Learned Helplessness Phenomenon Research Articles

Long-Term Spatial Restriction Generates Deferred Limited Space Use in a Zoo-Housed Chimpanzee Group.

Simple SummaryA worldwide trend amongst zoos is to replacesmall, barren enclosures with large, naturalistic ones intended to provide animals with environments which cater to their behavioural and psychological needs. Evidence suggests that naturalistic enclosures are effective but most studies focus on welfare-related behaviour or human perceptions of the enclosures. To date, little attention has been given to how animals use space in naturalistic enclosures. Our study investigated how a group of chimpanzees at the Johannesburg Zoo used space in a naturalistic enclosure by recording behaviour and space use every 5 min for an hour at a time. We found that the chimpanzees showed a preference for locations within the enclosure which coincided with their previous housing and that the chimpanzees form subgroups which conform to the space of their previous housing (i.e., small, barren enclosure). We suggest that the chimpanzees’ perception of space has been altered by their experience of the previous, smaller barren housing and that this limits their space use in the naturalistic enclosure through what appears to be a self-imposed ‘invisible cage’ around subgroups. Exactly how the ‘invisible cage’ works is unclear but our findings have implications for animal welfare, husbandry and broader conservation of endangered species.Background: Appropriate space is considered paramount for good captive animal welfare. There has been a concerted effort by captive institutions, particularly zoos, to provide captive animals with relatively large, naturalistic enclosures which havehad demonstrated welfare benefits for animals. However, post-occupancy assessments of these enclosures tend to focus on short-term welfare-centredbehavioural effects or human perceptions of the enclosures and their effects and seldom consider spaceuse. We examined the space use of a group of eight captive chimpanzees 5 years after large-scale enclosure modification at the Johannesburg Zoo, South Africa. Methods: Instantaneous scan sampling was used to record behaviour and location of each chimpanzee at 5 min intervals in the new enclosure. From these 6.8 h of data, space-use patterns and subgroup (two or more chimpanzees within 10 m of each other) spacing were considered relative to local environmental variables, social conditions and the location and size of the previous smaller enclosures in which they had been kept. Results: Space use was heterogeneous, with some enclosure zones being used more than others, and 97.5% of subgroups restricted their spacing to the dimensions of the previous housing (10 m × 10 m). Conclusions: This pattern was not explained by individual behaviour, time of day, location, available space, weather, temperature or shade availability, inter-individual spacing or subgroup composition. We suggest the learned helplessness phenomenon may explain these observations and discuss the implications for both animal welfare and endangered species conservation.Regardless of the mechanism, we suggest that such effects could be avoided through the provision of large enclosures for captive animals.

Lokus kontrolja i fenomen vyuchennoj bespomoshhnosti u bol'nyh hronicheskimi somaticheskimi zabolevanijami

Lokus kontrolja i fenomen vyuchennoj bespomoshhnosti u bol'nyh hronicheskimi somaticheskimi zabolevanijami

Relationship between employee turnover intent and learned helplessness: A study of research gap

The present study aims to review the existing literature pertaining to turnover intentions and learned helplessness. Further, the researcher aims to identify the research gap in the study of these two concepts. Turnover which is the reverse of retention depicts the number of employees leaving the organization. In order to increase retention, it is very important to first identify the antecedents of employee turnover. The conception of learned helplessness has been developed by Overmier and Seligman. When an individual learns that the result of the events is outside the control of the resources he has, then he feels the phenomenon of learned helplessness, which can be described as learning disability. Firstly, the in-depth review of the existing literature pertaining to both the concepts has been done. Secondly, the paper consists of review of studies examining the interrelationship between turnover intent and learned helplessness. Results of the study indicate that there exists lot of research work done individually on the concepts of learned helplessness and turnover intentions. But, there is a dearth of literature pertaining to the relationship between these two variables. It provides an outlook to further research scope. The relationship between the variables can be explored empirically in various industrial settings.

