Skip to main content

Effort Expenditure Following Failure

  • Chapter
Coping with Negative Life Events

Part of the book series: The Plenum Series on Stress and Coping ((SSSO))

Abstract

There is a large body of research documenting the alternatively deleterious or beneficial effects of an experience with failure on subsequent performance. Performance feedback on an achievement-oriented task is, in fact, one of the most common independent variables to be found in clinical and social psychological research. Work on the effects of failure on subsequent performance has been used to examine a number of theoretical models; failure induction studies have been conducted by researchers interested, among other things, in test anxiety, depression, attributional processes, achievement motivation, stress, and frustration (Coyne, Metalsky, & Lavelle, 1980).

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

eBook
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Abramson, L. Y., Seligman, M. E. P., & Teasdale, J. D. (1978). Learned helplessness in humans: Critique and reformulation. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 87, 49–74.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Alloy, L. B. (1982). The role of perceptions and attributions for response-outcome noncontingency in learned helplessness: A commentary and discussion. Journal of Personality, 50, 443–479.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Alloy, L. B., & Abramson, L. Y. (1982). Learned helplessness, depression, and the illusion of control. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 42, 1114–1126.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Alloy, L. B., Peterson, C., Abramson, L. Y., & Seligman, M. E. P. (1984). Attributional style and the generality of learned helplessness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 46, 681–687.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Anderson, C. A. (1983). Motivational and performance deficits in interpersonal settings: The effect of attributional style. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 45, 1136–1141.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Anderson, C. A., & Jennings, D. L. (1980). When experiences of failure promote expectations of success: The impact of attributing failure to ineffective strategies. Journal of Personality, 48, 393–407.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blaney, P. H., Behar, V., & Head, R. (1980). Two measures of depressive cognitions: Their association with depression and with each other. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 89, 678–682.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Brehm, J. W., Wright, R. A., Solomon, S., Silka, L., & Greenberg, J. (1983). Perceived difficulty, energization, and the magnitude of goal valence. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 19, 21–48.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Buchwald, A. M., Coyne, J. C., & Cole, C. S. (1978). A critical evaluation of the learned helplessness model of depression. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 87, 180–193.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, S., Rothbart, M., & Philips, S. (1976). Locus of control and the generality of learned helplessness in humans. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 34, 1040–1056.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cole, C. S., & Coyne, J. C. (1977). Situational specificity of laboratory-induced learned helplessness. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 86, 615–623.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Costello, C. G. (1978). A critical review of Seligman’s laboratory experiments on learned helplessness and depression in humans. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 87, 21–31.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Coyne, J. C., & Gotlib, I. H. (1983). The role of cognition in depression: A critical reappraisal. Psychological Bulletin, 94, 472–505.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Coyne, J. C., Metalsky, G. I., & Lavelle, T. L. (1980). Learned helplessness as experimenter induced failure and its alleviation with attentional redeployment. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 89, 350–357.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cutrona, C. E. (1983). Causal attributions and perinatal depression. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 92, 161–172.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cutrona, C. E., Russell, D., & Jones, R. D. (1984). Cross-situational consistency is causal attributions: Does attributional style exist?. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 47, 1043–1058.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Depue, R. A. & Monroe, S. M. (1978). Learned helplessness in the perspective of the depressive disorders: Conceptual and definitional issues. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 87, 3–20.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Douglas, D., & Anisman, H. (1975). Helplessness or expectation incongruency: Effects of aversive stimulation on subsequent performance. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 1, 411–417.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fincham, F. D., & Cain, K. M. (1985). Laboratory-induced learned helplessness: A critique. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 3, 238–243.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ford, C. E., & Neale, J. M. (1985). Learned helplessness and judgments of control. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 49, 1330–1336.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Golin, S., Sweeney, P. D., & Shaeffer, D. E. (1981). The causality of causal attributions in depression: A cross-lagged panel correlational analysis. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 90, 14–22.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gregory, W. L., Chartier, G. M., & Wright, M. H. (1979). Learned helplessness and learned effectiveness: Effects of explicit response cues on individuals differing in personal control expectancies. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 37, 1982–1992.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hamilton, E. W., & Abramson, L. Y. (1983). Cognitive patterns and major depressive disorder: A longitudinal study in a hospital setting. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 92, 173–184.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hanusa, B. H., & Schulz, R. (1977). Attributional mediators of learned helplessness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 35, 602–611.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harris, F. A., & Tyron, W. W. (1983). Some necessary and sufficient conditions for the experimental induction of learned helplessness. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 1, 15–26.