Seligman's Theory Of Learned Helplessness

“The learned helplessness phenomenon is proposed as a model for the emotional numbing and maladaptive passivity sometimes following victimization” (Peterson 103). Learned helplessness as stated in Martin Seligman’s research was basically people experience learned help-lessness as thinking that the test they had was impossible. According to what I researched, making them have a tendency to give up easily or fail more often at somewhat eas¬ier tasks. Learned helplessness is more likely to result from situations where fail¬ure is uncontrollable.

Martin Seligman and Steven Maier performed a study in 1967 that proved Learned Helplessness. “Seligman found that dogs exposed to inescapable and unavoidable electric shocks in one situation later failed to learn to escape shock in a different situation where escape was possible” (Maier, 1967 ). Dogs were placed in an area where shocks could be avoided and dogs showed that they eventually learned how to escape the shocks every time. He placed dogs during his experiment in the line of shocks that were random and unable to avoid. The dogs showed Learned Helplessness when the last shocks were avoidable, but didn’t make any move to escape or avoid it. In a sense, the dogs gave up after believing in the beginning the shock was unavoidable.

They stated that there were

3 effects that were associated with Learned Helplessness. Motivation was the first listed. “Dogs that have been exposed to inescapable shocks do not subsequently initiate escape response in the presence of shock” (Maier). They basically stated that the dogs lost motivation to start any movement to escape (once it was possible) after being shocked a couple of times (which were unavoidable). Cognition was mentioned as another effect as well. They state that subjection to uncontrollable events interferes with the person’s, or in this case a dog, tendency to see correlation between their behavior and outcomes. Lastly, it mentions emotion as the remaining effect. During a few of their experiments it showed that there were out of the control of the subject produced a greater emotional break than when they do with events that were controllable.
This study is particularly famous for being called unethical. People argued that it was unethical because it was a danger to animals. Dogs were subjected to electrical shocks that were not subjected to humans since it was feared it would do damage to human beings. In that case, it was later applied to dogs since they were the closest organism to human beings. That being said, the dogs were suffering just as a human would had it been subjected to electric shocks. Organizations that specialize in animal abuse would state that it is unethical and against the law since the animals were innocent.
Martin Seligman went ahead and did another study on Learned Helplessness and its Application on Victims. It stated that Learned Helplessness could be tied to depression and the main reason why victims stayed victims after repeatedly being unsuccessful in attempts to escape their captor, pain, etc. Peterson explains:
“First, both are preceded by uncontrollable aversive events. The helpless individual and the victim are subjected to trauma over which they have little or no control. Second, both involve a generalized belief about future uncontroliability. In the case of the helpless individual, this belief takes the form of an expectation of future response-outcome independence” (Peterson 107)
If you think about it, this could be applied to many situations that happened in the world. A famous case I remember was Jaycee Lee Dugard case. People asked in interviews, why she didn’t try to escape after she was given more freedom once her captor believed she wouldn’t leave. Ms. Dugard kept stating that her children’s lives were at stake, but I believe that Learned Helplessness (to an extent) could be applied in this case. It could be that after being tortured and raped for years, Jaycee Lee Dugard may have felt all three effects such as loss of motivation of plans of escape, unable to see correlation of ways of avoiding her captor and overcome with emotion.
The experiments conducted by Maier and Seligman provided an explanation and view into the social psychology of Learned Helplessness.

After researching this social psychology study I am not exactly sure of how I feel about the topic. My personal point of view on this study is that it definitely makes sense as to why it would apply to a normal human being and their feelings of helplessness since they felt it way too many times. But as I was growing up, my parents told me to never give up. In what way do the people who don’t give up after the uncontrollable is out the way apply? Is that a theory or just a way of life? Just questions that life maybe answers after a

while.