Learned Optimism Strategies for Helpless Students

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://pool.cream.org/pics/cartoons/optimism.jpg

Jennifer A. Jackson

Master of Science in Education

Curriculum and Instruction

University of Wisconsin Oshkosh Oshkosh, Wisconsin 54901

December 2007

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Learned Optimism Strategies for Helpless Students

Jennifer Jackson

A Seminar Paper Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of

Master of Science in Education

Curriculum and Instruction

University of Wisconsin – Oshkosh Oshkosh, Wisconsin 54901-8621

December 2007

Approval Date First Reader:________________________________________________________ Judith Hankes, Ph.D. Second Reader:______________________________________________________ Emily DeVillers, Masters of Science in Education

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ABSTRACT

This study investigates the use of Learned Optimism in helping sixth grade helpless

students in my social studies class become more confident, independent problem solvers when

faced with difficult situations.

I implemented Learned Optimism strategies using key features of Martin Seligman’s

philosophy. Students were first taught the connection between Seligman’s ABCs of optimism:

adversity (negative thoughts), belief, and consequences. This was done using examples and

graphic organizers to help students understand the information. Once students understood the

ABCs of optimism, they were taught to see how adversity, beliefs, and consequences operate

everyday in their own lives. In order to accomplish this task, students were asked daily to find

an example of an adverse situation from their life, record it, and discuss its significance.

Students were then taught to believe that they could dispute those negative thoughts and find

more positive beliefs about themselves and their abilities.

The findings of this study indicate that children can be “immunized” against pessimism

and helpless behavior, as Martin Seligman suggests, by teaching them to us optimism strategies

when faced with adverse situations. The data also suggests that the implementation of Learned

Optimism was effective in helping students become more optimistic, thus having fewer instances

of helpless behavior.

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TIMELINE FOR ACTION RESEARCH

September

• Investigated potential action research topics

• Identified a classroom problem: learned helplessness

• Finalized the question

• Developed a Statement of the Problem

October

• Finalized the Statement of the Problem

• Researched and wrote Literature Review

• Developed and finalized Situating the Problem

• Conducted pre-intervention observations

• Wrote pre-intervention Student Profiles

• Conducted pre-intervention Student Survey

• Began implementing the Learned Optimism lessons

November

• Continued to implement Learned Optimism lessons

• Conducted classroom observations

• Conducted post-intervention Student Survey

• Analyzed data

• Reported results in final paper

December

• Revised and edited final paper

• Wrote Abstract for Action Research Paper

• Finalized all components for Action Research Paper

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STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Throughout my years of teaching intermediate level students, I have observed and attempted

to teach numerous students who display what has come to be called learned helplessness.

Helpless students quickly become frustrated when given tasks that they are expect to complete

independently stating, “I’m too stupid to do this.” For many, this lack of confidence contributes

to a feeling of boredom, which can lead to disruptive behaviors. Additionally, students

exhibiting learned helplessness consistently lose or forgot to bring their text, paper, or pencil to

class and depend instead upon classmates or the teacher to lend or supply these items.

Consequently, learned helplessness does not only negatively impact the student exhibiting this

behavior, it also negatively impacts the classroom climate. In an effort to begin to address the

challenge of helping students overcome feeling of helplessness, I implemented the strategies of

Learned Optimism. This paper reports my implementation efforts and outcomes.

SITUATING THE PROBLEM

This study was conducted during my sixth year of teaching and my second year teaching

sixth grade. The study was conducted in an inner city middle school in Northeast Wisconsin

with a population of approximately 700 students. Cultural and economic backgrounds are very

diverse; with roughly eight-five percent of the students qualifying for free and reduced lunch.

The school provides a multitude of student support services. These included: special education

classes, both pull-out and team taught, for students who are cognitively, learning, or emotionally

disabled; English as a second language classes; support services for those students who are

American Indian; and a self-contained classroom for students whose needs have been deemed to

exceed what can be met within a traditional classroom.

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During the year that this study was conducted, I taught middle school level reading and

language arts for English language learners as well as social studies classes for a variety of

students. One of my social studies classes in particular was especially challenging, and it was

this class that motivated me to conduct this study. The class consisted of twenty-seven students,

fourteen of whom were labeled either learning disabled or emotional disturbed. Out of the

remaining thirteen students, five where labeled English Language Learners (ELL) and the last

eight students were not receiving any extra program services whatsoever. Because of the large

number of special need students, I team taught with a special education teacher.

The students within this social studies classroom frequently exhibited learned helpless

behavior. This behavior would range from students immediately asking for help before

attempting an assignment to students believing they would not be able to do an assignment and

refusing to make any attempt. These students typically occupied their time with inappropriate

behavior and encouraged other students to join them.

My initial reaction to these disruptive behaviors was to seek a quick cure. Both the

special education teacher and I recognized that most of the students who displayed helpless

behavior lacked the basic materials for class. These students frequently did not bring their

textbooks, notebooks, pencils, and folders to class and use this as an excuse not to work. At first

my team-teacher and I believed that the students’ helplessness was a result of not being prepared

for class. So, we provided binders, pencils and pencil pockets, tab dividers, and loose-leaf paper

to each student. We used a class period to teach the students how to organize their binders and

insisted that they keep all of their materials in the classroom. In addition, extra shelves were

placed int the room so that students would have a place to store their materials.

