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Richard L. Solomon and learned helplessness

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Abstract

This article reviews the course of development of research on a currently popular explanatory approach to dysfunctional behavior, the learned helplessness analysis. The early history is prominent in this review as it reflects the inspirations of Richard L. Solomon, a scholar who fostered the resurgence of psychologists’ interests in Pavlovian conditioning in the 1950s and 1960s. Current research is characterized as having four separate themes: elaboration of “symptoms,” elucidating the role of fear, explicit modeling, and extensions involving attributional constructs.

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  1. Center for Research in Learning Perception and Cognition, Psychology—N258 Elliott Hall, University of Minnesota, 75 East River Rd, 55455, Minneapolis, MN

    J. Bruce Overmier

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  1. J. Bruce Overmier
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Overmier, J.B. Richard L. Solomon and learned helplessness. Integrative Physiological and Behavioral Science 31, 331–337 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02691436

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