5 Questions
What are the three attributional dimensions involved in the revised theory of learned helplessness (1978)?
Internal - External, Stable - Unstable, Global - Specific
According to the revised theory of learned helplessness (1978), which attributional style do some people with depression demonstrate?
Pessimistic
Depressive realism hypothesis (Taylor & Brown, 1988) suggests that depressed individuals tend to over-rate their performance.
False
Beck's cognitive theory of depression proposes negative schemas about the ____, ____, and ____.
SELF, WORLD, OTHERS
Match the following types of distortion proposed by Beck's cognitive theory of depression:
Negative distortions about the SELF = I'm unlikeable Negative distortions about the WORLD = nothing ever goes right Negative distortions about OTHERS = nobody cares whether I live or die
Study Notes
Revised Theory of Learned Helplessness (1978)
- When organisms experience uncontrollable outcomes, they explain it in terms of three attributional dimensions:
- Internal-External Dimension: determines personal or universal helplessness (& accordingly self-blame)
- Stable-Unstable Dimension: determines 'chronicity' (persistence)
- Global-Specific Dimension: determines generalisability to new situations
Examples of Attributional Dimensions
- Example 1: Failing an exam (negative outcome)
- Internal, stable, global attribution: "I'm stupid"
- External, unstable, specific attribution: "The exam was unfair"
- Example 2: Coming top in an exam (positive outcome)
- Internal, stable, global attribution: "I'm brilliant"
- External, unstable, specific attribution: "I was lucky"
Depressive Attributional Style
- Depressive individuals tend to:
- Give internal, stable, global attributions for bad outcomes
- Give external, unstable, specific attributions for good outcomes
Depressive Realism Hypothesis (Taylor & Brown, 1988)
- Depressed individuals are more accurate (realistic) in making judgments about their performance
- Non-depressed individuals tend to over-rate their performance
Cognitive Theories of Depression
- Assume that depressed patients' cognitions of reality are distorted
- Beck's theory proposes three types of distortion:
- Negative distortions about the self
- Negative distortions about the world
- Negative distortions about others
Beck's Cognitive Theory of Depression
- Depressed individuals have negative schemas about:
- Self (e.g., "I'm unlikeable")
- World (e.g., "nothing ever goes right")
- Others (e.g., "nobody cares whether I live or die")
- Information is distorted to maintain these negative schemas
Hopelessness Theory of Depression (Abramson, Metalsky, & Alloy, 1989)
- Based on learned helplessness theory
- Assumes depressed individuals generalize inappropriately from situations with uncontrollable outcomes to situations with controllable outcomes
- Assumes depressed patients have an unrealistic attributional style
Positive Illusions (Taylor, 1989)
- Cognitive theories of depression incorrectly assume that depressed patients distort reality
- Mentally healthy individuals distort reality (see world through 'rose-tinted glasses')
- Depressed patients are more realistic
Other Applications of Helplessness Theory
- Martin Seligman advocates for attributional retraining to develop a healthy (optimistic) attributional style
- To be successful and happy, develop an optimistic attributional style
Explore the Revised Theory of Learned Helplessness (1978) and its attributional dimensions. Test your knowledge on internal-external, stable-unstable, and global-specific dimensions and their applications.
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