RELIGIOUS ORIENTATION, LOCUS OF CONTROL AND LEARNED HELPLESSNESS

The main purpose of this study was to examine the moderating effects of religious orientation and locus of control on the psychological phenomenon called learned haplessness. Six hundred (600) new entrant students into the Diploma in Applied Psychology programme of the University of Jos participated in the study. The study utilized the experimental design. Word anagram was used to induce and assess learned helplessness. It was hypothesized that, 1.participants who were externally controlled will likely experience more helplessness than those that were internally controlled; 2.that learned helplessness experience will likely be the function of the religious orientation of the participants; 3.that the interaction of locus of control and religious orientation will likely have a significant effect on learned helplessness; and 4. That learned helplessness experience will likely be' the function of the experimental condition of the participants. The results of the study showed that, locus of control or religious orientation alone had no significant effect on learned helplessness. However, the interaction of religious orientation and locus of control had a statistically significant effect on learned helplessness (F (1,418) =5.326, P=.022). Experimental conditions also had a significant effect on learned helplessness F (1, 418) =77.01 0, P =0005.). A novel finding was also made. That religious affiliation also had a statistically significant effect on learned helplessness (F (2,418) =5. 702, P=.004). Since none of the independent variable (religious orientation or locus of control) alone had any significant effect on learned helplessness, the implication is that a multi-modal approach is required to deal with the issue of learned helplessness.