Frustration-instigated behavior and learned helplessness.

This paper compares Seligman's recent work on learned helplessness with N. R. F. Maier's work on frustration-instigated behavior published some 30 years ago. Some striking similarities are noted between the two approaches, and it is concluded that some of the differences are more apparent than real and that the learned helplessness model could provide an explanation for the "abnormal fixations" reported by Maier.