PsychSim 5: HELPLESSLY HOPING Name: Rebecca mckay Section:

Date:

4/30/12

In this activity you will explore the importance of a sense of personal control over the events in your life. Learned Helplessness Briefly describe the three types of animal experiments that lead Seligman to the theory of learned helplessness. What did the animals learn in each experiment? (3) 1.escape learning a dog in shuttle box to determine how animals learn to escape shock with a barrier dividing the cage t-the animal learned to jump over into side b where there was no shock after researcher turned the shock on in compartment a on the other side of the barrier. And the dog jumped to a when researchers switched the shock to compartment b. after a few trials the dog learned to expect the the shock and would cross the barrier more quickly after the shock was turned on. This was negative reinforcement for the dog with ending the shock as the reward 2. Avoidance learning- learning to avoid unpleasant event- the dog received a warning signal with a light and the shock came on after the light and the dog finally learned to jump to the other side. After 50 trials the dog stood by the barrier and when the light came on it calmly jumped to the other side. Nave dogs will quickly learn to escape unpleasant events and avoid them entirely 3. learned helplessness- Seligman tried something new-gave them inescapable shocks at random intervals. Painful inescapable shocks. Then the dog was placed in a a shuttle box and after being shocked they lay down and whine without trying to escape. They formed the expectation that they could not control their environment. Learned Helplessness and Depression What is seen by some psychologists as the conceptual link between learned helplessness in dogs and depression in humans? (2) Depression is a learned reaction to stressful events that seem to be inescapable. People give up trying to improve their situation even if they actually do have control over it. More than only a perceived lack of control they have hopelessness, a sense that it will never change.

Gender and Depression Researchers have found that, compared to men, women are twice as likely to develop serious depression. Does the concept of learned helplessness/hopelessness help you understand the gender difference in depression rates? Explain (2) no the learned helpless hopelessness does not help understand gender difference in depression rates. Women who get beat or treated poorly by their husbands or boyfriends may develop depression when they feel as if they cannot escape. They may not even try to escape after they find out they cant when they try. Women often have less personal power and less control over their environment than men do. Women are more likely to develop learned helplessness or hopelessness contributing to their greater risk of serious depression Personal Control in Everyday Life What is personal control? Briefly explain the findings mentioned in this activity on the importance of personal control in everyday life. (2) Some nursing home residents got to make small decisions about their daily routine when and where to meet with guests. Another group of residents could not make decisions like that and experienced the normal nursing home routine. The resident that were given the freedom to make small decisions were more cooperative and sociable and there was less depression and more

satisfaction with their life. The ability to make even small decisions gave people a sense of personal control over their lives. People without this ability had a sense of helplessness and passivity. Personal control is the ability to determine the events in ones life and to affect the consequences. Our sense of controlling our environment rather than feeling helpless