Symbiosis School for Liberal Arts

Semester End Evaluation (Fresh/Regular/Current Semester) Oct/Nov-2022

th
Course: B.A./B.Sc. Liberal Arts Date: 13 November, 2022
Subject: Introduction to Psychology
Faculty: Atiya Fathima
Evaluation Type: SEE (Home Assignment)- Thought Paper
Deadline for Submission: 5 December
Total Marks: 25 (4 Credit)

Instructions:
● Do not submit Hard-copies of the assignments.
● Submit the Soft-copies of the assignment on the link shared by the exam
department only. Do not submit the softcopies to the faculty directly.
● No extension of time will be allowed for any reason whatsoever.
● This question paper must be added in the beginning of your assignment.
● Do not plagiarise.
● Please mention your Name and PRN on the assignment properly.

● Choose any one topic from the list below to find two research articles/studies (not earlier
than 2005) and write a critical evaluative report.
● The report should analyse the topic, methodology, findings and shortcomings, to name a
few.
● Structure your answer following the rubric mentioned below following the limit range of
2200-2500 words.
● Formatting will be in the APA 7th edition style. Paper must be submitted with a copy of
the original journal articles in its complete form.
● Rubric: Topic Analysis: 3 /Citation: 2 / 10 marks per article: Summary-3; Critical
Evaluation-3; Application value-2; Personal Reflection-2

Topics:
1. Learning styles
2. Eye witness testimony
3. Projective techniques to assess personality
4. Need for achievement
5. Attention
6. Hormones
7. Brain imaging technologies
8. Learned helplessness
9. Cognitive dissonance
10. Conformity
 Learned Helplessness
noun PSYCHIATRY
a condition where a person has feelings of hopelessness brought on by difficult occurrences or
chronic reluctance to thrive.

Riya Banthia 21060322124

A fundamental tenet of behavioural theory, learned helplessness, shows how past experiences
may drastically alter behaviour and aims to explain why people may accept and be passive in
unfavourable circumstances despite having the power to change them. Learned helplessness
frequently shows up as a low sense of self-worth, a lack of drive, perseverance, the feeling that
one is incapable, and ultimately failure. People who have repeatedly encountered traumatic
events, such as marital violence or child abuse and delinquency, are more conceivable to
experience it.

In the late 1990s, American psychologist Martin E.P. Seligman created the notion of learned
helplessness at Pennsylvania University in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Seligman has
identified three crucial characteristics for identifying learned helplessness: being docile when
confronted with traumatic situations, having trouble accepting the idea that trauma is
manageable, and rising tension. When someone is continually confronted with a threatening,
uncontrollable situation and gives up trying to change their circumstances, despite having the
ability to change the case, they are said to have learned helplessness.

Numerous other diseases and behaviours, such as clinical depression, ageing, domestic violence,
poverty, discrimination, parenting, academic achievement, drug misuse, and alcoholism, have all
been studied using the theory of learned helplessness.

I will examine learned helplessness from two angles in the following critical evaluation. First, I
will compare high school pupils' levels of learned helplessness between those who achieve well
and those who perform poorly. Second, correlations between concern and behaviour shown by
self-reported helplessness, with an emphasis on environmental concern and pro-environmental
behaviour.
Critical Evaluation on-
Different Level Of Learned-Helplessness Among High School Students
With Lower Grade And Higher Grade In Salatiga Indonesia
Berta Esti Ari Prasetya

ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT

____________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________
Article history: In Salatiga, Indonesia, high school pupils with lower and higher grades
Received 2013 were compared to see if there were any appreciable differences in their
Faculty of Psychology propensity to feel learned helplessness. Three hundred seventeen
Satya Wacana Christian University participants were involved—190 kids in higher and 127 in lower grades.
email: bertaprasetya@gmail.com Since the data were not normally distributed, Mann-Whitney U was
_______________________ employed to analyse them. The test results show pupils in lower grades
are more likely to develop learned helplessness. This article will
Keywords: evaluate if the theories and the empirical research are correctly cited or
Learned helplessness used in the report based on the findings and recommendations of the
lower grade & higher grade. aforementioned paper.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Introduction
To stimulate students' achievement, passion, and dedication to learning, the construct of learned
helplessness—one of the obvious emotional concerns in education—has been examined and given a significant
role in the field. Learned helplessness could be understood as a complex web of false assumptions that have been
actualized as the basis for a cognitive-behavioural theory of discontent. This study discovered a substantial
difference between students with higher grades and those with lower grades in their propensity to acquire learned
helplessness. The group with a lower grade had a considerably larger inclination to feel learned helplessness than
the group with a better grade.

In order to establish whether the conclusion is overestimated, this paper tends to evaluate the study of Prasetya in
consideration of theoretical and empirical research.

Summary

Introduction:
The issue of Indonesian kids' academic performance has been a challenge. As a result, some schools even began
to provide their kids more time to develop a programme to prepare for the national exam. Students with lesser
grades have failed repeatedly, which is why they get those grades. These repeated failures could result in learned
helplessness, according to Seligman (1991). One sign of student learning helplessness is the issue whereby
students cheat on national exams rather than studying to "not fail" since it is easier and more convenient. For
improved results, motivation is necessary. People who have learned helplessness, however, are reluctant to try.
This study investigates whether high school students' levels of learned helplessness alter depending on their
academic performance.

Review of literature was given on the following topics-

- Learned Helplessness
- Factors affecting Learned-helplessness
- The characteristics of individuals who experienced Learned-helplessness
- Definition of Academic Achievement
- Learned-helplessness level differences between Higher Education Student Achievement and Students with
Low Learning Achievement

Aim:
The study's goal is to ascertain whether there are differences in learned helplessness among high school pupils
according to their scholastic standing. The hypothesis that follows was developed in light of the literature review.

"There is significant differences in the tendency of learned-helplessness among groups of students with higher
grade and students with lower grade. Students who have lower grade tend to experience learned-helplessness
more than students who have higher grade."

Method:
A quantitative survey strategy was applied in this investigation. The participants provided self-reported responses.
The information was gathered for individuals with higher and lower grades from four schools in Salatiga. Only
317 of the 400 surveys that were handed out could be evaluated.

Measures:
- Holt's PIQ (Perceived Influence Questionnaire) was utilised in this investigation (1980).
- In order to understand more about the situation of learned helplessness, the study used open-ended
questions.
- The data were discovered not to be normally distributed, so the Mann-Whitney U test was employed to
look for variation between the two groups.

Results:
- The lower grade group had high helplessness score.
- Lower-grade students felt more like a failure and vice versa.
- For the high-grade group, parents played a significant role for low-grade students; no one was
responsible for their failure.
- The group that saw themselves as successful had a low learned helplessness score and vice-versa.

Discussion:
After experiencing repeated failures and sensing that they lack control over the situation, people lose motivation,
severely reduce their effort, and develop a profoundly unfavourable attitude toward intellectual prowess.

Findings:
- Students with high grades, 94.4 percent, rate themselves as successful in terms of academic
achievement.
- Students with low grades, 70.7 percent rated themselves as individuals who fail academically.

Shortcoming:
- None of the groups has a very high propensity to experience learned helplessness.
Suggestion:
- The programme must teach participants how to appropriately assess their performance and determine
how they may do so more successfully.
- Please give attention to those who are unsuccessful so they might learn to recognise their successes
rather than continue to feel failed despite their success.