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My teaching partner and I did everything possible to ensure that students would have no

excuses for not attempting the assignments; however, the helpless behavior continued: those

students who previously asked for help before attempting an assignment continued to do so, and

the group of students who refused any attempts to do an assignment because they believed they

couldn’t do it also continued this behavior. It became obvious that our intervention was not

successful; however, we were unsure as to what would be effective for these students. It was at

this point that I decided to investigate ways to counteract classroom helplessness and apathy for

learning.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Helplessness is defined as when an individual expects that nothing he or she does matters and

as a result, becomes helpless and fails to initiate any action (Peterson, Maier, & Seligman, 1993,

p.4). For example, when one first encounters an uncontrollable event, he experiences reactance

or a desire to react. This may show itself as an enhancement in efforts to solve problems;

however, as his experience with uncontrollability continues, his motivation to react will

eventually dissipate and he may become helpless (p. 122).

We all become helpless and depressed at least momentarily when we fail at something. This

may manifest itself as not initiating voluntary actions as quickly as we would otherwise, or we

may not try at all (Seligman, 1991, p.137). What distinguishes between momentary helplessness

and the more persistent and enduring learned helplessness is based off of three criteria. First,

learned helplessness is present when a person fails to meet the demands of a situation by lack of

mental or behavioral action when effective coping would be possible. Second, the helplessness

follows in the wake of a history of uncontrollable events. Third, and lastly, learned helplessness

is mediated by particular thoughts acquired during exposure to uncontrollable events and these

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thoughts and experiences are then used to inappropriately generalize new situations (Peterson et.

al, 1993, pp. 228-229).

In addition to the criteria for learned helplessness, an individual need not directly experience

uncontrollable events in order to become helpless; it may be sufficient enough to see their effects

on others. Thus, people can learn to be helpless through the observation of another person

encountering an uncontrollable event (p. 112). Nowhere do we see these various acquisitions of

learned helplessness more than within the academic classroom.

According to Peterson, Maier, and Seligman, “Next to depression, the best-known

application of learned helplessness is to school achievement” (p. 251). School represents a

situation in which one’s efforts matter and there are right and wrong answers. Helpless students

are those who when working at problems, employ ineffective strategies. When these students

encounter failure, they fall apart and attribute their failure to a lack of ability. They frequently

report negative feelings, expect to do poorly, and ruminate about irrelevant matters. Prior

success has little effect on learned helpless students (p. 252). However, helplessness effects

among people have a time course. This means that people can be “immunized” against the

effects of uncontrollable events over time by providing them experiences with controllability

(p. 111). One such program that “immunizes” students by instructing them on how to view

uncontrollable events as controllable is Martin Seligman’s Learned Optimism.

Seligman states, “Optimism is simply learning a set of skills about how to talk to yourself

when you suffer a personal defeat” (p. 207). As previously noted, all children will experience

helplessness at some time in their lives; however, the optimistic child will recover from their

momentary helplessness immediately. Very soon after failing, the optimistic child will pick

themselves up, shrug, and start trying again. For them, defeat is a challenge that they see as

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temporary and specific, not pervasive (p. 137). Thus, teaching optimism to children is as

important as teaching them to work hard or to be truthful because it can have just as profound of

an impact on their lives (p. 235).

The first step in teaching children optimism is to help them see and understand the

connection between Seligman’s ABCs of optimism: adversity (negative thoughts), belief, and

consequences. During this step, children are taught that how they feel doesn’t come out of

nowhere. A particular thought has always triggered a feeling and that what we think when things

go badly actually changes how we feel (belief). These feelings and thoughts “congeal” into

beliefs that may become so habitual that we don’t even realize we have them. These beliefs also

have consequences that are the direct causes of what we feel and do next. For some children,

certain kinds of beliefs can set off the giving-up response. However, if a child can learn to find

the thought that first triggered their feeling, then they can change it (Seligman, 1991, p.211).

Once children understand the ABCs of optimism, they can be taught to see how

adversity, beliefs, and consequences operate every day in their own lives. In order to accomplish

this task, children are encouraged daily to find an example of an adverse situation from their life,

record it, and discuss its significance (Seligman, 1991, p. 238). They are then taught to believe

that just because you have adverse or negative thoughts does not mean the thoughts are true, they

can be disputed. Disputation is when you give your beliefs an argument. As a result of disputing

the beliefs that follow adversity, you can change your normal reaction from dejection and giving

up to activity and happiness (pp.217 – 218). Children are asked to practice this final step of

disputation by returning to their earlier examples in order to find ways to dispute those initial

adverse beliefs.

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Through the process of modeling and practicing (Appendix G), Seligman believes that

children will eventually be able to employ the optimism strategies independently. Thus, the goal

of this study is to examine the effectiveness of Learned Optimism’s ability to end learned

helplessness and create independent optimists.

METHODS

Participants

When this study was conducted, my sixth grade social studies class consisted of fourteen

special education students, five ELL students, and eight “mainstream” students. The special

education students were labeled as learning disabled (LD), emotionally/behaviorally disturbed

(EBD), or having both LD and EBD conditions. The five English Language Learning (ELL)

students ranged from levels 3 – 5 on the Wisconsin ACCESS assessment for English language

ability. The remaining eight “mainstream” students had been classified as such because they did

not require additional education services beyond the regular classroom. In addition, the

behaviors among these twenty-eight students ranged from well-motivated, optimistic students to

those who saw each task as an impossible feat. Many of the students, especially those in the LD

and EBD programs, had previously participated in social skills activities; however, the Learned

Optimism program was new to all of us.

