Achievement Orientation and Learned Helplessness in Women Page: 2
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2
that seems to support the hypothesis that females' achieve-
ment orientations are likely to be manifested in areas which
represent culturally defined sex-appropriate activities.
While most women channel their achievement orientations
into activities that are consistent with female role def-
initions, there are individual and group departures from
this pattern. Some groups of women appear to adjust their
concepts of femininity to include more masculine patterns
of achievement striving. One important reason may be the
low status of most activities and spheres of work, such as
child care and domestic responsibilities, defined as femi-
nine in American society (Stein & Bailey, 1973). Thus,
although there are pressures to engage in feminine role-
related activities, there are relatively few rewards for
doing so. On the other hand, there are rewards as well as
negative feedback for the woman who chooses to pursue occu-
pational achievement in her own right. In a sense, there
is no path that a woman can choose that is both highly re-
warded as well as conflict free.
A learning theory model referred to as "learned help-
lessness" (Seligman, 1974) may have some application to this
problem. Helplessness has been produced in experimental
animals by submitting them to trauma that is inescapable
regardless of their responses. The animals learn that re-
sponding and trauma are independent--that trauma is uncon-
trollable. This produces the following motivational effect,
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Beckham, Barbara J. Achievement Orientation and Learned Helplessness in Women, thesis, May 1975; Denton, Texas. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc663047/m1/5/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; .