Motivation for Career in Teenagers

Career motivation is an important field of study in the construction of sustainable society. Identify and develop intimate mechanisms that shape career choices by teenagers becomes a strong indicator of how society as a whole proves its effectiveness. Given crossing a prolonged crisis which calls into question the dominant social structural elements, unclear coherent and consistent process of career management in adolescents can lead to premature exhaustion of their involvement in learned helplessness phenomena, ambiguity and professional failure. There is also the risk of not achieving career maturation phenomenon which can lead to phenomena misfit search and permanent redefinition of the role of teenager – now reached adult – in social landscape. The paper aims to analyze and define the phenomenon of career choice motivation to intrinsic- extrinsic dimension (the intrinsic dimension by reference to the orientation towards reality and the need to experience stimulation, and matters extrinsic referring to extrinsic motivation identified, etc). This can provide an appropriate response, reported on the career management paradigm in this age group.

The Effects of PST on Psychological Variables and Performance of A Female Archer Showing Learned Helplessness Phenomena: A Case Study

The Effects of PST on Psychological Variables and Performance of A Female Archer Showing Learned Helplessness Phenomena: A Case Study

Signaling the unconditioned stimulus during the preexposure phase does not attenuate the unconditioned stimulus preexposure effect in preweanling rats

The unconditioned stimulus preexposure effect (US-PE) is defined as an attenuation of the conditioned response after preexposure to the US prior to conditioning. Evidence exists that this effect can be weakened or eliminated by the presence of a signal predicting the US during the preexposure phase. This evidence has been found consistently across a variety of procedures in adult rats. The aim of the present study was to evaluate whether, in infant rats, signaling the US (LiCl) during preexposure with a salient cue (almond odor) attenuates the US-PE. During the preexposure phase, preweanling rats received three (Experiment 1) or one (Experiment 2) preexposures to LiCl, preceded by exposure to almond odor. Appropriate control groups were also included in these experiments. After preexposure, two conditioning trials were carried out in which subjects were given LiCl after saccharin consumption. During preexposure, three (Experiment 1a), although not one (Experiment 2a), contingent exposures to almond odor and LiCl resulted in a strong odor aversion. Extinction of the learned taste aversion was facilitated by prior experience with LiCl (Experiments 1b and 2b). This effect was observed regardless of whether or not LiCl was signaled by the almond odor. These results do not coincide with the associative hypotheses proposed to explain the US-PE, nor are they concurrent with alternative explanations based on the learned helplessness phenomenon.

Lesions of the basolateral amygdala reverse the long-lasting interference with shuttle box escape produced by uncontrollable stress

Exposure to an uncontrollable, but not a controllable, stressor produces a constellation of behaviors called learned helplessness. In rodents, uncontrollable stress interferes with the ability to learn to escape from escapable shocks delivered in a shuttle box. The stress-induced shuttle box escape deficit is a common screening tool for potential antidepressant strategies. Inconsistencies in the literature exist regarding the time-course of, and mechanisms underlying, stress-induced escape deficits. When no common cues are shared between the stressor and testing environment, the escape deficit is short lived and independent of conditioned freezing. In contrast, when stress and testing occur in the same or similar environments, the escape deficit is very long lasting. The current studies address the hypothesis that the long-lived escape deficit produced by uncontrollable stress is dependent upon conditioned fear and the basolateral amygdala (BLA). Rats received bilateral excitotoxic lesions of the BLA 2 weeks following uncontrollable foot shocks. One week after surgery, rats were tested for conditioned freezing and escape behavior in the same shuttle boxes in which prior foot shocks were delivered. Stressed rats with sham lesions displayed robust conditioned freezing and failed to escape during shuttle box testing. Lesions of the BLA eliminated conditioned freezing and completely restored stressed rats’ ability to perform the escape contingency. These data indicate that the long-lived stress-induced escape deficit produced under conditions in which the stressor and testing environments share common cues is dependent upon conditioned freezing elicited by the BLA. Results have important implications for the mechanisms underlying learned helplessness phenomena.