While all of my students were involved in the lessons using Learned Optimism, I chose to

focus my study on a group of eight students. Within this group of eight, there were four boys

and four girls. Among each gender group, one student was an English Language Learner (ELL),

another was labeled LD, a third was labeled EBD, and the fourth student was labeled as

“mainstream.” Thus between the two gender groups, I was able to achieve a balance in both

gender and educational need.

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Data Collection

Three methods of data collection were used in this study. Pre and post intervention data

was collected using a Student Optimism Survey focused on situations where helpless, pessimistic

behavior could arise (Appendix A). The survey was made up of twelve questions taken from the

original forty-eight-question survey created by Seligman (Seligman, 1991, pp. 117-124). This

accommodation was done in order to keep students from losing interest in completing the survey.

Additionally, Seligman’s survey also placed each question in one of six categories: permanent

bad (PmB), pervasive bad (PvB), personalization/personal bad (PsB), permanent good (PmG),

pervasive good (PvG), and personalization/personal good (PsG), resulting in eight questions

within each category. Thus, in order to maintain an accurate measuring tool, I chose two

questions from each of the six categories when creating my twelve-question survey.

Within each survey question students had to choose one of the two best responses that

matched their beliefs. These responses were coded with either a 1 or a 0 (based off of

Seligman’s survey). If the question was from one of the “bad” categories, the 1 represented a

very pessimistic response. In turn, if the question was from one of the “good” categories, the 1

represented a very optimistic response. To ensure that students would not assume that these

codes designated one response as being more correct than another, I left them off of the test.

Once students had completed the survey, I collected their papers and their responses were then

tallied. Using a modified version of Seligman’s scale of optimism (Appendix B) I was able to

compare the students’ results and develop an initial picture of their currently level of pessimism

and helplessness.

In addition to the Student Optimism Survey, students were asked to keep a daily record of

their problems during the intervention. The record was based off of Seligman’s ABCs of

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Optimism (pp. 236 - 244) and was used as a way for students to begin evaluating their thinking

during difficult situations in their own lives. Throughout the daily record, students were asked to

focus on four areas: what was a problem they had that day, what were you thinking when the

problem occurred, what did you believe about yourself as a result of the problem, and what was

the consequence of your belief. Once students were able to identify their thinking, beliefs, and

consequences in relation to their problems, they were then asked to dispute their thinking.

Essentially, students had to find a more positive way to think about their problems. In turn,

students had then been able to see how that positive thinking had changed their beliefs and

consequences for the better.

The third source of data collection was based on my classroom observations of my eight

chosen students. I had created a class observation checklist developed from the undesirable

behaviors that were frequently seen during my seventh hour social studies class (Appendix C).

However, instead of focusing on the undesirable behaviors, I based the checklist on the desirable

behaviors I wanted them to be displaying. These behaviors included: trying assignments without

immediately asking for help, taking risks by participating more frequently during class,

maintaining on-task behaviors (no refusing to do an assignment, not distracted from task), and

finally completing homework and/or class work. Each time a student demonstrated one of these

behaviors, I put a tally mark under their name next to the behavior exhibited. The goal of the

checklist was to see if these eight students would begin to change their thinking about situations

that happened in class.

INTERVENTION

To be honest, when I began planning for the optimism intervention, my initial reaction

was less than optimistic. Though I believed I had chosen a class in which the intervention could

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make the greatest impact, I had also chosen a class where inappropriate behaviors frequently

interrupted our learning. These behaviors included: incessant talking, insubordination,

intimidation, and verbal harassment. I feared that similar to the numerous times I was forced to

stop academic lessons due to behavior issues, I would be forced to halt intervention lessons too.

Little did I know that those interrupted times would be the opportunities I was looking for to

make the greatest impact.

Before the first week of the intervention even began I started observing my eight chosen

students. My goal was to develop a baseline on their helpless, pessimistic behavior using the

class observation survey. Each time a student exhibited one or more of the behaviors on the

class observation survey, a tally mark was placed under their name in the corresponding

behavior’s box. At the end of the week, I had counted up the frequency of each behavior for the

students and I was able to use this to develop an initial helplessness profile for each of them.

These profiles can be found in Appendix D. Additionally, I decided to continue using the

observation checklist at the end of each week throughout the four weeks of the intervention to

see if there were any noticeable behavior changes from week to week.

At the beginning of the first week of intervention, I administered the Student Optimism

Survey to all of my twenty-seven students as an additional pre-assessment of their current level

of optimism. In order to assure that each student was able to complete the survey, I read it aloud

and explained the questions when asked. The students were given as much time as they needed

to answer each question and at the end of the twelve-question survey I collected all of the

students’ papers. After school that same day, I removed the eight students’ papers and examined

their responses in order to determine their level of pessimism and helplessness.

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In addition to administering the Student Optimism Survey during the first week, I also

introduced Seligman’s ABCs of optimism using a more “kid-friendly” language called Stop that

Stinking Thinking. During the first Stop that Stinking Thinking lesson, I began the lesson by

asking students if they ever had a day when everything seemed to go wrong. I then informed

students that I was about to teach them strategies for changing their bad day by changing their

thinking. Students were then informed that in order to change their thinking, they needed to

understand where their thoughts came from. In order to model this process, I presented students

with two different example problems created by Seligman (Appendix E). Additionally, students

were given a graphic organizer (Appendix F) that would help them to process and discuss each

of the two example situations. After I would read through an example, we would discuss as a

class what was the problem; what was the bad thought that the person had when the problem

happened; what did they begin to believe about themselves as a result of this thought; and how

did they act upon that belief (what was the consequence). I was amazed at how the students

could quickly and accurately find each component of the example problem. I also knew that this

quickness meant that the students were ready to begin examining problems in their own lives.

