Learned helplessness effect has been observed across a wide range of species. This paper introduces the basic characteristics oflearned helplessness experiments performed with infrahwnan subjects. A critical analysis of most of these experiments shows procedural and measurement problems in addition to a low defftional precision. Some results produced by a modified procedure are reported, which were able to generate more accurate data (compared to conventional procedures) with respect to the operant learning under study. It is proposed that well established learned helplessness experiments can make significant contributions to behavior analysis, particularly to the investigation of aversive control and to the effects of non-contingency.
learned helplessness; animal behavior; aversive control; uncontrollable stimuli