You Are Not So Smart 052 - Learned Helplessness
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Jun 23, 2015 Jennifer Welborn, an assistant professor at the University of Texas Pan American, studies workplace stress, while Kym Bennett, an associate professor at the University of Missouri at Kansas City, focuses on the effects of pessimism on health. They dive into learned helplessness, explaining how it traps people in negative situations despite potential escape. Through engaging discussions, they explore coping strategies, the influence of attributional styles on well-being, and the importance of mindfulness in overcoming feelings of powerlessness.
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Classroom Demonstration Of Helplessness
- Sharice Nixon split a class and gave one group impossible anagrams to induce learned helplessness quickly.
- Students who failed twice often didn’t try the solvable third word despite being capable.
Prior Failure Blocks Later Learning
- Seligman's dogs learned helplessness after prior uncontrollable shocks blocked later escape learning.
- Prior uncontrollable experiences teach the brain that action won't help, so animals stop trying.
Helplessness Is Learned And Reversible
- Repeated defeat can make people expect there's no escape and stop trying even when escape is available.
- Learned helplessness is reversible: if you can learn it, you can unlearn it.