We began our second week of the intervention with a review of what we had discussed

the previous week. Both my teaching partner and I used examples from our own lives and

situations that arose during class time in our discussion of each step in the Stop that Stinking

Thinking process. Once I felt comfortable that students remembered and understood the process,

I handed each of them a Stop that Stinking Thinking Daily record sheet. On the record sheet,

students were asked to pick a problem that recently bothered them, preferably one from that day.

As students worked through the steps of their problem, I would give various examples of each

step to help those who were struggling to remember what the steps meant. After this initial day

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of working slowly through the daily record, we found that the students were able to go through

the process more quickly, thus only requiring approximately ten minutes of class time each day.

During the third and fourth week of the intervention, we continued with the daily record

sheet; however a fifth component was added to it, disputation. Students were now being asked to

look at their bad thoughts and find a way to dispute them. For example, if a student’s bad

thought was that they were stupid because they failed a test, a disputation of this thought may be

that they were smart, but needed to study harder next time. Knowing that this idea of disputation

could be difficult for many of the students in my classroom, I decided to model the process with

an example problem each day before I asked students to focus on their own problems. Students

were quick at disputing the example problems; however, they struggled to dispute their own

problems. Consequently, we spent the next week working through the disputation process, using

our graphic organizer to help us work through multiple examples of situations many students had

experienced (Appendix H) and asking students to volunteer problems that we could work

through together.

At the end of the fourth week, and thus the end of the intervention, students were

administered the student survey once again. Similar to the pre-intervention administration of the

student survey, I read the survey aloud and explained the questions when asked. The students

were given as much time as they needed to answer each question and at the end of the twelve-

question survey I collected all of the students’ papers. After school that same day, I removed the

eight students’ papers and examined their responses in order to determine whether their level of

pessimism and helplessness had changed since the pre-intervention survey.

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DATA ANALYSIS

Student Optimism Survey

The pre and post intervention data was obtain on the eight students’ levels of optimism

using a student survey adapted from Martin Seligman’s optimism survey found in Learned

Optimism. The survey was made up of twelve questions taken from the original forty-eight-

question survey created by Seligman. Chart 1 below shows both the survey questions and

answers, and the students’ responses. On the chart, after the statement of each problem there is a

designation as to which type of question it is: permanent bad (PmB), pervasive bad (PvB),

personalization/personal bad (PsB), permanent good (PmG), pervasive good (PvG), and

personalization/personal good (PsG). Additionally, each of the two responses to the question

were designated with a number 1 or 0. If the question was from one of the bad” categories, the 1

represented a very pessimistic response. In turn, if the question was from one of the “good”

categories, the 1 represented a very optimistic response. Finally, under each student’s designated

number is the letter that matches his or her response to each question, which in turn corresponds

to either a one or a zero.

In order to analyze the survey data, the ones under the “good responses” were added up

to reach one total, and the ones under the “bad responses” were added up to reach a second total.

Then the total “bad responses” are subtracted from the total of “good responses.” The number

that was reached by this subtraction process correlated to a number on my modified version of

Seligman’s scale of optimism (Appendix B). A summary of students’ answers to each question

and their final scores on both the pre and post student survey are listed below.

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Chart 1 – Results of Student Optimism Survey

HOW EACH STUDENT ANSWERED THE PROBLEMS PROBLEMS &

POSSIBLE ANSWERS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Pretest

Or Posttest

1. You fail a test (PmB) a. My teacher makes

hard tests (1) b. The past few

weeks, my teacher has made hard tests. (0)

A

B

B

B

B

gone

A

gone

A

B

B

B

B

B

A

A

PRE

POST

2. You miss the ball and your (PmB) team loses the game.

a. I didn’t try hard while playing ball that day. (0)

b. I usually don’t try hard when I am playing ball. (1)

B

B

A

A

A

gone

B

gone

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

PRE

POST

3. You make your friends happy. (PmG)

a. I am a fun person to be with. (1)

b. Sometimes I am a fun person to be with. (0)

A

A

A

A

A

gone

A

gone

B

B

A

A

B

A

B

A

PRE

POST

4. You meet a friend and your friend tells you that you look nice. (PmG)

a. My friend felt like praising the way people looked that day. (0)

b. Usually my friend praises the way people look. (1)

B

B

A

B

B

gone

A

gone

B

B

A

B

A

B

A

B

PRE

POST

5. A grown-up yells at you. (PvB)

a. That person yelled at the first person he saw. (0)

b. That person yelled at a lot of people he saw that day. (1)

B

A

B

B

A

gone

A

gone

A

A

B

B

B

B

B

B

PRE

POST

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6. Your parents get a divorce (PvB)

a. It is hard for people to get along well when they are married. (1)

b. It is hard for my parents to get along well when they are married. (0)

B

B

A

B

B

gone

A

gone

A

A

B

A

B

A

A

A

PRE

POST

7. You get an A on a test. (PvG)

a. I am smart (1) b. I am good in the

subject that the test was in. (0)

B

B

B

A

B

gone

A

gone

B

B

A

B

B

A

A

A

PRE

POST

8. You play a game and you win money. (PvG)

a. I am a lucky person (1)

b. I am lucky when I play games. (0)

B

B

A

A

B

gone

A

gone

B

B

B

A

B

A

B

A

PRE

POST

9. You play a game with some friends and you win. (PsG)

a. The people that I played with did not play the game well. (0)

b. I play that game well. (1)