Conclusion:
A group of students with lower grades showed a considerably larger propensity to feel learned helplessness than
those with higher marks. The group of those who believed themselves to be successful academically and those
who believed themselves to be unsuccessful differed significantly in their levels of learned helplessness.

Evaluation
Learned helplessness is a psychological syndrome linked to a sense of powerlessness that makes students
disengage from the effort, linking to the psychological behaviour theory; even when that effort is necessary and
will result in success. Given what the literature analysis revealed, the idea used to investigate how students with
poorer grades have acquired helplessness makes logical. Teachers have long argued for redefining "failure" as a
"learning opportunity", but learned helplessness results when failure becomes so often and expected in a student's
life that it creates utter surrender.

The questionnaire was about low grades students having more learned helplessness. However, the results talked
more about Lower-achieving students typically viewing themselves(the majority) as failures, but even some
students with high grades also consider the same thing for them. The helplessness develops due to persistent
academic failure measured by test results and report cards for lower-grade students; however, for high-grade
students, it is their own goals they fail to meet.

The additional questions in the questionnaire helped to shed more light on how, as opposed to students with lower
grades, the group of students who view themselves as failed experienced helplessness. Due to unequal
distribution, even the sample taken had problems; as a result, they had to use a different type of analysis. The
study examined students' levels of learned helplessness and paid more attention to pupils who perceived
themselves as successful and unsuccessful rather than high and low scorers.

As for the study's conclusion, the difference between learned helplessness between higher and lower grades is
over-estimated as there is only a 1 percent difference. However, the conclusion about learned helplessness in
students who perceive themselves as unsuccessful was correct. Lastly, putting authority on parents and teachers
for good grades is a proven fact, so that is true, and the lower-grade students are not blaming anyone. However,
they showed signs of helplessness, which could have been elaborated on more.

Conclusion
To determine if there were any discernible variations in the likelihood of experiencing learned helplessness, high
school students in Salatiga, Indonesia, with lower grades, were compared to those with higher grades. The test
results demonstrate that students in lower grades are more likely to experience learned helplessness. Additionally,
it revealed that pupils who perceived them as failing had higher levels of learned helplessness, regardless of how
high or low. Researchers should strive to identify the factors that cause students to be lazy or determine why
students with lower grades do not care in order to focus on why students feel so helpless.
References-

- He, H. (1AD, January 1). Students' learned helplessness and teachers' care in EFL Classrooms. Frontiers. Retrieved
November 29, 2022, from
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.806587/full
- Guiang-Myers, G. (2021, November 17). How to counter learned helplessness. Edutopia. Retrieved December 1, 2022,
from
https://www.edutopia.org/article/how-counter-learned-helplessness/
- Dweck, C. S., & Goetz, T. E. (2018). Attributions and learned helplessness. In New directions in attribution research (pp.
157-179). Psychology Press.
https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.
- Walling, M. D., & Martinek, T. J. (1995). Learned helplessness: A case study of a middle school student. Journal of
teaching in physical education, 14, 454-454.
https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/213401840.pdf

Citations-

- McKean, K. J. (1994). Using multiple risk factors to assess the behavioral, cognitive, and affective effects of learned helplessness.
The Journal of psychology, 128(2), 177-183.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00223980.1994.9712721
- Dweck, C. S., & Reppucci, N. D. (1973). Learned helplessness and reinforcement responsibility in children. Journal of personality
and social psychology, 25(1), 109.
https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1973-26160-001
- Hoy, C. (1986). Preventing learned helplessness. Academic Therapy, 22(1), 11-18.
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/105345128602200102

Evaluation of the second paper is given below:

Critical Evaluation on-
Learned helplessness moderates the relationship between
environmental concern and behavior
Nicholas Landry a , Robert Gifford b , Taciano L. Milfont c , Andrew Weeks a , Steven Arnocky

ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT

_______________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________
Article history: Many concerned citizens refrain from taking significant environmental
Received 16 June 2017 action. The study investigated whether the relationship between concern
Received in revised form and behaviour is moderated by self-reported degrees of trait learned
2 December 2017 helplessness. The study's findings reinforced the idea that learned
Accepted 5 December 2017 helplessness centrists the affinity between environmental concern and
Available online 8 December 2017 pro-environmental behaviour. After adjusting for gender and the presence
of stress, anxiety, and depressive symptoms, the results are reliable. Based
Handling Editor: Jeff Joireman on the discoveries and guidance of the above paper, this article will assess
_________________________ if the theories and the empirical research are correctly cited or utilised in
the report.
Keywords:
Learned helplessness
Environmental concern
Pro-environmental behaviour
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Introduction
According to research, people's initial environmental concerns, such as biospheric values and environmental
self-identity, might influence their pro-environmental behaviour and may be significant intervention targets. The
psychological impact of ecological crisis has been studied for the past four decades. Greater insight into
individuals' interaction with the environment, awareness and propensity for environmentally friendly behaviour
has come from these studies. The paper by Landry and others represents one of the amplest analyses of; Whether
decreasing environmental engagement, even among those who care about the environment, might be attributed to
learned helplessness.

This paper tends to evaluate the study by Landry and others in light of the theories and empirical research they
have utilised to determine whether the conclusion is exaggerated.

Summary
Introduction:
In this paper, they begin by discussing their literature review on Learned helplessness and a study of
environmental concerns. This study talked about cultural factors influencing the relationship between concern and
behaviour, like marginalised groups' self-reporting of learned helplessness. Social learning is also seen as one of
the barriers, as there is a link between self-efficacy and Learned helplessness, as they are the exact opposite. But
the study also suggests that they are distinct from opposite. While self-efficacy only pertains to views about one's
ability to undertake particular activities in specified settings, having a learned propensity to act hopelessly is
indexed by the domain-free notion known as trait learned helplessness. Ineffective at creating meaningful
environmental changes to prevent issues like climate change which requires a change in government policies-
Relates to the feeling of helplessness.

Aim:
This paper examined whether the higher level of trait learned helplessness reduces the strength of the relationship
between environmental concern and measures of pro-environmental behaviour.

Models were tested controlling for gender and re-tested controlling for depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms.

Method:
A domain-general method is used, Moderated regressions which is a qualitative method. There were 437
participants (244 women). All the participants received $5 remuneration to complete a counterbalanced survey.

Measures:
- Questions were asked to get the score of the following standards-
- Learned Helplessness Scale (4-point Likert-System)
- Environmental Concern (7-point Likert-System)
- Self-reported Pro-Environmental Behaviour (5-point Likert-System)
- Geo-Engineering support (5-point Likert-System)
- In vivo Pro-Environmental Behaviour (Opportunity to donate $5 or join environmental activism)
- Depression, Anxiety and Stress (3-point Likert-System, along with point 4, which says not applicable)

Results:
- Women had more pro-environmental behaviour.
- Men were more willing to join environmental activism.
- More pro-environmental conduct was linked to greater environmental concern, but this link was tempered by
learned helplessness.
- Lower on the learned helplessness, scale higher on pro-environmental behaviour for concern, donation and
joining camp(and vice-versa).
- Support for geo-engineering is unrelated to either learned helplessness or its connection with environmental
concerns.

Discussion:
The study has highlighted the tenuous link between various environmental concern metrics and
Pro-environmental behaviour. The most frequently encountered group of people with an emotional sense of
helplessness is those concerned about the environment. Eco-anxiety is a phenomenon that may serve as an
example of this kind of learnt helplessness.

