Prediction , Control , and Learned Helplessness

Perceived control over aversive events and perception of the predictability of those events have been confounded in learned helplessness research. The independent effects of perceived control over and perceived predictability of an aversive event on subjects' performance on a memory task and depressive affect were examined. Subjects who received noise blasts that were both uncontrollable and unpredictable displayed performance decrements and depressive affect relative to a no-noise group, whereas subjects who were able either to control or to predict the aversive event did not. The perception of control or predictability concerning the aversive event was thus sufficient to mitigate learned helplessness, suggesting the functional equivalence of perceived control and predictability. Finally, results revealed that subjects high in the "desire for control over events" reacted to the aversive noise more than did subjects low in the desire for control.