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hiroto, D. S. (1974). Locus of control and learned helplessness. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 102, 187–193.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hiroto, D. S., & Seligman, M. E. P. (1975). Generality of learned helplessness in man. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 31, 311–327.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Huesman, R. L. (1978). Cognitive processes and models of depression. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 87, 194–198.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kilpatrick-Tabak, B., & Roth, S. (1978). An attempt to reverse performance deficits associated with depression and experimentally induced helplessness. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 87, 141–154.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Klee, S., & Meyer, R. G. (1979). Prevention of learned helplessness in humans. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 47, 411–412.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Klein, D. C., & Seligman, M. E. P. (1976). Reversal of performance deficits and perceptual deficits in learned helplessness and depression. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 85, 11–26.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Klein, D. C., Fencil-Morse, E., & Seligman, M. E. P. (1976). Learned helplessness, depression and the attribution of failure. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 33, 508–516.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Krantz, S. E., & Rude, S. (1984). Depressive attributions: Selection of different causes or assignment of dimensional meanings?. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 47, 193–203.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kukla, A. (1972). Foundations of an attributional theory of performance. Psychological Review, 79, 454–470.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kukla, A. (1974). Performance as a function of resultant achievement motivation (perceived ability) and perceived difficulty. Journal of Research in Personality, 7, 374–383.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lavelle, T. L., Metalsky, G. I., & Coyne, J. C. (1979). LeaVned helplessness, test anxiety, and acknowledgment of contingencies. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 88, 381–387.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lewinsohn, P. M., Steinmetz, J. L., Larson, D. W., & Franklin, J. (1981). Depression-related cognitions: Antecedent or consequence. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 90, 213–219.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Levine, M., Rotkin, L., Jankovick, I. N., & Pitchford, L. (1977). Impaired performance by adult humans: Learned helplessness or wrong hypotheses?. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 1, 275–285.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Means, R. S., & Means, G. H. (1971). Achievement as a function of the presence of prior information concerning aptitude. Journal of Educational Psychology, 62, 185–187.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Metalsky, G. I., Abramson, L. Y., Seligman, M. E. P., Semmel, A., & Peterson, C. (1982). Attributional styles and life events in the classroom: Vulnerability and invulnerability to depressive mood reactions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 43, 612–617.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Miller, I. W., & Norman, W. H. (1979). Learned helplessness in humans: A review and attribution theory model. Psychological Bulletin, 86, 93–119.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Miller, W. R., & Seligman, M. E. P. (1975). Depression and learned helplessness in man. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 84, 228–238.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Miller, W. R., & Seligman, M. E. P. (1976). Learned helplessness, depression, and the perception of reinforcement. Behavior Research and Therapy, 14, 7–17.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nisbett, R. E., & Wilson, T. D. (1977). Telling more than we can know: Verbal reports on mental processes. Psychological Review, 84, 231–259.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oakes, W. F., & Curtis, N. (1982). Learned helplessness: Not dependent upon cognitions, attributions, or other such phenomenal experiences. Journal of Personality, 50, 387–408.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Overmier, J. B., & Seligman, M. E. P. (1967). Effects of inescapable shock upon subsequent escape avoidance learning. Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 63, 23–33.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pasahow, R. J. (1980). The relation between an attributional dimension and learned help-lessness. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 89, 358–367.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pasahow, R. J., West, S. G., & Boroto, D. R. (1982). Predicting when uncontrollability will produce performance deficits: A refinement of the reformulated learned helplessness hypothesis. Psychological Review, 89, 595–598.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Peterson, C. (1985). Learned helplessness: Fundamental issues in theory and research. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 3, 248–254.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peterson, C., & Seligman, M. E. P. (1984). Causal explanations as a risk factor for depression: Theory and evidence. Psychological Review, 91, 247–374.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pittman, N. L., & Pittman, T. S. (1979). Effects of amount of helplessness training and internal-external locus of control on mood and performance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 37, 39–47.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pittman, T. S., & Pittman, N. L. (1980). Deprivation of control and the attribution process. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 39, 377–389.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Prindaville, P., & Stein, N. (1978). Predictability, controllability, and inoculation against learned helplessness. Behavior Research and Therapy, 16, 263–271.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rizley, R. (1978). Depression and distortion in the attribution of causality. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 87, 32–48.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Roth, S. (1980). A revised model of learned helplessness in humans. Journal of Personality, 48, 103–133.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Roth, S., & Kubal, L. (1975). The effects of noncontingent reinforcement on tasks of differing importance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 32, 680–691.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seligman, M. E. P. (1975). Helplessness: On depression, development and death. San Francisco: W. H. Freeman.

