Quincy is uncertain whether Darren’s repeated pattern of giving up, when he faces an obstacle, is due to an inherited trait or due to learning. According to Seligman, how does this behavior pattern develop? Is it likely to be inherited or learned?
What will be an ideal response?
According to Seligman, Darren’s repeated pattern of giving up when he faces an obstacle, could be defined as learned helplessness. As the term implies, learned helplessness is learned, rather than inherited. According to Seligman, early childhood experiences, such as maternal deprivation and/or an environment that provides a low level of stimulation and feedback contributes to learned helplessness. Learned helplessness can also develop in response to brutality from peers, a harsh school environment and other negative experiences. For example, students who are treated by teachers and peers as though they are less intelligent or skilled than others can develop learned helplessness and race and poverty also seem to be related to it. Learned helplessness can be learned from models.
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Which of the following is an advantage of conducting psychological research in a laboratory? G
a. It is possible to study all aspects of the mind and behavior in a laboratory. b. A laboratory setting is close to the real world and therefore causes subjects to behave naturally. c. A laboratory is a controlled setting with many of the complex factors of the real world removed. d. It is easy to conduct laboratory research without subjects knowing that they are being observed.
One of the most important inferential tasks facing people is to determine the causes of events. How have psychologists approached the attributional process?
How do explanations of outcomes that occur to one compare to explanations of outcomes that occur to others? Are these explanations common to all cultures? Finally, describe how psychologists have studied self-fulfilling prophecies. What will be an ideal response?