Learned Helplessness
Learned helplessness develops when animals are repeatedly exposed to aversive stimuli that cannot be escaped. At the end, such animals stop making attempts to avoid this stimulus. They behave like it is a truly helpless situation that cannot be changed. Even when they are presented with escape opportunities, learned helplessness prevents them from taking action.
While this concept has strong ties with animal behaviour and psychology, it also applies to several situations that involve human beings. People feeling like they do not have any control over a specific situation may begin to develop a helpless attitude. Inaction can make people overlook great opportunities for change or relief.
Learned Helplessness Discovery
Learned helplessness is a concept that was accidentally discovered by the psychologists Steven F. Maier and Martin Seligman. They’d initially observed this helpless behaviour amongst dogs that are classically conditioned so that they expect electrical shock post hearing a certain tone. These dogs were later on placed in shuttle boxes containing 2 chambers separated using low barriers. On one side the floor was electrified. Dogs that had already been exposed to classic conditioning did not try to escape although all they had to do was jump the low barrier to avoid shocks.
For this phenomenon to be investigated, the research team then created another experiment. Group 1 dogs were strapped to a harness for a certain time period, followed by release. The 2nd group’s dogs were kept in the same harness, treated with electrical shocks that may have been avoided if they pressed a panel with the nose. A 3rd group was given the same shocks as the 2nd groups except that these were unable to control how long the shock would last for. Dogs in the 3rd group were subject to shocks that seemed totally random and beyond their control.
Later on, these dogs were placed into shuttle boxes. The 1st and 2nd group dogs quickly learnt to jump barriers that helped eliminate the shocks. The 3rd group dogs, however, didn’t even try to get away from those shocks. Because of their past experience, they’d developed cognitive expectation of nothing they do being able to eliminate or prevent shocks.
Learned Helpless People
Impacts of learned helplessness have been demonstrated through behaviour in several different animal species. However, its effects have also been strongly observed in human beings. Think of this often used example: children that perform weakly at math exams and homework will soon start to feel like nothing they do can will effect their math performance. Later on, when they are faced with a math-associated task, they experiences a helplessness notion.
Many kinds of psychological disorders have also been associated with learned helplessness. Anxiety, shyness, phobias, depression and loneliness are some of the disorders that could be aggravated by learned helplessness. One example is how a woman that feels shy when in a social environment eventually starts to feel like she cannot do anything to overcome these symptoms. The perception that the symptoms are beyond her control could hinder any future attempts on her behalf to engage into social conversations. All this does is pronounce and solidify her shyness further.