Table of Contents

1: Introduction
1.1: The Phenomena of Helplessness and Personal Control
1.2: The Theory of Learned Helplessness
1.3: Three Uses of "Learned Helplessness"
1.4: Learned Helplessness: Inward, Downward, and Outward
1.5: Why Learned Helplessness Has Been Controversial
1.6: Why Learned Helplessness Has Been Popular
2: Learned Helplessness in Animals
2.1: Learned Helplessness Theory
2.2: The Controversy
2.3: Contiguity Versus Contingency
2.4: Representation and Expectation
2.5: What We Know
2.6: What We Don't Know
3: The Biology of Learned Helplessness
3.1: Norepinephrine
3.2: Gamma-Aminobutyric Acid
3.3: Endogenous Opiates
3.4: Transmitters, Neuromodulators, and Hormones
3.5: Corticotrophin Releasing Hormone (CRH)
3.6: Issues Omitted
3.7: What We Know
3.8: What We Don't Know
4: Learned Helplessness in People
4.1: Criteria of Learned Helplessness
4.2: Operationalizing Learned Helplessness in the Laboratory
4.3: A Meta-Analysis of Human Helplessness Studies
4.4: Other Aspects of Human Helplessness
4.5: The Generality of Learned Helplessness Among People
4.6: Cognition and Self-Report
4.7: Other Explanations
4.8: What We Know
4.9: What We Don't Know
5: The Attributional Reformulation
5.1: Historical Background: Attribution Theory and Theorizing
5.2: Causal Explanations and Locus of Control
5.3: The Reformulated Learned Helplessness Model
5.4: Assessing Explanatory Style
5.5: Empirical Studies of Explanatory Style
5.6: What We Know
5.7: What We Don't Know
6: Learned Helplessness and Depression
6.1: What Is Depression?
6.2: The Reformulation of the Learned Helplessness Model of Depression
6.3: Modernity and Depression
6.4: Controversies
6.5: What We Know
6.6: What We Don't Know
7: Learned Helplessness and Social Problems
7.1: Survey of Applications
7.2: What We Know
7.3: What We Don't Know
8: Learned Helplessness and Physical Health
8.1: Some Groundrules
8.2: Risk Factors for Illness
8.3: Mechanisms
8.4: Health and Illness in Animals Versus People
8.5: What We Know
8.6: What We Don't Know
9: Epilogue
9.1: A Brief History of Choices
9.2: The Importance of Control
9.3: Learned Helplessness as a Model of Scientific Dispute and Progress
9.4: Learned Helplessness and the Age of Personal Control
9.5: Optimism Institutes

Reviews

"The applications of the theory [of learned helplessness] to current issues (including depression, academic achievement, and physical well-being) are exciting, thought-provoking, and highly relevant." --Readings: A Journal of Reviews and Commentary in Mental Health
"One of the fascinations of the book comes from the way in which it integrates many fields of psychology. . .It will also be of considerable interest to methodologists and historians. . ." --Journal of Psychology and Christianity
"Peterson et al. present a thorough overview of learned helplessness with a detailed explanation of the development and current state of the phenomenon. This is a fascinating history of a central concept in psychology and a major research program . . . . They also provide a fascinating glimpse of the growing body of research bridging social-personality research and applications in clinical and health psychology."--Contemporary Psychology
"The applications of the theory [of learned helplessness] to current issues (including depression, academic achievement, and physical well-being) are exciting, thought-provoking, and highly relevant." --Readings: A Journal of Reviews and Commentary in Mental Health