This study examines the perceptions of self in two groups of adults with literacy difficulties. The methodologies used include interviews, the repertory grid, Eysenck' s Personality Inventory (E.P.I.), Levenson's I.P.C. and self report questions. The interviews build on, and extend, work carried out by Charnley (1973), the only PhD to date, in the field. of adult literacy. The research pioneers the use of the repertory grid. technique in studies of adults with literacy difficulties. The theoretical framework for the thesis is the Learned Helplessness model (Seligman, 1975) and its reformulation (Abramson, et al, 1978). Learned helplessness can impede learning by affecting self esteem negatively and inhibiting cognitive, emotional, and motivational development. The study seeks to establish (among other perceptions of self) whether respondents exhibit signs of learned helplessness. The findings include a tendency for the sample to score more highly on neuroticism, as measured by the E.P.I., than the general population established by Eysenck. All the respondents consider there had been an improvement in their literacy skills. The majority viewed the ':present self' less negatively than the 'self prior to tuition', as shown by the former being rated nearer than the latter to the ideal self on the repertory grid. A minority were deemed to show continuing Learned Helplessness as evidenced by their attributions for literacy failure given in the self report questions, the locus of control orientations on Levenson's I.P.C. Scale and continuing negative perceptions of self on the repertory grid. This continued learned helplessness, despite improved literacy skills, has implications for the tutors adults with literacy-difficulties. These implications are discussed. Teaching strategies which could be adopted to overcome learned helplessness are outlined in the final chapter.

Simulated learned helpless behavior was examined among gifted, gifted underachievers, and unselected children. Using the Intellectual Achievement Responsibility (IAR) Scale (Crandall, Katkovsky, & Crandall, 1965), after the children read a brief story and cast themselves in a failing role, the three groups of children were compared before and after the intervention (a week or two after the initial testing) on their positive and negative IAR scores. Learned helplessness theory would predict that helpless children would have high negative scores (attributing failure to themselves) and low positive scores (attributing success to external factors). Negative IAR scores did not differ or change across trials. Positive IAR scores for both gifted groups declined considerably over trials. The unselected group's positive IAR scores differed from those of both groups of gifted children in that they declined but not as drastically at posttest. All three groups' positive scores decreased to varying degrees across trials, indicating that nobody took personal responsibility for success after imagining themselves as a failure. In this respect, one aspect of learned helpless behavior was elicited. The results suggest that gifted children are capable of showing behavior which might indicate learned helplessness.

Thesis (M. Phil.)--University of Stellenbosch, 2006. / Bibliography. Also available via the Internet.

Thesis (B.A. Hons.))--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Psychology, 1980.

Thesis (B.A. Hons. 1978) from the Department of Psychology, University of Adelaide.

Thesis (B.A. Hons.) -- University of Adelaide, Department of Psychology, 1979.

Thesis (Ph.D.) Dept. of Psychology, University of Adelaide, 1981. / Typescript (photocopy).

Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, Dept. of Psychology, 1985. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2004. / Supervisor: Francisco Gonzalez-Lima. Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison. / Typescript. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 129-134).