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Learned Helplessness, Locus of Control, Self-Efficacy

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Was Communism Doomed?

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Abstract

It is often thought that communist systems killed initiative in their people. A number of related concepts in psychology—learned helplessness, locus of control, self-efficacy, belief in free will—are reviewed. One important feature of these concepts is that they should generalise. So, for example, in learned helplessness if one suffers helplessness in one area of life, it should generalise to other areas. A few studies have compared people in communist and Western societies on these kinds of measure. Overall, despite the claims, there is not much evidence of any generalisation, although there is reasonable evidence of lack of initiative at work. As with some of the other psychological areas, it is likely that differences at the local level were more important than overall market versus communist society differences.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Kets de Vries (2000), p. 69.

  2. 2.

    Ibid., p. 76.

  3. 3.

    “Lacezar,” a Bulgarian entrepreneur, cited in Bojilova, Organisational attitudes and behaviours in post-communist Europe, p. 9.

  4. 4.

    Overmier and Seligman (1967), Seligman and Maier (1967). The term “learned helplessness” is used in the first of these papers.

  5. 5.

    Hiroto and Seligman (1975).

  6. 6.

    Peterson et al. (1985), Brown and Inouye (1978).

  7. 7.

    Peterson et al., Learned helplessness, pp. 227–229.

  8. 8.

    For example, Rotter and Mulry (1965).

  9. 9.

    Rotter (1966), Levenson (1973a, b).

  10. 10.

    Lane, Market experience, especially pp. 167–180.

  11. 11.

    Judge and Bono (2001).

  12. 12.

    For example, Bandura (1988); Bandura, Self-efficacy.

  13. 13.

    Bandura (1988), pp. 49–55.

  14. 14.

    For example, Baumeister and Brewer (2012).

  15. 15.

    Paulhus and Carey (2011). FAD stands for free will and determinism.

  16. 16.

    Baumeister and Brewer (2012).

  17. 17.

    Rigoni et al. (2011).

  18. 18.

    Heider, Psychology of interpersonal relationships.

  19. 19.

    Rotter (1966), p. 11.

  20. 20.

    For example, Abramson et al. (1978).

  21. 21.

    Peterson et al., Learned helplessness, ch. 5.

  22. 22.

    Ibid.

  23. 23.

    Ibid, ch. 7.

  24. 24.

    For example, Miller and Seligman (1975), Seligman et al. (1979).

  25. 25.

    Peterson et al., Learned helplessness, ch. 6; Fogarty and Hemsley (1983).

  26. 26.

    Feather, Psychological impact of unemployment; Jahoda et al., Marienthal: Lucas et al. (2004).

  27. 27.

    Deng et al. (2010), Semukhina and Reynolds (2014).

  28. 28.

    Lane, The market experience. Note, however, that some communist states—for example, East Germany, Czechoslovakia—were not poor before the outbreak of World War 2 and the subsequent communist takeover.

  29. 29.

    Feather, Psychological impact of unemployment, ch. 8.

  30. 30.

    For example, Silvester et al. (2003).

  31. 31.

    Rawdon et al. (1995).

  32. 32.

    Frese et al. (1996).

  33. 33.

    Schauenburg et al. (1992). This study used measures of three independent dimensions of control: internal, external, and chance.

  34. 34.

    For example, Dennis, Rise and fall of the German Democratic Republic, ch. 15. Given the heavy migration from East to West Germany after the fall of the Berlin Wall, it probably makes more sense to consider the total German vote rather than simply the vote in the former German Democratic Republic. From 2005, the party merged with some Social Democrats to form a new party of the left.

  35. 35.

    Oettingen et al. (1994).

  36. 36.

    Little et al. (1995). The quotation is from p. 696.

  37. 37.

    Oettingen et al. (1994), Little et al. (1995).

  38. 38.

    Schrebergarten were and are common in western as well as eastern Germany, and sometimes found in other countries of Europe as well. For more information about them, see, for example, Stein, Inseln im Häusermeer.

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  1. Dept of Psychology, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand

    Simon Kemp

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Kemp, S. (2016). Learned Helplessness, Locus of Control, Self-Efficacy. In: Was Communism Doomed?. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-32780-8_9

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