Findings:
- Self-reported learned helplessness impacted relationships between behaviour and environmental concern.
- This study's conclusions may impact techniques that use fear to encourage environmental action.
- Results show that promoting environmental activity may call for various tactics beyond purely environmental
ones.

Shortcoming:
- Surprisingly, there was no connection between learned helplessness and geo-engineering understanding.
- The findings call for more research into societal factors that can foster emotions of helplessness and into the
possibility that these feelings could partially explain relationships between socioeconomic factors like poverty
or demographic characteristics.

Suggestions:
- Future studies may examine if related concepts like self-efficacy and hopefulness have comparable
moderating effects.
- Future studies should examine in-vivo pro-environmental behaviour after experimentally causing
psychological and hormonal alterations in acquired helplessness.

Conclusion:
The current study has started to clarify how learned helplessness operates as a roadblock between conduct and
environmental concerns.

Evaluation
The study aimed to ascertain if learned helplessness is one that modifies the relationship between environmental
concern and pro-environmental behaviour. In my view, the theory of concern and behaviour applied in the
aforementioned article showed that connections between environmental concern and behaviour were significantly
reduced by learned psychological helplessness.

The concept of learned helplessness has emerged as a fundamental tenet of behavioural theory. It demonstrates
how prior learning can cause a dramatic shift in behaviour and aims to explain why people may accept and be
passive in unfavourable circumstances despite having the power to change them. Hence individuals with high
learned helplessness scores, even with deep environmental concern, were less likely to take action. Proving the
theory of concern and behaviour tempered by learned helplessness used in the paper displaying the psychological
phenomenon associated with the behavioural approach.

This study mainly used correlational approaches to explore the problem; hence it is still unclear if learned
helplessness contributes to environmental apathy causally or not. As a result, additional investigation by other
psychologists was conducted to better understand the relationship between learned helplessness and
pro-environmental behaviour by experimentally introducing a temporary and generalised state of learned
helplessness and observing changes in the relationship between environmental attitudes and behaviour.

The study's research question has a literature background, as stated in the paper by the author on 40 countries and
marginalised groups. The participant sample was well reviewed, considering all factors such as gender,
depression, anxiety and stress. However, concepts like self-efficacy and hopefulness may also have comparable
moderating effects. The questionnaire assesses the process of interest. Although, the geo-engineering
understanding was proved to be optional as it showed no connection with learned helplessness. A domain-general
method of Moderated regressions was used with Likert-System, as. Degree of LH was self-reported so the
participants could have easily lied about their responses, but that is a factor critical in every questionnaire-based
experiment. The conclusion claimed by the author of the roadblock between conduct and environmental concerns
due to learned helplessness is proper.
Conclusion
Many environmentally conscious persons choose not to take any substantial environmental action. The study
examined whether self-reported levels of trait learned helplessness affect the link between concern and behaviour.
The study's findings supported that learned helplessness centralises the relationship between environmental
concern and pro-environmental behaviour. The flaws were acknowledged, not denied. Although it is not apparent
whether or not learned helplessness causes or contributes to ecological apathy casually. Research on
socioeconomic learned helplessness, self-efficacy, hopefulness, hormonal and psychological changes in acquired
helplessness, and temporary and generalised learned helplessness state changes in the relationship between
environmental attitudes and behaviour are suggested as possible areas to investigate.

References-

- Huddart Kennedy, E., Krahn, H., & Krogman, N. T. (2015). Are we counting what counts? A closer look at environmental concern,
pro-environmental behaviour, and carbon footprint. Local Environment, 20(2), 220-236.
https://Environment_Counting_What_Counts_2015-with-cover-page-v2.pdf.
- Conoscenti, M. A., & Fanselow, M. S. (1AD, January 1). Dissociation in effective treatment and behavioural phenotype between
stress-enhanced fear learning and learned helplessness. Frontiers. Retrieved November 27, 2022, from
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnbeh.2019.00104/full
- Meloni, A., Fornara, F., & Carrus, G. (2019). Predicting pro-environmental behaviours in the urban context: The direct or moderated
effect of urban stress, city identity, and worldviews. Cities, 88, 83-90
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/
- Nagel, M. (2005). Constructing apathy: How environmentalism and environmental education may be fostering “learned
helplessness” in children. Australian Journal of Environmental Education, 21, 71-80.
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/australian-journal-of-environmental-education/article/abs/

Citations-

- Kulin , J., & Johansson Sevä, I. (2021). Quality of government and the relationship between environmental concern and
pro-environmental behaviour: A cross-national study. Taylor & Francis. Retrieved November 27, 2022, from
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09644016.2020.1809160
- Trivedi, R. H., Patel, J. D., & Savalia, J. R. (2015). Pro-environmental behaviour, locus of control and willingness to pay for
environmental friendly products. Marketing Intelligence & Planning.
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/MIP-03-2012-0028/full/html?

The Research Papers Used are attached below:

 Different Level of Learned-helplessness Among High School Students with Lower Grade and Higher Grade (Berta Esti Ari Prasetya)

DIFFERENT LEVEL OF LEARNED-HELPLESSNESS

AMONG HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS WITH LOWER GRADE AND HIGHER
GRADE IN SALATIGA INDONESIA

Berta Esti Ari Prasetya

Faculty of Psychology
Satya Wacana Christian University
email: bertaprasetya@gmail.com

ABSTRACT

This research aimed to investigate whether there is any significant difference in the tendency of
experiencing learned-helplessness between high school students with lower grade and higher grade
in Salatiga, Indonesia. Survey method was used in collecting the data,utilizing Perceived Influence
Questionnaire (Holt, 1980) as the instrument of measurement. 317 participants were involved,
consisted of 190 of higher grade students and 127 of lower grade students. Mann-Whitney U was
used to analyse the data, considering that the data were not normally distributed. This test result
showed that there was a significant difference between high school students with higher grade and
lower grade (the Mann-Whitney U coefficient of 10,644, with z value of -1795, p <0.05 (p = 0036,
1-tailed)), with students of lower grade tend to be more prone to experience learned-helplessness.
Additional results from their subjective perception on their achievement were also discussed and so
were the implications of the study.
Keyword: Learned-helplessness, lower grade & higher grade.

INTRODUCTION of national exam, most of the results were

For every nation, students are invaluable
assets who are expected to be the backbone of the
continuity of its national life. The future of a nation
can be predicted from the quality of its students,
because it is in their hands lies all the hope for
innovation and the improvement to make a better
nation. Considering that, improving the quality of
the students should become an important agenda
for governments and every level of society.
It has been long that Indonesia is strugling
with the problem in academic achievement of its
students, as it was recorded that the average of
Indonesia’s academic achievement ranked very
low compared to its neighbouring countries,
especially in areal of reading comprehension
(Sundiawan, 2006). Inability to grasp the essence
of reading may in turn resulted in lower academic
performance. Like what was reflected in the result
somewhat dissapointing (Jalil, Suara Merdeka,
March 6th, 2006). It is therefore, some schools
start to give additional hours to their students to
have a programme to prepare for the national
exam. But in some occation this effort did not turn
out like once was expected. If the students eager
to study harder, there are some possibility that they
may improve their performance. But if they fall
to being learned-helplessness, then the effort of
the school may become futile, for the student do
not even want to try to study harder to improve
their performance because they do not think that
their effort will result in the improvement of their
performance, after several failures that they faced.
Having lower grade in school, means that
students had experienced failure after failure. This
repeating failures according to Seligman (1991)
may lead to the condition of learned-helplessness,
that characterized by being passive, merely to

