LEARNED HELPLESSNESS: HISTORY, WHAT IT CONSISTS OF AND EXAMPLES - PSYCHOLOGY - 2024

The learned helplessness is both a state of mind and a way of behaving that appears when a person has to repeatedly face a negative stimulus which can not escape. It is often associated with mental illnesses such as depression or anxiety.

After a painful or unpleasant experience is repeated enough times, the person acquires the belief that there is nothing they can do to escape it, and begins to think that they have no control over their own life. This attitude can be generalized to other situations, which greatly aggravates the symptoms.

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People who are in a state of learned helplessness stop trying to change their situation. This causes them to be unable to alter their behavior, even when circumstances have changed and an alternative has appeared that could help them improve.

The theory of learned helplessness began to develop in the 60s of the last century, and has acquired great importance in different areas of the field of psychology. In this article we will tell you exactly what it consists of, what is the evidence we have in this regard, and what consequences it causes.

History

The phenomenon of learned helplessness was first discovered by Martin Seligman and Steven Maier by chance, in the late 1960s. Since then, a multitude of research has been carried out on the subject, and the theory related to this mental state it has developed a lot.

In this section we will talk about how our knowledge about the helplessness learned over the years has advanced. Some of the experiments carried out in this area may seem cruel, and probably could not be done today. However, they have provided us with fundamental knowledge about the human mind.

First experiments with dogs

The first experiment that pointed to the existence of learned helplessness was carried out by Seligman and Maier at the University of Pennsylvania, in 1967. In it, both researchers wanted to study the response of dogs to different stimuli, such as to low intensity electric shocks.

The researchers divided the dogs into three groups. In the first, the dogs were not caused any harm. Those of the other two groups did receive shocks, but with a fundamental difference: the latter could stop them by pressing a button, while the latter could do nothing to prevent them.

Later, the dogs of the three groups were placed in a metalized cage divided into two parts by a low fence. On one side, the ground was electrified, while on the other it was not.

The researchers found that while animals in the first two groups jumped over the fence and went over to the non-electrified side, those in the third did not even try. Rather, they simply stood still and endured the pain without trying to change their situation.

Evidence with other animals

Amazed by the results they had obtained, Seligman and Maier tried to replicate this experiment with rats. The premise was the same: three groups of animals, one of them that would not receive shocks, one that would receive them but could stop them, and another that would have to endure them without being able to do anything to avoid them.

After subjecting the rats to these aversive stimuli, the experimenters realized that there came a point where the animals in the third group stopped trying to escape, even when the opportunity presented itself. This phenomenon was given the name of learned helplessness.

Human experiments

Despite the ethical impossibility of carrying out the same type of experiment with humans, during the following years alternative studies were conducted that tried to prove the existence of learned helplessness in us.

One of the most classic investigations in this sense was carried out in 1974 with three groups of participants. People in the first were exposed to an unpleasant noise, but could make it stop by pressing a button four times. Those of the second listened to him too, but they couldn't stop him; and those of the third did not hear anything strange.

In the second part of the experiment, all the subjects were taken to a room in which another unpleasant noise sounded and in which there was a box with a lever.

As I pulled it, the sound stopped; but the participants in the second group did not even try, while the rest managed to stop it quickly.

This experiment and others like it were able to demonstrate the existence of learned helplessness in humans. Since then, an attempt has been made to investigate the causes for this phenomenon, as well as the consequences it causes.

What is learned helplessness?

There are several theories as to what exactly learned helplessness is and why it occurs. The most classic is the one proposed by Martin Seligman as a result of his studies already mentioned, but there are also others more based on neurobiology or individual differences.

Seligman theory

Seligman and his collaborators proposed the theory that people exposed to unpleasant situations over which they have no control suffer deficits in three areas: motivational, cognitive, and emotional.

Motivational problems have to do with the lack of energy that subjects experience to try to escape from a harmful situation, which leads them to not take action.

Cognitive ones, on the other hand, are related to the person's belief that their circumstances are uncontrollable; and the emotional ones involve the appearance of a state similar to depression.

The three types of consequences are interrelated and mutually reinforcing. In fact, Seligman proposed the theory that learned helplessness underlies depression and other related disorders.

Neurobiological theory

Recent neuroimaging studies suggest that there are certain brain structures and neurotransmitters that play a very important role in the appearance of learned helplessness. For example, it is known that a deficit in serotonin levels can cause the appearance of this phenomenon.

Some of the brain regions most related to learned helplessness are the dorsal raphe nuclei, the central and basolateral nuclei of the amygdala, and some areas of the hippocampus, hypothalamus, and prefrontal cortex.

It has also been found that there are purely physical factors that can help reduce the likelihood of the appearance of learned helplessness.

For example, regular vigorous exercise increases serotonin levels and can therefore alleviate the more serious effects of this mental state.

In addition to exercise, other behaviors that have been shown to have a beneficial impact at the brain level on this phenomenon are having adequate rest, meditation, relaxation and eating an adequate diet.

Theory of individual differences

According to research on learned helplessness, one of the most important factors that predict its appearance is the presence of certain beliefs about the control one has over different situations. These beliefs are known as "attributions" and can vary from person to person.

The attributions have three characteristics that can increase or decrease the probability that learned helplessness will appear in the face of adversity:

- On the one hand, they can be global or specific. People with a global attributional style think that the causes of what happens to them are maintained in different situations; while those with a specific style think that each negative event has a unique cause and that it does not have to be replicated.

- Attributions can also be stable or unstable. When they are stable, the individual believes that the negative situations they experience will continue over time. When they are unstable, on the contrary, the person thinks that it is possible that they change over time.

- Finally, they can be external or internal; that is, the person may believe that what happens to them is determined by situational causes that they cannot control (external), or by factors that they can modify with their own effort (internal).

Research has shown that people with a global, stable, and external attributional style are much more likely to develop learned helplessness than those with different beliefs.

Examples

Below we will see some examples of situations in which the appearance of learned helplessness or some similar attitude is common.

- A person who has been looking for work for many months but cannot find it may lose all hope of finding a job again. Therefore, you will stop trying and will not even respond to job offers that come to you.

- An individual who has had several previous experiences with his ex - partners (such as situations of a lot of drama or complicated breakups) may think that the world of relationships is not for him. As a result, you will avoid forming deep emotional bonds as much as possible.

- Someone who has tried to lose weight several times but has always failed will stop trying to get fitter, instead of wondering what they can do differently or how they can change their approach.

References

1. "What Is Learned Helplessness and Why Does it Happen?" in: Very Well Mind. Retrieved on: December 5, 2018 from Very Well Mind: verywellmind.com.
2. "Learned Helplessness: Seligman's Theory of Depression" in: Positive Psychology Program. Retrieved on: December 5, 2018 from Positive Psychology Program: positivepsychologyprogram.com.
3. "Learned Helplessness" in: Britannica. Retrieved on: December 5, 2018 from Britannica: britannica.com.
4. "Learned Helplessness" in: PsychCentral. Retrieved on: December 5, 2018 from PsychCentral: psychcentral.com.
5. "Learned helplesness" in: Wikipedia. Retrieved on: December 5, 2018 from Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org.