This study investigated the reformulated theory of learned helplessness, centering around attributional style in the cause of cognitive and emotional deficits. Subjects (N=58) were undergraduate and graduate psychology students at the University of Alabama at Huntsville. Subjects were divided into an experimental group (N=30) who received uncontrollability and a control group (N=28) who received controllability. An assessment was made for subsequent changes in performance and affect following treatment. The procedure used locus of control and depressive score measures to investigate four hypotheses: (1) experimental group will evidence cognitive and emotional deficits following uncontrollability; (2) an increase in symptoms of learned helplessness will be produced in internal, stable, and global subjects; (3) experimental females will become more depressed than experimental males; and (4) subjects with positive performance perceptions will be internal attributers. Results supported all hypotheses except the third. The theory of reactance may explain the cognitive deficits that were produced as an alternative to Seligman's theory of learned helplessness. The need for further research in the area of induced cognitive deficits is indicated. (Twenty-two references are listed, and appended materials include a consent form, instructions, check lists and questionnaires, response forms, and a debriefing statement.) (ABL)