B

B

B

B

B

gone

A

gone

B

B

B

A

B

B

B

B

PRE

POST

10. You get very good grades. (PsG)

a. Schoolwork is simple. (0)

b. I am a hard worker (1)

A

B

B

B

B

gone

A

gone

A

B

A

A

B

B

B

B

PRE

POST

11. You get a bad grade in school. (PsB)

a. I am stupid (1) b. Teachers are

unfair graders (0)

A

A

B

A

B

gone

B

gone

B

A

B

B

A

A

B

B

PRE

POST

12. You tell a joke and no one laughs. (PsB)

a. I don’t tell jokes well (1)

A

B

A

A

B

A

A

B

PRE

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b. The joke is so well known that it is no longer funny. (0)

A

B

gone

gone

B

A

B

B

POST

Optimism Scale Rating GOOD – BAD =

-2 1

2 4

3

gone

-1

gone

0 1

-1 0

-1 3

0 3

PRE

POST

Observation Checklist

Pre Intervention: I started observing my eight chosen students before the first week of

the intervention. Each time a student exhibited one or more of the behaviors on the class

observation survey, a tally mark was placed under their name in the corresponding behavior’s

box. At the end of the week, I had counted up the frequency of each behavior for the students

and I was able to use this to develop an initial helplessness profile for each of them. These

profiles can be found in Appendix D.

Post Intervention: During the four weeks of the intervention, I observed my eight

students during the last class day for the week. Each time a student exhibited one or more of the

behaviors on the class observation survey, a number corresponding to that week was placed

under their name in the corresponding behavior’s box. For example, if they completed their

homework/class work in week two, a 2 was placed in that box under their name. This type of

tallying was done in order to see any correlation between the lesson taught that week and the

behaviors observed. A summary of students’ behaviors during the past four weeks is listed

below in Chart 2.

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Chart 2 – Observation Checklist Results for 4-weeks

1 = week 1 2 = week 2 3 = week 3 4= week 4 Tries

assignments without

immediately asking for help.

Takes risks by participating

more frequently during class.

Maintains on-task behaviors

(no refusing to do an assignment, not

distracted from task)

Completes homework/class

work.

Student 1

3, 4

2, 3, 4

3, 4

4

Student 2

1, 2, 3, 4

Not at all

1, 2, 3, 4

No change

Student 3

2

1, 2

1

Not at all

Student 4

4

2, 3, 4

2, 3, 4

3, 4

Student 5

3, 4

3, 4

3, 4

3, 4

Student 6

2

Not at all

2, 4

2, 4

Student 7

1, 2, 3, 4

1, 2, 3, 4

1, 2, 3, 4

1, 2, 3, 4

Student 8

1, 2, 3, 4

Not at all

1, 2, 3, 4

1, 2, 3, 4

Student Daily Records

The student daily records revealed information about the students’ abilities to use the

ABCs of optimism independently. Each week the students’ records were examined to see if they

were able to identify a problem, realize what their bad thoughts were and what they believed

about themselves as a result of the bad thought. Additionally, the reports were examined to see

if students understood the consequence of their bad thoughts.

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When we began using the daily records, approximately four of the students would not

write a consequence to their bad thought or the consequence would be a one-word response, such

as “bad.” Also, many of the students wrote that the belief about them was that they were

“stupid.” However, as we progressed into weeks two, three, and four of the intervention, the

statements about their beliefs and the consequences became more detailed and honest.

In weeks three and four we began the disputation process of our bad thoughts, and this

proved to be a difficult process for the students. Though they were able to clearly identify the

problem, bad thought, belief, and consequence, they had trouble disputing their bad thoughts.

This difficulty was obvious in their daily records where many students left the disputation box

blank. Students claimed that they couldn’t find a way to dispute their bad thought because many

of them believed the thought was a natural response and justified. This difficulty with

disputation would continue till the end of the intervention.

RESULTS

Using data gathered from the student surveys, observation checklist, and the

students’ daily records, a new helplessness profile was created for each of the eight students.

The results showed that most of the students had either improved or maintained one or more of

the positive behaviors I wished to see in class. Additionally, based on the Student Optimism

Survey, all but one of the students who completed the survey improved their level of optimism.

A summary of the students’ post-intervention helplessness profiles is listed below.

Updated Student Helplessness Profiles

Student 1:

Student 1 is a female, English language learner who is an immigrant from Mexico. This

student has become minimally verbally aggressive towards classmates in the classroom.

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All physical aggression has ceased at this point. Student 1 is beginning assignments with

few if any reminders and has begun turning in homework on a regular basis. She has

even made up previous assignments in order to boost her grade. These positive behaviors

became more obvious and consistent in weeks three and four of the intervention. On

Seligman’s scale of optimism this student made the greatest improvement, from a

negative two to a positive one, thus now being considered optimistic and having less of a

tendency towards learned helplessness.

Student 2:

Student 2 is a male, English language learner whose parents are immigrants from Laos.

This student continues to begin assignments without any assistance and frequently

exhibits on-task behavior. Nevertheless, student 2 continues his rare participation in class

discussions; however, his homework completion has become less sporadic. Student 2 also

has not had any major conflicts with peers and seems to interact with other students in a

positive manner. On Seligman’s scale of optimism, this student rated high again, a

positive four, thus being considered very optimistic and having little to no tendency

towards helplessness.

