Learned helplessness: effects of noncontingent reinforcement and response cost with emotionally disturbed children

Abstract

In order to investigate the effectiveness of noncontingent reinforcement and response cost in inducing learned helplessness and to determine whether depressed Ss respond differently than nondepressed Ss, 28 emotionally disturbed children (20 boys, 8 girls) were tested in a modified learned helplessness paradigm. Children's Depression Inventory score and diagnosis were each used to distinguish "depressed" and "nondepressed" children. Half of the depressed group and half of the nondepressed group received noncontingent response cost, the other half of the two groups received noncontingent positive reinforcement. Results indicated that both noncontingent response cost and noncontingent reinforcement led to reduced persistence time relative to persistence under conditions of contingent reinforcement. There was only one significant difference between depressed and nondepressed Ss (differential persistence time over trials) and there were no significant interactions. Results were discussed in terms of Seligman's formulation of learned helplessness and the extension of this model to a clinical child population.