Learned helplessness, self-worth motivation and attribution retraining for primary school children.

Abstract

Summary. This study examined characteristics of 29 pupils (selected from an initial sample of 69 primary school children) whose performance on an arithmetic task deteriorated after failure. On the basis of their responses to a “mitigating circumstance” which could explain failure without implicating low ability as the cause (a description of the task as “very difficult”), subjects were classified as either learned helpless or motivated to protect self‐worth. Both of these groups had lower self‐concepts than the rest of the initial sample. Attribution retraining resulted in increased effort attributions and decreased inability attributions in the “learned helpless” group, and inoculated these subjects to the experience of failure. In the “self‐worth group” there was an increase in effort attributions but no change in ability ratings or performance after failure, following training.