Interconsequence generality of learned helplessness

Abstract

The present study tested the interconsequence generality of the learned helplessness phenomenon. Thirty-six rats received escapable, inescapable, or no shock in a shuttlebox. Intact triads were then randomly assigned to two groups. The first group was required to learn to escape shock via barpressing; the second was required to learn a six-unit maze for food reward. The shock-escape triads demonstrated the standard learned helplessness effect, with inescapable subjects inferior to escapable and unshocked animals. However, the triads tested in the appetitive situation did not exhibit learned helplessness, but rather, they exhibited a trauma-like effect, with both escapable and inescapable subjects inferior to no-shock control subjects on early trials. These findings demonstrated a limit to the generality of learned helplessness. It was suggested that learned helplessness follows the rules of stimulus and response generalization.