Untrained normal achievers attributed failure to adoption of specific task strategies, while untrained learning disabled boys attributed failure to task difficulty. Characteristics of learned helplessness were apparent in the impaired performance of the learning-disabled boys. Normal achievers appeared to have developed active and independent…

Despite the support for the proposition that learning is enhanced by the reinforcement of correct responses, there remain learners who continue to fail when contingent reinforcement is administered, even though they may have the ability and be motivated to succeed. This condition, known as learned helplessness, presents a problem for instructional…

Instrumentation, task content, the limited options of success or failure, methodology and assumptions are substantive issues which question the validity of conclusions made about human subjects in studies of achievement motivation and learned helplessness. A review of learned helplessness studies outlines the number and source of subjects, kinds…