ABSTRACT
Learned helplessness characterizes as a syndrome with three characteristic facets: a motivational deficit inferred from the failure of the animals to initiate response; an associative deficit inferred from the failure to show increased probabilities of responding following a successful escape or avoidance; and an emotional deficit inferred from the reduced vocalizations and general passivity. The Experiments on Associative Processes amplifies current knowledge of the consequences of prior exposure to predictable versus unpredictable shocks that are also uncontrollable. The pattern of empirical effects in the present experiment is simple and straightforward: Prior exposure to tones and shocks presented on random and independent schedules interferes with subsequent learning to make correct escape/avoidance choice responses to visual. A second experiment carried out in which we more directly assessed whether the locus of the effect was one of associative deficit. Pavlovian conditioning has served as a prototype of associative learning. The emotional reactivity of dogs to the two causal factors identifies, uncontrollability and unpredictability.
