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An analysis of learned helplessness: Continuous changes in performance, strategy, and achievement cognitions following failure.
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1978
Year
Achievement GoalSelf-efficacy TheoryAchievement CognitionsEducational PsychologyCognitive DevelopmentEducationSpecial EducationSocial SciencesAchievement MotivationContinuous ChangesLearned HelplessnessPsychologySelf-regulated Learning
Helpless children exhibit performance decrements under failure while mastery-oriented children often improve, and theories suggest that attribution differences drive these responses. The study examined how helpless and mastery-oriented children differ in the nature, timing, and frequency of achievement-related cognitions by continuously monitoring their verbalizations after failure. The authors continuously recorded and analyzed children’s verbalizations after failure to capture real-time attribution and strategy changes. Helpless children attributed failure to lack of ability and focused on causes, whereas mastery-oriented children made few attributions but engaged in self‑monitoring and self‑instruction, focusing on remedies, and these patterns were linked to distinct strategy changes, suggesting that timing or occurrence of attributions may be a critical individual difference.
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champa ign Helpless children show marked performance decrements under failure, whereas mastery-oriented children often show enhanced performance. Current theories emphasize differences in the nature of the attributions following failure as determinants of response to failure. The present studies explored helpless versus mastery-oriented differences in the nature, timing, and relative frequency of a variety of achievement-r elated cognitions by continuously monitoring verbalizations following failure. The results revealed that helpless children made the expected attributions for failure to lack of ability; mastery-oriented children made surprisingly few attributions but instead engaged in self-monitori ng and selfinstructions. That is, helpless children focused on the cause of failure, whereas the mastery-oriented children focused on remedies for failure. These differences were accompanied by striking differences in strategy change under failure. The results suggest that in addition to the nature of the attribution one makes, the timing or even occurrence of attributions may be a critical individual difference.