15
Satya Widya, Vol. 29, No.1. Juni 2013: 15-22
avoid failure, with no real desire to get knowledge.
The phenomenon of students cheating during
national examination, rather than study, as a simple
and easier way try to “not fail”, can be pinpointed
as one indication of learnhelplessness among the
students. They choose to be pasive, rather than to
work harder to improve their knowledge. Some
students often feel desperate before starting to
study for their exam, and believe that the grade
that they got are only given by chance.
According to Scales and Roehlkepartain
(2003) and Rusyan et al. (In Pujianingrum, 2003),
motivation is very important to achieve better. But
people who experience learned-helplessness is
afraid to try. This may lead to another low grade,
and make him/her become even more convinced
that they are incapable, and that there is no use to
study even harder, because the result is the same.
At the opposite, those who has higher grade, they
may see that their hard work is paid off, then they
work even harder and excel even more.
Given the considerations above, this study
intend to examine whether there is a difference in
the level of learned-helplessness among the high
school students based on their academic
achievements. The other condition will also be
investigated in order to conduct a programme to
overcome learned-helplessness among high school
students so that they may improve their accademic
performance. This study is considered as the first
phase of how to conduct an effective programme
to overcome learned-helplessness among students.
In the next phase of the study, the programme can
be created and the effectivity of the programme
can also be evaluated. The town of of Salatiga is
chosen to be the area of study considering that
this is a small town that needs to be given more
attention compared to other bigger town or cities
in Indonesia. The study also asked open-ended
questions to find out things that related to the
condition of learned-helplessness among
highschool students in Salatiga, Indonesia.
Problem formulation
Based on the above mentioned, this research
question is:
16
“Is there any significant difference in the
level of learned-helplessness among high
schoool students with lower grade and
students with higher grade?”
REVIEW OF LITERATURES
Learned Helplessness
In general, learned-helplessness is a
phenomenon where an organism learns or
concludes, after a series of experiments/exposure,
that he has no control over the results (outcomes)
of an event (Barber, 1985). The organism is unable
to see any connection between his efforts and
changes in the environment or achieving goals.
This produces the effect of passive conditions and
reduced its ability to withstand a task/ thing (Maeir
& Seligman, 1967).
The condition of learned-helplessness can
be experienced by individuals in various
situations, including in educational setting. In
education setting, students may also have learned-
helplessness resulting from exposure to the
successive failures in school.
Factors affecting Learned-helplessnes
Research done by Barber (1985) found that
one important characteristic of experiencing
learned-helplessness is a condition that the
individual feels unable to control (not in control)
of the results (outcomes) from the effects of his
behavior. Apart from that, Barber also found that
the subjective sense of failure will affect whether
an individual will experience learned-helplessness
or not. If the failure is regarded as essential for
individuals, learned-helplessness may present. If
the failure is subjectively not regarded as
important for the individual, the individual would
not experience learned-helplessness.
Research done by Peterson and Seligman
(1984) found that how individuals interpret an
event will determine whether or not he/she
experience learned-helplessness. Individuals who
have a negative explanatory style are likely to see
negative events as permanent (eg: conditions exist
for ever), personal (for example: I was stupid),
and are pervasive (eg: in all areas I can not be
 Different Level of Learned-helplessness Among High School Students with Lower Grade and Higher Grade (Berta Esti Ari Prasetya)
what is right), will tend to experience learned-
helplessness.
Cullen and Boersma (1982) found that
learned-helplessness influenced by the actions of
parents and teachers towards the students. Parents
or teachers who repeatedly tell the children that
failure is caused by incompetence and not because
they are less trying to achieve better, would tend
to cause feelings of helplessness in children.
The characteristics of individuals who
experienced Learned-helplessness
In addition, individual also has a habit to
not want to “try”, as the effect of successive
failures s/he experienced before. His/her behavior
is considered as a waste of time trying, because
they believe that they will not succeed anyway.
Individuals who have learned-helplessness
tend to avoid failure rather than trying to find
knowledge (Titscher & Kubinger, 2008). When
faced with problems, students who experienced
learned-helplessness tend to choose easier
question because he is hopelessness, rather than
choosing a more difficult problem that can actually
bring in new knowledge.
Dweck (2000) explains that individuals who
are helpless, when they are faced with failure, they
tend to make a permanent internal attribution.
They give attribution that the failure is caused by
his personal disability, thus allowing the
emergence of negative emotions, the decline in
performance and decline of self-esteem. At the
opposite, individuals who have a tendency of
mastery oriented are usually more focused on
themselves to find solutions rather than try to find
excuses for failure he make. In previous studies
Dweck and Repucci (1972) compared those who
did not experience helplessness (mastery
orientation) are more likely to see the failure as
internal attribution that are not permanent, ie
assessing the failure occurred because of lack of
effort.
Definition of Academic Achievement
Learning occurs as the mutual interaction
between the learner and everything that exists in
the environment. For learning to happen, it needs
the willingness of the learners to open themselves
to the stimuli outside himself. And it can be said,
the success of learning will also be determined by
the extent of the enthusiasm he showed to interact
with its environment.
The result of learning may not be observable
by other, but because it is only stored within the
individual and not yet actualized. However,
without an actual measurement a research will be
impossible to be done. It is therefore in this study,
academic achievement is defined in terms of the
achievements that are already actualized.
Considering the importance of having a definition
of academic achievement as something that can
be measured, then the definition of Thantawi
(1997) may be used as a reference for defining
the academic achievement. That is: a sign or
symbol of success had been achieved from the
effort to learn, which is usually expressed in
grades, numbers or letters, where the sign
represents the actual ability in the field of
knowledge and skills. Anwar (1996) adds that
learning achievement can be expressed in value
or grade report cards (IP), graduation rates, and
predicate the success obtained from the
measurements of academic achievement.
In this study, academic achievement is
divided into two groups, which are students with
higher grade and students with lower grade.
Students with higher grades are those who have
become the 5 upper rank in every class and have
the grade of more than 8 (scale 0-10). Students with
lower grade are those who were the 5 lowest grade
in his/her class with the grade maximum of 6 (scale
0-10).
Learned-helplessness level differences between
Higher Education Student Achievement and
Students with Low Learning Achievement
Several studies in education have found the
importance of reinforcement to improve behavior.
Nevertheless, various studies have also prove that
there are some students who can not see the effects
of reinforcement because they are unable to see
the relationship between the response he did with
17
Satya Widya, Vol. 29, No.1. Juni 2013: 15-22
the results or effects of such behavior (Blair, 1972),
a condition in which was referred by Seligman
(1991) as a condition of learned-helplessness.
Review of Canino (1981) found that the
learned-helplessness effects can include the effects
of cognitive, motivational, and emotional, which
include delays in learning, the passivity of
individual’s behavioral and a growing physiological
condition of distress.
Research Hiroto and Seligman (1975)
among students found that when faced with
insoluble problems and painful sounds that could
not be controlled, the students became less
motivated, effort that was usually done decreased
drastically and their attitude about their intellectual
capability dercreased, and so did their self-esteem.
Individuals also showed a decline in intellectual
performance, thus failing to perform tasks that
previously capable of doing.
Individuals who experience learned-
helplessness due to repeated failures in the past
will take the erroneous conclusion that they were
not able to improve their performance (Stipek,
1988). In conjunction with academic tasks, the
individual who experience learned-helplessness
tend to feel that he/she is incapable to do more
than what they have done, so that they are even
left behind by other students.
Ramirez, Maldonado, and Martos (1992)
found that children who experience learned-
helplessness usually fail their academic subjects,
and less motivated by intrinsic motivation
compared to others. They tend to be more passive
and less interested to try to improve their academic
performance.
Another effect of learned-helplessness is a
loss of confidence, inability to resolve the
problem, attention that is less focused and feeling
of hopeless. Individuals who experience learned-
helplessness also tend to easily give up when faced
with a variety of academic problems (Shields,
1997). With this condition, it is possible that the
students will even more left behind in their
academic achievement compared to other
students.
18
Research Hypothesis
There is significant differences in the
tendency of learned-helplessness among groups
of students with higher grade and students with
lower grade. Students who have lower grade tend
to experience learned-helplessness more than
students who have higher grade.
METHOD
Method and result
The mehod used in this study was a
quantitative survey method. In this case, the
collected data based on subjective evaluations of
the participants in the form of self-report. The
questionnaire used for this study is PIQ (Perceived
Influence Questionnaire) by Holt (1980). After the
validity and reliability test, 14 items were retained
for data collection.
The data were collected from 4 schools in
Salatiga for those who have higher grade (who
were the 5 top rank in every class) and those who
have lower grade (who were 5 lowest rank in
class). Four hundred (400) questionnaires were
distributed, and 371 were returned, but it was only
317 that were able to be analyzed due to the
imcomplete data that was reported by the
participants. The higher grade group were consist
of 190 participants and the lower grade group were
consist of 127 participants. When the normality
of the data was tested, it was found that the data
was not normally distributed, therefore the test of
Mann-Whitney U test was used to examine
differences between the two groups.
Results
The result of descriptive analyses showed
that the mean of the group of higher grade was
5.88 with SD 2.15. Meanwhile the mean of group
with lower grade was 6.27 with SD 2.04.
The test of Mann-Whitney U was implimented
and resulted in coefficient of 10.644 with z values of
-1795 z and p <0.05 (p = 0036, 1-tailed).
 Different Level of Learned-helplessness Among High School Students with Lower Grade and Higher Grade (Berta Esti Ari Prasetya)
Additional Analysis Results from additional
and open-ended questions:
Additional questions submitted to the
subject turned out to produce some findings that
can be reported.
Descriptive Analysis of Perception Regarding
individual’s success
Students’ achievement that was reported on
the student report card (either higher grade or
lower grade) is an objective fact about the results
of students’ studies. However, each student also
has the perception on his/her success on his/her
studies. In open-ended questions part of the
questionnaire, the subjects were asked to judge
