In a previous study (Albersnagel, Arntz and Gerlsma, 1986) various aspects central to the attributional learned helplessness (LH) model were experimentally tested. The aim of the present study is to re-examine these issues using subsamples of Ss composed on the basis of substantial mood changes produced by experimental manipulation. The main hypothesis of this re-analysis, i.e. affect more than cognition or attribution plays a central role in learned helplessness, could not be substantiated. Although strong learned helplessness effects were reached in expectancy and certainty after non-contingent negative bogus feedback on an IQ test, this did not result in any substantial changes in achievement in the hypothesized direction. As in the previous study, neither the supposed mediating functions of attribution, nor the hypothesized function of ‘importance’, played a major role in the intensity of LH effects. Several suggestions are made to account for these results, and the best direction for future research is indicated.