LPI Topic 8

Question 1

Julian Rotter’s Locus of Control

Answer 1

The extent to which individuals believe they control events affecting them.

• Internal locus of control: Belief that personal actions determine outcomes.
• External locus of control: Belief that outcomes are controlled by fate, luck, or external forces.
• Exists on a continuum, not a strict category.
• Relatively stable throughout life.

Question 2

Rotter’s Behavioural Prediction Model Formula

Answer 2

• Reinforcement Value: How much an outcome is valued.
• Expectancy: Subjective belief about the likelihood of achieving that outcome.
• Used to predict decision-making and motivation.

Question 3

Learned Helplessness (Seligman, 1967)

Answer 3

A state where individuals learn they have no control over their environment, leading to passivity.

Question 4

Applied to humans in Hiroto & Seligman (1975)

Answer 4

Participants exposed to inescapable loud noises also stopped trying to avoid them.

Question 4

Seligman’s dog experiment

Answer 4

Dogs exposed to unavoidable shocks stopped trying to escape later, even when escape was possible.

Question 5

Learned Helplessness in Humans

Answer 5

• Linked to low self-efficacy: The belief that personal actions cannot change outcomes.
• Can lead to depression, low motivation, and reduced problem-solving.
• 33% of humans and dogs resisted learned helplessness, suggesting individual differences.

Question 6

Real-World Applications of Causal Learning

Answer 6

• Health Psychology: Understanding placebo effects.
• Education: Helping students avoid learned helplessness.
• Mental Health: Using CBT to develop learned optimism.
• Decision-Making: Avoiding illusory correlations in everyday life.

Question 6

Learned Optimism (Seligman, 1991)

Answer 6

The ability to adopt a positive explanatory style to increase resilience and motivation.
- Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) helps retrain explanatory styles.

Question 7

ABC Model (Ellis, 1955)

Answer 7

A model explaining how beliefs shape emotional responses.
- Rational beliefs lead to positive emotions & actions.
- Irrational beliefs lead to negative emotions & helplessness.

Question 8

Causal Inference: ΔP Model

Answer 8

A formula used to calculate how strongly an action causes an outcome.

• P(O/R): Probability of outcome occurring with action.
• P(O/¬R): Probability of outcome occurring without action.
• Higher ΔP = stronger causal relationship.
• Zero contingency = no relationship between action & outcome.

Question 9

Outcome Density Bias

Answer 9

When people falsely perceive causality due to high outcome occurrence.

• Example: A lucky charm is believed to cause success because success occurs frequently, regardless of the charm.
• Explains superstitions and placebo effects.

Question 10

Depressive Realism

Answer 10

The idea that depressed individuals perceive reality more accurately than non-depressed individuals.

Question 11

Study Alloy & Abramson (1979)

Answer 11

• Study: Participants judged their control over a light turning on (zero contingency task).

Findings:
- Non-depressed overestimated control.
- Depressed participants made accurate judgments.
- Challenges the idea that happiness = accuracy.

Question 12

Rescorla-Wagner Model & Cue Competition

Answer 12

Depressed individuals may fail to adjust cue associations in complex environments.

Question 13

The Illusion of Causality

Answer 13

A cognitive bias where people perceive a causal relationship where none exists.