Attribution, Learned Helplessness, Depression

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Attribution,Learned Helplessness,Depression

• May 1, 2009

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Attributions Understanding the Behavior of Others

• Kelleys (1965) Attribution Theory
• Person Dimension Consensus
• Situation Dimension Consistency
• Entity (Stimulus) Dimension Distinctiveness
• Fundamental Attribution Error
• A tendency to prefer person attributions over
  situational explanations
• An error compared to what attribution theory
  predicts
• Not always found in all cultures

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Attributions Understanding Our Own Behavior

• Kelleys analysis can be applied to the self
• In the specific case of task performance, another
  attributional analysis
• Weiner (1974) argued that an attributional
  analysis of ones own performance was
• Organized by locus of causality
• Internal (person cause)
• External (situation cause)
• And by degree of stability
• Stable (likely to remain constant over time)
• Unstable (likely to change from time to time)

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Performance Attributions
Internal External
Stable Ability Task Difficulty
Unstable Effort Luck
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Performance Attributions Failure
Internal External
Stable Im no good at this That test was ridiculously difficult
Unstable I didnt try hard enough Im sick one day, and thats half of the test!
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Performance AttributionsSuccess
Internal External
Stable Im really good at this That test was really easy
Unstable All that hard work finally paid off I forgot to read a chapter, but none of it was on the test!
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Performance Attributions and Task Persistence

• Self-serving bias
• We are more willing to take credit for success
  than for failure
• Compared to attributions for others in identical
  situations
• An example of attributions being affected by how
  much we like various explanations
• Motivated reasoning Finding a rational way to
  reach the conclusions we desire
• Cognitive Dissonance Theory

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Deprivation of Control, Learned Helplessness
Theory, and Depression
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Explanation, Prediction, and Control Deprivation

• Many theorists assume that the desire for control
  is a fundamental aspect of human nature
• A motivational view of this desire assumes that
  one can have too little or too much control over
  events

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Control Deprivation

• In the case of too little control
• The less control one has had lately, the more one
  should want to get control in the future
• But a finding that seemed to be counter to this
  expectation was reported by Overmier and Seligman
  (1967)

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Control Deprivation

• Findings from studies on avoidance learning

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Learned Helplessness TheorySeligman (1975)

• When a person learns to be helpless (i.e., learns
  that outcomes are independent of responses),
  three deficits result
• Motivational (less willing to exert effort, to
  try)
• Emotional (depression)
• Cognitive (less likely to recognize changes that
  make control possible)

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Attributional Reformulation of Learned
Helplessness TheoryAbramson, Seligman,
Teasdale (1978)

• These deficits, in humans, tend to result from
  particular kinds of attributions
• In addition to Weiners analysis, Abramson,
  Seligman Teasdale suggested one more dimension
• Globality
• The extent to which the explanation for one event
  is generalized to many, most, or all other events

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Attributional Reformulation of Learned
Helplessness TheoryAbramson, Seligman,
Teasdale (1978)
Local Local Local
Internal External
Stable Ability Task Difficulty
Unstable Effort Luck
Global Global Global
Internal External
Stable Ability Task Difficulty
Unstable Effort Luck
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Attributional Reformulation of Learned
Helplessness TheoryAbramson, Seligman,
Teasdale (1978)
Local Local Local
Internal External
Stable Ability Task Difficulty
Unstable Effort Luck
Global Global Global
Internal External
Stable Ability Task Difficulty
Unstable Effort Luck
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Mood Disorders
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Mood

• Feeling state
• Longer, less intense than emotion
• No triggering stimulus required

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Major Depressive Disorder

• 2 Weeks with one of
• Extremely sad or depressed mood state
• Anhedonia loss of pleasure/interest in usual
  activities

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Major Depressive Disorder

• Four of
• 1) Significant weight loss or gain
• 2) Insomnia or hypersomnia
• 3) Psychomotor retardation or agitation
• 4) Fatigue or loss of energy
• 5) Feelings of worthlessness or extreme,
  inappropriate guilt
• 6) Trouble concentrating, thinking, making
  decisions
• 7) Recurrent thoughts of death or suicide

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MDD Prevalence

• Lifetime Prevalence
• About 8 of population
• Lifetime prevalence could be as high as 25 for
  women and 12 for men

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Etiology The Diathesis-Stress Model

• Diatheses (Vulnerabilities, Predispositions)
• Stable individual difference variables
• E.g., Genes, personality
• Stress
• Minor hassles
• Negative life events
• Positive life events

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Diathesis-Stress Model
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Stressors

• Marriage and Interpersonal Relationships
• Romantic relationship breakups
• Family conflicts
• Health problems
• Housing, living problems
• Work