Student 3:

Student 3 is a male, Caucasian, special education student who is classified as learning

disabled. This student continued to fluctuate his behavior due to his constant changes in

foster families. The most positive changes in student 3’s behavior were seen in weeks

one and two of the intervention. Weeks three and four saw dramatic behavior problems

with this student, including: physical and verbal aggression with peers and adults, and a

three-day suspension from school. Upon review of the student’s home life, it was

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brought to my attention that student 3 was being moved to a new school district and he

was very upset about this event. Additionally, student 3 continued to not turn in

completed homework assignments and preferred to draw during instruction time rather

than attending to the lesson. A final Student Survey could not be administered on this

student due to his change in school districts after week three.

Student 4:

Student 4 is a female, African American, special education student who is classified as

learning disabled. This student has begun to exhibit fewer behaviors of learned

helplessness, such as trying to begin warm-ups on her own; however, she still asks for

and needs a higher level of teacher assistance. Student 4’s participation was very high

during intervention discussions and she is improving her on-task behavior during class.

In addition to these improvements, she has also increased her homework completion and

has even made up some of her previous assignments. Verbal conflicts with peers have

decreased and she requires less adult assistance in dealing with these conflicts.

Unfortunately, Student 4 was unable to complete the final survey do to a death in the

family.

Student 5:

Student 5 is a female, African American special education student who is classified as

both learning disabled and emotionally disturbed. This student has made the most drastic

changes in behavior during the intervention. These changes became most noticeable

during weeks three and four when she began to attempt activities without any assistance

and was participating in every classroom discussion. Student 5 also improved her ability

to stay on task, and experienced few verbal conflicts and no physical conflicts with peers.

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Though homework completion was sporadic, more assignments were being turned in and

her grades have begun to dramatically improve. On Seligman’s scale of optimism, this

student rated slightly higher than before, a positive one, thus being considered optimistic

and having less of a tendency towards helplessness.

Student 6:

Student 6 is a male, Native American/Caucasian special education student who is

classified as emotionally disturbed. This student continued to fluctuate between extreme

emotionally disturbed behavior to on-task behaviors during weeks one, two, and three.

However, by week four, student 6 was receiving his medication on a regular basis and his

willingness to attempt an assignment without teacher assistance improved along with his

on-task behavior. Student 6 also turned in more assignments then previously seen during

the school year, but he continued to not participate in class discussions. On Seligman’s

scale of optimism, this student rated slightly higher than before, a zero, thus being

considered neither optimistic nor pessimistic, but rather having the ability to go either

towards optimism or pessimism.

Student 7:

Student 7 is a female, Caucasian student who receives no additional services besides

those offered in the “traditional” classroom. This student is referred to as a regular

education student. Student 7 continues to try assignments without asking for help,

completes homework on time, maintains a reasonable level of on-task behaviors, and

readily volunteers her ideas and opinions in class. Additionally, she has reduced the

amount of verbal conflicts with peers. On Seligman’s scale of optimism, this student

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rated much higher than before, a positive three, thus being considered optimistic and

having less of a tendency towards helplessness.

Student 8:

Student 8 is a male, Native American student who receives no additional services besides

those offered in the “traditional” classroom. This student is referred to as a regular

education student and continued to be very successful in my social studies class during

the intervention. Student 8 continues to try assignments without asking for help,

completes homework on time, and maintains a reasonable level of on-task behaviors.

Nevertheless, student 8 still will not voluntarily participate in class. On Seligman’s scale

of optimism, this student rated much higher than before, a positive three, thus being

considered optimistic and having less of a tendency towards helplessness.

CONCLUSIONS

The main question I wanted to answer in the course of this research was whether Martin

Seligman’s Learned Optimism could actually “immunize” students against learned helplessness

and create independent optimists. In other words, could students be taught to view

uncontrollable events as controllable by providing them experiences with controllability?

Analysis of pre-intervention and post-intervention student profiles, compiled from the

various sources of data, indicates that the Learned Optimism program was successful on

improving the students’ abilities to meet the desired classroom behaviors. While homework

completion and class participation did not improve for many of the students involved in the

intervention, all students were successful at one point on improving or maintaining their ability

to try assignments without immediately asking for help. In addition, once the intervention had

begun, many students began to maintain on-task behaviors.

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Though all of the students involved in the Learned Optimism study had shown

improvement, the two students who had shown the most improvements were those who had the

worst problems during the school day. Primarily, students 1 and 5 had the greatest difficulties

with verbal and physical conflicts with peers, staying on task during class, completing

homework, and participating during classroom discussions. Upon my initial observation of these

two students, it was obvious that their prior experiences and beliefs about themselves had

triggering what Seligman referred to as a “giving-up response.” However, once we began the

intervention, gradual, yet drastic improvements could be seen in these students’ abilities to

improve their behaviors. It is my belief that these two girls have begun to see uncontrollable

events as controllable.

Thus, based on the evidence found in the data and the general observations I have made

of these eight students during my social studies class, I believe Learned Optimism has begun to

teach my students to view uncontrollable events as controllable. Nevertheless, the process of

Learned Optimism has only begun for these students. It will take many more examples and

experiences with controllable events for the students to begin to use the optimism strategies in

their other classes and daily life. It is also important to recognize the fact that changes in

medication, home life, and parental pressure to do well may also show dramatic changes in the

students’ behaviors outside of the influence of Learned Optimism.

In the future, I plan to continue the use of Learned Optimism in my seventh hour social

studies class. As a result of this study, I believe that the strategies in Learned Optimism have

only improved the behaviors in my classroom and have made my seventh hour social studies

class a more enjoyable class to teach.

