Learned Helplessness In Humans: A Psychological Anchor

Learned helplessness in humans is a relatively new concept in psychology. However, due to the fact that it has been related to depression, it has become quite popular. But what is learned helplessness? Well, as the name suggests, it’s actually a learned behavior. It is the belief that one does not have the necessary means to defend oneself. A person with learned helplessness believes that they do not have enough tools or abilities to be competent in a particular area.

In the last paragraph, we went from “defending” to “being competent”, even though they are not the same things. In fact, you can understand the ability to defend yourself as one of the many perceived skills you may have. So why did we start with “defending”?  Because it is the context in which learned helplessness has been the most studied.

Let’s take a look at some of these origins. Overmier and Seligman were the first to study part of this concept. They focused their studies on the relationship between classical conditioning and operant conditioning. They realized that dogs were not able to learn a simple evasive response after a particular condition. This condition was nothing more than shocking the dogs.

In the first phase of the experiment, the dogs learned that they had no control over the shocks. Thus, they began to focus on other elements. Why would they keep trying to escape if they had already learned that they could not? In one of his most famous stories, Jorge Bucay picks up on this idea: How past learning conditions are conditioned by current and future behaviors.

Learned helplessness in humans

One of the benefits of learned helplessness in humans is that it is relatively easy to instill in humans through ethically acceptable experiments. This has made it possible for researchers to study it in a controlled context. Suppose we give two groups of letters to two separate groups and ask them to make words. We know that they will have very different performances if one of the groups has faced the same task in advance, and due to the degree of difficulty was not able to make any words.

In this case, there is no shock and no aversive stimuli. Thus, a previous experience can hinder a person when they are faced with a current challenge. If they did not have the previous experience, they would be able to face it. Let us return to our example. People who had been trying to find a word in different lists for half an hour ended up learning that they were facing a challenge that they could not overcome . Therefore, they began to save energy and resources to use them in other tasks.

Consequently, they are not able to find even the simplest words. In fact, they have given up the task for a while and are in a state of learned helplessness.

On the other hand, you can also help the group that has given up if you get them out of the assumption of helplessness. How? For example, by telling them that the difficulty is reduced. You can also tell them that you have seen that the other groups have also had a slow start in finding the words. Thus, by leaving this position of learned helplessness, people will try to regain control.

Learned helplessness in humans in the context of depression

Relatively speaking, many people give up when they are depressed. For example, a person with depression may have stopped looking for a job after a few months or may have stopped going out with friends after several negative social experiences. The person has stopped acting because they have seen and learned that they could not change their situation. In other words, they have learned that the results of working hard are the same as standing still, doing nothing.

This experience has damaged their belief in themselves. They have begun to think that their lack of success has to do with one of their characteristics. They begin to believe that they are not intelligent, not attractive or not worthy enough. In addition to giving up, they have also started to feel bad about themselves. In other words, they have low self-esteem.

Poison that attacks the mind

From that moment on, they have also started to lose natural amplifiers. They no longer feel motivated to do anything. In the same way, they feel that the load they are carrying is too great and that the light is turned off. Thus, the person begins to feel that there is only one way out: To just do nothing. The problem is that this only leads to an internal dialogue that buries them further and further into despair.

As you can see, learned helplessness in humans does not affect the state of mind immediately. However, it is the poison that attacks the organs and the mental pillars, causing them to collapse. And as a consequence, the person sinks like an anchor. Due to the complexity of the factors involved and each person’s particular way of acting, it is best to seek professional help if you suspect that you may be suffering from depression.