Support for learned helplessness
• Seligman carried out a study using dogs to
support his theory……..
More evidence from a study using
humans……
Hiroto & Seligman (1974) exposed non-depressed
people to a loud noise, they could a) not escape it
b) stop it by pressing a button
Then Ps shown a box with a handle on it. This
produced a loud noise that could be stopped by
moving the handle. Those in non-escape
condition previously failed to move the handle.
H.W Evaluation of learned
helplessness theory
• What is the big problem with the
learned helplessness theory?
• Problems with Seligmans dog
experiment?
• Problems with Hiroto and Seligmans
human experiment?
• What was good about both
experiments?
Cognitive Approach
How does the cognitive
approach explain depression?
• Abramsons
hopelessness theory
• Becks cognitive triad
Hopelessness theory of Depression
Abramson
Abramson reformulated Seligman's ‘learned
helplessness theory’ as it was full of faults.
• When people experience failure, they will
always attribute their failure to a cause.
• People can explain/attribute their failure in 6
different ways.........
Internal
External
Stable
Unstable
Global
Specific
A maladaptive attribution style (that leads to
depression) would involve attributing negative
events to........
Internal
External
Stable
Unstable
Global
Specific
Task
• Draw the figure below and write examples of
attributions about the negative event that leads
to feelings of hopelessness and depression.
• Draw the figure again but write example of
attributions that avoid feelings of hopelessness
and depression.
Negative event
Attribution
Internal V external
Your
boyfriend/girlfri Stable V unstable
-end breaks up
with you
Global V specific
Example of
attributions
e.g ............
e.g ............
e.g ............
Depressive
Symptoms
Evaluation of hopelessness theory
• Support for the theory comes from studies
using the ‘Attributional Style Questionnaire’
devised by Seligman
• The questionnaire measures a persons
attribution style
• Complete questions 1-5.
• Can you work out which attribution style each
question is measuring?
Seligman
• Found that most students who performed
poorly on major exams were depressed
straight after they found out.
• All students completed Seligman’s
attributional questionnaire.
• However, 2 days later, those who made
external, unstable and specific attributions
about their failure recovered but students
who made internal, stable and global
attributions remained depressed.
Task – Evaluate the study
Hint:
• Why is the sample a problem?
• What type of data was collected, and why is
this a problem?
Becks theory of depression
• Beck was struck by the negative thinking
shown by depressed people. He believed
depression is the result of this negative
thinking and cognitive distortions
Becks Cognitive Triad
Person becomes obsessed with negative
thoughts and this is what leads to depression
Cognitive triad is maintained by cognitive
distortions (errors in thinking)
• Overgeneralisations
• Personalisation
Making a sweeping conclusion
on the basis of a single event
Blaming everything on yourself
• Magnification or minimisation
Exaggerating or
under exaggerating
the significance of a
event
Evaluation of Beck’s theory
answer the following questions…….
1.High degree of success has been achieved in treating
depression with CBT. How does the success of CBT support
cognitive explanations?
2. There are lots of studies to support the theory that show
depressed people think more negatively than non
depressed people. Can you find and outline one study using
your text book. Make sure you explain how the study
supports the explanation
3. But most studies are based on correlational data, why is
this a problem?
4. Can you explain any other problems with the approach?