HAMKA INSIGHT
Vol. 5 No. 1 (2025)

Reconstructing cognitive agency: contingent feedback to overcome learned helplessness and restore locus of control

Fernando Emilio Zullo (Government School, Universidad Torcuato Di Tella, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, 7350,Argentina)
Sergio Forster (Government School, Universidad Torcuato Di Tella, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, 7350,Argentina)



Article Info

Publish Date
25 Jun 2026

Abstract

Purpose: This study investigates the efficacy of a contingent feedback intervention in mitigating learned helplessness and elevating internal academic locus of control among students experiencing cognitive decoupling between effort exertion and academic evaluation outcomes. Method: A quasi-experimental pre-test/post-test design was employed. Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was executed to control for pre-test covariates, evaluating shifts in learned helplessness and academic locus of control using validated psychometric instruments. Findings: ANCOVA results confirmed a statistically significant intervention effect, accounting for 52.3% of the variance in learned helplessness reduction and 54.8% of the variance in internal academic locus of control increase. Process-oriented descriptive feedback successfully restored cognitive agency by shifting attributional structures from external factors to internal, controllable variables. Practical implications: Educators can deploy structured contingent feedback to attenuate evaluative anxiety, optimize working memory capacity allocation, and re-engage students exhibiting academic passivity, learned helplessness, and burnout. Originality/value: This research offers robust empirical evidence for cognitive agency reconstruction, demonstrating that attributional deficits can be systematically reversed by establishing real-time effort-outcome contingency cues rather than relying on traditional quantitative scoring.

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Journal Info

Abbrev

hamka

Publisher

Subject

Education Languange, Linguistic, Communication & Media Mathematics Other

Description

HAMKA Insight E-ISSN: 2962-8334, ISSN: 2985-8445, DOI Prefix 10.22236/HAMKA Insight is a peer-reviewed open-access international journal that aims to the sharing, dissemination, and discussion of current trends research results, experience, and perspectives across a wide range of education, ...