The Relationship of Attributional Style to Learned Helplessness in an Interpersonal Context

The construct validity of the Attributionai Style Questionnaire (ASQ), developed from Seligrnan's reformulated model of learned helplessness and depression, was evaluated in an interpersonal context rather than in the typical research context of an impersonal academic task. Forty college women who had completed the ASQ 1 to 2 months earlier interacted with potential male dates. The subjects reported their causal attributions for dating outcomes as well as their outcome expectations and depressive affect before and after in-, teraction that resulted in their rejection. Several attributional indices on the ASQ did predict subjects' causal attributions for dating failure and expectations of outcomes with a different potential date. While expectations and affect were related, neither dispositional nor situational attributions predicted affective responses to rejection. Subjects, ages and physical attractiveness were also found to influence cognitive aspects of subjects' interpersonal experience. The results were discussed in terms of the utility of the ASQ and the reformulated learned helplessness model.