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REFERENCES

Peterson, C., Maier, S, and Seligman, M (1993). Learned Helplessness: A Theory for the Age of

Personal Control. New York: Oxford University Press.

Seligman, M. (1991). Learned Optimism. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.

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APPENDIX A

Student Survey - How I Feel 1. You fail a test.

______ My teacher makes hard tests

______ The past few weeks, my teacher has made hard tests.

2. You miss the ball and your team loses the game.

______ I didn’t try hard while playing ball that day.

______ I usually don’t try hard when I am playing ball.

PmB

3. You make your friends happy.

______ I am a fun person to be with.

______ Sometimes I am a fun person to be with.

4. You meet a friend and your friend tells you that you look nice.

______ My friend felt like praising the way people looked that day.

______ Usually my friend praises the way people look.

PmG

5. A grown-up yells at you

______ That person yelled at the first person he saw.

______ That person yelled at a lot of people he saw that day.

6. Your parents get a divorce

______ It is hard for people to get along well when they are married.

______ It is hard for my parents to get along well when they are married.

PvB

7. You get an A on a test

______ I am smart

______ I am good in the subject that the test was in.

8. You play a game and you win money.

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______ I am a lucky person

______ I am lucky when I play games

PvG

9. You play a game with some friends and you win.

______ The people that I played with did not play the game well.

______ I play that game well.

10. You get very good grades

______ Schoolwork is simple

______ I am a hard worker.

PsG

11. You get a bad grade in school.

______ I am stupid

______ Teachers are unfair graders.

12. You tell a joke and no one laughs

______ I don’t tell jokes well.

______ The joke is so well known that it is no longer funny.

PsB

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APPENDIX B

Seligman’s Modified Scale of Optimism

Very Optimistic Very Pessimistic

6 5 4 3 2 1 0 -1 -2 -3 -4 -5 -6

ZERO MEANS

Pessimism for Girls Leans towards pessimism for Boys

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APPENDIX C

Observation Check-List Week of: _______________________________________________________ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Tries assignments without

immediately asking for help.

Takes risks by participating

more frequently during

class.

Maintains on-task behaviors

(no refusing to do an

assignment, not distracted

from task)

Completes homework/class

work.

Student Observation Notes –

notes on attitude/behavior, learning, interaction with peers 1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

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APPENDIX D

Student Pre-Intervention Helplessness Profiles Student 1: Student 1 is a female, English language learner who is an immigrant from Mexico. This

student consistently is verbally and physically aggressive with classmates in and out of the classroom. She frequently refuses to try assignments, claiming that she either “doesn’t care” to do them or is “too stupid” to complete the assignment. Student 1 rarely exhibits any of the desirable behaviors on the checklist except for occasionally turning in a homework assignment. On Seligman’s scale of optimism, this student rated low, a negative two, thus being considered pessimistic and having a greater tendency towards helplessness.

Student 2: Student 2 is a male, English language learner whose parents are immigrants from Laos.

This student consistently begins assignments without any assistance and frequently exhibits on-task behavior; however, he rarely participates in class discussions and his homework completion is sporadic. Students 2 has not experienced any major conflicts with peers and seems to interact with other students in a positive manner. On Seligman’s scale of optimism, this student rated moderately high, a positive two, thus being considered optimistic and having less of a tendency towards helplessness.

Student 3:

Student 3 is a male, Caucasian, special education student who is classified as learning disabled. This student exhibits fluctuations of behavior due to his constant changes in foster families. The behavior fluctuations include participating in class and attempting assignments one day to refusing to attempt an assignment without teacher assistance and verbal conflicts with male peers the next day. Student 3 has yet to turn in a completed homework assignment and often prefers to draw during instruction time rather than attending to the lesson. On Seligman’s scale of optimism, this student surprisingly rated high, a positive three, thus being considered optimistic and having little tendency towards helplessness.

Student 4:

Student 4 is a female, African American, special education student who is classified as learning disabled. This student exhibits extreme behaviors of learned helplessness, and as a result she believes that she is not able to attempt any assignments without teacher assistance. This student will occasionally attempt to participate in class; however, she becomes easily distracted and rarely if ever completes a homework assignment. In addition, student 4 frequently has verbal conflicts with peers, especially other girls, and consistently needs adult assistance in dealing with these conflicts. On Seligman’s scale of optimism, this student rated slightly low, a negative one, thus being considered somewhat pessimistic and having a tendency towards helplessness.

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Student 5: Student 5 is a female, African American special education student who is classified as both learning disabled and emotionally disturbed. This student consistently refuses to attempt any activities within class if either my teaching partner or myself do not first assist her. Student 5 has difficulty staying on task, rarely if ever completes homework, and is frequently in conflict with both her male and female peers. These conflicts are not only verbal, but also physical in nature, and happen on a daily basis. When confronted on these behaviors, the student had difficulty understanding the inappropriateness of her actions. On Seligman’s scale of optimism, this student rated neutral, a zero, thus being considered neither optimistic nor pessimistic, but rather having the ability to go either towards optimism or pessimism.

Student 6:

Student 6 is a male, Native American/Caucasian special education student who is classified as emotionally disturbed. This student fluctuates between extreme emotionally disturbed behavior, including shredding assignments and destroying his clothing to on-task behaviors of completing assignments and returning parent-signed progress reports. These fluctuations are due to a lack of consistency in receiving his medication. Nevertheless, whether student 6 is on his medication or not, he consistently refuses to attempt an assignment without teacher assistance, and rarely if ever participates in class discussions. On Seligman’s scale of optimism, this student rated slightly low, a negative one, thus being considered somewhat pessimistic and having a tendency towards helplessness.

