The conceptualization of helplessness: II. Laboratory correlates of the phenomenological definition of helplessness

The present research was designed to investigate the correspondence between the phenomenological definition of helplessness and its laboratory analogue—the learned helplessness paradigm. In experiment 1, subjects were exposed to unsolvable, solvable, or no problems. It was found that exposure to unsolvable problems increased the report of helplessness feelings and impaired subsequent performance. In addition, experiment 1 demonstrated a negative and significant correlation between performance and the report of helplessness feelings. Experiment 2 isolated the cognitive component of helplessness by measuring the amount of expectancy changes following success and failure. The amount of expectancy changes was negatively correlated with the belief in an outcome's uncontrollability. Finally, experiment 3 showed that exposure to only one unsolvable problem was associated with the reports of coping and anger feelings, whereas exposure to four unsolvable problems was related to surrender feelings. These results demonstrated that laboratory-induced helpless situations elicit the same feelings as real-life helplessness situations.The study was conducted by the first author in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the M.A. degree at Bar Ilan University under the supervision of Prof. R. E. Lubow.