Learned Helplessness Versus Egotism in Females: A Developmental Comparison

This study examined whether learned helplessness or egotism explanations best account for the reactions of females to failure and whether such reactions differ according to subjects' age. Using procedures similar to Frankel and Snyder (1978), we gave 120 females, who were enrolled in a private school in Grades 3, 7, and 11, solvable or unsolvable problems that were followed by a second task described as moderately or highly difficult. We found no clear support for helplessness or egotism for any age group, although some evidence of egotism was found for the 7th-grade sample. Third graders were less influenced by prior failure feedback than were 7th and 11th graders.