The present study was a modified replication of Miller and Seligman’s (1973) study. Expectancy ratings under skill and chance tasks were examined in 51 college students in four groups: depressed high-external, depressed low-external, nondepressed high-external, and nondepressed low-extrenal. The major hypothesis predicted that there would be greater association (1) between both magnitude and direction of expectancy change and outcome of the previous trial (success/non-success) with nondepression than with depression, under the skill task, (2) between both magnitude and direction of expectancy change and outcome of the previous trial (success/non-success) with low-externality than with high-externality, under the skill task, and (3) between both magnitude and direction of expectancy change and outcome of the previous trial (success/non-success) for low-externality than for high-externality under the skill task and that this would be more evident with nondepression than with depression. None of these hypotheses was confirmed; no significant differences in expectancy ratings among the groups were found. Possible reasons for the failure of the present study to support Miller and Seligman’s findings regarding the influence of depression were discussed and suggestions for future research were made.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:pdx.edu/oai:pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu:open_access_etds-3393 |
| Date | 01 January 1976 |
| Creators | Gillis, Adele |
| Publisher | PDXScholar |
| Source Sets | Portland State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Dissertations and Theses |
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