2. Seligman’s “Learned Helplessness” Experiment . When a light went on, dogs wer

Question

2. Seligman’s “Learned Helplessness” Experiment .When a light went on, dogs were conditioned to run out of their cages to escape a shock:

Light(CS) ->Dogs run out (CR/ Operant ) -> Escape shock (Negative Reinforcer )

a.Describe this famous experiment. What was manipulated (the IV)? What happened – what were the results?

b. Why did Seligman call the phenomenon “learned helplessness”? What does that phrase mean?

c. Learned Helplessness in Humans . Self-fulfilling prophecy – explain what this is. Describe an example as part of your explanation.

Explanation / Answer

1. Seligman had initially observed the phenomenon of learned helplessness in dogs that were classically conditioned to expect an electrical shock after hearing a tone. He devised an experiment to investigate the phenomenon further by placing the subjects into three conditions:

Thus, in this experiment, subjective control over the environment was the independent variable, which was manipulated by placing the subjects into three different situations, as described above. The results indicated that the from the first and second group learned that by performing a behaviour, they could eliminate the shock. Those from the third group, however, made no attempts to get away from the shocks.

Please post the other questions separately as we are supposed to answer just one question or four sub parts of a question.

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