Learned Helplessness: A Theory for the Age of Personal Control

Author: Christopher PetersonPaperback:Publisher: Oxford University Press, U.S.A.ISBN 10: 0195044673ISBN 13: 978-0195044676Hardcover:Publisher: Oxford University PressISBN 10: 0195044665ISBN 13: 978-0195044669When experience with uncontrollable events gives rise to the expectation that events in the future will also elude control, disruptions in motivation, emotion, and learning may ensue. "Learned helplessness" refers to the problems that arise in the wake of uncontrollability. First described in the 1960s among laboratory animals, learned helplessness has since been applied to a variety of human problems entailing inappropriate passivity and demoralization. While learned helplessness is best known as an explanation of depression, studies with both people and animals have mapped out the cognitive and biological aspects. The present volume, written by some of the most widely recognized leaders in the field, summarizes and integrates the theory, research, and application of learned helpl