HELPLESSNESS IN EARLY-CHILDHOOD - THE ROLE OF CONTINGENT WORTH

This article presents an expanded view of the bases of helpless reacti ons to failure. This view stems from recent findings of helplessness i n young children. Previous formulations have stressed the attainment o f invariant trait conceptions as a necessary condition for helplessnes s to occur and have suggested that children are relatively invulnerabl e to helplessness prior to this attainment. We review a series of stud ies documenting that key aspects of helplessness are present in presch ool and early elementary school children (ages 4-7). We then propose a preliminary model in which (a) a general conception of self and (b) t he notion of this self as an object of contingent worth are sufficient conditions for helplessness. We integrate this view with Dweck and Le ggett's model of helplessness in older individuals, in which more diff erentiated trait conceptions play an important role.