low-test-anxious subjects. Secondly, there would be an essential interaction between text anxiety and controllability. Lastly, there will be a significant difference in performance of anagram for the high-test-anxious subjects in the acknowledged condition, but no significant difference between the low-test-anxious subjects. REFERENCES Bennett, K. & Elliott, M. (2005). "Pessimistic explanatory style and Cardiac Health: What is the relation and the mechanism that links them?". Basic and applied social psychology 27: 239–48. Chang, E. & Sanna, L. (2007). "Affectivity and psychological adjustment across tow adult generations: Does pessimistic explanatory style still matter?". Personality and Individual Differences 43: 1149–59. Higgins, Diana M.; Hacker, Jeffrey E. (2008). "A Randomized Trial of Brief Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Prevention of Generalized Anxiety Disorder". The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry 69 (8): Hiroto, D. & Seligman, M. (1975). "Generality of learned helplessness in man". 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"Targeted rejection predicts hastened onset of major depression". Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology 28: 223–243 Read More