whether he felt as an academically successful
students or not and who support them to feel that
way.
In the group of lower grade students, this
question is answered by 41 subjects, of which 29
subjects claimed to feel like a failure in academics
(70.7%), while 12 people felt themselves
successful in academics (29.3%).
In the group of higher grade students, this
question is answered by 54 subjects, of which three
subjects (5.6%) declared themselves felt as a
failure in academics, while 51 subjects (94.4%)
felt successful in academic achievement.
Significant others
The participants were asked who is
influential on their perception either as a succesul
or unsuccessful person in their academic
achievement. Among the higher grade group, 40,9
percent stated that the parents were the one who
play a role in making them feel successful in
academics, followed 19,1 percent stated that they
get support from teachers (19.1%), while 9.1
percent stated that they get support from friends.
Among the group of lower grade, the highest
percentage which is 41 percent responded that no
one supports them to feel successful/unseccesful,
followed by those who reported that they get
support from friends at 15.4 percent. Meanwhile,
only 2.9 percent stated that they gain support from
parents and teachers.
The results of the analysis of differences in
learned-helplessness based on subjective
perceptions of academic success
The results of descriptive analysis of the
tendency to experience learned-helplessness of
individuals showed that for groups who perceive
themselves as unsuccessful, the mean is at 7.21
with SD 1.88, with a minimum score of 3 and a
maximum score of 11. As for groups that perceive
themselves as successful, the mean is at 6.30 with
a SD of 1.80, with a minimum score of 2 and
maximum score 10.
To examine differences in learned-
helplessness trend in between those who perceived
themselves as successfull and unsuccessful the
Mann-Whitney U was used to analyse the data.
The analysis showed that the coefficient for the
Mann-Whitney U z 764 000 and the value of -
1951 with p <0.05 (p = 0.25, 1-tailed).
DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATION OF THE
STUDY
This study found that there was a significant
difference in the tendency to experience learned-
helplessness among groups of students with higher
grade and those with lower grade (values of z -
1795 z and p <0.05 (p = 0036, 1-tailed)). The
tendency to experience learned-helplessness was
significantly higher among group of lower grade
than group of higher grade.
The result of the research was in line with
the results of research developed by Hiroto and
Seligman (1975) that after repeating failures and
feel being not in control of the situation, they
become less motivated, their effort was decrease
drastically, and her attitude about the intellectual
ability became very negative. They also showed
that their intelectual performance was decline,
thus failing to perform tasks previously capable
of doing, and the decline of self-esteem as well.
Still in line with the above conditions, the
research done by Stipek (1988) found that repeated
failure in the past will make the individual take a
19
Satya Widya, Vol. 29, No.1. Juni 2013: 15-22
wrong conclusion that they were not able to
improve their performance. In conjunction with
academic tasks, individuals who experience
learned-helplessness because of various failures
in the execution of academic work in the past
would feel unable to do more, so that they were
even more left behind by the other students.
Meanwhile, earlier studies also found that
conditions of learned-helplessness, in turn, also
results in lower academic achievement of
individuals. As found by Ramirez et al. (1992) that
children who experience learned-helplessness
often experienced failure in academic subjects.
In line with these findings, the study Shield (1997)
also found that individuals who experience
learned-helplessness tend to easily give up when
faced with a variety of academic problems, which
led also to the low academic achievement.
Research done by Razeen (2004) among students
in Malaysia have also found a significant
correlation between the tendency of learned-
helplessness with implications for their lower
accademic achievement.
Descriptive analysis of the results of this
study found none of the group (either lower grade
group and higher grade group) has very high
propensity to experience learned-helplessness. In
the group of higher grade students, 12.2 percent
of them were found to have high tendency of being
learned helplessness, while among lower grade
group there were 13.6 percent were found to have
tendency of being learned-helplessness. Most
individuals were rank modest in their thendency
of learned helplessness. This result that nobody
has a high tendency, and only about 12 -13 percent
of high tendency of being learned-helplessness
either from higher grade group or from lower grade
group seems in line with the subjects’ answer to
the question whether they believe that that the
failure can be avoided. Among students who
answered this question, there is only one person
who claimed that the failure can not be avoided,
while the rest of other students believe that failure
is evitable. When they were asked their reason,
even students who were included in the group of
lower grade stated that they were actually capable
20
of doing better, able to cope with their failures if
they want to try harder, but they said that they
were just lazy to do so. From this result seems
that there is still a belief or optimism from students
about their ability to cope with their failures,
provided they are willing. But it seems that it is
the self-discipline to work harder that needs to be
improved. In relation to the question what is the
best programme to improve their accademic
performance, the programme must be able to help
students to pinpoint what cause their laziness, and
how to build more self-discipline. At the same time
they need to check if they actually unconsciously
believe that their effort will be futile, it is therefore
they are lazy to work harder.
The study also tried to see if there is
consistency between their learning achievements
objectively (from the rank and value of report
cards), with their own subjective perceptions about
their success. This study found that among
students who belongs to a group of higher grade,
there are still 5.6 percent who considered
themselves to fail, while the 94.4 percent rate
themselves as succesful student in terms of
academic achivement. In the qualitative question,
those who perceive themselves as a failure stated
that they felt as a failure because they can not
reach their target to achieve a certain ranking or
grade.
Meanwhile, in a group of students who have
lower grade, 70.7 percent rated themselves as
individuals who fail academically and there are
29.3 percent of them who feel that they are
successful in terms of academic. This can be
interpreted by at least two ways. The first, this
might make the students do not experience
feelings of inferiority because they still feel as
individuals who are successful. Which can be
considered as a positive side of this statement.
However, this could also be interpreted as they
are less sensitive to see the fact that they need
some improvement. If individuals do not see that
their old way of study is actually not effective to
bring them to have better achievement, then there
would be no effort to change their way of study to
be more effective. The implication of this finding
 Different Level of Learned-helplessness Among High School Students with Lower Grade and Higher Grade (Berta Esti Ari Prasetya)
for the improvement programme, is that the
programme has to include how to asses themselves
accurately, and see in what way they can be more
effective to improve their academic performance.
The programme also need to pay more attention
to those who keep on feeling unsuccessfull even
that they are in group of higher achiver, so that
they can learn how to appreciate their
acomplishment rather than keep on feeling
unsuccessfull even that they are successfull
already.
The additional analyses also found that there
was a significat difference in their level of learned-
helplessness among group who perceived
themselves as individuals who succeed
academically and those who perceived themselves
as not successful in their academic achivement
(The test used was a Mann-Whitney U, with a
value of z = -1941, p <0.05). The results are in
line with research conducted by the Banks &
Woolfsoon (2008), that individuals who rate
themselves as having lower achievement tended
to explain his failure with the attribution of more
internal / stable (eg, I failed because I was stupid),
and more feel helpless in controlling the things
that make him fail, than those who rate themselves
as people who succeed academically (high
achievement). Or in other words, individuals who
assess themselves as people who fail, have a
tendency to have learned-helplessness higher than
those who perceived themselves as successfull
individuals.
When they were asked who is their
significant other who make them feel the way they
feel either successfull or unsuccessfull, among
higher grade students: 40.9 percent of them
reported that it is their parents who make them
feel the way they do, followed by 19.1 percent of
the participants stated that it was their teacher,
while 9.1percent stated it was their close friends.
This opposite configuration is found among the
lower grade group. Forty-one percent (41%) of
them stated that no one supports them to feel they
way they do, followed by 15.4 percent stated that
it was their friends who make them feel the way
they do. Meanwhile, only 2.9 percent the states
that it was their parents and teachers who make
them feel the way they do.
Looking at this configuration, we can see
that among higher grade group, they tend to put a
figure of authority such as parents and teachers
who are significant in making the way they feel
about their academic achievements. While among
lower grade, tend to feel that no one is significant
in influencing their feeling of being successfull
or unsuccessfull. They also point their peers as
those who make them feel successful or
unsuccessful. Meanwhile, the authority figures
such as teachers and parents were placed in
positions that are not significant in determining
the feeling or success that they feel. This result
give us idea of who can be invited in the
programme to help those students of higher grade
and lower grade in overcoming their feelings of
learned-helplessness.
CONCLUSION
This study found that there was a significant
difference in the tendency to experience learned-
helplessness among groups of students with higher
grade and those with lower grade (values of z -
1795 z and p <0.05 (p = 0036, 1-tailed). The
tendency to experience learned-helplessness was
significantly higher among group of lower grade
than group of higher grade. Even that those
students in lower grade have a higher level of
learned-helplessness, most of them still believe
that failure is evitable if they are willing to work
harder. They believe that their lower scores
resulted from their laziness and lack of discipline
in study, but they can not do anything about it.
The additional analyses also found that there
was a significat difference in their level of learned-
helplessness among group who perceived themselves
as individuals who succeed academically and
those who perceived themselves as not successful
in their academic achivement (The test used was
a Mann-Whitney U, with a value of z = -1941, p
<0.05). Or in other words, individuals who assess
themselves as people who fail, have a tendency
to have learned-helplessness higher than those
who perceived themselves as successfull
individuals.
21
Satya Widya, Vol. 29, No.1. Juni 2013: 15-22
Among higher grade group, they tend to put
a figure of authority such as parents and teachers
who are significant in making the way they feel
about their academic achievements, followed by
their peers. While among lower grade, they tend
to feel that no one is significant in influencing
their feeling of being successfull or unsuccessfull.
They also put some credit to their peers as those
who make them feel successful or unsuccessful.
Meanwhile, the authority figures such as teachers
and parents were placed in positions that are not
significant in determining the feeling of successful
or unsuccessful that they feel
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 Journal of Environmental Psychology 55 (2018) 18e22

