An analysis of learned helplessness: Continuous changes in performance, strategy, and achievement cognitions following failure.

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champa ign Helpless children show marked performance decrements under failure, whereas mastery-oriented children often show enhanced performance. Current theories emphasize differences in the nature of the attributions following failure as determinants of response to failure. The present studies explored helpless versus mastery-oriented differences in the nature, timing, and relative frequency of a variety of...