Early learning failure impairs adult learning in rats

Early life experiences may affect adult learning ability. In two experiments we tested the effect of early learning failure on adult performance in Wistar rats. In the first experiment 17-day-old rats (PN17), but not 25-day-old rats (PN25), trained in a hidden platform water maze task showed deficits in tone-shock avoidance learning when they were 3-months-old. The second experiment, which included random-platform and non-platform control groups, confirmed the effect of early (PN18) spatial learning failure on adult avoidance learning. However, post-weaning training (PN25) without platform also tended to induce adult learning deficits as long as the adult task difficulty was increased. The older non-platform group did not differ from the impaired group which received early training in a fixed hidden platform task. The results are discussed in terms of the relevance of early learning outcome and developmental stage on adult general learning deficits which may be related to the learned helplessness phenomenon and developmental neural plasticity.

Learned Helplessness, Therapy, and Personality Traits: An Experimental Study

The authors investigated 3 aspects of the learned helplessness (LH) phenomenon: the induction of helplessness in humans by a new instrumental task, the effects of a therapy technique that relies on direct retroactive reevaluation of the helplessness experience, and the role of personality characteristics in both helplessness induction and therapy. The sample consisted of 92 Turkish Boĝaziçi University undergraduates, 42 men and 50 women. The authors exposed 2 experimental groups to an LH induction by presenting them with an unsolvable maze task; 1 group received therapy afterward, and the other group did not. There were also 2 control groups: a group that received only a solvable version of the maze and another group that received no treatment. Before the experimental procedure, all participants completed the Turkish version of the NEO-Five Factor Inventory (FFI). The authors evaluated picture-rating and anagram-solving performances to differentiate the cognitive and emotional deficits of LH. Results of the factorial analyses of variance and the Wilcoxon signed ranks test supported the success of both the helplessness induction and the therapy technique. Although no significant gender differences were found in the effects of the helplessness-induction and therapy procedures, correlation analyses revealed that individual differences, particularly in the interaction between gender and personality characteristics, can have an important impact on LH and on the capacity to benefit from therapy.

General Learned Irrelevance and Its Prevention

Random presentation of a tone and an electric shock to rats interfered with subsequent acquisition of a light–shock association. This interference, or “general learned irrelevance” phenomenon, however, could be prevented by prior learning of a positive relationship between the tone and the shock or that between a noise and the shock. These results strongly support the ideas that animals learn irrelevant stimulus relationships and that prior experience of stimulus relevance prevents learning irrelevance. The similarity of this observed prevention effect to an immunization effect on learned helplessness phenomena is discussed.

Inherited Hypohedonia Leads to Learned Helplessness: A Conjecture Updated

The reformulated learned helplessness theory posits depressogenic explanatory style (DES) as a vulnerability factor in depression. Early-life adversity has been suggested as the source of DES, but this is contradicted by empirically established features of the learned helplessness phenomenon itself and by the evidence for human resilience in the face of adversity. This article extends a conjecture first advanced by P. E. Meehl (1975) and argues that an inherited defect in hedonic capacity would be sufficient to produce DES by causing intermittent schedules of reinforcement to be experienced as extinction schedules, resulting in a pervasive and unremitting sense of helplessness. This proposed hedonic defect also provides a means for integrating the original and reformulated versions of learned helplessness theory and for integrating learned helplessness with emerging research and theory on the biology of vulnerability to depression.

Inherited hypohedonia leads to learned helplessness: A conjecture updated.

The reformulated learned helplessness theory posits depressogenic explanatory style (DES) as a vulnerability factor in depression. Early-life adversity has been suggested as the source of DES, but this is contradicted by empirically established features of the learned helplessness phenomenon itself and by the evidence for human resilience in the face of adversity. This article extends a conjecture first advanced by P. E. Meehl (1975) and argues that an inherited defect in hedonic capacity would be sufficient to produce DES by causing intermittent schedules of reinforcement to be experienced as extinction schedules, resulting in a pervasive and unremitting sense of helplessness. This proposed hedonic defect also provides a means for integrating the original and reformulated versions of learned helplessness theory and for integrating learned helplessness with emerging research and theory on the biology of vulnerability to depression.

