Learned helplessness

Learned helplessness describes a person's belief that they lack the control to overcome a situation. For example, parents helping a child with a computer problem by doing it for them may cause learned helplessness by making them believe the only way to solve computer issues is to ask others. However, if the parent told the child to figure it out or taught them about computer troubleshooting, the child may not feel so helpless next time they encounter a problem.

Learned helplessness experiments

Learned helplessness was first studied in the 1960s by American psychologist Martin Seligman at the University of Pennsylvania. In one experiment, Seligman and Overmier experimented with three groups of dogs. The first group of dogs was only harnessed and then released, and was considered the control group. The second group of dogs was given electric shocks randomly that would stop if the dog learned to push a lever to stop the shocks. The third group of dogs was shocked for one minute with no option to stop the shocks.

When all dogs were placed in a box with the option to stop the shocks the first and second groups would stop the shocks. However, the third group never attempted to stop the shocks since they learned to deal with them.

How to overcome learned helplessness

In Seligman's book Learned Optimism, he indicates one can overcome learned helplessness by finding new ways to explain why you failed at something. Instead of saying to yourself, "I failed a computer test because I'm stupid," give yourself a more optimistic belief. For example, you might say, "I failed the computer test because I didn't learn enough about networking." Below are other ideas to help overcome learned helplessness.

• Always believe you can do almost anything with enough time and effort.
• Realize that for anything to happen, you must perform the actions required to complete a task. Only thinking or worrying about something accomplishes nothing.
• Remember that it's ok to fail and that anyone doing anything has failed. Thomas Edison failed thousands of times before creating the light bulb.
• Remember that if you want something done or want to start something new, it's up to you to do most of the work.
• Always try to learn how something is done, but know it's ok to ask for help.
• Don't live in the past. If you've failed at something in the past, it doesn't mean you'll fail again. A new situation will not have the same limitations as an older similar situation.
• If something is not working, take a break, rest, and relax. After you've regrouped, try again.
• Always try to focus on the positive.
• Keep the concept of learned helplessness in your mind to help prevent yourself from falling into its trap.

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