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Journal of Environmental Psychology

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jep

Learned helplessness moderates the relationship between

environmental concern and behavior
Nicholas Landry a, Robert Gifford b, Taciano L. Milfont c, Andrew Weeks a,
Steven Arnocky a, *
a
Department of Psychology, Nipissing University, 100 College Drive, North Bay, Ontario, P1B 8L7, Canada
b
Department of Psychology, University of Victoria, 3800 Finnerty Rd, Victoria, BC V8P 5C2, Canada
c
School of Psychology, Victoria University of Wellington, PO Box 600, Wellington 6140, New Zealand

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Many concerned individuals refrain from meaningful pro-environmental actions. We examined whether
Received 16 June 2017 self-reported levels of trait learned helplessness moderates this concernebehavior relation. Results
Received in revised form confirmed that learned helplessness moderated links between environmental concern and both self-
2 December 2017
reported and in-vivo measures of pro-environmental behavior, such that concern most strongly pre-
Accepted 5 December 2017
Available online 8 December 2017
dicted behavior when learned helplessness scores were low. Results are reliable after controlling for
gender as well as depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms. These findings suggest that learned help-
Handling Editor: Jeff Joireman lessness acts as a barrier to pro-environmental behavior in the face of environmental concern.
© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords:
Learned helplessness
Environmental concern
Pro-environmental behavior