    Google Scholar 

  • Seligman, M. E. P. (1978). Comment and integration. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 87, 165–179.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Seligman, M. E. P., & Maier, S. F. (1967). Failure to escape traumatic shock. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 74, 1–9.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Seligman, M. E. P., Klein, D. C., & Miller, W. R. (1976). Depression. In H. Leitenberg (Ed.), Handbook of behavior modification and behavior therapy (pp. 168–210). Englewood Cliff, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

    Google Scholar 

  • Seligman, M. E. P., Abramson, L. Y., Semmel, A., & von Baeyer, C. (1979). Depressive attributional style. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 88, 242–247.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Shrauger, J. S., & Sorman, P. B. (1977). Self-evaluations, initial success and failure, and improvement as determinants of persistence. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 45, 784–795.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Teasdale, J. D. (1978). Effects of real and recalled success on learned helplessness and depression. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 87, 155–164.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tennen, H., Gillen, R., & Drum, P. E. (1982). The debilitating effect of exposure to noncontingent escape: A test of the learned helplessness model. Journal of Personality, 50, 409–425.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tennen, H., Drum, P. E., Gillen, R., & Stanton, A. (1982). Learned helplessness and the detection of contingency: A direct test. Journal of Personality, 50, 426–442.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Thornton, J. W., & Jacobs, P. D. (1971). Learned helplessness in human subjects. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 87, 367–372.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thornton, J. W., & Powell, G. D. (1974). Immunization to and alleviation of learned helplessness in man. American Journal of Psychology, 87, 351–367.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tryon, W. W. (1985). Suggestions regarding future research on the effects of noncontingent consequences. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 3, 244–247.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • White, P. (1980). Limitations on verbal reports of internal events: A refutation of Nisbett and Wilson and of Bern. Psychological Review, 87, 105–112.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Williams, J. M. G., & Teasdale, J. D. (1982). Facilitation and helplessness: The interaction of perceived difficulty and importance of a task. Behavior Research and Therapy, 20, 161–171.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Willis, M. H., & Blaney, P. H. (1978). Three tests of the learned helplessness model of depression. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 87, 131–136.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wortman, C. B. (1976). Gausal attributions and personal control. In J. H. Harvey, W. J. Ickes, & R. F. Kidd (Eds.), New directions in attribution research (Vol. 1, pp. 23–52). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wortman, G. B. & Brehm, J. W. (1975). Responses to uncontrollable outcomes: An integration of reactance theory and the learned helplessness model. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 8, pp. 277–336). New York: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wortman, C. B., & Dintzer, L. (1978). Is an attributional analysis of the learned helplessness phenomenon viable? A critique of the Abramson-Seligman-Teasdale reformulation. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 87, 75–90.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wortman, C. B., Panciera, L., Shusterman, L., & Hibscher, J. (1976). Attributions of causality and reactions to uncontrollable outcomes. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 12, 301–316.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 1987 Springer Science+Business Media New York

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Ford, C.E., Brehm, J.W. (1987). Effort Expenditure Following Failure. In: Snyder, C.R., Ford, C.E. (eds) Coping with Negative Life Events. The Plenum Series on Stress and Coping. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-9865-4_4

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-9865-4_4

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4757-9867-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4757-9865-4

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

Publish with us

Policies and ethics