Student 7:

Student 7 is a female, Caucasian student who receives no additional services besides those offered in the “traditional” classroom. This student is referred to as a regular education student. Student 7 consistently tries assignments without asking for help, completes homework on time, maintains a reasonable level of on-task behaviors, and readily volunteers her ideas and opinions in class. She has had verbal conflicts with peers, especially other female students; however, she is sensitive to others’ feelings and desires to resolve her conflicts in a timely fashion. On Seligman’s scale of optimism, this student rated slightly low, a negative one, thus being considered somewhat pessimistic and having a tendency towards helplessness.

Student 8:

Student 8 is a male, Native American student who receives no additional services besides those offered in the “traditional” classroom. This student is referred to as a regular education student and has been very successful in my social studies class thus far. Student 8 consistently tries assignments without asking for help, completes homework on time, and maintains a reasonable level of on-task behaviors. Nevertheless, student 8 does not voluntarily participate in class. On Seligman’s scale of optimism, this student rated neutral, a zero, thus being considered neither optimistic nor pessimistic, but rather having the ability to go either towards optimism or pessimism.

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APPENDIX E

Seligman’s Learned Optimism Practice Problems After each of the examples, have the student explain it to you in his/her own words, concentrating on the connection between the beliefs and the consequences (Seligman, 1991, p. 237). Example 1:

Adversity: My teacher, Mr. Minner, yelled at me in front of the whole class, and everybody laughed.

Belief: He hates me and now the whole class thinks I’m a jerk. Consequences: I felt really sad and I wished that I could just disappear under my desk. Follow-up Questions:

Why did the boy feel sad? Why did he want to disappear? If he had a different belief about Mr. Minner – for example, if he thought,

“The whole class knows Mr. Minner is unfair” – how would the consequences be different? Would the class think the boy was a jerk?

Example 2: Adversity: My best friend, Susan, told me that Joannie was her new best friend and from now on she was going to sit with Joannie in the cafeteria and not with me. Belief: Susan doesn’t like me anymore because I’m not cool enough. Joannie tells really

funny jokes, and whenever I tell a joke nobody laughs. And Joannie has really cool clothes, and I dress like a dweeb. I bet if I was more popular Susan would still want to be best friends with me. Now I’m never going to have anybody to sit with at lunch, and everybody is going to know that Joannie is Susan’s new best friend.

Consequences: I was really scared to go to lunch because I didn’t want to get laughed at and

have to eat by myself, so I pretended to have a stomachache, and I asked Miss Frankel to send me to the nurse. I also felt really ugly, and I wanted to change schools.

Follow-up Questions:

Why did this girl want to change schools? Was it the fact that Susan was going to sit with Joannie?

Why did she feel ugly? What role did her beliefs about dressing like a dweeb play?

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APPENDIX F

GRAPHIC ORGANIZER

Stop that Stinking Thinking! Daily Record Date:

What happened?

Bad thought

(what was it?)

Believe about yourself

Consequence

Disputation

Date:

What happened?

Bad thought

(what was it?)

Believe about yourself

Consequence

Disputation

Date:

What happened?

Bad thought

(what was it?)

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Believe about yourself

Consequence

Disputation

Date:

What happened?

Bad thought

(what was it?)

Believe about yourself

Consequence

Disputation

Date:

What happened?

Bad thought

(what was it?)

Believe about yourself

Consequence

Disputation

Overall, I think this week at school was…. (Circle one)

excellent good okay bad horrible

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APPENDIX G

STEPS FOR USING ABCs with CHILDREN

Session 1: 1. Explain the ABC model

– how they feel doesn’t come out of nowhere – A thought has always triggered the feeling – what we think when things go badly

actually changes how we feel. – If we can learn to find that thought, then we can change it.

2. Work through examples with the children: – Read through the examples together – Have the student explain the example in their own words concentrating on the

connection between the beliefs and the consequences. – Go over the questions at the Send of each example.

Session 2:

3. Review the adversity-belief-consequences link and work on examples again if necessary.

4. Ask students for an example from their own life and write it down. 5. Each day, students will find an example from their daily life, record it, and discuss it in

small groups. 6. Once students have found 5 examples, move on to disputation.

Session 3:

7. Review the ABC links – use an example or two from the students. 8. Explain to students that, “just because you have those thoughts does not mean the

thoughts are true – they can be disputed.” 9. Using the students’ examples, ask the students to imagine that their worst enemy had

said that about them. “How would you respond?” 10. Use book examples and work through each one completely with students to dispute

beliefs. Disputation and Distraction (p.217 – 218)

2 Ways to deal with pessimistic behavior: o Distraction – try to think of something else when pessimistic beliefs occur. o Disputation – give your beliefs an argument – by disputing the beliefs that follow

adversity, you can change your customary reaction from dejection and giving up to activity and good cheer

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APPENDIX H

DISPUTATION EXAMPLE PROBLEMS

Can you DISPUTE these bad thoughts?

1. Everyone laughed at me when I said the wrong answer in class today. I must be stupid.

2. Mr. Kubeny yelled at me and took my ticket away in social studies for talking too much. He must hate me.

3. I don’t understand how to do the warm-up questions in social studies. I can’t do social

studies warm-ups and I don’t want to try. 4. Someone called me a name in the hallway before class. I need to beat them up in order

to show them that I don’t want to be called those names. 5. My friend started saying things about me behind my back. I feel like everyone hates me.

I’m going to say things about her now.

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