1. Introduction learned helplessness, whereby one neglects to avoid aversive

Environmental concern is ubiquitous (see, e.g., Milfont &
Schultz, 2016), but many concerned individuals refrain from pro-
environmental actions. Indeed, evidence indicates that concern is
only weakly related to pro-environmental behavior (e.g., Bamberg,
2003; Fransson & Ga €rling, 1999; Hines, Hungerford, & Tomera,
1986; Leiserowitz, 2006; Oskamp, Harrington, Edwards, &
Sherwood, 1991; Schultz & Oskamp, 1996; Van der Pligt, 1985). To
illustrate, in one study 96% of individuals from over 40 countries
expressed environmental concern, yet only 65% of concerned in-
dividuals reported a willingness to take pro-environmental action
(Inglehart, 1995). Recent research has examined broad cultural
factors influencing the strength of this relationship (Eom, Kim,
Sherman, & Ishii, 2016; Tam & Chan, in press), and highlighted
potential disconnects between concern and environmental
engagement among socially or economically disadvantaged groups,
such as among ethnic minorities (e.g., Pearson, Ballew, Naiman, &
Schuldt, 2017). Importantly, some scholars have highlighted that
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: stevena@nipissingu.ca (S. Arnocky).
stimuli even when able to do so, may be more prominent among
members of marginalized groups (e.g., Broman, Mavaddat, & Hsu,
2000; Cheung & Snowden, 1990; Rabow, Berkman, & Kessler,
1983; Uomoto, 1986). The present research examined whether
self-reported trait learned helplessness moderates the relationship
between environmental concern and pro-environmental behavior.
Prior research has explored barriers to environmental action
within the context of social learning (e.g., Pelletier, Dion, Tuson, &
Green-Demers, 1999). One well-established link within this line
of research is between self-efficacy (i.e., one's belief in their ability
to succeed in a specific situation or task) and pro-environmental
behavior (Geiger, Swim, & Fraser, 2017; Jugert et al., 2016; Lauren,
Fielding, Smith, & Louis, 2016; cf. Homburg & Stolberg, 2006).
Conversely, environmental amotivation is correlated with beliefs
that individuals are incapable of performing effective pro-
environmental action, that the energy required is too great, or
that specific actions will be ineffective (i.e., low response efficacy)
(Gifford, 2011; Pelletier et al., 1999). These beliefs reflect a cognitive
appraisal that one is unable to effect meaningful change. At first
glance, self-efficacy might be perceived as the opposite of help-
lessness, but these constructs are conceptually and empirically

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2017.12.003
0272-4944/© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 N. Landry et al. / Journal of Environmental Psychology 55 (2018) 18e22
distinct.
Learned helplessness is a condition in which animals learn to
behave helplessly (Overmier & Leaf, 1965). Following inescapable
aversive stimuli, learned helplessness results in an inhibited
behavioral output in novel situations (Hiroto, 1974). Learned help-
lessness entails cognitive attributions ranging on continua from
specific to global, internal to external, and stable to instable,
which together enables learned helplessness to generalize from a
particular stimuli or situation to novel scenarios (Abramson,
Seligman, & Teasdale, 1978; Hiroto & Seligman, 1975), leading to
the development of trait characteristics (Quinless & McDermott-
Nelson, 1988). Internal attribution reflects belief that the aversive
situation is due to the individual rather than to external circum-
stances. Stable attribution reflects belief that the aversive
situation is consistent over time rather than variable. Global attri-
bution reflects belief that the aversive situation is contextually-
consistent rather than specific to a particular circumstance
(Miller & Seligman, 1975). Whereas self-efficacy relates only to
beliefs about capabilities of performing specific behaviors in
particular situations (Strecher, DeVellis, Becker, & Rosenstock,
1986), trait learned helplessness is a domain-free construct
indexing a learnt disposition to behave helplessly.
Pro-environmental actions available to most individuals are
often viewed as ineffective at creating meaningful environmental
benefitsdparticularly for multifaceted problems such as climate
change that requires alteration of government policies and large-
scale social and economic reforms (Hamilton, 2010)dpotentially
relating to feelings of helplessness (Leiserowitz et al., 2014).
Extending this domain-specific observation linking helplessness to
overwhelming global environmental problems, we examined
whether higher levels of trait learned helplessness reduce the
strength of the relation between environmental concern and
measures of pro-environmental behavior. Models were tested
controlling for gender, and re-tested controlling for depression,
anxiety, and stress symptoms to exclude the possibility that links
between learned helplessness and environmentalism are associ-
ated with underlying symptoms of negative emotion and mental
distress.
2. Method
2.1. Participants
Participants were 437 undergraduates (244 women) from a
Canadian university (Mage ¼ 20.6, SD ¼ 4.32; 81% Caucasian). Par-
ticipants completed a counter-balanced survey and received $5
CAD remuneration.
2.2. Measures
Learned helplessness. The Learned Helplessness Scale (LHS;
Quinless & McDermott-Nelson, 1988) is a 20-item measure scored
using a 4-point Likert-type scale (1 ¼ Strongly disagree and
4 ¼ Strongly agree). Example items are: “No matter how much energy
I put into a task, I feel I have no control over the outcome” and “I do not
try new tasks if I have failed similar tasks in the past” (a ¼ 0.72).
Environmental concern. Environmental concern is an affective
attitude regarding the severity of environmental problems
(Fransson & Ga €rling, 1999; Taka cs-Santa, 2007). We assessed it
using the question: “To what extent are you concerned about the
situation of the environment in general?” scored using a 7-point
Likert-type scale (1 ¼ Not at all and 7 ¼ Totally). This one-item
measure has shown consistency across large samples of rural and
urban participants (Berenguer, Corraliza, & Martín, 2005). It has
good face validity given that it does not conflate concern with
19
worldviews, behavioral intentions or attitudes, which is a limita-
tion of alternative (longer-form) measures.
Self-report pro-environmental behavior. Participants indi-
cated how often they engaged in 12 pro-environmental behaviors
during the past year using a 5-point scale (1 ¼ never and 5 ¼ very
often). A “not applicable” response was also provided “if there was
no opportunity for the action” (a ¼ 0.83) (Schultz, Oskamp, &
Mainieri, 1995).
Geo-engineering support. After reading the definition of geo-
engineering as: The use of large-scale engineering projects designed
specifically to combat global climate change, participants reported
their awareness of, and support for, geo-engineering using a 5-
point Likert-type scale (1 ¼ I have not heard of geoengineering/
Strongly oppose and 5 ¼ I know a great amount about geoengineering/
Strongly support) (Pidgeon et al., 2012).
In-vivo pro-environmental behaviors. At the end of the sur-
vey, participants were given the opportunity to either keep their $5
remuneration or donate it to a well-known environmental orga-
nization. Participants were also given the opportunity to join a
bogus on-campus environmental activism organization by
providing their contact information.
Depression, anxiety, and stress. Participants rated the fre-
quency and severity of experiencing 21 negative emotions over the
previous week (Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995) along 4-point scales
(0 ¼ did not apply to me at all and 3 ¼ applied to me very much or
most of the time) (depression a ¼ 0.90, anxiety a ¼ 0.81, stress
a ¼ 0.85).
3. Results
We examined the relations between environmental concern
and pro-environmental behaviors using multiple moderated re-
gressions (Hayes, 2013). The Johnson-Neyman technique (Aiken,
West, & Reno, 1991) assessed the ranges within which the
moderation was significant. Women reported more pro-
environmental behavior (B ¼ 0.07, SE ¼ 0.03, p ¼ 0.03) and
donated more than men (B ¼ 0.09, SE ¼ 0.02, p < 0.001), but men
were more willing to join the on-campus environmental activism
group than women (B ¼ 0.38, SE ¼ 0.12, p < 0.002). We included
gender as a covariate in all analyses reported below.
Greater environmental concern was associated with more pro-
environmental behavior (B ¼ 0.20, SE ¼ 0.02, p < 0.001) but this
association was moderated by learned helplessness (B ¼ 0.22,
SE ¼ 0.08, p < 0.005). Environmental concern predicted pro-
environmental behavior more-strongly among individuals with
lower (1 SD) scores (B ¼ 0.26, SE ¼ 0.03, p < 0.001) relative to
those with higher (þ1 SD) learned helplessness scores (B ¼ 0.14,
SE ¼ 0.03, p < 0.001; R2adj. ¼ 0.21: Fig. 1a). Deconstruction of the
interaction showed that the moderation effect was significant for
learned helplessness scores below 2.77 (Fig. 1b).
Environmental concern marginally predicted (B ¼ 0.14,
SE ¼ 0.08, p ¼ 0.08) donating to an environmental organization and
interacted with learned helplessness to predict donation
(B ¼ 0.68, SE ¼ 0.28, p ¼ 0.015). Environmental concern predicted
donating behavior among individuals with lower (1 SD) levels of
learned helplessness (B ¼ 0.32, SE ¼ 0.11, p ¼ 0.005), but did not
predict donating behavior at high (þ1 SD) levels (B ¼ 0.05,
SE ¼ 0.10, p ¼ 0.65; Nagelkerke pseudo R2 ¼ 0.08; Fig. 2a).
Deconstruction of the interaction showed that the moderation by
learned helplessness was significant for learned helplessness scores
below 2.23 (Fig. 2b).
Those who reported greater environmental concern were more
likely to indicate interest in joining the on-campus environmental
activism group (B ¼ 1.66, SE ¼ 0.69, p ¼ 0.016), but environmental
concern interacted with learned helplessness to predict interest in
20 N. Landry et al. / Journal of Environmental Psychology 55 (2018) 18e22

