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Uncertainty, Mental Models, and Learned Helplessness: An Anatomy of Control Loss

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Control Motivation and Social Cognition

Abstract

It is well established that, after prolonged exposure to an uncontrollable situation, symptoms of learned helplessness (LH) emerge in humans as well as in infrahuman species: Performance of new tasks is seriously impaired and signs of emotional distress appear. Despite decades of intensive research, the causal mechanism underlying this fairly general behavioral phenomenon remains obscure.

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Authors
  1. Miroslaw Kofta
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Ohio State University, 142 Townsend Hall, 1885 Neil Avenue Mall, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA

    Gifford Weary Ph.D.

  2. Department of Psychology, University of California at Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, 93106, USA

    Faith Gleicher Ph.D.

  3. Department of Psychology, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, 46556, USA

    Kerry L. Marsh Ph.D.

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© 1993 Springer-Verlag New York, Inc.

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Kofta, M. (1993). Uncertainty, Mental Models, and Learned Helplessness: An Anatomy of Control Loss. In: Weary, G., Gleicher, F., Marsh, K.L. (eds) Control Motivation and Social Cognition. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-8309-3_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-8309-3_5

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4613-8311-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4613-8309-3

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