Assessment of the Situational and Individual Components of Job Performance

Deficiencies in the measures used to assess situational constraints and job perform- ance are proposed to have played a major role in the failure of prior research to confirm the theorized strength of the relation between constraints and performance. In Study I the use of assessments that avoided the deficiencies of earlier studies resulted in the perceived constraint measure explaining 69.7% of the variance in the performance measure, whereas the perceived constraint measure used in earlier research explained only 10% of the variance in the same performance measure. Study I1 showed that the individual component of performance can be measured even in the presence of such extensive perceived constraints. A surprising finding was that as perceived constraints became more severe, performance fell even faster, possibly due to some discourage- ment or learned helplessness phenomenon.

Factors Contributing to Learned Helplessness in the Institutionalized Aged:

This paper is a review of the literature on learned helplessness with reference to the institutionalized aged. It includes the theory of learned helplessness, the phenomenon of learned helplessness, vulnerability, environmental antecedents, perception of control, functional behaviors, functional dependency, self-induced dependency, the physical environment, and control-relevant interventions.

Prenatal stress and learned helplessness

Prenatally stressed rats (n = 18) and non-stressed controls (n = 18) were given prior avoidance experience in a Skinner box before being trained in a two-way shuttlebox avoidance task within a standard triadic learned helplessness paradigm. Results indicated that there was no effect of prenatal stress on the acquisition of a lever press in a Skinner box, but that prenatal stress had significant adverse effects on the acquisition of a more difficult two-way shuttlebox avoidance response. The phenomenon of learned helplessness was demonstrated for non-stressed but not for prenatally stressed subjects. The failure to observe the learned helplessness effect in the prenatally stressed subjects appears to have been due to the performance of the prenatally stressed, unshocked control group which displayed slower learning similar to that of the groups exposed to uncontrollable shock.

Nonintervention into Siblings' Fighting as a Catalyst for Learned Helplessness

The hypothesis that siblings fight simply to attract adults' attention has enjoyed much speculation and some study of children's fighting in recent years. Current research indicates that refusing to intervene causes fighting to wane, supposedly because children will adequately solve problems by themselves if left to do so. The phenomenon of learned helplessness, in which lethargy and despair result from an inability to escape pain, has been applied to battered spouses. This work tests the hypothesis that nonintervention into siblings' fighting is more likely to allow one child to establish superiority over another and that fighting stops because the defeated learns helplessness in the manner of an abused spouse. Implications and alternative methods of dealing with fighting are explored.

Learned Helplessness: A Factor in Counseling for Displaced Homemakers

The author describes the phenomenon of learned helplessness that may affect the ability of displaced homemakers to enter or reenter the work force successfully. Characteristics of helplessness‐oriented persons are contrasted with those who are mastery‐oriented.

Effects of piracetam on learned helplessness in rats

In rats, the effects of Piracetam (P), the prototype of nootropic drugs, were studied on a very widely used model of behavioral disturbance: the learned helplessness (LH) phenomenon. In this model, exposure to uncontrollable and unsignalled shocks impairs subsequent escape-avoidance learning. In a first experiment, this deficit was abolished by 200 mg/kg of P, and to a lesser extent, by a 100 mg/kg dose, administered before the training session. In non-stressed animals, no dose of P was able to have a facilitatory effect on escape-avoidance. In a second experiment, the administration of P, not before the training session as in Experiment I, but before the stress, had no effect on the LH phenomenon regardless of the dose.

Preventing Learned Helplessness

Steps can be taken to overcome the unwelcome phenomenon of learned helplessness.

Learned helplessness: Effects on brain monoamines and the pituitary-gonadal axis

The effect of the learned helplessness paradigm, a model of depression, on biogenic amines in eight brain regions, and on the serum levels of luteinizing hormone, corticosterone, and testosterone in male rats was determined. Rats which were exposed to uncontrollable and unpredictable shocks (HY-rats) had hormone levels similar to those in appropriate control animals. However, HY-rats had higher levels of 5-HIAA in the pons/medulla oblongata and lower levels of 5-HT in the cortex than rats which could escape the shocks (HE-rats). Furthermore, striatal levels of NE were higher in HY-rats when compared to HE-rats and non-shocked controls (HC-rats). Shock treatment per se resulted in lower NE levels in the hippocampus. These data implicate the serotonergic and noradrenergic systems as possible mediators of the learned helplessness phenomenon, but do not support the view that this behavior is associated with impaired pituitary-gonadal function.