Fig. 1. Standardized (a) conditional moderation effect of Learned Helplessness Scale (LHS) scores on the relationship between environmental concern self-reported pro-envi-
ronmental behavior and Johnson-Neyman confidence limits (b).

Fig. 2. Standardized (a) conditional moderation effect of Learned Helplessness Scale (LHS) scores on the relationship between environmental concern and donating behavior (log
odds probability) and Johnson-Neyman confidence limits (b).

Fig. 3. Standardized (a) conditional moderation effect of Learned Helplessness Scale (LHS) scores on the relationship between environmental concern and joining a campus
environmental activism group (log odds probability) and Johnson-Neyman confidence limits (b).

joining the group (B ¼ 0.62, SE ¼ 0.30, p < 0.04). Environmental
concern predicted interest in joining the group at low (1 SD) levels
of learned helplessness (B ¼ 0.44, SE ¼ 0.13, p < 0.001), but not at
high (þ1 SD) levels of learned helplessness (B ¼ 0.10, SE ¼ 0.12,
p ¼ 0.38; Nagelkerke pseudo R2 ¼ 0.09; Fig. 3a). Deconstruction of
the interaction showed that the moderation by learned helpless-
ness was significant for learned helplessness scores below 2.38
(Fig. 3b).
A main effect of environmental concern occurred for geo-
engineering support (B ¼ 0.14, SE ¼ 0.02, p < 0.001) while
 N. Landry et al. / Journal of Environmental Psychology 55 (2018) 18e22
controlling for geo-engineering awareness and gender, such that
those who reported greater environmental concern endorsed geo-
engineering more strongly. Neither learned helplessness nor its
interaction with environmental concern related to support for geo-
engineering.1
4. Discussion
Previous research has underscored the weak relation between
diverse measures of environmental concern and pro-
environmental behavior (see, e.g., Leiserowitz, 2006). Some have
argued that “future research should no longer view environmental
concern as a direct, but as an important indirect determinant of
specific behavior” (Bamberg, 2003, p. 21). However, little research
has explored individual-level moderating variables influencing the
strength of the concernebehavior relationship. Recent surveys
show that among individuals who are concerned about the envi-
ronment, the most common associated emotional feeling is one of
helplessness (61%; Leiserowitz et al., 2014). Such learned help-
lessness may be exemplified by the phenomenon described
recently as eco-anxiety: “[Some individuals] are deeply affected by
feelings of loss, helplessness, and frustration due to their inability
to feel like they are making a difference in stopping climate change”
(Clayton, Manning, Krygsman, & Speiser, 2017, p. 27). This help-
lessness may not be inconsequential with respect to environmental
action.
Our findings demonstrated that self-reported learned help-
lessness moderated associations between environmental concern
and behavior. Given established links between learned helpless-
ness and fear (e.g., Adolphs, 2013), findings from this study could
have implications for fear-based strategies meant to promote
environmental action. Future research would benefit from exam-
ining whether such tactics might promote learned helplessness,
and could explain why some highly fear-inducing appeals are un-
successful in promoting behavior (e.g., Chen, 2016), whereas other
research has supported the efficacy of certain fear appeals (e.g.,
Hartmann, Apaolaza, D'Souza, Barrutia, & Echebarria, 2014).
The present study used a domain-general measure of learned
helplessness, and future research could explore whether a learned
helplessness measure directed to environmental issues might yield
stronger moderating effects for the concernebehavior relation.
However, and given the general nature of the measure used, our
findings indicate that promoting environmental action may require
a diverse set of strategies beyond those strictly environmental in
nature. Likewise, the findings warrant further investigation into
societal circumstances that may cultivate feelings of helplessness,
and whether helplessness might partially account for links be-
tween socioeconomic variables such as poverty, or demographic
variables such as belonging to an ethnic minority, and lower
environmental engagement. Furthermore, identifying such de-
terminants for heightened levels of learned helplessness may be
significant in understanding pro-social engagement in general-
dnotably in populations experiencing socioeconomic instability.
Some scholars have highlighted the role of socioeconomic systems
in relating to environmental action (e.g., Schmelev, 2012). Given
that economic factors may also relate to learned helplessness
(Rabow et al., 1983), it would be of interest for future research to
1 between environmental concern and support for environmental action. Psy-
Each model was re-tested by including depression, anxiety, and stress symp-
toms as covariates together with gender. Results did not vary meaningfully from
those reported and none of the DV's related to depression, anxiety, or stress. For the
moderation of donating behavior, inclusion of these covariates revealed an addi-
tional range of significance for learned helplessness scores above 3.12, such that the
moderator had a negative effect on the relationship between environmental
concern and donating behavior.
21
also consider what socioeconomic systems and factors lead to
higher levels of learned helplessness in general, in order to better
understand how economic factors promote or impede environ-
mental action. Future research might also determine whether
related constructs such as self-efficacy and hopefulness have
similar moderating influences.
The lack of a relation between learned helplessness and support
for geo-engineering was surprising. Learned helplessness is char-
acterized, in part, by an external rather than internal locus of
control (Hiroto, 1974). Support for geo-engineering might reason-
ably be considered as a remediation strategy that exists largely
outside of individual action, and thus may not be as susceptible to
learned helplessness as more individual effort-based actions.
Future research might benefit from examining whether support for
geo-engineering strategies are indeed more likely to be supported
by those with greater external locus of control for environmental
problems.
Notwithstanding the correlational design and self-reported
measures used, which precludes causal conclusions about the
role of learned helplessness in hindering observed pro-
environmental behavior, the present study has begun to elucidate
how learned helplessness acts as a barrier between environmental
concern and behavior. Future research would benefit from experi-
mentally inducing psychological and hormonal changes in learned
helplessness, and subsequently examining in-vivo pro-environ-
mental behavior.
Acknowledgements
This research was supported by a Social Sciences and Human-
ities Research Council of Canada (# 430-2016-00960) Insight
Development Grant awarded to Steven Arnocky, Taciano L. Milfont,
and Robert Gifford.
Appendix A. Supplementary data
Supplementary data related to this article can be found at
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2017.12.003.
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