Toward a Reanalysis of the Causal Structure of the Learned Helplessness Syndrome

In 1964, several of us were collaborating with R. L. Solomon and R. M. Church on a study of the cardiac responses to shock by curarized dogs (viz., Church, LoLordo, Overmier, Solomon, & Turner, 1966). The results of this experiment later became part of the database for the development of Solomon's "opponentprocess" theory of affective dynamics (Solomon & Corbit, 1974). In addition, however, the experiment by Church et al. also indirectly led to the discovery of a "new" -at least to us-phenomenon.